Lease Lines vs MPLS: Which is Best for Optimum Network Connectivity?

In this article, we’ll discuss two major forms of network connectivity; lease lines and MPLS.  The fundamental concept for both Lease line and MPLS technologies is that they are used to connect multiple branches in order to facilitate access, as well as transfer of data between these multiple branches as a way of speeding up the business transactions of an entity.  Let’s look at the fundamental ways in which each technology accomplishes this task.

Lease Line Communication
A lease line is a communication link that connects two points (locations) for private communication services like voice or data.  It is not really a dedicated cable, but rather a reserved circuit between the two connected points.  In most cases, leased lines are used by businesses who rent them from network providers for use in connecting their branch offices.  These lines are particularly suitable for businesses because the bandwidth is guaranteed for traffic over the network.
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MLPS)
MPLS is an acronym for Multi-Protocol Label Switching, which is a technology used to speed up the flow of traffic on a network so that it becomes easier to manage.  To achieve this kind of traffic management, a specific path is set up for a particular sequence of packets with a label in each packet for identification purposes.  The overall result is that the time the router would have taken to look for the next node’s address is saved (the node is where the packet is forwarded to).  The MPLS technology works with multiple network protocols including frame relay, Synchronous Transport Mode (ATM) and Internet Protocol.

Two Live Scenarios on Usage

Mobile Backhaul:  Wireless aggregation and access
In this scenario, the MPLS technology is used to offer transportation services necessary for mobile controlling functions as well as user plane traffic in various topologies that are used for supporting different RAN technologies and interfaces.  Good examples of topologies include flat and centralized topologies whereas examples of RAN technologies and interfaces include mobile WiMAX, GSM and UMTSLTE.
Lease line Site-Network connection
This has been necessitated by growth in data networks thus leading to development of dynamic networks by use of packet switching (grouping all transmitted data into small sized blocks known as packets) .The packet switching architecture is built on top of existing infrastructure in order to achieve the switching functionality across the private network.
And the Winner is…
The major difference between leased line and MPLS is that in a leased line, the site (branch) is connected to each other through a line provided by the service provider; the connection is a private network for communication between the sites.  In an MPLS network, each site is connected to the service provider’s network with a single link such that any packet from the locations to the network is given an MPLS label for identification and routed through the network.  With MPLS, it is possible to define the traffic path in a network as well as the performance characteristics for different forms of traffic like voice, video or data.  In addition, an MPLS network can actually carry all sorts of packets by using the same infrastructure simply because the packets coming in are assigned protocol independent labels for transmission to the network.  This makes MPLS the preferred technology for use in business network communication.