What is a leased line?
A leased line is a dedicated fixed-bandwidth data connection. The resources for the connection are reserved through the network by the service provider for the exclusive use by you, our valued customer.
A leased line is a symmetrical, uncontended connectivity solution. It can be used to carry traffic directly to a single point or it can be used to connect multiple branches with a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Different technologies may be deployed to provide the leased line and VPN services, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and metro ethernet.
These are able to deliver an extremely reliable service due to the multiple levels of redundancy that can be achieved in the network. Leased line and VPN services typically provide layer 2 connectivity.
Leased line services can be used to interconnect branch offices, network nodes or data centres, but are also used to provide DIA (Direct Internet Access) to sites that require dedicated and uncontended access to the internet. Guaranteed uptime helps to ensure nothing stands between you and getting business done!
How is a leased line used to facilitate a DIA service?
What are the benefits of a leased line?
There are some key benefits of africaonline’s leased line solution, which include the following:
- Dedicated symmetrical internet access
- A Service Level Agreement (SLA) and guaranteed uptime
- Direct connectivity on a network between multiple endpoints
- The ability to be set up an MPLS VPN network
What are some application scenarios?
africaonline’s leased line is ideal for:
- Interconnecting business offices or data centers (metro ethernet can connect two sites or hundreds of sites!)
- Bridging business locations in Namibia with international head offices or branch offices
- Connecting residential subscribers or businesses to dedicated internet
- Providing dedicated connectivity to public or private cloud data centers
- Providing multicast delivery for business customers to implement video conferencing applications
What is a VPN and what is MPLS protocol?
A virtual private network (VPN) is an encrypted connection over the internet from a device to a network. The encrypted connection helps ensure that sensitive data is safely transmitted, and prevents unauthorized people from ‘eavesdropping’ on the traffic. This can be done for clients working from home and connecting to the office network.
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is an easy way to interconnect all branches across a company network using IP protocols. MPLS is a routing technique that optimises data flow between nodes and allows for high degrees of redundancy be re-routing traffic via different nodes if one fails.
What are the benefits of a VPN/ MPLS network?
Service providers and enterprises can use MPLS to implement QoS (Quality of Service) by defining packets that can meet specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on traffic latency, jitter, packet loss and downtime.
MPLS also supports traffic separation and the creation of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), virtual private LAN services and virtual leased lines.
A notable benefit of MPLS is that it is not tied to any one protocol or transport medium. It supports transport over IP, ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and frame relay. Who doesn’t want high-speed connectivity they can count on?
How does the pricing of leased lines, VPN and MPLS differ?
Leased line and VPN services are highly customer specific and are tailored according to each of our valued customer’s specific needs.
Please contact our sales department to explain your requirements, so that we can prepare a comprehensive service offering and bespoke costing proposal for you. It’s that easy!