Many retailers still use dial ups, satellite, frame relay or DSL connections, because they don't know the true benefits of an MPLS network yet. However, more are starting to find out the benefits of having an MPLS connection especially for the stores that want to manage their various locations from one central location.

As a retailer, the Point of Sale (POS) system is essential and since the technology for POS is demanding more bandwidth, they will soon have to get circuits that can handle the transactions. MPLS circuits are being used more and more over frame relay due to the cost savings (up to 40% less) with more bandwidth and the ability to create a fully meshed network where each location can interact with each other. Frame relay, due to its hub and spoke network, is not fully meshed and in order to make it fully meshed, can become very costly.

The overall MPLS costs for a retailer will depend on several factors:

(a) existing and future bandwidth requirements;

(b) the need to use bandwidth on demand;

(c) geographical spread of wide area networks (distance from the exchange and regulatory restrictions). The further the locations to connect together, the more advantageous it is to have MPLS connections since they're distant insensitive.

MPLS networks are truly becoming the technology for today's WAN. With the refresh of network infrastructure now built into operating budgets, the fact that VOIP, videoconferencing and current data networks are no longer a leap of faith, more and more retailers are migrating to MPLS solutions in the next year and beyond.

In order to take full advantage of the MPLS technology, MPLS service is required at every site. ALL MPLS service offerings allow businesses that previously did not have a full meshed network to now have the benefits of one. This plays well into most Disaster Recovery plans too. All locations can interact with one another without additional cost like frame relay.

MPLS services offer CoS (class of service) or QoS (Quality of Service). This is very useful if retailers need to run VOIP or other applications such as videoconferencing, ERP, CRM, etc in addition to the POS.

For MPLS connections to be most effective, your entire route from point A to point B has to be MPLS enabled. So given locations A say in Las Vegas and location B in say Dallas, this entire path from both locations HAVE to be MPLS enabled. Otherwise, the packet markings are useless.

Shopforbandwidth.com has helped various retailers, migrate from DSL, satellite, or frame relay to MPLS. They can do the same for your company as well, whether you have a 2 location retailer or 1000+ locations. You can choose to connect your various locations with MPLS speeds usually starting at 768kbps to 1.5 mbps.

For MPLS pricing, get MPLS quotes NOW !