Connecting Customer Locations Using Different Service Provider MPLS Networks

MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) technology is de facto standard in service provider environments and most companies are connected over service provider MPLS infrastructure. Sometimes it happens that one company from a small country such as Croatia merge with another company in a small country like Slovenia. Both companies have their own network infrastructure that is connected through service providers in their respective country, but since the two companies are now one administrative domain their networks should reflect this and connect into one bigger network in order for this network to become more efficient and to better support business goals. There are simple and common solutions such as S2S VPN, but in this case it would not be long-term and optimal solution especially if there is traffic like multicast, VoIP or various datacenter traffic. The direction in which we should go is to connect the two companies into a single organization using one of the mechanisms for connecting service providers also known as carrier supporting carrier. In this paper we will describe advantages and disadvantages using carrier supporting carrier options A and B. Once two companies are connected in this manner, it is much easier to manage traffic and to implement QOS mechanisms.