Tellabs Inspire Magazine: Diveo Gets Set For Mpls

article reprint — TELLABS INSPIRE q3 2008

Diveo Gets Set for MPLS Latin American service provider seeks flexibility and network efficiencies as it expands capacity and reduces costs. By Joan Engebretson

Simplification and Savings

Diveo Gets Set for MPLS

Latin American service provider seeks flexibility and network efficiencies as it expands capacity and reduces costs. B y Joa n E n geb r e t s o n

In the 1990s, a start-up called Diginet Americas decided to build a communications network in Latin America to provide high-speed data services sold on a wholesale basis. Today that business, now known as Diveo Broadband Networks, boasts operations in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, and its customers include financial institutions such as Schahin, ABN Finance and Visa. With their revenue on the line, such high-profile customers demand the highest QoS and have little tolerance for network downtime or performance issues. They also seek to gain competitive advantage through advanced communications services such as increased broadband connectivity, employee one-number mobility between fixed and wireless networks and advanced messaging services. The increasing volume of traffic from these new services and data applications has placed substantial demands on Diveo’s ATM-based backbone. Last year, Diveo management realized customer demand for bandwidth in São Paulo and other major cities in Brazil was growing so fast that capacity would have to be expanded. Rather than continuing with ATM, the company saw an opportunity to gain significant network efficiencies and expand the services it could offer by converting to an IP-based network infrastructure that uses MPLS. Unlike traditional IP networks, an IP/MPLS network can assign different priorities to different data streams, enabling it to support guaranteed bandwidth rates and service level agreements and to offer transparent replacement for ATM-based services. Deployment of Diveo’s São Paolo IP/MPLS network is under way and the company expects to carry live traffic before the end of this year. “IP/MPLS is the future of networking,” said Rodrigo de Oliveira, Diveo Brazil engineering and operations executive director. “By deploying the technology today, Diveo gains network efficiencies and flexibility that will serve us well into the future.”

A key component of Diveo’s MPLS network is the Tellabs® 8800 Multiservice Router (MSR) Series. “We chose the Tellabs product because it would enable us to have a smooth migration from ATM to IP/MPLS and to offer a seamless transition for our clients,” Oliveira said. An important goal for Diveo was to move customers from the ATM network to the IP/MPLS network with no interruption of service. The solution also needed to be scalable and to replace a wide range of existing ATM-based services on a feature-for-feature basis. Decision-makers at Diveo opted for the Tellabs solution because it required minimal customization and a limited number of network elements, said Armando Camargo, sales director for Tellabs. “In the initial phase, Diveo will deploy the Tellabs® 8800 MSR series for traffic aggregation at the network edge,” Camargo said. “Phase Two, which will occur in 2009, will involve loading the old [management] systems onto the new ones.” Diveo expects significant savings in capital and operating costs as a result of the network migration. “They will gain cost savings by reducing the number of network elements and simplifying daily operational work, including a Tellabs maintenance plan that includes software repairs,” Camargo said. Also, because the Tellabs 8800 MSR series can support any service on any port, Diveo will be able to minimize the inventory of spares it will need to keep on hand. On the services side, deploying IP/MPLS over the backbone will give Diveo an extra level of flexibility and open up new revenue streams by offering IP and Ethernet services, Camargo said.

Help Wanted After a thorough analysis of the competitors, the company decided to enlist Tellabs® Global Services to coordinate network architecture, design, planning, installation and integration. “Tellabs Global Services delivered a comprehensive solution to help Diveo maximize its return on investment with the Tellabs equipment being deployed in our network,” Oliveira said. “Using this approach, we were able to take advantage of the experience and best practices of a team that had been involved in similar projects around the world. Tellabs’ real-world deployment experience enabled us to reduce risk, ensure quality of service and deploy a forward-looking solution for our network. Effectively, the Tellabs team was able to come to us and understand our needs. They were ready to support us, and Tellabs was chosen.” A targeted team of Tellabs employees participated in the Diveo IP/ MPLS migration project, including senior engineers, a senior project manager and a network consultant. All of the employees have been involved with the project since its inception a year ago.

2

article reprint — diveo gets set for mpls

“For the past four months, they have all been 100 percent dedicated to Diveo,” said Ivan Vlasak, director of customer service for Tellabs. About a dozen employees from Diveo’s engineering organization teamed up with Tellabs Global Services. “We worked together to create the entire network,” Vlasak said. Careful planning was critical to the success of the project. “First, we needed to understand both the equipment and traffic types on their network because the new network had to work in a totally transparent manner,” Vlasak said. “Then we mapped how that will be done in an IP/MPLS network. On top of that, we also discussed the advantages of the new network and the new services we would be able to deliver in the future.” Tellabs also provided a training and support agreement. “We trained them on Tellabs-specific IP/MPLS features,” Vlasak said. “The support agreement includes remote technical support 24/7, along with hardware replacement and software upgrades.”

Getting It Right the First Time Diveo undoubtedly saved time by using the help of Tellabs Global Services, Vlasak said. But more importantly, he added, Tellabs’ involvement mitigated risk. Diveo’s owners include Goldman Sachs, Norwest Venture Partners, One Liberty Ventures and other key investment groups. “They couldn’t put their money at risk,” Vlasak said. “The network had to work 100 percent.” After the São Paulo IP/MPLS network is implemented, Diveo expects to undertake the same network migration process in some of its other markets. “We found Tellabs to be the right partner for a project of this magnitude, where the marching order is trust,” Oliveira said. “From the beginning, Tellabs demonstrated that Diveo was not just another customer. That makes a real difference.”

Acronym ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode IP Internet Protocol MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching QoS Quality of Service

North America

Asia Pacific

Tellabs One Tellabs Center 1415 West Diehl Road Naperville, IL 60563 U.S.A. +1 630 798 8800 Fax: +1 630 798 2000

Tellabs 3 Anson Road #14–01 Springleaf Tower Singapore 079909 Republic of Singapore +65 6215 6411 Fax: +65 6215 6422

Europe, Middle East & Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

Tellabs Abbey Place 24–28 Easton Street High Wycombe, Bucks HP11 1NT United Kingdom +44 870 238 4700 Fax: +44 870 238 4851

Tellabs 1401 N.W. 136th Avenue Suite 202 Sunrise, FL 33323 U.S.A. +1 954 839 2800 Fax: +1 954 839 2828

Statements herein may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events, products, features, technology and resulting commercial or technological benefits and advantages. These statements are for discussion purposes only, are subject to change and are not to be construed as instructions, product specifications, guarantees or warranties. Actual results may differ materially. The following trademarks and service marks are owned by Tellabs Operations, Inc., or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries: TELLABS®, TELLABS and T symbol®, and T symbol®. Any other company or product names may be trademarks of their respective companies. © 2008 Tellabs. All rights reserved. 74.2011E Rev. A 9/22/2008