Why The WAN Lags The LAN

Networks are often thought of as nearly transparent to the flow of data between nodes. Corporate LANs are managed to ensure there is enough bandwidth to prevent productivity killing network congestion within the organization. But it doesn’t take long to find the real choke point in most networks. It’s the connection with the outside world, called the WAN.

The WAN or Wide Area Network differs from the LAN or Local Area Network in more than name. They traditionally use completely different technologies.

LANs are based on the Ethernet standard. Devices that connect to the LAN have standardized NICs or Network Interface Cards. That includes PCs, servers, printers and other peripherals. The most popular interface is 10/100 Mbps. That means the device will operate on Ethernet LANs running at the standard 10 or 100 Mbps speeds. The 10/100/1000 Mbps interface is becoming more popular and increasingly seen in new devices. It maintains compatibility with 10 Mbps Ethernet and 100 Mbps, also called Fast Ethernet, and adds a new speed of 1000 Mbps, also called Gigabit Ethernet or GigE.

Now, compare these network speeds with typical WAN connections. The most popular WAN service is the T1 line running at 1.5 Mbps. Larger businesses often have DS3 connections that run at 45 Mbps. Only the largest or most bandwidth-dependent organizations have higher speed fiber optic WAN connections. These range from OC3 at 155 Mbps to OC48 at 2.5 Gbps. The largest ISPs and telecom carriers may have backbones at OC-192 or 10 Gbps. Nationwide fiber optic network backbones run at OC-768 or 40 Gbps.

Chances are your business is likely running a LAN network at 100 Mbps. When you access the Internet or connect to another of your company’s facilities via dedicated point to point data line, you may be connecting over a T1 line at 1.5 Mbps. That’s almost two orders of magnitude difference. You’ll notice the difference in file transfer times. Within the walls of your building file transfers might be measured in seconds. Go outside and the same size files will require minutes.

A larger corporation might have a LAN backbone running 1000 Mbps between switches and perhaps even to the desktop. If your WAN connection is DS3 at 45 Mbps, you still have a substantial choke point for data entering and leaving the organization. It can be a significant bottleneck when running overnight file backups to a remote data center or transferring important files to a client. If your desktop computer is connected at 100 Mbps, the slowdown might be a little more than double. But if you are transferring between two servers that have 1000 Mbps connections, the slowdown to 45 Mbps is more like 20x.

So, why don’t companies just increase their WAN bandwidth to match their LAN bandwidth? The reason is cost. WAN connections have traditionally been very expensive. Management can rationalize that the company generates far more traffic across its LAN than goes out on the WAN, so that a slower WAN isn’t that much of an impediment. Well, that depends on what is entering and leaving the building. If customers can’t access your servers in a reasonable time, they’ll think your website is broken and go elsewhere. If your medical organization can’t transfer medical images in a reasonable time, staff might be tempted to shy away from electronic medical records.

Is there anything that can help this situation? Probably the most promising technology is Carrier Ethernet, also known as Metro Ethernet. Prices for Ethernet WAN connections are significantly lower in general than traditional telecom service pricing. Bandwidths that match LAN speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1000 Mbps and 10 Gbps are readily available at quite reasonable pricing.

With a better WAN to LAN bandwidth parity, network performance will be much more consistent, regardless of file source and destination. That can really help productivity and encourage staff to make better use of electronic file transfers and paperless office techniques.

What will it cost to improve your network’s WAN connection performance? Probably less than you might think. Even if you don’t match your LAN speed completely, you can likely get more bandwidth for your current budget. To find out how much, check Ethernet WAN bandwidth service pricing now.

Ethernet Takes Over, Mbps Prices Fall

The ongoing economic downturn is fostering a changing of the guard in telecommunications services. What might look like a business depression is actually providing fertile ground for a shift in technology. It’s traditional TDM switched circuits out. IP based Ethernet connections in.

What’s driving this change? Oddly enough, it’s the high cost of doing business. While some companies are hunkering down, cutting staff and freezing budgets, others are actively looking for opportunities to get the same or better network services for less money. As their 1, 2 and 3 year contracts run out, these companies are using telecom brokerage services to survey the marketplace and gather competitive quotes. Only this time they are looking beyond just price quotes on their existing services. They’re also considering newer technologies that weren’t available during the last quote cycle.

