Communications division of the Computer Warehouse Group, DCC Networks, has commenced the roll-out of the first next-generation MPLS network. The first phase of the service which is to go live in 62 cities in Nigeria is expected to be fully operational in July 2010.
The network when fully operational will provide high reliability, data and voice connectivity service to cooperate clients. With this network, all branch and satellite offices of corporate organisations within these 62 cities will have the opportunity of being linked together in a mesh-like, redundant, path topology thereby guaranteeing near 100% service availability.
Another beauty of this network is the fact that it makes use of redundant fibre path to connect all the cities within the network together. With multiple fibre path as the backbone, the user experience is better enhanced with improved latency as low as 50ms between the head offices and the upcountry branches. The fact that the service is rolled out using 5.4Ghz Wimax license increases the service reliability by removing the interference that is the hallmark of  unlicensed frequency radios used for last mile connectivity by most terrestrial (fibre) providers.
DCC Networks has by this rollout changed the communication landscape in the country as it is now possible for corporate clients to get high speed, high reliable, connectivity delivered to their upcountry offices and most interestingly at a cheaper price. It is in deed paying less for more.
As part of the strategic moves to achieve this, DCC has signed co-location partnership with infrastructure giant service provider, Helios Towers. The partnership deal covers a phase by phase roll out plan with 100 sites within the next six months and over 500 sites in the next two years. At the signing ceremony that took place recently in Lagos, Mr. Phillip Obioha, managing director, DCC Networks, explained that the infrastructure sharing will not only enhance DCC’s immediate rollout of the service to meet the immediate demand for their fiber connectivity service, but also expand her service in the nearest future, to incorporate mobile internet access service to the general public.
In the same vein DCC has also signed a partnership agreement with two major telecom provider with extensive fibre reach within the country.
Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a standardized protocol to enable high performance IP networks. It provides fast response time for applications running on Wide area network (WAN), security without scaling problems and with a lower cost structure. To both simplify and increase the efficiency of the network, the MPLS protocol enables data to be transmitted efficiently across a network infrastructure utilizing a technology known as “label switching.” MPLS enables the creation of secure, reliable VPNs which are simple to manage, easy to deploy and which provide Class of Service/Quality of Service (QoS) support. The result is a single integrated IP network which supports quality of service, which is the key advantage in an application rich environment. It makes it possible to implement VoIP and prioritize applications ahead of the best-effort non-critical data. MPLS also offer client on the network the reliability & security of legacy technologies like Frame Relay with the routing flexibility of IP.
With MPLS, network flexibility improves, management simplified and cost reduced. All these are in addition to its redundancy and improve performance inherent advantage. All branches and offices can communicate directly with each other, not just the HQ. MPLS networks provide much more dependable response times than Internet VPNs. From the business perspective, this translates to more efficient communication between offices or plants, quicker client customer service cycle times, and lower labor costs both in operations, sales, and IT making a big difference for interactive applications, such as ERP, RDP, voice and video.
Among others, DCC is able to provide the following business benefit for her client that sign on to the service: Lower total cost of ownership, greater flexibility to accommodate new technologies, lower packet loss means faster response for many applications, and network survivability from its fully meshed nature and consolidation of your network to a single, enterprise-wide view of your sites/group of companies. Others are online reporting which allows you to truly see what is happening on your network so you subscribe only to the bandwidth that you really need, and integrated (fiber with VSAT backup) services provision from one source offering 100% service availability.