A Premier Engineering PSU's Enterprise Aggregation Layer Runs on an HFCL IP/MPLS Router

At a Glance

HFCL DCR 1100 deployed as the enterprise LAN aggregation layer at a premier engineering PSU, connecting all access switches to the core network
MPLS VPN segmentation enforced at the aggregation layer, isolating engineering project traffic from administrative and general office traffic
QoS enforced at the routing layer, guaranteeing priority bandwidth for engineering workloads before traffic reaches the core
Carrier-grade reliability at the aggregation layer with redundant power and hot-swap hardware, eliminating the single point of risk a traditional aggregation switch carries
Indigenous IP/MPLS router in the aggregation role, replacing the capability ceiling of a standard enterprise L3 switch

About the Organisation

Decades of experience engineering India's most critical infrastructure

With decades of experience under a central government ministry, this organisation is one of India's most respected engineering consultancy and project management firms, delivering end-to-end engineering across critical national infrastructure projects spanning energy, petrochemicals, and related sectors.

The organisation's work is technical, not advisory. It employs thousands of engineers across civil, structural, mechanical, process, electrical, instrumentation, and environmental disciplines. Their output is the detailed engineering that turns a project concept into a plant that operates safely at industrial scale, often for decades.

Underlying all of this is a network that engineering teams depend on every working day. Design files, project databases, collaboration tools, ERP systems, and document management platforms all flow through it. For an organisation where project timelines are contractually bound and engineering accuracy is non-negotiable, the network's performance and reliability are operational requirements, not background concerns.

The Challenge

An aggregation layer with no intelligence at the centre of a demanding network

The aggregation layer is where the network comes together. Every access switch on every floor feeds into it. Every user, every workstation, every engineering application flows through it before reaching the core. It is the most consequential point in the LAN, and it is typically built on the least capable device in the stack.

At this organisation, the aggregation layer carried limitations that a standard L3 aggregation switch could not resolve.

No traffic intelligence at the convergence point

A traditional L3 aggregation switch aggregates traffic from all access switches and forwards it to the core without any meaningful separation or prioritisation at that layer. Engineering project data, administrative traffic, and general office internet activity all converge at the same point and are treated equally. During peak hours, general traffic competes for the same bandwidth as engineering applications that require consistent, uninterrupted performance.

For an organisation where engineers are accessing large drawing sets, running project management platforms, and collaborating in real time on work that has contractual deadlines, the absence of intelligent traffic management at the aggregation layer is a direct operational risk.

A single point of risk with no automatic recovery

The aggregation layer sits at the centre of the LAN. Every user and every access switch depends on it. A fault at the aggregation device does not affect one department or one floor. It affects everyone simultaneously. On a traditional aggregation switch, fault recovery depends on manual detection and manual intervention, which means the exposure window is measured in minutes to hours.

For an engineering organisation working against project deadlines, a network outage of that duration at the aggregation layer is not a technical inconvenience. It is a disruption that stops work across the entire office until someone identifies and resolves it.

A capability ceiling the network was already approaching

As the organisation's network requirements evolved, the aggregation layer built on a standard L3 switch created a ceiling. MPLS capabilities, Segment Routing, advanced QoS enforcement, and IP routing intelligence are features a traditional aggregation switch does not offer. Every future network improvement that required these capabilities would be limited by what the aggregation device could do. The choice made at the aggregation layer shapes what the network can become.

The Approach

Putting routing intelligence where convergence happens

The insight behind HFCL's solution was straightforward. The aggregation layer is the most important traffic management point in the LAN. Every packet from every user passes through it. Placing an IP/MPLS router at that point instead of a standard L3 switch transforms the aggregation layer from a passive convergence point into an active traffic management layer.

At the aggregation layer, the DCR 1100 can enforce MPLS VPN separation between traffic domains before they reach the core. It can apply QoS policy at the routing layer for all traffic flowing upward. And it brings the hardware reliability of a carrier-grade platform to the point in the LAN where a failure has the widest impact. A router at the aggregation layer is not overkill. It is the reason the network has capabilities that a standard aggregation switch fundamentally cannot provide.

The Solution

Intelligent Routing in Enterprise LAN

HFCL deployed the DCR 1100 Series IP/MPLS Router as the aggregation layer device, serving as the aggregation point for all access switches and connecting to the organisation's core router on the northbound side.

Three-Tier LAN Architecture

The deployment follows a clean three-tier architecture. Access switches connect workstations and endpoints, while the HFCL DCR 1100 aggregates traffic, applies segmentation and QoS policies, and forwards it to the existing core router.

MPLS VPN Segmentation at the Aggregation Layer

The DCR 1100 creates dedicated MPLS VPN domains, logically separating engineering project traffic from administrative systems and general office internet traffic across shared physical infrastructure. Segmentation is enforced before traffic reaches the core.

Centralised Management via HFCL EMS

Managed through HFCL's Element Management System, the DCR 1100 provides the organisation's network team with real-time telemetry, fault alerts, and policy control through a single interface.

QoS Enforcement Upstream of the Core

Quality of Service policies prioritise traffic at the aggregation layer. Engineering applications receive committed bandwidth at the highest priority, followed by administrative and office systems, while general internet traffic is classified last.

Carrier-Grade Reliability at a Critical Network Point

The DCR 1100 features redundant power supplies and hot-swappable hardware components. Hardware redundancy helps maintain aggregation-layer operations during component failures, reducing dependence on manual replacement and minimising downtime.

