I know it is corny, but you are only as strong as your weakest link and, for many organisations, the weakest link is often their connectivity. What was lightening fast when it was first installed now has moments when it is slower than a snail, users are frustrated, and you are restricted in terms of what you can do.
The reality is that your connectivity is not any slower nor has less bandwidth than on the day it was first installed, it’s just a case that you are pushing it past its limits.
What is causing congestion
There are many things that can be contributing to congestion on your connectivity and the reality is that it is unlikely to be any one single element, but a combination of multiple factors including quite simply more users.
More Cloud-Based Applications – whether these be centralised systems or public cloud-based applications that you are leveraging across the business.
More Media-Rich Content – whether that is just the increased size of documents or presentations, or the growing use of video across the business.
Voice, Video & Conferencing – the more conversations, the more web conferences and the more video conferences conducted, the more the demand on your connectivity.
Off-Site Back-ups/Data Replication – all demand bandwidth to take data from your office to the centralised systems and cloud-based data repositories.
Or maybe you are not experiencing congestion but are being advised against any of the above as your connectivity will not be able to cope.
What is the alternative?
There is another saying that is appropriate here, “don’t spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar”. You are probably like me and have heard this phrase many times without really understanding it. Well apparently, it has nothing to do with ships but actually refers to ‘sheep’ and a technique many years ago of covering young sheep in tar to protect them from disease and infection. The moral here is that you should not compromise on what is important for what is, in fact, a negligible additional investment.
The cost of upgrading your connectivity is normally disproportional (in a good way) to the benefits that will be gained. For example, 10GE delivers 10 times the capacity of 1Gb/s but only around twice the cost.
Why is 10G Ethernet so attractive?
Back to feeling the need for speed – the underlying technology used to deliver 10G Ethernet means that it provides the lowest level of latency than other methods of connectivity. This combined with the fact that it is an uncontended service means that you gain the performance you need.
Ultimate scalability, by opting for a 10GE service, does not mean that you must take the full 10GE service from day one, you are simply putting in place the scalability. As your demand increases then you can simply increase bandwidth on these circuits as required.
These circuits are also a lot quicker to install, traditionally the lead time on 10GE optical circuits could be up to 180 days, whereas 10G Ethernet from amatis, where on-net, is normally delivered within 45 days, enabling you to respond to business need faster.
Explore your options
The key underlying message of this blog is that you should explore your options. If you have or are close to reaching the limits of your connectivity, it is likely that taking a ‘step-up’ is neither as difficult or as costly as you might think. It would be wrong to make-do, if there was a viable alternative.
At amatis we have a broad portfolio of connectivity services as well as a team that intimately understand all of the technologies available, we would be more than happy to discuss your needs and explore the options appropriate for you.
You can reach the amatis networks team on 0118 321 9944.