VPLS Joins iMasons Climate Accord

VPLS joins data center industry leaders in uniting to achieve carbon neutrality.

Published

Written by

Filed under

VPLS has joined the iMasons Climate Accord (ICA). ICA is a historic coalition designed to govern a methodology to measure and reduce carbon in the infrastructure through products, power, and materials. The global colocation and managed services provider is joined by industry leaders who all agree the key to achieving carbon neutrality is by uniting.

Currently, there is no universal labeling system or mechanism to measure embodied carbon over the life of the materials used to build data center facilities or the products that fill them. Infrastructure Masons (iMasons) was established by Dean Nelson, a long-time Infrastructure executive, and industry contributor, to provide infrastructure executives and technical professionals an independent forum to connect, grow and give back. Nelson believes that industry adoption of an open standard to report carbon in data center materials and products, carbon intensity in power consumption, and a maturity model to report participant progress is essential to keeping the industry accountable for their sustainability standards.

The data center industry has remarkably exceeded expectations in taking measures to reduce its carbon footprint. Initially, data center infrastructures were predicted to make up to 20% of the global energy usage. In 2020, data center power usage made up merely 1%, far superseding the expectations. This was achieved by making changes and upgrades to infrastructures, purchasing reusable power, and building energy-efficient infrastructure. VPLS has reduced the PUE of two of their Northern California data centers upon acquiring them and aims to continue to keep with upgrades that improve sustainability.

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

What Is MPLS in Networking?

Blog Post / By VPLS Marketing Team

Published

Written by

Filed under

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a type of packet forwarding technology. Using MPLS, an enterprise can virtually connect two of its locations — regardless of where they’re located. This makes MPLS a great option for distributed teams. Find out more about how MPLS works and its benefits.

How MPLS Works

MPLS is a technology that uses labels instead of UP addresses to make data forwarding decisions. Think of a packet as a piece of mail. As a packet travels from its origin to its destination, it will stop at routers along the way.

Each router needs to decide what to do with that packet, typically by inspecting the packet’s IP address. This can lead to slow speeds and poor performance. But with MPLS, the routers are just reading a short label and forwarding it accordingly. It’s like they’re looking at the address on the envelope rather than opening and reading the mail.

The MPLS header is divided into four parts:

A 20-bit label field
A three-bit Class of Service field
A one-bit “bottom of stack” indicator
An 8-bit time to live (TTL)

An MPLS network is a Layer 2.5 solution. Network communications are typically described using a seven-layer hierarchy:

Layer 1: Physical
Layer 2: Data Link
Layer 3: Network
Layer 4: Transport
Layer 5: Session
Layer 6: Presentation
Layer 7: Application

Because MPLS has the same speed as a Layer 2 solution but uses the scalability of a Layer 3 solution, it’s often referred to as “Layer 2.5.”

Where is MPLS Used?

MPLS is used to achieve inter-site connectivity across multiple physical locations. Some organizations have a data center at their headquarters or main office and need to give employees at satellite offices access to that data center. MPLS offers a reliable connection, and when needed, it can prioritize certain traffic like voice and video applications.

When implementing an MPLS, some enterprises choose to use a secure software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN). SD-WAN architecture sets up a secure network that can use MPLS (or other transport services) to give end-users safe access to applications.

With SD-WAN traffic steering, critical applications always get the fastest path to ensure high performance.

Benefits to MPLS

Implementing MPLS requires an initial investment, but it has many advantages over traditional IP routing. The benefits of MPLS include:

Learn More About Using MPLS At Your Enterprise

If you’re looking for a reliable way to keep your business connected, VPLS is here to help. In addition to MPLS, we also offer:

Dark fiber
Wavelength division multiplexing

With scalable solutions and expert, 24/7 support, VPLS is the premier choice for networking solutions. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

Sources:
https://www.techopedia.com/definition/527/multiprotocol-label-switching-mpls
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/multi-protocol-label-switching-mpls/
https://archive.nanog.org/sites/default/files/tuesday_tutorial_steenbergen_mpls_46.pdf

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

Chappaqua, NY (JFK2)

Data Center: JFK2

Our Chappaqua data center includes secure cabinets, carrier-neutral connectivity from multiple providers, and 100% power availability guarantee for redundant installations. To protect your colocation equipment, this facility maintains multi-stage security using biometric sensors at ingress and egress doors.

