How will AI impression enterprise networks?
That is the massive subject I am tackling with knowledge from TeleGeography’s WAN Value Benchmark—a custom-made platform that makes it simple to mannequin and observe your WAN community prices.
That is the second publish on this collection. Take a look at the primary publish right here to study which components we’re contemplating and the way we’re evaluating varied eventualities that mannequin potential AI-driven WAN configurations.
The purpose of the collection is to check the overall 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 modifications AI and cloud are bringing to the fashionable enterprise IT crew.
Whereas our argument for SD-WAN-enabled hybrids at first of the last decade was principally about price, it’s now way 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 trying on the budgetary impression of creating your legacy community able to handing the AI increase by evaluating two variations of the ‘tiered community’ technique that breaks the community into website sorts. 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 international websites into 4 tiers:
- Information Facilities (DCs) = 7 websites.
- Tier 1, bigger websites that want extra bandwidth and the very best 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 shopper constructing is on-net and even near-net, that means there isn’t a further native entry cost. That is commonest in city areas in aggressive well-developed metros, so in these places, we’ve dropped further entry expenses 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 usually a bit cautious. Their community crew needs to make the transfer to SD-WAN and native web breakouts, however has safety or compliance considerations, 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 massive bandwidth will increase, however is trying to the SD-WAN hybrid as a means to make sure resiliency, enact software specific-policies, and facilitate cloud utilization with native breakouts. These are the modifications at every tier:
- DCs—Maintain twin MPLS.
- Tier 1—Maintain twin MPLS, add a single DIA port as a tertiary reference to separate entry traces.
- Tier 2—One MPLS port and one DIA port with separate entry traces the place relevant.
- Tier 3—Twin DIA ports (active-active) with redundant entry traces the place relevant.
- All tiers—Fundamental Managed SD-WAN for the overall encrypted throughput of all underlay providers at every website.
Common Complete Bandwidth per Website in Every Subregion—Twin MPLS WAN vs. Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every bar represents the typical whole website bandwidth, together with a number of ports or underlay providers, throughout all websites within the listed subregion.
- The ensuing community will increase the typical obtainable bandwidth at every website by about 8%, principally as a result of tertiary hyperlinks added at Tier 1 websites. For probably the most half, the bandwidth at any given website is much like the unique Twin MPLS.
Distribution of Complete Website Speeds—Conservative Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every part represents the proportion of whole website bandwidths that fall inside every bandwidth vary.
- A majority of the websites fall inside a complete website bandwidth vary of 200 Mbps or under, 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 website bandwidth of greater than GigE.
Now, earlier than we take a look at costs, let’s check out an identical community arrange from a extra aggressive IT crew who’s already feeling the AI bandwidth crunch and is extra keen so as to add web into the combination to benefit from 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 go away 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 supply an enterprise stage of service. Most significantly, they’ve began to make the most of AI and have seen cloud workloads and site visitors improve. They should enhance bandwidth with out breaking the financial institution. Whereas they’re conserving some MPLS, they’re including DIA at bigger ports as a result of decrease price per bit. These are the modifications at every tier:
- DCs—Twin DIA ports.
- Tier 1—One MPLS port and one DIA port with separate entry traces.
- Tier 2—Twin active-active DIA ports with redundant entry the place relevant.
- Tier 3—Twin active-active DIA ports in most international 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 foundations, as we’ve stored twin MPLS at these websites.
- All tiers—Fundamental Managed SD-WAN for the overall encrypted throughput of all underlay providers at every website.
Common Complete Bandwidth per Website in Every Subregion—Twin MPLS WAN vs. Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every bar represents the typical whole website bandwidth, together with a number of ports or underlay providers, throughout all websites within the listed subregion.
- We elevated the bandwidth obtainable at websites world wide to about the identical diploma because the excessive capability Twin MPLS community, with common bandwidth rising about 62% per website.
Distribution of Complete Website Speeds—Tiered Hybrid WAN
Notice: Every part represents the proportion of whole website bandwidths that fall inside every bandwidth vary.
- A slim majority of web sites fall within the greater than GigE to 2,000 Mbps whole website bandwidth vary.
- Solely about one-third of web sites 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 wishes to modernize their community to facilitate cloud with out altering the finances. The Tiered Hybrid situation reveals us an instance of an enterprise that has already felt the AI-bandwidth crunch and needs to spice up speeds with out boosting budgets.
This TCO comparability consists of the high-capacity Twin MPLS WAN as an example the budgetary advantages of going hybrid, past the resiliency, software efficiency, and cloud-first drivers.
Unique Twin MPLS, Excessive Capability Twin MPLS, Conservative Tiered Hybrid, and Tiered Hybrid WAN State of affairs TCOs
Notice: Every column represents the overall 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 price went down by about 9% from $8.1m to $7.4m.
- The Tiered Hybrid and Excessive Capability Twin MPLS each elevated the typical bandwidth obtainable per workplace by greater than 60%, nevertheless, 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 conserving a inflexible, software unaware, and centralized breakout legacy community.
It must be no shock {that a} hybrid community is a greater price choice at this level, however it’s value totally understanding the budgetary steadiness. DIA and particularly broadband are clearly more economical than MPLS, however once more, the enterprise that’s working headlong into AI must have a quicker and extra versatile community, not only a cheaper one. Multinationals with websites world wide want to know how product alternative, bandwidth, and geography impression their mission to discover a community that may deal with the long run calls for of the quickly altering IT crew. Subsequent time we are going to check out the enterprise that has gone totally into cloud and realized this may also help them lower prices on actual property by foregoing a return to workplace coverage and thus reducing the community footprint.
Learn the following publish: Bandwidth and Value for an AI-Prepared, Web-First Community
