SIFY to offer MPLS-based VPN services

Cisco solutions to enable SIFY to provide comprehensive security to enterprise networks

New Delhi, August 27, 2001: Cisco, the worldwide leader in Internet and networking, and Sify (Nasdaq National Market: SIFY), India’s premier Internet and eCommerce services company, today announced a tie-up to offer Cisco’s MPLS-based VPN solutions that are completely secure and scalable. This represents next generation Virtual Private Network (VPN) services that Sify will make available to their enterprise customers.

Mr Rahul Swarup, President, Enterprise Solutions, SIFY, said, “Business customers are today increasingly looking at VPNs for reliable enterprise wide networks, and to reduce total cost of ownership associated with private leased lines and frame relay services. MPLS-based VPNs have been found to be precisely such a solution. We are delighted to partner with Cisco to deliver the first en-to-end solution of this kind in India.”

Mr Rustom Irani, Chief Technology Officer, SIFY, said, “SIFY will now be able to offer better Quality of Service (QoS) on VPNs from all its 52 plus “points of presence” in the country, matching the capabilities of an ATM/Frame network. This puts us on par with global players in the West with regard to technology, cost efficiencies, reliability, security and scalability of VPN solutions for our enterprise customers.”

Some of the significant value-added advantages that SIFY can now offer customers through MPLS-based VPN’s are Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to assure the QoS requested for by their customers. In addition, SIFY can now offer their customers fully secure and reliable point-to-point connectivity between separate enterprise sites. Moreover, the MPLS-based services will be much easier to manage and provision by a Service Provider.

MPLS VPN technology allows the classification and prioritizing of applications that are mission critical according to each customer requirement. Additionally, the end customer need not change their existing IP addresses.

Mr Jangoo Dalal, VP Channels and Business Development, Cisco India said, “ Cisco is the number one provider of integrated VPN Management solutions across the world. We have sustained this leadership by understanding global business needs, and through consistent investments in R&D. As per IDC, for enterprise networks across the world that encompass between 5-15 sites, VPN's can be deployed for a fraction of the cost of a private network. Cisco’s MPLS-based VPN solutions have been able to combine such cost advantages with comprehensive security, scalability and assured QoS. This made it a very compelling value-proposition for SIFY to offer to any enterprise customer across India”.
“This places SIFY on par with other large global ISP, who have deployed MPLS in the core.”

An additional feature of MPLS-based VPN’s are that the Service Provider core structure is not revealed so it appears to be as invisible as their Frame Relay and ATM counterparts - reducing chances of hacking. They also allow for network-based VPN services that are completely transparent to any applications, allowing for complete security on any application the end-consumer might be working on. Further, the MPLS- based VPN solution has a mechanism in place to limit the impact of DoS attacks to the VPN where they originated.

To provide the service, SIFY has implemented a solution based on the existing range of routers from Cisco - Cisco 7500, Cisco 7200 and Cisco 3600. The IOS software of the routers have been upgraded to support MPLS feature, with hardware upgrades on existing core/backbone routers