Got a Bandwidth Jones

How much bandwidth is enough? Silly question. How much money is enough? How much good health? How much chocolate? When it comes to bandwidth the more that's available, the more that we find use for. What's more, the most desirable bandwidth of all is wireless and fiber optic. Wireless is for freedom of movement. Fiber optic is for massive throughput. Property owners and managers that offer their business clients both may well find themselves more in demand than even health, wealth and fine quality chocolate.

A new report on business and consumer bandwidth usage says that IP traffic will grow by three times more in the next four years than what it has reached after the first 30 years. Even more interesting, the majority of that traffic will be located on private networks.

Popular media has convinced us that YouTube video is sucking up all available bandwidth and bringing the Internet to its knees. Indeed, some service providers and particularly Cable broadband companies are struggling to cope with the surge in Internet activity. But a lot of that is because they oversubscribed their networks based on assumptions of limited infrequent traffic from Web surfers, not lengthy high bandwdith downloads of video clips, movies and television shows. Less well known is the dramatic growth in business traffic both on the Internet and off.

What's behind all this organizational activity? It's a combination of new types of information based businesses and productivity improvement initiatives by old-line businesses.

The new businesses offer digitally based services, such as video production and distribution, computer generated imaging, software outsourcing, and digital modeling and simulation.

How about traditional businesses? Office buildings full of clerks processing paper-based forms have been replaced by online systems for order entry, processing and shipment, inventory tracking, and e-commerce Web sites. More sophisticated tools help fewer people handle a larger volume of work without becoming swamped. Electronic communications have reduced cycle times of virtually every business process. Even mom and pop franchise operations have point of sale systems tied back to the franchisor for sales tracking and automatic inventory management. Plus every business, no matter how large or small, has its own Web site.

This transformation in business practice means that owners and managers of business properties have to consider electronic communications as a necessary utility, the same as electricity, heat and water. Today, it's very reasonable to make sure your building is "lit" for fiber optic service and even including high bandwidth connectivity as part of the lease. No longer are fiber optic bandwidth prices unreasonable. New Metro Ethernet services offer 100 Mbps and even Gigabit Ethernet at reasonable prices when shared among multiple tenants. Include some wireless access points to cover the floor space and you have an up to date facility that will appeal to even the most high-tech tenants.

T1's for Business Parks

Nearly every business needs reliable voice and data service, regardless of location. Downtown in any major city, options abound. You may easily have your choice of a dozen vendors offering everything from sub-Mbps ISDN connections through Gigabit Ethernet. But many new businesses and industrial firms aren't locating downtown. For cost, zoning, or convenience, they're setting up shop in business and industrial parks. So what's available there?

It's that location, location, location thing again. Your business broadband options depend highly on what's been built-out. Tech savvy developers know that digital communications infrastructure is just as important to business users as electrical power, natural gas, water and sewer connections. In a way, high speed communications is a utility. It's the new electricity.

Unfortunately, many business and industrial parks pre-date the rise of the Internet. While they might not be offering steam for your industrial line shafts or water power for your gristmill, they won't be flaunting their GigE or OC48 network connections either. Being situated on the outskirts of town doesn't mean you're out of luck, though. Highly reliable digital telephone, point to point data links and dedicated Internet connections are available anywhere you'd care to put up an office building, factory or distribution center.

The service you need is the ubiquitous T1 line. T1's were developed by the telephone companies and designed to go wherever phone lines go. In fact, the physical layer specified for T1 service is twisted pair copper. The same copper wires universally used for analog phone service. With signal regeneration, even locations in rural areas can be connected from telco offices dozens of miles away.

You should know that T1's are available in different configurations. A T1 dedicated Internet connection is what it sounds like. It's an always-on full time port to the Internet that runs at a fixed bandwidth of 1.5 Mbps for both upload and download. You connect via a T1 router that has the necessary Channel Service Unit and Data Service Unit circuitry (CSU / DSU) to interface with a T1 line. A router meeting this specification can be provided by most carriers offering dedicated T1 service, often at no cost on a two or three year contract.

Another form of T1 line is the T1 voice or T1 telephone circuit. It comes in two flavors, channelized T1 and T1 PRI. The difference is that that PRI protocol creates a dedicated channel for signaling and Caller ID information. As you probably guessed, a T1 telephone line connects to your PBX telephone system. It gives you anywhere from half a dozen to two dozen telephone lines on a single digital trunk for less cost that maintaining all those separate analog phone lines.

Many businesses have a need to interconnect two or more locations. You can do this with point to point T1 data lines, connections to a private data network or an Internet virtual private network. In these cases, a T1 line provides your access network to other locations.

Need more bandwidth than a single T1 line can provide? Get 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5, 9 or more Mbps by bonding multiple T1 lines together. This gives you the throughput you need for higher bandwidth applications without the often prohibitive construction costs to bring fiber to your business.

Is your business small enough that you could get by with less bandwidth for a lower price? One option is to order a fractional T1 line. Another is to share a single T1 with other businesses in the park. If needs grow, you can always bond-in additional lines to increase bandwidth.

What's available for your business park location? Check to see if your building or a nearby building is lit for fiber optic Ethernet service.

No fiber? No problem. Our expert consultants will find you the best deals on T1 and bonded T1 line service for your voice and data needs.