Tw Telecom, a nationwide broadband ethernet and MPLS IP VPN provider, is to join forces with BT and Cisco to deliver a U.S. based business conferencing solution. Video conferencing has become a mainstream solution since environmental awareness, the recession and the recent volcanic ash cloud have made business travel less feasible.

Tw Telecom will provide business customers with broadband ethernet and MPLS services as well as connecting BT’s Global Video Exchange platform with Cisco’s commended TelePresence solution. The result will be a high-end video conferencing solution that will enable businesses to communicate both internally and externally while saving money.

Never one to hang around waiting on its laurels (whatever they are), Vodafone has announced to the world at general that its Global Enterprise division has just won a five year contract with Deutsche Post DHL (DPDHL). The contract requires Vodafone to provide a managed MPLS network connecting 400 sites in 67 countries and an international WAN (wide area network) across the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. Let’s hope Vodafone is up to the task.

Polycom and BT have joined forces in a partnership that is set to bring forth a unified conferencing platform for businesses. In the partnership, Polycom will of course provide the video conferencing and web conferencing solutions which will then be packaged with services on BT’s MPLS communications network. The move to provide a unified conferencing platform will undoubtedly be a popular one and as far as Polycom are concerned, the partnership with BT will allow them to keep pace with growing companies like Cisco and Logitech.

You Want WAN With That?

According to recently released data from networkworld.com, most WAN strategies now feature MPLS – now if you’re a novice at this, that’s going to mean about as much to you as a slice of Arabic. WAN? MPLS? What?

Well what the big deal is all about is how the wide area networks (WAN) have been made better and faster because of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS). So all you need to know is that if you have business broadband and someone says ‘want MPLS with that?’ (like some hi-tech McDonalds of the future) then the right answer to give, is yes. Yes I do.