SIFY waxes with Cisco-powered MPLS-based VPN for security networks

Cisco and Satyam Infoway (SIFY) announced a tie-up to offer
Cisco’s MPLS-based secured and scalable Virtual Private Network (VPN)
solutions. This represents next generation VPN services that SIFY will make
available to their enterprise customers.

Rahul Swarup, President (Enterprise Solutions), SIFY, said,
"Business customers are today increasingly looking at VPNs for reliable
enterprise wide networks, and to reduce total cost of ownership associated with
private leased lines and frame relay services. MPLS-based VPNs have been found
to be precisely such a solution. We are delighted to partner with Cisco to
deliver the state of the art end-to-end solution of this kind in India."

Rustom Irani, CTO, SIFY, said, "SIFY will now be able to
offer better QoS on VPNs from all its 52 plus ‘points-of-presence’ in the
country, matching the capabilities of an ATM/Frame network. This puts us on par
with global players in the West with regard to technology, cost efficiencies,
reliability, security and scalability of VPN solutions for our enterprise
customers."

Some of the significant value-added advantages that SIFY can
now offer customers through MPLS-based VPN are Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
to assure the QoS requested for by their customers. In addition, SIFY can now
offer their customers fully secure and reliable point-to-point connectivity
between separate enterprise sites. Moreover, the MPLS-based services will be
much easier to manage and provision by a Service Provider. MPLS VPN technology
allows the classification and prioritizing of applications that are mission
critical according to each customer requirement. Additionally, the end customer
need not change their existing IP addresses.

Jangoo Dalal, VP (Channels and Business Development), Cisco,
India, said, "Cisco is the #1 provider of integrated VPN Management
solutions across the world. We have sustained this leadership by understanding
global business needs, and through consistent investments in R&D. As per IDC,
for enterprise networks across the world that encompass between five to 15
sites, VPN's can be deployed for a fraction of the cost of a private network.

Cisco’s MPLS-based VPN solutions have been able to combine
such cost advantages with comprehensive security, scalability and assured QoS.
This made it a very compelling value-proposition for SIFY to offer to any
enterprise customer across India. This places SIFY on par with other large
global ISP, who have deployed MPLS in the core.

An additional feature of these VPN’s are that the service
provider core structure is not revealed so it appears to be as invisible as
their Frame Relay and ATM counterparts - reducing chances of hacking. They also
allow for network-based VPN services that are completely transparent to any
applications, allowing for complete security on any application the end-consumer
might be working on. Further, the MPLS- based VPN solution has a mechanism in
place to limit the impact of DoS attacks to the VPN where they originated.

To provide the service, SIFY has implemented a solution based
on the existing range of routers from Cisco–7500, 7200 and 3600. The IOS
software of the routers has been upgraded to support MPLS feature, with hardware
upgrades on existing core/backbone routers.