Exit Legacy MPLS — Without Disrupting Your Business
MPLS replacement is one of the highest-ROI WAN decisions an enterprise can make — but the transition from carrier-managed MPLS to broadband-based SD-WAN requires careful planning, contract management, and phased execution to avoid connectivity disruptions at locations that depend on legacy circuits.
What RLM Delivers on MPLS Replacement
MPLS contracts are long, complex, and expensive to exit early. RLM advises enterprises on the complete MPLS exit strategy — from contract audit and early termination analysis to phased migration and carrier negotiation — ensuring you capture the cost savings without the migration risk.
How We Approach MPLS Replacement
Our network advisory runs from discovery and market evaluation through vendor selection and post-deployment optimization — scoped to the MPLS Replacement decision in front of you.
MPLS Contract & Cost Audit
We audit your existing MPLS contracts — circuit inventory, pricing, contract terms, renewal dates, and early termination liability — building the financial model that quantifies MPLS exit savings and informs negotiation strategy.
Replacement Architecture Design
We design the replacement architecture — SD-WAN with broadband underlay, private backbone, or hybrid MPLS/SD-WAN — that meets your performance and resilience requirements at lower cost than legacy MPLS.
Carrier Negotiation Strategy
MPLS exit often requires negotiation with incumbent carriers for ETL waivers, contract buydowns, or contract modifications. We advise on negotiation strategy and participate in carrier discussions to protect your interests.
Phased Migration Planning
MPLS replacement typically spans 12-24 months for large enterprises. We design the phased migration that retires circuits systematically as replacement connectivity is validated — minimizing overlap cost while protecting uptime.
MPLS Replacement Evaluation Criteria
The questions below are the ones that decide whether a MPLS Replacement investment pays back — and the ones vendors are least eager to answer.
Early Termination Liability
MPLS contracts typically have significant ETL — sometimes exceeding 12 months of remaining charges. Model ETL exposure against annual savings to determine the optimal exit timeline and negotiation leverage.
Performance Parity
Some MPLS applications are latency-sensitive and have never been tested on broadband. Evaluate application performance requirements against broadband performance in each specific market — quality varies dramatically by location.
QoS & Traffic Prioritization
MPLS delivers built-in QoS through traffic classes. SD-WAN over broadband can replicate QoS through application-aware routing, but the approach differs. Evaluate QoS capabilities for your latency-sensitive application mix.
Contract Overlap Period
Parallel-running MPLS and SD-WAN during migration creates cost overlap. Model the overlap period for each location and include it in the MPLS exit financial model — overlap costs can significantly reduce first-year savings.
Carrier Concentration Risk
Replacing MPLS with broadband from the same carrier family reduces independence. Evaluate the carrier diversity of replacement underlay providers to avoid trading one vendor dependency for another.
Location-by-Location Assessment
MPLS exit economics vary by location — broadband availability, competitive market pricing, and circuit performance differ significantly. Evaluate each location individually rather than applying blanket assumptions.
"RLM gave us an objective view of our network options that no single vendor could. We replaced aging MPLS across 40 locations and came in 28% under our original budget."
We stay involved through implementation, because selection is the easy half.
Where This Matters Most
Sector-specific considerations we see repeatedly in advanced networking engagements.
A Sample of the Advanced Networking Providers We Evaluate
RLM is vendor neutral. These are among 600+ providers in our evaluation set — inclusion here is not an endorsement, and we are paid by the provider you choose, not by any provider in particular. How that works →
Ready to Move on MPLS Replacement?
Start with a no-cost conversation with an RLM network advisor — vendor neutral, no agenda, just clarity on the right path forward for your environment.
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