About the JFK2 Data Center

Data Center Location

Chappaqua, NY (JFK2)
480 N. Bedford Plaza Chappaqua, NY 10514

Other VPLS Data Center Locations

In addition to our Chappaqua data center, we’ve got California covered. With VPLS you can directly connect to the rest of our national and global data centers.

SJC7 Technical Specifications

Security

Space & Environmentals

Power

Interconnection

Global Footprint

Breaking News: Evocative Signs Definitive Agreement To Acquire 9 INAP Data Centers

Announcements, News / By VPLS Public Relations

San Jose, CA, September 14, 2022 – Evocative, a global provider of Internet infrastructure, announces today its intent to acquire the majority of INAP’s data center facilities. The acquisition will consist of 9 data centers, including colocation and related network services.

The acquisition of INAP’s data centers adds to Evocative’s existing data center footprint with new facilities in Boston, New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles (2), Silicon Valley (2), and Seattle. With the facilities acquired from INAP, Evocative’s portfolio increases to 20 operating data center colocation facilities and 60+ global Points of Presence. In addition to the data center asset acquisition, Evocative also plans to welcome several INAP employees associated with the INAP data center business to the Evocative team. In doing so, the company will grow by 30%.

The acquisition is expected to close within the next few weeks, bringing Evocative’s data center presence to:

20 carrier neutral Tier II and Tier III data centers in the United States
1,080,000 square feet of data center space with significant expansion space
108 MW of available power with an additional 25% expansion capability
Over 500+ carriers across the portfolio including direct public cloud on-ramps
2,000+ carrier, content, and enterprise clients

“Foremost, we welcome our new clients and employees to Evocative. We are honored and humbled to be your new partner. We are excited to share the strength of Evocative’s digital infrastructure capabilities with our clients,” states Arman Khalili, Founder and CEO of Evocative. “We know the importance of enterprise digital enablement. We built a company that offers a comprehensive suite of solutions from the physical foundation up the stack to enable the delivery of highly secure, hosted data services,” Khalili added.

With organic growth and its acquisition strategy further advanced by the INAP data center purchase, Evocative has emerged as a leading enterprise digital infrastructure provider. Evocative is well positioned to continue its exponential growth with a clear focus on providing best-in-class IT infrastructure and a full suite of services. The acquisition is expected to close in Q3, 2022, following the standard closing process.

For more information about Evocative and its full suite of global enterprise-class digital infrastructure solutions, visit: www.evocative.com.

We Are Evocative: Company Consolidates Brands To One

Announcements, News / By VPLS Marketing Team

San Jose, CA, September 13, 2022 – Evocative, a global provider of Internet infrastructure, announces today that the company has consolidated its portfolio to one brand: Evocative. Evocative enables enterprise organizations with a full suite of digital transformation solutions including colocation, network, bare metal, cloud and managed services.

The colocation and bare metal operator has experienced record growth in the last decade, as noted by its recognition as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest growing privately held companies for the last 3 years. Contributing to this growth has been a series of acquisitions including assets from Carrier-1 Data Centers, ZR Systems, Cyberverse, Krypt, VPLS Inc., Wave Broadband and others.

“We see massive benefit in consolidating our affiliate brands into a single brand – Evocative,” comments Arman Khalili, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Evocative. “Unifying all Evocative affiliate brands as one allows us to seamlessly share our full suite of services and capabilities, while driving differentiated value for our customers.”

Evocative’s data center footprint spans Boston, New York, New Jersey, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley and Seattle with 11 colocation facilities. In addition to colocation services, Evocative provides enterprise customers with a full suite of cloud-to-edge infrastructure solutions, formerly operating under the VPLS Inc. name, including layer 1-3 connectivity options, bare metal hosting, IT infrastructure management and managed security solutions.

“Our Evocative brand consolidation provides us with a strong foundation to position our expanding data center footprint and services portfolio,” adds Renée Lawrence, Vice President, Global Marketing of Evocative. “We have amassed a number of acquisitions in the last few years and bringing them together under a single brand enables us with a clear and consistent message about our rapid growth trajectory.”

Evocative’s most recent acquisition came in April 2022, as Evocative acquired Carrier-1’s data center in Dallas, Texas, its fourth in the Dallas market. In the previous two years, Evocative acquired Wave Broadband’s Santa Clara, California, data center and ZR Systems, a Hawaiian Managed Services Provider. Evocative’s most influential addition, VPLS Inc., joined in 2019. The VPLS acquisition included multiple data center facilities and bolstered Evocative’s cloud and managed services operations.