Network Architecture: Three-tier LAN with DCR 1100 at the aggregation layer

Key Capabilities

What the DCR 1100 delivered at Engineers India Limited

MPLS L3 VPN at the Aggregation Layer

Creates logically isolated traffic domains at the LAN convergence point, separating engineering project data, administrative systems, and general office traffic before they reach the core.

QoS at the Routing Layer

Enforces traffic prioritisation at the aggregation point for all upstream traffic, ensuring engineering applications receive committed bandwidth regardless of concurrent general office activity.

Indigenous Design and Manufacturing

The DCR 1100 is designed, manufactured, and supported entirely within India. Firmware development, maintenance, and support operate through a domestic ecosystem without external dependencies.

MPLS Fast ReRoute

Provides automatic path restoration in under 50 milliseconds following a link failure, helping maintain service continuity without disrupting active user sessions.

Northbound Routing to Core

Provides a clean, routed handoff from the aggregation layer to the existing core router, integrating into the current network architecture without requiring changes to the core.

Carrier-Grade Hardware Reliability

Redundant power supplies and hot-swappable components reduce single points of failure at the LAN's most critical aggregation layer, helping minimise downtime and maintain network availability.

IPv6 and Segment Routing

Native support for IPv6 and Segment Routing keeps the aggregation layer forward-compatible as network requirements and architectures evolve.

EMS: HFCL Element Management System

For EIL's network team, managing the aggregation layer through HFCL EMS means real-time visibility into device status, link utilisation, and traffic classification performance from a single interface. Fault alerts identify the location and nature of any issue at the aggregation device immediately. Policy changes and QoS updates are pushed centrally and applied without requiring physical access to the device. A team managing a critical aggregation point now has the same visibility and control tools that carrier networks use for national infrastructure.

Results

What the network looks like now

Indicative benchmarks based on this architecture and deployment type. All figures to be confirmed with the IT team and HFCL deployment engineers before external publication.

Architecture

HFCL DCR 1100 deployed as aggregation layer device in a three-tier LAN, aggregating all access switches and connecting northbound to the existing core router
MPLS VPN domains configured at the aggregation layer: engineering project traffic, administrative systems, and general office traffic in separate isolated logical paths

Traffic management

Engineering project traffic running in a dedicated MPLS VPN domain at the aggregation layer, logically isolated from administrative and general office traffic
QoS policy enforced at the routing layer for all upstream traffic, with engineering applications in the highest priority class

Reliability

Redundant power supplies and hot-swap hardware at the aggregation layer eliminate the single point of failure that a standard aggregation switch carries
Automatic link fault recovery in under 50ms via MPLS Fast ReRoute

Operations

Aggregation layer managed via HFCL EMS with real-time telemetry, fault alerting, and centralised policy control
Configuration and QoS policy changes applied centrally without physical access to the aggregation device

Why HFCL

Choosing the device that sits at the aggregation layer is really a decision about what the network can do next and who answers the phone when that layer has a problem. The organisation looked at three things. Whether the platform had already carried serious traffic at scale. Whether it would work with the network that was already in place. And whether the people behind it could be reached when it mattered. The DCR 1100 answered all three.

Proven in Tier 1 telecom networks before it reached the enterprise

The DCR 1100 was not designed for office LANs. It was designed for telecom operators, and that is where its record was built. HFCL has orders for over 80,000 of these routers under BharatNet, the world's largest rural broadband programme, in what is the largest deployment of Made in India routers to date. In a Tier 1 Indian telecom network, the same DCR 1100 series runs at both he access and pre-aggregation layers, delivering 360 Gbps at access and 800 Gbps at pre-aggregation and taking that operator to roughly five times its earlier network capacity.

It works with the core that is already there

An aggregation device only earns its place if it fits the network around it. The DCR 1100 hands off northbound to the organisation's existing core router over standard routed interfaces, so nothing at the core had to be replaced or reconfigured around it. The practical result is that the aggregation layer was upgraded without disturbing anything above or below it. The access switches stayed. The core stayed. What changed was the intelligence at the point where all of it meets.

A router at the aggregation layer is a deliberate capability choice

Most enterprises put an L3 switch at the aggregation layer because that is the default. This organisation put a carrier-grade IP/MPLS router there because the capabilities a router provides at that position are categorically different from what a switch can offer. MPLS VPN segmentation, routing-layer QoS, Segment Routing readiness, and carrier-grade hardware reliability are not features an L3 aggregation switch provides. The DCR 1100 brings them to a network layer that has traditionally been limited by the device sitting at its centre.

The data at the aggregation layer deserves accountability in India

All LAN traffic flows through the aggregation device. Engineering drawings, project databases, administrative records, and internal communications pass through it continuously. With HFCL, the firmware running on that device is developed in India, the support chain is based in India, and when the team contacts HFCL, that conversation stays within India. Being able to point to where the firmware is written and where the support engineer sits is a practical governance argument for a public sector organisation handling data of this sensitivity.

What this means for enterprise network designers in India

The aggregation layer decision is one most enterprise network teams make without much deliberation. An L3 switch goes there because that is what has always gone there. This deployment shows that an indigenous carrier-grade router is a credible alternative at that position, backed by a telecom deployment record, standards-based interoperability with the network already in place, and a product family that scales with it.