Page 11 - FCW, March 30, 2016

THE MODERN NETWORK ADVANCED NETWORKS BRING SPEED, AGILITY AND COST SAVINGS
The New Face of Federal Networks
Simplicity, agility and capacity are the hallmarks of the modern network.
ederal government IT has a growing problem. New technologies and the services they provide are outstripping the capacity of the networks over which they travel. The pace at
which new technologies are devel- oped and deployed gives agencies a host of new ways to deliver powerful digital tools to their employees and better services to constituents. However, they are increasingly squeezed by the network capacity required to deliver them.
It’s not a new problem. More than a decade ago, agencies realized as they moved toward more complex IP-based applications, their existing ATM, frame relay and time division multiplex infrastructures wouldn’t be able to cope. They needed something that could easily and rapidly scale, and be flexible enough to handle the new mission-critical applications and services being developed.
The need has grown more urgent, according to Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for government solutions at Hughes Network Systems (Hughes). Government agencies are rapidly moving to the cloud. They’re also dealing with the bring-your- own-device movement and assist-
ed automation. The growth of the Internet of Things only adds to the equation. Bardo believes it’s time “for a new agency network model.”
A DIFFERENT WAY TO
MANAGE TRAFFIC
Many organizations are using Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology to meet their net- work bandwidth needs. MPLS works by attaching a label to data packets
to tell network routers where to send them. This is unlike traditional rout- ed IP networks, where the router has to read the header information every time so it knows where to send them. That method of routing network traffic is certain, but slow.
MPLS, on the other hand, can handle multiple different types of
data and prioritize traffic over low- latency links. The Defense Information Systems Agency, for example, which provides IT services to support the military’s NetCentric Warfare focus, decided in 2013 to switch to MPLS for its next generation network transport technology. The DISA chose MPLS because of “capacity exhaust, higher
bandwidth service requirements, total cost of ownership, and (the need for) network resiliency and service agility.”
Hughes provides that level of capacity and capability more cost effectively through hybrid networks, in which traditional MPLS is supple- mented by high speed broadband—a high performance, low cost solution for incremental bandwidth for both primary and back up applications. HughesON ActiveTechnologiesTM is
a suite of technologies that together transforms those individual “best effort” IP broadband channels to deliver an intelligent, optimized, enterprise-grade Wide Area Network.
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