How will AI influence enterprise networks?
That is the large matter I am tackling with knowledge from TeleGeography’s WAN Value Benchmark—a personalized platform that makes it simple to mannequin and observe your WAN community prices.
That is the second publish on this sequence. Take a look at the primary publish right here to be taught which components we’re contemplating and the way we’re evaluating numerous eventualities that mannequin attainable AI-driven WAN configurations.
The purpose of the sequence is to match the entire price of possession (TCO) of a legacy MPLS community—one which represents many multinationals’ WANs nonetheless in 2025—to numerous hybrid or internet-first options designed to accommodate the adjustments AI and cloud are bringing to the fashionable enterprise IT group.
Whereas our argument for SD-WAN-enabled hybrids in the beginning of the last decade was principally about price, it’s now far more about getting the community right-sized for the approaching AI-driven bandwidth crunch, resiliency, app-specific coverage and efficiency, and full utilization of cloud.
Your Finances + Your Legacy Community + AI
On this publish we’re wanting on the budgetary influence of constructing your legacy community able to handing the AI increase by evaluating two variations of the ‘tiered community’ technique that breaks the community into web site varieties. This technique makes it simpler for community groups to vary merchandise and bandwidths and right-size to the wants of that location. For our hypothetical community eventualities, we broke every of our hypothetical community’s 150 world websites into 4 tiers:
- Information Facilities (DCs) = 7 websites.
- Tier 1, bigger websites that want extra bandwidth and the most effective resiliency, usually downtown or in close-in suburbs = 18 websites.
- Tier 2, medium websites that may want much less bandwidth however nonetheless require resiliency = 49 websites.
- Tier 3, the smallest websites with the least bandwidth and fewer want for resiliency = 76 websites.
A particular be aware for DIA service: More and more, we’re discovering that carriers supply DIA for the port-only value when the client constructing is on-net and even near-net, which means there isn’t a extra native entry cost. That is commonest in city areas in aggressive well-developed metros, so in these areas, now we have dropped extra entry fees when switching MPLS service to DIA throughout all eventualities.
Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Our Conservative Tiered Hybrid situation imagines an enterprise that may be early of their AI journey and customarily a bit cautious. Their community group needs to make the transfer to SD-WAN and native web breakouts, however has safety or compliance issues, proprietary apps or on-prem knowledge facilities, or only a conservative outlook on IT that retains it from going internet-first. This firm doesn’t but want large bandwidth will increase, however is trying to the SD-WAN hybrid as a means to make sure resiliency, enact utility specific-policies, and facilitate cloud utilization with native breakouts. These are the adjustments at every tier:
- DCs—Preserve twin MPLS.
- Tier 1—Preserve twin MPLS, add a single DIA port as a tertiary reference to separate entry strains.
- Tier 2—One MPLS port and one DIA port with separate entry strains the place relevant.
- Tier 3—Twin DIA ports (active-active) with redundant entry strains the place relevant.
- All tiers—Primary Managed SD-WAN for the entire encrypted throughput of all underlay providers at every web site.
Common Complete Bandwidth per Website in Every Subregion—Twin MPLS WAN vs. Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Observe: Every bar represents the typical complete web site bandwidth, together with a number of ports or underlay providers, throughout all websites within the listed subregion.
- The ensuing community will increase the typical out there bandwidth at every web site by about 8%, principally because of the tertiary hyperlinks added at Tier 1 websites. For essentially the most half, the bandwidth at any given web site is much like the unique Twin MPLS.
Distribution of Complete Website Speeds—Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Observe: Every part represents the share of complete web site bandwidths that fall inside every bandwidth vary.
- A majority of the websites fall inside a complete web site bandwidth vary of 200 Mbps or beneath, a reasonably cost-conscious quantity of bandwidth.
- The most common websites within the community are between 100 and 200 Mbps throughout all underlay providers.
- Roughly 14% have a complete web site bandwidth of greater than GigE.
