Latest Evidence Of An Ethernet Juggernaut

There’s an overwhelming force building. If it hasn’t gotten to you yet, it will soon. This force looks to redefine the telecommunications industry in a way that will fundamentally alter our communications networks from a telegraphy and telephony orientation to a digital packet orientation. After nearly a couple centuries of evolution, we’re now looking at a revolution that’s arisen in a couple of decades. That revolution is Ethernet and it’s gaining speed while we watch.

The acceleration of Ethernet services into traditional metropolitan and long distance telecom networks points out that the digital network, particularly the local area network, has become the center of communications activity. Worldwide traffic was primarily telephone calls until recently. Actual voice conversations are now the small part of the traffic. Data file transfers and video are now the big network activities. In fact, video has taken over the Internet and is driving the deployment of more and faster content delivery networks (CDN) to offload high definition video programming from the Internet.

Think about how you communicate. The office desk phone used to be the primary tool for business communications. “Data” was on paper and the interoffice mail was the network that moved it around. Today, you are as likely to use email, text messages and social media as you are to pick the phone and dial somebody. Data is now on hard drives and electronic data networks move it around. Even cell phones are still called “phones” out of tradition. Texting, Tweeting, emailing and posting are used as much or more than the voice side of the system. Wireless voice channels have been established technology for years. All the scrambling and innovation is focused on building more and faster data channels.

The switchover of the worldwide electronic communications network from telegraphy to telephony to computer data networking has taken place in steps with one methodology gradually yielding to another. Most long distance computer links use trunk lines originally designed to transport telephone calls digitally. The process of using analog phone lines to carry digital signals, called “dial-up,” ran out of capacity quickly at less than 100 Kbps. Digital telephone trunks, known as T1 lines, DS3, and SONET fiber optic services, start at 1.5 Mbps on the low end and go up to 100 Gbps on the very high end.

This system works, but the translation of loading data packets into telephone channels and then back again costs in efficiency and a limitation of network services. Since nearly every LAN is now running Ethernet, the most sensible change is to re-work the metro and long haul networks to also use Ethernet. You can then optimize for one protocol from end to end.

One technology shift that has enabled long distance or “Carrier” Ethernet is the industry shift from the original collision domains to switched Ethernet. This change doubled the speed of the links, since nodes can transmit and receive at the same time. More importantly, there is no need to constrain the length of the network to ensure detection of colliding packets. Nearly all LANs now use switches in place of hubs as a matter of course. This adds the possibility of running very long connections between switches, say 1,000 miles or more, and still create networks that behave like one large LAN.

Some of the latest announcements in this field are that a major carrier, Windstream, is now offering a product called Carrier Switched Ethernet. This is a wholesale bandwidth service that allows other carriers access to Windstream’s 980 network exchanges. Using E-NNI or Ethernet Network to Network Interfaces greatly expands the service footprint of any network to include the networks of other service providers. Another announcement is that MegaPath, a major North American network service provider, has been building out its Ethernet over Copper (EoC) capability so that it is now the largest EoC provider in the country with 19 major markets serving millions of businesses at speeds up to 45 Mbps. That’s significant because it means you can now get last mile Ethernet connections over twisted pair copper lines, replacing bonded T1 lines and DS3 bandwidth.

The triple threat of Ethernet over Copper, Ethernet over Fiber and Ethernet Network to Network Interfaces creates the opportunity to go “all Ethernet” in connecting multiple business location and dedicated access to the Internet. There are big cost savings available with this new technology, as well as multi-point mesh network services that were hard to implement previously. Could your company benefit from these Ethernet services? Check Carrier Ethernet pricing, availability and features and compare with what you are using now.

Thirty Carriers, No Waiting

Are you so flummoxed by your telecom services carrier that you can't see straight? Are you suffering gastrointestinal pains from the feelings of being trapped by your local phone company or the ISP that kinda, sorta provides you with dedicated Internet access? Does you monthly service bill induce all-day migraines?

Yes? Well, why are you putting up with that? You certainly don't have to anymore. The pain that comes with being boxed in by monopolistic service providers is best relieved by having lots and lots of choices for voice and data communications services. How would you like access to 30, count 'em, thirty business grade carriers offering everything from telephone trunk lines to wireless and satellite broadband access?

ISDN PRI telephone trunks for your PBX telephone system? Yes!

MPLS networks to connect all your branch offices together? Yes!

Gigabit Ethernet connections that enable you to transmit radiology images and high definition video in real time? Yes!

Pretty much everything you need in the way of business telecommunications services is not only available, but offered by two or more competing carriers that are hungry for your business. That includes newer services like SIP trunking and Metro Ethernet, along with established services such as T1 lines, DS3 bandwidth, SONET fiber optic rings, Frame Relay, dedicated point to point data connections, and server collocation.

Now, if there was only a fast and easy way to compare service offerings and prices from all these carriers...

