BaldwinTel

How many Hops is Too Many Hops? What to look for if latency is killing your global data applications...

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email  

"One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..." nothing annoys your customers and employees more than waiting around after they hit the "enter key" on their computer or smartphone for your firm's computer applications to do what you said they would do (increase employee productivity, enhance customer service, reduce sales cycles, etc.)

Maybe your application is working right but your data network service provider is still trying to figure out how to best connect the application users and the application data.  According to NTT America, for some ISPs (Internet service providers), 20 or more hops from one data network to another around the globe are required to make the right connects to make your application work.

Since every extra hop your data packets have to endure in their travel increases latency (one Mississippi, two Mississippi), to figure out how to increase network performance one has to understand how autonomous system numbers (ASNs) work and how jumping from one to another increases latency.

Click here for a short 10-minute YouTube tutorial on ASNs. Click here for WikiPedia's spin on ASNs.

 

For Global Data Apps, a Global Single ASN Minimizes Latency (and Increases Happiness)

Just as a non-stop flight will get you from Los Angeles to New York faster than a flight that make multiple stops where you have to switch planes, so too does using a global single ASN network reduce the redundancy experienced by your data application users.

 If you're deploying a data application globally across such continents as North America, Europe, Asia and Australia you'll want to consider a global data network service provider like NTT Communications.

NTT Communications fully controls the collection of routers that make up our Global Single ASN. We have independent links to the other leading networks around the World. We use our network to get you connected and to keep your data streaming. 

Why is One Better?

According to NTT, of the 20,000 or so autonomous system numbers in use,  NTT has ONE, where other ISPs have many. That means that North America, Europe, Asia and Australia all connect across a single backbone. NTT's customers experience stellar performance no matter where they are. 

For some ISPs, data has to travel across multiple ASNs to arrive at its destination. Traveling across multiple ASNs can mean up to 20 hops. NTT claims they can do it in fewer than five. With strategically located exchange points around the world, you can get to ANY access point on NTT's global network in fewer than five hops. That's around the world (and back), smoothly, and with fewer delays. 

NTT specializes in access and connectivity. For VoIP, streaming media, database application 
and backup, NTT claims you'll experience a significant reduction in latency. Their single global ASN is available to all NTT customers, globally. Wherever you are, your data travels seamlessly across our network and around the world.

 

For more information about NTT's Global Single ASN Service

Click here to download NTT's Global Single ASN brochure.

Is this service right for your business? Please give me a call at 951-251-5155 or email me at Dan@BaldwinTel.com so we can learn what makes the most sense for your Southern California business.

 

How to Use Coax Cable Aggregation to Backup or Augment Your MPLS Wide Area Network

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email  

 For years the business phone companies in Southern California have been telling business owners and IT directors that using any sort of cable Internet solution in a business environment is a bad idea because cable does not have any quality of service ("QoS") and is an inherently "shared" resource meaning a business would never get the data throughput they were promised.

Well that argument is certainly still being waived around by the telcos but after experiencing the successful use of cable Internet in their homes, few business owners or IT directors have a problem with the idea of backing up the wide area date network for their business with a professionally aggregated mix of coax cable providers.

But since all the cable companies have different service areas across the country, most businesses are hesitant to try an aggregated cable backup solution because of the problem of having to do all the aggregation in-house and then keeping track of individual cable company invoices.

Fortunately there are cable aggregation companies available to businesses that want to try an aggregated cable solution to backup or augment their main MPLS wide area network or "WAN". Of all the cable aggregation companies to choose from, few have the "one stop shop" success that has been found by Bandwave Systems out of Philadelphia. 

To learn just how a coax cable solution works when backing up or aggregating an MPLS network we recently interviewed Tom Azelby, Managing Director of Bandwave.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the white paper created from this interview.

To listen to the interview, click here to download the MP3 recording.

You can also listen now with your computer speakers by clicking the player below and then follow along by reading the transcript below. 

 

Interview Audio

Click the player above to listen to the interview now.