With its organic growth and acquisition strategy, Evocative has quickly emerged as a leading enterprise digital infrastructure provider. Evocative is well positioned to continue its exponential growth by retooling its portfolio with a clear focus on providing best-in-class IT infrastructure and a full suite of services.

For more information about Evocative and its full suite of global enterprise-class digital infrastructure solutions, visit: www.evocative.com.

VPLS | Evocative CEO Arman Khalili to Speak at Bisnow’s National DICE Data Center Management, Operations and Cooling Summit 2022

Announcements, Blog Post, Promotion / By VPLS Marketing Team

Published

Written by

Filed under

VPLS | Evocative CEO Arman Khalili is joining the keynote panel at Bisnow’s National DICE Data Center Management, Operations and Cooling Summit. This event focuses on innovations and trends in power, density, infrastructure and a road map to sustainability. Bisnow’s National DICE Data Center Management, Operations and Cooling Summit is set to take place September 8, 2022 in San Jose, California and connects thought leaders from across the data center industry.

Click here to register for the event.

VPLS | Evocative CEO, Arman Khalili, will join executives from Sabey Data Centers, T5 Data Centers, Enchanted Rock and The Open Compute Project Foundation on an opening keynote panel titled: “How to Future-Proof Your Data Center Operation: Given the Dynamics of Today, How Are You Planning for Tomorrow?” on September 8, 2022 starting from 8:30am at the Westin San Jose.

WHAT: Opening Keynote Panel: How to Future-Proof Your Data Center Operation: Given the Dynamics of Today, How Are You Planning for Tomorrow?

WHERE: Bisnow’s National DICE Data Center Management, Operations and Cooling Summit

WHEN: Thursday September 8, 2022 at 8:30 AM PDT

WHO: Panel members include:

Arman Khalili, CEO, VPLS | Evocative
Paul Froutan, CTO, Enchanted Rock
Bijan Nowroozi, CTO, The Open Compute Project Foundation
John Sasser, CTO, Sabey Data Centers
Aaron Wangenheim, COO, T5 Data Centers

###

About VPLS

VPLS, an Evocative company, is a global leader in enterprise-class data center, bare metal, network, cloud, and managed services solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. VPLS’s global footprint includes 18 data centers supporting over 68,000 servers across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through a series of acquisitions including VPLS, assets from Carrier-1 Data Centers, Wave Broadband, and more, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. VPLS is dedicated to helping to drive digital businesses forward, both now and in the decades to come. VPLS is a brand under its parent company, EVODC LLC.

For more information please visit: Colocation, Managed Security and Cloud Solutions | VPLS

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

VPLS, an Evocative Company, Fortifies Management Team to Empower Enterprise Digital Infrastructure Growth

News / By Evocative Marketing Team

Global data center, bare metal, network, and cloud solutions provider adds key leadership roles in engineering, operations, marketing and brand strategy.

Published

Written by

Filed under

VPLS, an Evocative company and a global provider of Internet infrastructure, data center, and managed services, announces today that it has expanded its leadership team, setting its sights on enabling enterprises with access to a full suite of digital transformation solutions including colocation, network, bare metal, cloud and managed services.

VPLS added three core members to its management team including Mark Hassman, Vice President of Systems; Renée Lawrence, Vice President, Global Marketing; and Steve Rubin, Vice President of Network Engineering. Mark, Renée, and Steve bring complementary digital infrastructure experience to the company, fortifying operations, product and service capabilities, marketing, customer experience for VPLS’s global roster of customers.

“VPLS has experienced tremendous growth in these past few years,” comments Arman Khalili, CEO of VPLS. In 2019, Evocative acquired VPLS and its full suite of enterprise-class solutions including Internet, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions, and managed services, followed by the acquisition of facilities in Dallas and in Silicon Valley. As we bring together additional team members with proven track records of successfully integrating and innovating enhanced infrastructure solutions for the enterprise, our organization is well positioned to empower future generations of digital solutions.”

Mark Hassman brings more than 25 years of Internet technology experience to his role as Vice President, Systems at VPLS. Commenting on his new role, Hassman states, “I’m pleased to bring the cumulation of my experience in systems architecture, automation, and infrastructure services to VPLS. Our colocation solutions, combined with our broad data center footprint, global network backbone, capabilities for private, public, and hybrid cloud, and managed services offer companies exceptional options for their evolving digital infrastructure requirements.”

