How AI will impact enterprise networks is a huge topic that we're tackling in a multi-part series. In these posts, we're comparing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a legacy MPLS network—one that still represents many multinationals’ WANs in 2025—to various hybrid or internet-first alternatives designed to accommodate changes brought by AI and cloud.
The network models we're using are powered by data you can find in our WAN Cost Benchmark —a customized platform that makes it easy to model and track your WAN network costs. Get up-to-speed with this deep-dive series in the previous posts:
- Predicting How AI Will Impact Enterprise Networks
- How to Make Your Hybrid Network AI-Ready Without Increasing Costs
In this post we're going to look at an enterprise that has taken the plunge to a full internet-first network. SD-WAN and especially SASE have pushed many enterprises to move entirely or mostly away from private networks and fully embrace the internet for its cost efficiency, cloud-directness, and best-in-region or best-in-breed-sourcing. Especially as NaaS and on-demand network sourcing become a reality, internet will increasingly be the first choice of connectivity for many enterprises.
This scenario gets rid of MPLS at all sites except for those in China and fully embraces DIA and business broadband for the underlay. This allows the enterprise to boost bandwidth significantly while taking advantage of the lower cost of internet services via SD-WAN management of the network. These are the changes at each WAN site tier:
- DCs—Dual DIA ports.
- Tier 1—Dual active-active DIA ports with redundant access where applicable.
- Tier 2—Dual active-active DIA ports with redundant access where applicable, one DIA port and one business broadband connection in the U.S., Western Europe, and a few other competitive ISP markets.
- Tier 3—Dual active-active DIA ports in most global markets, but one DIA port and one business broadband connection in the U.S., Western Europe, and a few other competitive ISP markets.
- China is an exception to the rules, as we have kept dual MPLS at those sites.
- All tiers—Basic Managed SD-WAN for the total encrypted throughput of all underlay services at each site.
This network is still somewhat conservative in the sense that no office, even at Tier 3, is connected only by an ISP-direct business broadband connection, but rather all offices have at least one DIA port. We have found that most enterprises are wary of going all-broadband except in regions with FTTx and very reliable ISPs.
Average Total Bandwidth per Site in Each Subregion—Dual MPLS WAN vs. Internet-First WAN
Note: Each bar represents the average total site bandwidth, including multiple ports or underlay services, across all sites in the listed subregion.
- We boosted bandwidth by an average of 63% per site, which is on par with the increase in the high capacity MPLS network.
Distribution of Total Site Speeds—Internet-First WAN
Note: Each section represents the percentage of total site bandwidths that fall within each bandwidth range.
- More than half of the sites in this network have a total site bandwidth above GigE (1,000 Mbps).
- Only 6% are below FastE (100 Mbps).
Original Dual MPLS and Internet-First WAN Scenario TCOs
Note: Each column represents the total annual cost of ownership for that WAN scenario, broken out by product in each color section. Our business broadband prices are ISP-direct, so for this exercise we have doubled them representing the markup for having a carrier or aggregator source them for the enterprise.
- After increasing the average available bandwidth by 63%, the cost of this network is about the same as the original Dual MPLS, going up only about 5.5%.
- Local access is the plurality of the cost of the network at 39%, with DIA at 26%.
- The cost of Basic Managed SD-WAN is fairly significant for this scenario–28%, given the large bandwidths for each office.
This scenario answers the questions many of our WAN Cost Benchmark customers come to us with. "How can I:
- Modernize my network
- Adopt SD-WAN/SSE
- Boost my bandwidth, and
- Improve my cloud connectivity
. . . without significantly increasing my budget?"
Some enterprises prioritize cutting costs, but we more commonly see enterprise customers use TeleGeography's WAN Cost Benchmark platform to set up a more resilient and better performing, AI-ready network without having to ask the c-suite for more money. You can get more details and a video tour here.