Two powerhouse technologies are MPLS networks and Metro Ethernet services. These are related, in that they both represent a move from channel based switch circuit TDM networks that have dominated the telephone networks of the world for more than a century to IP core networks based on packets and traffic engineering.

MPLS networks are ideal for linking multiple locations in a many-to-many relationship. They can transport virtually any protocol. You can gain access with a T1 line, DS3 or SONET fiber optic service.

Metro Ethernet and its long haul equivalent, Carrier Ethernet, are LAN extension technologies. They allow companies to provided level 2 switched network connections or level 3 routed connections, as desired. E-Line service gives you the equivalent of point to point connectivity. E-LAN merges multiple locations on a single wide area network.

But Ethernet has another reason to be growing by leaps and bounds while traditional telecom services tread water. It’s cost. Ethernet is currently reported to provide a 20 to 30% cost reduction over frame relay or private line services. On higher bandwidth services that savings might grow as high as 50% or even more.

How is this possible? The quick answer is new competitive carriers with all new IP based fiber optic networks. Traditional pricing doesn’t stand much of a chance when aggressive competition comes to town and shakes up the sleepy old incumbent providers.

There are also new technologies available that can give you Ethernet connectivity up to the equivalent of a DS3 connection, 45 Mbps, over multiple pair of ordinary copper twisted pair. EoC or Ethernet over Copper enables companies to switch to Ethernet even if the cost of a fiber build-out is prohibitive.

Will Ethernet services be a better deal for your company? There’s only one way to find out. Check Ethernet prices and availability, including buildings already lit for fiber connections, right now. You may find yourself paying less and getting more. Isn’t that the best way to survive a recession?

LAN to WAN Ethernet Connections

Within the LAN, or Local Area Network, the Ethernet protocol is ubiquitous. But once you have a need to connect beyond the corporate confines, you need a method to connect to telecom transport services. This has always required a protocol conversion due to the differences between the LAN and WAN environments. No more. Now you can connect seamlessly from LAN to WAN with Metro and Carrier Ethernet connections.

The advantage for packet based networks, especially IP networks, is that entire network topology runs on the same technology. This improves transmission efficiency and reduces the latency involved in converting between protocols at each end of the circuit. By extending Ethernet into the WAN, or Wide Area Network, it is possible to treat a multi-location network as if it were a single large network. That's true even if the various interconnected LANs are hundreds or thousands of miles apart.

So, what is available in the way of LAN to WAN Ethernet connections? There are two basic technologies available. Both are typically found in metro areas where competitive carriers offer Ethernet services on their own IP-based networks.

If your business is located within a few miles of a carrier POP, or Point of Presence, you may be able to get EoC or Ethernet over Copper access. New modulation technologies combined with multiple twisted copper pair allows carriers to provide Ethernet service via multi-pair telephone cable. This is the same cabling that is already installed at nearly all business locations, originally to provide multi-line analog telephone service. T1 and ISDN PRI services make use of the same cable to bring in digital voice and data services. Now Ethernet can be provided by bundling multiple dry copper pair driven by terminal equipment at each end of the loop.

What bandwidths are available from EoC technology? Anything from 1 to 45 Mbps, depending on the carrier's facilities and the distance to the POP. Ethernet over Copper bandwidths decrease rapidly over distance, so higher bandwidth services are available close to the POP. Even if you are a block away, though, it still can make economic sense to use existing copper facilities rather than install new fiber optic conduits.

Higher bandwidths, up to Gigabit Ethernet or even 10 Gig E, are available on fiber optic Ethernet connections. If your LAN is running at 1000 Mbps and you have a Gigabit Ethernet over fiber connection to a data center across town, the effect of sending data over the WAN is completely transparent.

Normally, the WAN presents a bottleneck for packet transmission. That's due to the high cost of WAN connections relative to LAN connections. Using traditional T-carrier or SONET line services, a company may well have to settle for a tenth the throughput over the WAN as on the LAN. That may not be true with Ethernet connections. Competitive carriers are pricing Ethernet WAN bandwidth a much lower cost per Mbps than other technologies. At higher speeds, the savings can be as much as half or better.

Would your company benefit from switching to high bandwidth Ethernet services? You owe it to yourself to find out how much you can save with LAN to WAN Ethernet Connections.