 

Interview Transcript

Dan Baldwin:  Today I'm speaking with Tom Azelby, the founder and managing partner of Bandwave Systems, a nationwide business broadband provider that integrates and aggregates all carriers and cable operators and technologies, DSL, T-1, cable, fiber, Ethernet, wireless and so on, so that businesses with multiple locations are provided a complete nationwide network solution with just a single point of contact. Tom, thanks for speaking with our audience today.

  Tom Azelby:  Thanks for having me, Dan.

  DB:  Tom, for years, IT directors have been led to believe that an MPLS network was the perfect solution to connect a nationwide multi-location business over a single wide area network, or WAN, but for multiple reasons, your company, Bandwave Systems has been brought in by MPLS carriers to augment and/or backup the MPLS solution they were selling a business.  

 

Question #1:  Why are MPLS carriers bringing Bandwave into their solutions?

  TA:  Well, I think one of the big reasons today is network redundancy, and coax cable is a diverse pathway to traditional Telecom infrastructure, so the Bandwave Cable -Connect product is a perfect fit for a redundant Internet connection.

The next reason Telecom Consultants and Carrier Sales Reps are coming to Bandwave is due to our experience. We've been in data aggregation since 2000. We were one of the first nationwide DSL aggregators. Today as a cable Internet provider or a cable aggregator, we have the experience, the relationships, and all the systems in place to provision and manage Nationwide Cable Internet Connections, Our main marketing message is one contract, one bill, one customer support, and we do that for Multi Site Enterprises using our partnership with all the cable providers Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Cox, Brighhouse, RCN, Cablevision, Suddenlink, Mediacom (MSO’s).

Solution Review: How Distributed Enterprise IT Directors Solve 3G/4G Fixed Wireless Connectivity Problems

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

 What's an IT director for a quick service restaurant ("QSR") or similar distributed enterprise company in Southern California or beyond to do when the wide area network ("WAN") solution he or she wants to implement using a low cost DSL landline solution can only reach 80% of the companies locations?

Throw a 3G cellular AirCard in a wireless router, right?  Wrong.

An aircard in a router is probably the best solution if the business location is actually a recreational vehicle - contantly on the move. AirCards are great for mobile wireless data needs be far from perfect in a fixed office environment.  So how does an IT director solve the 3G/4G connectivity problems when trying to implement a fixed wireless solution?

Call on Accel Networks, the wireless data company that "tunes in" your wireless data signals with their unique proprietary antennae like no other wireless or landline company can.

If you've tried fixed wireless using AirCards for your data network locations unreachable by DSL and couldn't solve the connectivity problem, don't give up without calling your authorized Accel Networks solution partner.

 

How and Why is Accel Networks Solution Better than Everyone Else?

How does Accel do it better than all their competitors including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint?

Listen to Jonathan Forest, VP of Accel networks explain it himself in the following short recorded interview.

 

Listen to Recording:  Click Here to Download MP3

 

 

Read Transcript:   Click Here to Download PDF

How Quick Service Restaurant & Other Distributed Enterprise IT Directors Solve 3G/4G Fixed Wireless Connectivity Problems:

Accel Network's New Cellular Broadband Antenna

February 2012A Business Phone News conversation with Jonathan Forest, Vice President of Accel Networks, about how their new Maestro cellular broadband antenna system is gaining traction with CIOs and IT directors of many quick service restaurant chains and other similar multi-location retail businesses.

 

  DB:  So let's get right to the problems that QSR (“quick service restaurant”) IT directors have. They want to power the broadband needs of their retail stores with affordable 3G or 4G fixed wireless, but they're getting killed by connectivity problems.   

Question #1.   Please describe the nature and prevalence of the connectivity problems.

  JF:   Yes.   Specifically we see in our market that broadband is certainly the desire of many of the QSR and retail customer since it's a lower cost option, and it really fits their needs; however, broadband, DSL and cable isn't really prevalent in all locations, and we see consistently approximately 10% to 20% of the market not being covered for these customers, and that's where we fit in. 

Accel provides a high-grade, premium wireless solution that provides broadband type of service at these 10% to 20% locations, and that's with 3G.

