Enterprise IT organizations have a history of struggling to acquire highly reliable network connectivity in Mexico to meet the needs of their business.  Establishing and maintaining Tier 1 ISP infrastructure requires significant investment. Costs related to building and maintaining network infrastructure, including fiber rights of way and data centers, can be prohibitively high.  Mexico’s diverse geography, including mountainous regions and remote areas, poses challenges for infrastructure deployment. Further, vandalism and theft of network infrastructure, such as fiber optic cables, can disrupt services and lead to significant repair costs. Physical security of network assets is an ongoing concern facing major carriers.

Fortunately, our consultants have been seeing some improvement in fiber-based local access infrastructure in some key manufacturing hubs in Mexico allowing enterprise IT organizations to design and source highly available Tier 1 ISP services at reasonable price points.

For global wide area networks, tier 1 ISPs offer several significant benefits:

  1. Global Reach and Direct Connectivity:

    • A global company can, often, source circuits around the world from the same tier 1 ISP. Tier 1 ISPs can reach every part of the internet directly, without needing to pay for transit. This results in better global connectivity and reduced latency as packets remain on the same Autonomous System.  

  2. High Reliability and Redundancy:

    • These ISPs have extensive, robust networks with multiple redundant paths. This minimizes downtime and ensures consistent and reliable service.

  3. Cost Savings:

    • Since Tier 1 ISPs do not pay for transit, they can offer more competitive pricing for their services. This can result in cost savings for large enterprises and smaller ISPs purchasing bandwidth.  In a large WAN, sourcing all IP ports from the same ISP may be more cost effective than sourcing individual dedicated internet access circuits from providers in each city based on volume discount and savings associated with simplification of overall network governance.

  4. Better Performance:

    • Direct peering relationships with other major networks result in lower latency, higher speeds, and more efficient data routing. This improves overall performance for end-users.  This is particularly important now that many users on the Wide Area Network (WAN) will also be accessing critical cloud services via private cloud connectivity.  Most tier 1 ISPs have built cloud-connect services to major hyperscalers in key cities worldwide.

  5. Scalability:

    • Tier 1 ISPs have the infrastructure to handle massive amounts of data and can easily scale their services to accommodate growing demand.

  6. Comprehensive Services:

    • These ISPs often offer a wide range of additional services, including cloud solutions, managed services, and security features, providing comprehensive solutions to their customers.

  7. Network Control and Customization:

    • Owning and operating a vast network allows Tier 1 ISPs to have greater control over their infrastructure, enabling them to offer customized solutions to meet specific customer needs.

  8. Influence in Internet Governance:

    • Due to their size and importance, Tier 1 ISPs often have a significant influence in internet governance bodies and standard-setting organizations, which can shape the future of the internet.

 

Key Design Considerations For Tier 1 ISPs in Mexico

At Macronet Services, our team collaborates closely with IT teams, real estate, and finance organizations to ensure that we can design services that meet reliability requirements to support the business.  The below highlights some developments in Tier 1 ISP architectures to consider in Mexico.

 

Redundant Tier 1 ISP Core Network Architecture in Mexico

Some ISPs have been leveraging reduced costs in acquisition of high capacity fiber services (wavelengths) and the availability of new major telco PoPs to build redundant core architectures across the border from the US into Mexico.  Additionally, they have identified and secured redundant paths to major manufacturing hubs.  Below is a good example of a resilient Tier 1 ISP core architecture that covers multiple key commercial hubs in Mexico and includes two border crossings.

Diverse Border Crossings

The below network map depicts a tier 1 ISP network with US border crossings in Laredo, TX and McAllen, TX.  The ISP has presence at Equinix in Monterrey, Mexico and multiple high-quality access agreements to reach key commercial zones.  This backbone example can support up to 400Gbps links and offers both Internet and Layer 2 global ethernet connectivity.

 

Diverse Tier 1 ISP Core Routes to Queretaro and Monterrey Mexico

The above network continues down to Queretaro, Mexico with diverse paths and, again, terminates in an Equinix facility.

Our team has the experience and relationships to help enterprise IT organizations of all sizes achieve success with global network deployments and ongoing governance. Take a look at some of our resourced like our free WAN RFP Template.  Reach out to us anytime to learn more about us and how we can help you get it done.