Anyone shell out 300,000 smackers for the Cisco software Tunnel Builder Pro?
We had a local ISP that got cut off from the backbone which was resolved later. They say they run
tunnels for fun sometimes. They say they ran a tunnel over to a broadband customer who was with a
broadband service provider, and in behind their firewall, then back out through the NAT in their
firewall to the outside world. We were talking about the price of the software considering many
OC-48 operaters have their own fiber. Their response was that how many people have 10 routers
operating at OC-48? And don't own their own fiber? And don't have oodles of dark fiber? And don't
peer those routers with several other backbones through which excess traffic can be dumped (for a
fee) during rare periods of circuit outage? Considering the tradeoffs, who is using Tunnel Builder
Pro and has justified the cost savings in their network?
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From old article on Cisco Tunnel Builder Pro
Bandwidth protection, a necessary but expensive staple in high-capacity fiber networks, got better
and cheaper this week with Cisco Systems' introduction of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
bandwidth protection.
The new solution to an old problem features a network architecture that uses MPLS Traffic
Engineering Fast Reroute and an application developed by PARC Technologies called Tunnel Builder
Pro. It minimizes and in some cases eliminates the need for non-productive redundant circuits.
While Cisco's MPLS traffic engineering can compute the best available path in the case of a reroute
of traffic, Tunnel Builder Pro enhances this capability by computing backup tunnels using an
algorithm called hybrid optimization. The solution is part of and uses other features of Cisco's
IOS Software.
These other features include support of Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) Hellos, a mechanism
used for detecting failures in Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet and other packet-over-Sonet networks.
Current methods of protection, such as SONET automatic protection switching and SDH multiplexed
switching protection, require an equal amount of idle, non-revenue generating capacity to lie in
wait for a network failure.
"Even the best protection schemes won't give you 100% protection. So [carriers] need to weigh the
amount of money they want to spend for it," said Amrit Hanspal, product manager for MPLS and QoS in
Cisco's Internet technologies division.
In addition to the one-for-one backup scheme in other protection scenarios, network operators
generally limit network utilization to 60% before adding more capacity. "That's a lot of unused
bandwidth," Hanspal said.
MPLS bandwidth protection can be used in tandem with existing Sonet/SDH protection schemes, but
rather than eliminating circuits used for protection, Cisco's solution makes that bandwidth
available for revenue generating traffic.
Tunnel Builder Pro uses a backup route generator that contains the algorithm for calculating
the size of necessary backup tunnels. It includes a server that continuously pulls utilization
and routing information from routers and an HTML/Java-based client that displays a real-time
network map.
Although the $300,000 price tag for Tunnel Builder Pro is twice that of a backup OC-48 line card
required for Sonet/SDH protection, Cisco estimates that the elimination of recurring operating
expenses associated with maintaining the OC-48 circuits in a 10-router network (approximately
$800,000) brings its MPLS bandwidth protection in at one-third the cost.
"MPLS protection gives service providers the two things they want. It reduces capital expense by
allowing them to leverage existing infrastructure and at the same time cuts operating expenses be
getting rid of recurring costs for unused circuits," Hanspal said.