Solutions · Migration

From MPLS or DIY, to managed SASE.

A staged, low-drama path off legacy circuits and DIY SD-WAN, run by Level-3 engineers who have done it hundreds of times.

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Overview

Replace MPLS. Retire DIY.

Moving off MPLS or a home-built SD-WAN does not have to be a big-bang gamble. We plan, migrate and operate site by site, bringing each location onto the private backbone (the underlay) with SD-WAN and integrated security (the overlay), all under one end-to-end SLA. The old network keeps running until the new one has proven itself, so there is no leap of faith.

The path

Staged, not big-bang.

01 · Assess & design

We map your sites, circuits, traffic and compliance needs and design the target network and policy.

02 · Map & inventory

Every site, line and application is inventoried, so nothing is missed and priorities are clear.

03 · Parallel run

New connectivity runs alongside the old, proving performance before anything is cut over.

04 · Phased cutover

Sites move in controlled waves, with a clear rollback at every step and no downtime windows you did not plan.

Once a site is live, it is operated for you around the clock by Level-3 engineers, with AI on 35 years of operational data handling the routine and humans owning the exceptions.

Benefits

What you get.

No big-bang risk: parallel run and phased cutover with rollback
Lower cost than MPLS, better cloud and real-time performance
One end-to-end SLA across underlay and overlay
One accountable vendor from ISP lines to security

FAQ

Migration questions, asked early.

How much downtime should we plan for?

None that you did not schedule. New connectivity runs in parallel with the old and has to prove its performance before anything is cut over, sites move in controlled waves, and every wave has a defined rollback. The old network keeps carrying production until the new one has earned it.

How long does a migration take?

It is driven by your sites and circuits, not by the platform. Last-mile lead times in some countries are the single biggest factor, which is why inventory and design come first: once lines are ordered, the waves run on a predictable cadence. A realistic timeline comes out of the assessment, not out of a sales call.

We are mid-contract on our MPLS circuits. Do we have to wait?

No, and waiting usually costs more than it saves. Sites can move as their circuits expire, which is why the plan is site by site rather than all at once, and the assessment and design work is best done before the renewal date rather than after it. Some customers run a hybrid estate for a year during that transition, deliberately.

Who does the work, us or you?

We do, end to end: assess and design, inventory, parallel run and phased cutover, with Level-3 engineers owning each step. Your team is needed for decisions, application priorities and site access, not for the nights and weekends. Once a site is live it stays operated for you around the clock.

What happens to our security policy during the move?

It is mapped, not rewritten. The existing rulebase is exported and translated onto the platform's policy model, then enforced in parallel so the two can be compared before the old one is switched off. Migrating the network and inventing a new zero-trust policy on the same weekend is how migrations go wrong.

We built our own SD-WAN. Is there anything to gain?

Usually the operations, not the technology. A DIY overlay works until the people who built it are busy, the underlay misbehaves across three carriers and every incident becomes an internal escalation. What changes here is that underlay and overlay are run as one service under one SLA by a team that answers for both. Migrate away from DIY SD-WAN sets out the case in detail.

Will performance in China or other hard regions actually improve?

That is one of the more common reasons customers move. The private backbone spans 121 locations in 32 countries and includes in-country connectivity built for difficult, regulated regions, so traffic is not taking a public-internet detour to reach a hub. Connecting China covers what compliant in-country connectivity involves.