With 4G coming out, and we're launching that next month, 4G speeds will, in many ways, surpass DSL.   So, the 4G solution that customers will be experiencing will be right on par, or superior to what they are experiencing, and we fully expect the wireless services to continue expanding.

 

  DB:  Question #2.    Can you describe how does Accel's proprietary fixed wireless Maestro antenna address the problem? 

  JF:     Yes.   I would be glad to.  If you had to boil it down, Accel provides the cleanest wireless signal.  What does that mean?  What it really means is that we're trying to minimize the carrier noise, and optimize the signal.  The result is better performance.    

2:11  Accel comes from this perspective, the wireless perspective.    We do not come at this from a landline perspective.   This is crucial, and the reason is that in landline technologies, the transport, DSL, cable, T1, it's a commodity.  No matter whether provider A or provider B is offering the solution, the same result is going to happen.   DSL, the same distance from the CO (phone company “central office”), it's all the same, and with wireless it couldn't be any different. 

What are the Benefits of Connecting Your Business to "the Cloud"? How should you choose a business cloud consultant?

By Dan Baldwin

In the 20+ years I've been helping Southern California multi-location business customers choose telecom and technology solutions I've never had a customer call and say, "I need some cloud" or "Connect me to the cloud" or simply, "Cloud me, baby!"

When I have suggested to clients that their next technology solution can be provided to them from "the cloud" though some have asked, "What the heck are you talking about!"

Following is the simplest answer that I've ever come up with for the question "what's the cloud?"

"The cloud is actually a windowless building someplace that's built for the comfort of computers instead of people. One of the comfortable computers in the cloud is the computer that makes the 'call waiting' feature on your phone work. The cloud can accommodate almost any business computer that can help your business do almost anything."

 

What Parts of Your Business Benefit from a "Cloud Connection"?

Maybe some, maybe none, maybe all.  The decision really boils down to your your thoughts as a business owner around "convenience, cost and security".

Convenience - Can you conveniently access your business email account from any computer or

Migrating Your Multi-Location Business from a VPN on the Public Internet to a Private Ethernet or MPLS Network

By Dan Baldwin 

A week or so ago we posted a blog about a major public Internet outage that adversely affected multi-location businesses that connected their offices using VPN that rode the public Internet.

In the post we discussed the migration that many businesses have launched away from VPNs on the Internet to metro Ethernet and MPLS networks.

Today we're presenting an interview we conducted recently with Jeff Cohen, partner of Cynergy Telecom, and a Telecom Association VPN migration expert.

We posed the following questions to him:

1. Start us out with a little background information. What is the prevalence of businesses using VPN's on the public Internet to connect their multiple locations and how long has Cynergy been assisting these kinds of businesses?

2. Please explain the migration steps for VPN customers you have migrating to MPLS.    

3. How does a Metro Ethernet private network solution differ from a MPLS solution? 

4. What are the different flavors of Ethernet? (Copper over, fiber, etc.) 

5. For VPN customers not ready to migrate to a MPLS solution, what are some "fail over" option they might want to consider and what are the pros and cons of each? (WiFi, Fixed Wireless, Cable and DSL with Load Balancing Routers, etc.)

6. What sort of businesses should contact Cynergy if they want help and do you work with other consultants and sub-agents?  What's the best way to contat Cynergy?

Click the audio player below to listen to the interview now with your computer speakers. Click here to download the MP3 of the interview.

 

Scroll down below to read the interview. Click here to print the interview.

 

Interview Transcription

  Dan Baldwin:   Our topic today is "Migrating your multi-location business from a VPN  on the public Internet to a private Ethernet or MPLS network".

Today we're speaking with Jeff Cohen, partner of Cynergy Telecom, a telecommunications management company based out of Atlanta.  Jeff, thanks for visiting with us today.

  Jeff Cohen:  Thank you, Dan.  I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.

  DB:  Jeff, start us out with a little background information on the topic we're discussing today. What is the prevalence of businesses using VPNs on the public Internet to connect their multiple locations, and how long has Cynergy been assisting these kinds of businesses?

