You can see it for yourself. Bandwidth needs are climbing higher every day. That Gigabit Ethernet Dedicated Internet Access service you installed a few years ago is already hitting its limit. A GigE to the cloud isn’t enough to completely avoid congestion anymore. Clearly, it’s time to move on up.
5 Gig is the New GigabitWhat’s the next logical level for business bandwidth? Actually, you can have pretty much anything you want in 1 Gbps increments. However, some levels are more popular than others. An emerging standard is 10 Gig. You may not need or want to pay for that much right now. A good intermediate level is 5 Gigabit for Internet or private lines.
Why 5 Gig? It gives you breathing room for business applications running in the cloud, e-commerce Internet connections, remote file storage and access, and lots of video content. The more users you have accessing the same WAN connection, the more bandwidth you need to avoid congestion slowdowns, broken VoIP conversations and jerky video conferencing. Real time applications need fat pipes.
Dedicated Internet Access vs Private Lines
There are two basic types of network connections: Private and shared. The Internet is by design a shared network that connects everybody to everybody else with nobody having priority. You can improve your Internet connection performance by avoiding shared access and using Dedicated Internet Access. That gives you a private link from you business to your Internet Service Provider. The last mile is where most of the congestion and variation problems originate.
A private line is just that. Your company is the only user on the connection that runs from point to point. There is no contention with other businesses or consumers. If you have a 5 Gigabit fiber link, you have 5 Gbps available at all times. Whatever bandwidth you don’t use at the moment is there for headroom. You’ll only experience congestion and the latency it creates when you exceed 5 Gigabits per second momentarily or for an extended time.
Connecting Multiple Business Locations Privately
A private fiber optic network can be set up point to multipoint or mesh as well as a direct cloud link or dedicated line between business locations. You can also employ an MPLS network to span regional, national or international sites for a cost savings. MPLS networks are run by a private provider who guarantees bandwidth, latency and packet loss even though there are multiple users on the network. Everybody thinks they are the only user.
Other High Bandwidth Options
Fiber future-proofs your network and generally offers symmetrical bandwidth so that upload and download speeds are the same. Cable broadband speeds are often above 1 Gbps, with 5 Gbps offered in some areas. The bandwidth is asymmetrical and the last mile connection is shared, but the cost savings may well outweigh the advantages of fiber in less critical applications. Fixed wireless can also offer high bandwidths using a small antenna on your building and are a great alternative where fiber and cable are not available.
Are you running out of capacity on your Gigabit fiber connection? If so, consider an expansion to 5 Gbps with a growth path to 10 Gbps when you need it. You’ll love the extra breathing room.
