Gulf Air to Leverage MPLS Connectivity

By Jamie Epstein, TMCnet Web Editor

As increasing demands are placed upon corporate networks, MPLS, also known as multi protocol label switching technology, is becoming a crucial part of any infrastructure. First launched back in the 1990s as way to ramp up connection speeds when utilizing an IP router, the offerings are touted as allowing delivery paths to become much less random.

Earlier this week in the rapidly expanding space, it was revealed that Gulf Air, a Bahrain-based international airline, has selected to leverage a variety of network services from SITA in order to better streamline overall operations throughout its 48 destinations.

This alliance will enable the major airline to gain access to a highly secure and reliable private network, in addition to a suite of Internet, voice, messaging and reporting services, according to a recent piece featured on the Air Transport World website. SITA will be responsible for both managing and maintaining the connectivity for the airline’s offices at airports dispersed throughout 20 countries, which range from private MPLS-based links to Internet connections.

 When commenting in regards to the strategic partnership, Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali stated, “Gulf Air recognizes the importance of technology as a key element of its business and has been proactively upgrading its technical capabilities to serve its customers faster, easier and more efficiently. The new technology optimization not only improves efficiencies across our business but also saves our communications costs significantly.”

With predictions being made that Gulf Air will be able to increase customer and partner satisfaction rates as well as slash costs by nearly 22 percent that are associated with powering IP services at its multitudes of airports, transitioning to an MPLS network makes complete sense for the Bahrain business.

TMCnet reported some other interesting news that has recently taken place in the MPLS industry which involves SingTel (News - Alert) , a communications provider in Singapore, becoming the first service provider in the Asia Pacific region to deploy multi protocol label switching-transport profile technology.

Seamlessly integrating the MPLS-TP solution within its ConnectPlus E-Line service, the firm will be able to benefit from a resilient and cost-effective connectivity service that supports next-generation services such as video and cloud services all over the world.

“With the implementation of these latest technologies in our network, customers' networks will be future-ready for the delivery of ICT services across multiple geographies,” said Goh Boon Huat, SingTel's vice president of Business Products. “We can help our customers achieve greater business advantage by allowing them to deploy data-intensive applications such as video conferencing, multimedia, data analysis and business continuity planning."

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