Don’t be fooled into thinking that all network operators offer
the same quality of infrastructure. Learn how to spot when the term
‘Next Generation network’ is truly justified.
Given the current economic climate, it’s more important than
ever for you to retain clients, to control their cost base and to
maximise profitability. The choice of partner to meet your
connectivity needs has a crucial bearing on all three challenges.
Yet the fact remains that not all network operators offer an
identical quality of infrastructure or the same choice of services.
And the differences between them can add up to a competitive
advantage enjoyed by one technical adviser over another.
So, what are the properties of a network and of a network
operator that you should look for in determining how your
requirements can be met? What should you demand from your
connectivity partner? How can you be sure you’re being offered
optimal infrastructure and the right degree of flexibility to
answer tomorrow’s challenges as well as today’s?
Next generation or not?
Marcus Hill, Head of the SI Channel at Virgin Media Business,
believes that this choice is complicated by the often similar
claims that operators make for their networks. ‘In the age of the
Next Generation network, there’s a risk that the customer assumes
all networks were created equal,’ he says. ‘So long as it’s all
based on Ethernet, it doesn’t matter, right? But the fact is the
term ‘Next Generation’ has been bandied about so much that it’s no
longer clear what it means.’
No network offers true Next Generation potential unless it’s
based on fibre that goes all the way to the kerb outside the user’s
premises, says Marcus. ‘Only then do you have a true end-to-end
network,’ he adds. ‘This really matters, as with fibre, as opposed
to copper, you’ve got ultimate upgradeability. With glass you’ve
got the ability to go from 2Mb to 4Gb over the same connection.
This is something to consider when you’re choosing a network.’
The underlying architecture of a network is also vital, says
Marcus. ‘Basically, networks divide into two types: ones with a
large shared core and ones with a smaller core and regular
sub-cores,’ he explains. ‘With the latter, you can deliver a lower
latency, higher performance solution featuring high levels of
availability.’
High levels of network availability, in Marcus’s view, are down
to the very construction of the core network itself. “It needs to
have a ring topology, offering the minimum possibility of failure”,
he says. “A network’s reliability is related also to its age. Some
networks that claim to be next generation actually have components
that are over 30 years old. You should look for assurance that no
element of a network is more than 10 years old, that is if you want
to be assured of future-proofing as well as reliability today.”
The importance of Next Generation
High levels of network availability, in Marcus’s view, are down
to the very construction of the core network itself. ‘It needs to
have a ring topology, offering the minimum possibility of failure,’
he says. ‘A network’s reliability is related also to its age. Some
networks that claim to be Next Generation actually have components
that are over 30 years old. You should look for assurance that no
element of a network is more than 10 years old, that is if you want
to be assured of future-proofing as well as reliability today.’
Density at the access end is important too. ‘If you’re buying
network capacity, then you want the operator from whom you’re
buying to have full end-to-end control over the connection, not to
be leasing it off to someone else,’ stipulates Marcus. ‘Then you
want the provider in question to offer you the choice of taking a
managed or an unmanaged service, and a choice of layer 1, 2 or 3.
It’s essential that you’re offered a portfolio of options, putting
you in control. You need to have at your disposal a whole toolbox
of solutions based around a large, dense, high performance network.
As well as a partner that offers both a true centre of excellence
and a relationship based on trust.’
Sector by sector
The need for an SI to select an appropriate network to back
their services and solutions always applies, regardless of the
market they are addressing, maintains Marcus. ‘You might be serving
the public sector, with its need to ensure security, transparency
and performance,’ he says. ‘Or maybe the financial services sector,
which at the moment is facing the need to radically re-engineer its
cost base while maintaining a high performance and high security
network solution. This all adds up to a need for multiple on-ramps
to the same network, and to a network that unlocks all the benefits
and cost efficiencies of Ethernet, whether you’re going straight
for pure Ethernet or are in transition from a time division
multiplexing (TDM) world.’
Why fibre matters
An Ethernet-based, end-to-end fibre network of reasonably modern
construction has a key role to play in helping you both compete and
offset pressure on margins through controlled capital and
operational expenditure. Paying through the nose to lease a service
based on legacy connections is no longer an option.
A true Next Generation network also gives you the best shot at
hanging onto your existing customers and avoiding constant churn by
discouraging them from looking elsewhere when their needs change.
Fibre lets you provide them with a greater range of services to
help make their own offers to their own clients more compelling. If
your client can hang onto their high value contracts, they might
hang onto you too.
Empower yourself
You’ll be up against many rivals, some of whom will be other
integrators or other types of service provider intruding on your
patch and pitching competing services at your clients. This means
you must constantly seek to widen your portfolio and add new
products and services of increasingly higher value. Ethernet over
fibre lets you do this speedily, as it’s inherently flexible and
quick to provision. A network based around fibre and Ethernet is
both scalable and future proof. There are no better options being
quietly developed in the wings and nothing alternative that lets
you empower your clients to quite the same degree.
Fibre will give you a better hold over your customers and give
you a strong, clear sales message. For example, if your client is
in financial services, they will need the lowest latency network
possible in order to trade profitably, as well as the ability to
scale inexpensively while maintaining assured resiliency. Only high
quality dense fibre permits this. Available on a flexible range of
terms, a high quality fibre network will allow you to enable this
sort of benefit, without resorting to expensive leased lines.
What a network needs
You need to check with any potential networking partner that
they can prove what they say in the form of several widely
recognized accreditations.
- MEF 9 and MEF 14 - MEF 9 and MEF 14
certifications are issued by the Metro Ethernet Forum and are a way
to ensure that any Ethernet services offered will neet rigorous
international standards. MEF 14 ensures that latency, jitter and
packet loss performance of services is in line with rigorous MEF
standards. MEF 9 ensures all conditions required for delivery of
said services have specific Ethernet user-to-network interface
(UNI) and Ethernet virtual connection (EVC) attributes, as well as
corresponding parameter values.
- Cisco Telepresence - a product developed by
leading communications equipment vendor Cisco Systems to
ensure that a network offers the right level of performance in
handling video and spatial audio.
In this way, two rooms anywhere on a network can be linked so they
work as one conference facility. Your network partner should boast
an accreditation for this.
Further reading
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