Renée Lawrence is a corporate communications and brand strategist joining the team as Vice President, Global Marketing. She brings to this role extensive experience in product and solutions marketing, product management, partner program development, digital marketing, and competitive insights and analytics. Lawrence remarks, “I am very happy to be joining the team at VPLS. It’s an exciting time for our organization and I’m looking forward to bringing our brand and our product and services portfolio into this next phase of our growth.”

Steve Rubin’s more than 30 years of experience in the digital infrastructure industry brings core backbone engineering, data center connectivity, hardware, software, and cloud interconnection expertise to his role as Vice President of Network Engineering. Remarking on his new role, Rubin said, “I am thrilled to be fortifying the VPLS network infrastructure as we focus on scale and security. Our clients are confronted with challenging network and security decisions and it’s an honor to be a trusted partner, advisor and resource.”

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

VPLS, an Evocative Company, Fortifies Management Team to Empower Enterprise Digital Infrastructure Growth

News / By Evocative Marketing Team

Global data center, bare metal, network, and cloud solutions provider adds key leadership roles in engineering, operations, marketing and brand strategy

Published

Written by

Filed under

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

What Is a Managed Network Service Provider?

Blog Post / By VPLS Marketing Team

Published

Written by

Filed under

Today’s organizations have complex needs.

Companies must have reliable ways to protect sensitive customer and employee data, and they need to be able to easily collaborate with colleagues without worrying about network downtime.

Managed network services can help take complicated information technology (IT) work off your plate so you can get back to meeting your company’s goals. A managed network service provider is a third-party vendor that monitors and maintains a company’s IT infrastructure. Learn more about managed network services and their advantages below.

What Managed Network Service Providers Do

Managed network services vary in sophistication and scope across network administration, maintenance, and operation. A service level agreement (SLA) for managed services might include the following:

Providing and maintaining network hardware, such as servers and routers
Installing software on endpoint devices
Managing security infrastructure
Security information and event management (SIEM) tasks
Help desk support and technical assistance for your end users
Data center solutions
Cloud infrastructure management

These detailed agreements also outline how managed solutions are paid for. Managed network service providers may charge a monthly flat rate or a per-device fee. Other providers offer tiered pricing structures based on the level of support your company needs.

Benefits of Managed Network Services

When you partner with a managed network service provider, you’ll enjoy the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your company’s data is protected.

Plus, your staff can work efficiently without time-consuming service interruptions or costly connectivity issues. Some of the many benefits of managed network services include:

Cutting-edge technology and protection: With managed services, you don’t have to worry about updating or replacing your IT infrastructure or staying abreast of the latest trends in cybersecurity — it’s all done for you. Your service provider will keep your equipment up to date and continuously monitor your network for any vulnerabilities.
Saving time and money: Outsourcing your network management to an expert third party frees up valuable staff hours. Your IT team will spend less time responding to support requests and more time focusing on other priorities. With less of the day spent on maintenance, troubleshooting, updating hardware and software, and learning new systems, you can significantly reduce overhead costs for your company. And because managed service can come at a fixed monthly fee, you’ll be able to plan for the future with more accurate budgets and fewer unpredicted capital expenses for costly equipment upgrades.
Reliable expertise: With managed third-party services, you don’t need to worry about losing institutional knowledge if a seasoned member of your IT team leaves the organization. You’ll benefit from the industry expertise of network engineers who leverage the latest technology to minimize network incidents, quickly resolve issues as they arise, and ensure that your data is protected from security breaches.
Scalability: As enterprises grow, it can be a challenge to upgrade IT infrastructure in response to onboarding new staff. Outsourcing your network services helps your company stay agile and eliminates the need to incur costs for new equipment and software. As a team expands, your managed network service provider can adjust the service agreement according to these evolving needs.

Learn More About Managed Network Services From VPLS

If your company is seeking experienced, enterprise-level managed network services, VPLS is standing by to help. Our managed network services include 24/7/365 monitoring by our in-house experts. A one-stop shop for IT solutions, VPLS offers the following advantages:

Real-time status monitoring
Tracking and reporting through our ticketing system
Managed network security services to protect you from malware, viruses, and other cyberthreats

VPLS provides tailored solutions for organizations across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, financial services, media and entertainment, telecom, and beyond. To learn more about our managed services and how we can help your team, contact us today.

