Capacity planning for high quality service on IP/MPLS networks
A leading carrier in the Asia Pacific region faced significant challenges in managing the growing complexity of their IP/MPLS network. With the surge in demand from 5G services, cloud connectivity, and edge applications, the carrier needed to expand network capacity rapidly while maintaining high service quality. Network traffic in their infrastructure was expected to double every three years, with the number of connected devices growing to over 29.3 billion by 2025. Managing a multilayer, multivendor network environment encompassing more than 10,000 VPNs and millions of daily routing updates, proved difficult with traditional capacity planning methods. Manual processes led to inefficient resource allocation, with up to 50% of network capacity remaining underutilized. The carrier struggled to accurately forecast demand, simulate the impact of changes, and balance traffic loads, resulting in 25% more Service Level Agreement (SLA) violations due to unexpected congestion and outages.
Addressing rapid traffic growth and reducing SLA penalties
The carrier faced several critical challenges:
Inaccurate capacity forecasting: Manual forecasting methods led to either over-provisioning, resulting in unnecessary costs, or under-provisioning, leading to network performance issues.
Unplanned outages due to poor change simulation: 70% of network outages were traced back to changes that had not been properly simulated or tested, which affected critical services.
High SLA penalties: Due to frequent congestion and service interruptions, the carrier incurred $1.2 million annually in SLA payouts, impacting profitability and customer satisfaction.
The carrier required a solution that could provide real-time visibility into network performance, automate traffic optimization, and enable predictive capacity planning to support future growth.
How ROA transformed capacity planning
The carrier deployed Route Optimization and Analysis (ROA) to overcome their capacity planning challenges and improve overall network performance. ROA’s comprehensive suite of tools offered real-time visibility, advanced analytics, and automation capabilities, which enabled the carrier to efficiently plan for future capacity needs and optimize existing network resources.
Key features of ROA for the carrier
Traffic matrices for real-time visibility: ROA’s traffic matrices allowed the carrier to visualize how traffic flows across the network, identifying congestion hotspots and underutilized links. This enabled them to balance traffic, leading to a 20% reduction in congestion on critical routes.
What-if analysis for change simulation: Using ROA’s what-if analysis, the carrier simulated the impact of adding a new peering partner, revealing that it could cause a 45% increase in latency for specific services. With this insight, they adjusted routing policies to prevent potential issues and avoided major service disruption.
Automation for traffic optimization: ROA automated the provisioning of Traffic Engineering (TE) tunnels, dynamically splitting traffic when usage exceeded 80% thresholds. This prevented bottlenecks and ensured that critical services received the necessary bandwidth. This reduced SLA violations by 37%.
Quantifiable improvements with ROA
The implementation of ROA yielded significant, quantifiable improvements for the APAC carrier, helping them optimize capacity and achieve their operational goals.
37% reduction in SLA penalties: By leveraging ROA’s real-time insights and automated traffic management, the carrier was able to cut annual SLA payouts by $444,000, which improved overall profitability while reducing customer churn.
30% increase in network utilization efficiency: ROA’s traffic analysis identified underutilized network segments, allowing the carrier to reallocate resources more effectively. This increased network utilization efficiency by 30%, enabling the carrier to defer $1.5 million in planned infrastructure upgrades for 18 months.
90% faster capacity report generation: ROA automated the generation of capacity planning reports, reducing the time required from three weeks to just two hours. This allowed the carrier’s network planning team to make faster, data-driven decisions and accelerate their response to market demands.
40% reduction in unplanned outages: With the ability to simulate traffic growth and infrastructure changes, the carrier minimized disruptions and unplanned outages by 40%, ensuring higher service reliability and maintaining customer trust.
46% growth in subscribers: ROA enabled the carrier to double its revenue-generating services without adding significant new resources, facilitating a 46% growth in subscribers over 18 months. The carrier maintained optimal network performance even with the increased load, which enhanced customer satisfaction.
Manage tomorrow’s challenges while maintaining operational excellence
Implementing ROA marked a turning point in the carrier’s capacity planning strategy. By adopting ROA’s advanced analytics, real-time traffic insights, and automated optimization capabilities, the carrier transformed their network into a scalable, efficient, and reliable infrastructure capable of supporting future growth. This success story highlights the tangible benefits of integrating ROA into network planning processes. The carrier not only reduced costs but also improved service quality and customer satisfaction, setting a solid foundation for sustainable growth in a competitive market. With ROA, the carrier is now equipped to manage the challenges of tomorrow while maintaining operational excellence.