Now, earlier than we take a look at costs, let’s check out the same community arrange from a extra aggressive IT group who’s already feeling the AI bandwidth crunch and is extra keen so as to add web into the combo to reap the benefits of decrease price per bit.
Tiered Hybrid WAN
The Tiered Hybrid WAN represents an enterprise that is a little more prepared than the conservative situation to push in the direction of web, however not prepared to depart MPLS behind all collectively. They’re additionally keen to strive broadband, however solely in markets the place they’re sure the ISPs are prepared to offer an enterprise degree of service. Most significantly, they’ve began to make the most of AI and have seen cloud workloads and visitors enhance. They should enhance bandwidth with out breaking the financial institution. Whereas they’re holding some MPLS, they’re including DIA at bigger ports because of the decrease price per bit. These are the adjustments at every tier:
- DCs—Twin DIA ports.
- Tier 1—One MPLS port and one DIA port with separate entry strains.
- Tier 2—Twin active-active DIA ports with redundant entry the place relevant.
- Tier 3—Twin active-active DIA ports in most world markets, however one DIA port and one enterprise broadband connection within the U.S., Western Europe, and some different aggressive ISP markets.
- China is an exception to the principles, as now we have stored twin MPLS at these websites.
- All tiers—Primary Managed SD-WAN for the entire encrypted throughput of all underlay providers at every web site.
Common Complete Bandwidth per Website in Every Subregion—Twin MPLS WAN vs. Tiered Hybrid WAN
Observe: Every bar represents the typical complete web site bandwidth, together with a number of ports or underlay providers, throughout all websites within the listed subregion.
- We elevated the bandwidth out there at websites world wide to about the identical diploma because the excessive capability Twin MPLS community, with common bandwidth growing about 62% per web site.
Distribution of Complete Website Speeds—Tiered Hybrid WAN
Observe: Every part represents the share of complete web site bandwidths that fall inside every bandwidth vary.
- A slim majority of websites fall within the greater than GigE to 2,000 Mbps complete web site bandwidth vary.
- Solely about one-third of websites have a complete bandwidth of 500 Mbps or much less.
Complete Value of Possession Comparisons
The tiered community eventualities give us an image of two methods for the fashionable community beginning to accommodate cloud and AI. The Conservative Hybrid situation represents an enterprise that desires to modernize their community to facilitate cloud with out altering the funds. The Tiered Hybrid situation reveals us an instance of an enterprise that has already felt the AI-bandwidth crunch and desires to spice up speeds with out boosting budgets.
This TCO comparability contains the high-capacity Twin MPLS WAN for example the budgetary advantages of going hybrid, past the resiliency, utility efficiency, and cloud-first drivers.
Authentic Twin MPLS, Excessive Capability Twin MPLS, Conservative Tiered Hybrid, and Tiered Hybrid WAN Situation TCOs
Observe: Every column represents the entire annual price of possession for that WAN situation, damaged out by product in every shade part.
- The annual TCO for the Conservative Tiered Hybrid elevated capability over the Twin MPLS barely–8%–however the fee went down by about 9% from $8.1m to $7.4m.
- The Tiered Hybrid and Excessive Capability Twin MPLS each elevated the typical bandwidth out there per workplace by greater than 60%, nonetheless, the Tiered Hybrid TCO solely rose by 18% going from $8.1m to $9.6.
- Evaluate the above level to the excessive capability Twin MPLS which went up 43%. That is additionally with holding a inflexible, utility unaware, and centralized breakout legacy community.
It needs to be no shock {that a} hybrid community is a greater price choice at this level, however it’s price absolutely understanding the budgetary steadiness. DIA and particularly broadband are clearly more economical than MPLS, however once more, the enterprise that’s operating headlong into AI must have a quicker and extra versatile community, not only a cheaper one. Multinationals with websites world wide want to grasp how product selection, bandwidth, and geography influence their mission to discover a community that may deal with the long run calls for of the quickly altering IT group. Subsequent time we are going to check out the enterprise that has gone absolutely into cloud and realized this can assist them minimize prices on actual property by foregoing a return to workplace coverage and thus reducing the community footprint.