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

What Is Dark Fiber? How it Works Plus its Many Benefits

Blog Post / By VPLS Marketing Team

Published

Written by

Filed under

Fiber-optic cables provide internet connectivity by sending information through light pulses. Cables that have been installed underground but aren’t in use are called “dark fiber”—also known as black or unlit fiber. There are thousands of miles of unlit fiber-optic cables throughout the country that were installed by telecom providers but haven’t been utilized yet.

Organizations in private and public sectors can take advantage of this unused dark fiber to create a secure network system that’s isolated from public networks and provides consistent, reliable speed.

By purchasing or leasing dark fiber, you can create a stable internet environment that your company controls, ensuring you never have to worry about insufficient bandwidth or network capacity. Find out more about dark fiber vs. lit fiber and the advantages of working with dark fiber service providers.

Dark Fiber vs. Lit Fiber

When most people connect to the internet from home through their laptop or smartphone, they’re using lit fiber — linking to the existing fiber-optic infrastructure provided by a utility company. But when organizations want a secure and private option for network access, they can purchase or lease dark fiber-optic cables from a service provider.

The organization uses its own equipment to “light” the fiber, so they have complete control over their internet infrastructure.

Benefits of Using Dark Fiber

While dark fiber may seem confusing at first, it’s an elegant solution to many of the challenges that companies face. The advantages of using dark fiber include:

Privacy and Security

Companies can purchase or lease dark fiber, and they own the equipment connected to the fiber. This dedicated infrastructure gives the enterprise complete control over the network.

All the information they send over the network is private and can’t be monitored by outside entities. This is a big value-add for organizations that handle sensitive, private data, such as healthcare systems.

Working with dark fiber service providers is becoming a popular choice among school districts that want to ensure that student data remains protected while having access to a secure and powerful network.

Speed

In computer network systems, latency measures the amount of time it takes for data to travel from its origin point to its destination.

Dark fiber networks tend to have low latency, meaning data can be transmitted quickly across a large network. This is important for organizations with a high number of endpoints, such as laptops, desktops, tablets, and IoT (internet of things) devices.

Capacity and Flexibility

Because enterprises that use dark fiber aren’t utilizing public fiber-optic cables, they enjoy high capacity and strong signal strength. This allows them to respond to internal demand without worrying about external network issues.

Fiber-optic cables are extremely powerful — their bandwidth is only limited by the transceiver equipment at either end of the fiber. As companies need more bandwidth, they can simply upgrade their equipment to enjoy higher speeds, without needing to replace any fiber.

Cost-Effectiveness

While operating your own private fiber-optic network comes with start-up capital costs, the potential for long-term savings is significant.

As your organization grows, you can quickly surpass your bandwidth capacity if you’re on a lit-fiber network, and it can require lots of time and money to upgrade your existing systems. But once you’ve invested in dark fiber, it’s easy to add capacity. Plus, you don’t have to worry about service calls, hidden fees, or unpredictable costs from month to month.

Learn More About Network Solutions from VPLS

At VPLS, we offer dark fiber connectivity solutions supported by our carrier-neutral data centers throughout the United States and beyond. We work with more than 7,000 clients around the world to provide managed solutions for everything from cloud storage to colocation. We’ll tailor our services to meet your company’s unique needs, and our 24/7 support means we’re always just a call away. For more information, contact us today.

Read More from this Author

If you enjoyed this article, you'll probably like:

Search Results for:

How MPLS Works

Where is MPLS Used?

Benefits to MPLS

Learn More About Using MPLS At Your Enterprise

Data Center: JFK2

About the JFK2 Data Center

Other VPLS Data Center Locations

SJC7 Technical Specifications

Security

Space & Environmentals

Power

Interconnection

Global Footprint

Global data center, bare metal, network, and cloud solutions provider adds key leadership roles in engineering, operations, marketing and brand strategy.

Global data center, bare metal, network, and cloud solutions provider adds key leadership roles in engineering, operations, marketing and brand strategy

What Managed Network Service Providers Do

Benefits of Managed Network Services

Learn More About Managed Network Services From VPLS

Dark Fiber vs. Lit Fiber

Benefits of Using Dark Fiber

Privacy and Security

Speed

Capacity and Flexibility

Cost-Effectiveness

Learn More About Network Solutions from VPLS