Ah, that's the best part. What really makes it possible for small businesses to large corporate enterprises to deal with this wealth of opportunity is a brokerage service that acts as a single point of contact for all of them. That service is exactly what has been developed over the past few years by Telarus, Inc. Telarus has developed a suite of computerized tools, corporate staff, expert consultants and agents that makes it easy for IT managers and business owners to painlessly evaluate specific quotes from a multitude of service providers and pick the solution that makes the most sense.

Your entree to this complimentary pricing and consulting service is through the online search portals at Shop For T1, Shop For Ethernet,Shop for SIP Trunking and similar "Shop For" sites. You'll also find inquiry forms on our sites at T1 Rex, Mega Trunks, Enterprise VoIP, and GigaPackets, to name a few.

All of these portals get you to the same place, so go ahead and enter an inquiry at any of them. Just describe your business need in a few words to give the consulting team an idea of what you need. They'll call you at your convenience to review appropriate services, including special offers with such niceties as free routers, free installation, and burstable bandwidth. If you'd rather talk to someone immediately, just call the toll free number and extension shown on any of the sites.

Who are these 30 carriers that Telarus represents? They range from regional service providers to well known national carriers such as ACC Business, AireSpring, AT&T, Cavalier, Covad, Level3, MegaPath, Network Innovations, NewEdge Networks, Nuvox, PAETEC, One Communications, PowerNet Global, Qwest, TelePacific, Telnes, Time Warner Telecom, UCN, and XO Communications.

You won't pay a cent extra to let Telarus act as your broker to negotiate the best rates from the carrier and service level of your choice. There is no charge to you for any of the Telarus consulting services and the service rates you pay are as good as you'd get if you showed up on the carrier's doorstep and negotiated your best deal.

An additional service that you'll find valuable is the VAR Network. This is a database of business telephone and networking service businesses who are value added resellers of equipment for such companies as Avaya, Cisco, ShoreTel, Polycom, 3Com, Lucent, Nortel and many others. These local, regional, and national telecom businesses will sell you the equipment you need and even install hardware and wiring as needed. With a simple inquiry, you'll get one more responses from dealers in your area who specialize in what you need.

Your Own Webinars Made Easy

How would you like to make online presentations to hundreds of your employees, customers, affiliates, franchisees or business prospects? That's normally a large enterprise undertaking. But now there's a tool that makes it easy and inexpensive for small to medium businesses and even individual entrepreneurs to get into the Webinar game. Here's how this can give you really cost effective communications leverage.

First of all, what's a Webinar? A Webinar is simply a Web seminar. You've no doubt been to dozens of professional seminars over the years. They usually involve spending a lot of company money taking a plane across the country, staying in a hotel and watching slide presentations in a darkened auditorium. The downside to these lavish productions is that they cost a bundle to put on and each company has to limit employee attendance because they cost a fortune to attend.

What the online service GoToWebinar offers is a way to more quickly and easily host seminars on the Web without the huge price tag. That means you can have many more seminars and invite a lot more participants. There is also a "green" benefit in that no jet fuel is burned bringing in presenters and participants. You simply use the computing and broadband resources you already have.

Here's how it works. As a Webinar organizer you sign up for an account and install a small amount of software on your computer. This takes a couple of minutes. By the way, there's a free trial so you get to play with the system before you have to commit any money. Once you have an account, you can organize your Webinar, invite attendees by email and host the event. Participants don't need any special software or registration. Everything displays on a common Web browser.

What GoToWebinar allows you to do is present your slides or other information that is on your desktop or application window. You can have multiple presenters who can present from their computers to the audience. You can also have panelists who can respond to questions from the participants. This is starting to sound like a real seminar, isn't it?

By the way, there is both an audio and video aspect to these Webinars. The audio portion is by telephone conference call that accompanies the desktop presentation. You can elect to pay for the calls or let the participants pay the long distance charges to call-in.

Here are some other features that really enhance the Webinar experience. During the Webinar you can launch audience polls and conduct an online chat with the presentation on the screen. Your dashboard will also allow you to gauge audience interest and view participation.

Once you get started with Webinars, you may wonder if the old school seminars are really worth the cost. The cost savings is dramatic, to say the least. Plus so many more people can participate. It's much easier to fit a Webinar into your schedule than plan a business trip.

GoToWebinar is a product of Citrix Systems, Inc., an industry leader in this type of business productivity tool. GoToWebinar hosts Webinars for up to 1,000 participants, the equivalent of a very large meeting hall. The tool also includes GoToMeeting, which is suitable for smaller team meetings of up to 15 participants. There's a monthly or annual subscription fee. For that you can host all the Webinars you want. Use them to train employees, launch new products, conduct sales seminars or get valuable feedback on your ideas and proposals.

Interested in trying this productivity tool? Get a free trial of GoToWebinar now.