Media Centre
There's broadband and then there's Broadband
Some Australian businesses are being sold broadband connections with data rates that are so slow, some jurisdictions would not allow them to be called 'broadband'. A clear and industry agreed definition about what constitutes a broadband service is virtually impossible to find, however the ITU refers to 'true broadband' as data rates in excess of 10Mbps.
Even when higher speeds are offered, carriers apply high tariffs to avoid cannibalising their old-technology products. True fibre broadband is faster, cheaper, and more flexible than other technologies, so why settle for less?
Modern fibre-optic links can provide anything from 1Mbps to 2Gbps. At the low end, there's a modest saving compared with the cost of a frame relay connection, but the faster you go, the more you save. So you can either spend less on a given amount of bandwidth, or get a much fatter pipe for the same price - and that opens up a myriad of possibilities.
For many organisations, the killer application of fibre broadband is 'business as usual' - more and bigger emails are sent each day, applications are rolled out in new locations, intranets replace paper forms and manuals, and so on. All of these place ever-growing demands on WAN links.
Once operating on fibre broadband you have capacity to spare, allowing the expansion of your operational capabilities to adopt the latest technologies: voice over IP (VoIP) telephony, videoconferencing, hosted applications and Citrix deployments, and inter-site backup or disaster recovery measures.
For example, Queensland liquor retailer The Grape Group added IP-based video cameras to its Ethernet virtual LAN (VLAN), allowing centralised security monitoring of its 30 stores from head office.
Going from a 2Mbps frame relay link to 10Mbps fibre gives 400 per cent more bandwidth at perhaps 20 per cent extra cost for your organisation. This network upgrades well and truly takes the shackles off, providing ample headroom for VoIP and other money-saving or risk-reducing uses.
Having spare capacity also makes other applications run better. The best solution for bandwidth problems is more bandwidth, and reducing the difference between LAN and WAN speeds means there's less need for packet shapers or similar tools.
Another benefit is that you can run Ethernet protocols directly over fibre links, simplifying configuration and management. It seems to be an unlikely arrangement, but you could simply plug the WAN connection directly into a PC. More likely, you'll connect it via a firewall to a router or network switch. The technology also eliminates the additional routing hops imposed by frame relay, and one fibre link can carry both VLAN and Internet traffic.
When your bandwidth requirements change, variations in provisioning are very easy and quick with fibre Ethernet. The increments are much finer than they are with older technologies such as SDH, which offers 2Mbps, 45Mbps and 155Mbps. Fibre Ethernet goes in 1Mbps increments up to 10Mbps, 2Mbps from 10Mbps to 100Mbps, and in 10Mbps steps thereafter.
Uecomm fibre broadband is up to 10,000 times faster that ISDN and 1,000 times faster than DSL, delivering multiple gigabit connections for fast, secure, more reliable networking.
These changes can be made on demand, with response times as short as a couple of hours. The only exception is when passing the 100Mbps mark, as that requires a physical equipment change normally taking two days.
It is sometimes assumed that fibre connections are only available in the central business districts of the capital cities, but coverage extends across the metropolitan areas. In Melbourne, the fibre network extends as far south as Frankston; in Sydney, as far west as Eastern Creek. But don't give up on the idea of using fibre just because one or more of your locations are outside the service area: a network tail using older technology at up to 2Mbps can be used to connect that site with the rest of your WAN.
By Brendan Park
Brendan Park is the Director of Products and Marketing for Uecomm, Australia's specialist fibre broadband carrier. Uecomm's network is among the most advanced fibre optic networks in the world. The widespread CBD and greater metropolitan reach makes the data network one of the most extensive in Australia.