  JC:  Well Dan, about 15 years ago virtual private network access was a fairly new concept for most businesses, and prior to that, most companies were utilizing some sort of either frame relay or private line.  And while those 2 technologies were beneficial to companies at the time, cost savings, efficiencies and things of that nature were requiring more companies to look for alternative solutions.

 That's when the virtual private network, or VPN, really became more a prevalent technology, and about 15 years ago again while large corporations had already had a good head start with VPN technologies, the rest of the companies were really starting to realize the possibilities the VPNs provided to them. 

Looking for Multi-Location Broadband Solutions? Need to Integrate Multiple Broadband Networks? We Do That!

By Tom Azelby, Guest Blogger 
888-396-7182 email

Bandwave Systems held its first “Breakfast Brainstorm” event that brought together independent broadband solution partners and telecom agents to discuss successful multiple location, broadband service initiatives that Bandwave has recently managed.

Held at the Riverton Country Club, Cinnaminson, NJ, guest speaker Tom McGinnis, Philadelphia 76ers basketball radio announcer, kicked off the event that focused on highlighting real-world client solutions that benefited from implementing Bandwave’s broadband technology solutions and hosted VOIP services.

 “I thought that the Bandwave event was very well attended by their agents who are interested in how new technologies can help their customers,” said Jonathan Forest, vice president of business development, Accel Networks. “Bandwave certainly has a strong agent program focusing on different customer segments.  Accel is pleased to have its highly differentiated fixed cellular broadband solution distributed through resellers such as Bandwave.

Presentations focused on how Bandwave solutions partnered with a large petroleum wholeseller, metropolitan hospital, marketing firm, refrigeration/heating distributor, and a food warehousing and distributor to implement Bandwave’s broadband technology solutions and management services to achieve cost-effective, secure, one contact, multiple-site broadband data/communication solutions.

What To Do When Public Business Internet Providers Fail? Put Your Business on a Metro Ethernet or MPLS Private Network

By Dan Baldwin 

This past week it was reported that business customers around the globe suffered unexpected network service outages when two of the largest public Internet provers, Level3 and Time Warner, encountered routing problems with their Juniper Network hardware devices.

The outage only appeared to last for less than an hour but millions were affected in the United States and Europe.

 

Problems for Multi-Location Businesses

The public Internet being down for an hour or a day is certainly problematic for any business that relies on access to public business solutions like SalesForce or similar services.

Public Internet outages are doubly problematic though for multi-location businesses that use the public internet to connect their offices over a VPN ("virtual private network") that creates a "private tunnel" but still uses the public Internet for the connection.

For multi-location businesses using the public Internet for there wide area network VPNs, when the public Internet goes down, so does their access to all their other offices.


Private Business Networks vs. Public Internet VPNs

Combining the public Internet with VPNs was seen by many multi-location businesses as "step one" of a very good idea.  Step two was to replicate the VPN using data transport facilities that do not use the public Internet.  Viola! Private business networks were born.

Business Implications for 4G Wireless Data Networks, Do You Need to Migrate? And if So, Why?

By Dan Baldwin, Editor
951-251-5155 email

 Remember the phones when we were growing up? The main one in my parent's house hung on the wall near our kitchen and had a cord long enough to use for mountain climbing. In all the years of growing up, the only "phone change" that was ever made was an "upgrade" to the "Touch Tone" dial pad.  

Was the upgrade needed? Probably not. the tones were certainly cool but most of the IVR (interactive voice response) applications were still years away. But the IVR touch tone apps did come and it would be impossible for most of us to get through the day with a rotary dial phone.

In researching this blog I discovered that touch tone was actually introduced in 1963 when I was just two years old so the technology was over a decade old before my parents switched over.

Of course this begs the question, if people can get by with rotary dial tone for more than a decade after touch tone was introduced, what's with the big rush today to adapt new phone technologies the day after the technology is released?

 

Save Time & Make More Money!

Increased efficiency and the "soft dollar" savings that follow is always the main selling point of new technologies, but is it always true?

Are Aircards Enough? What Constitutes a Proper Wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) for Business Grade Use?

By Dan Baldwin

When affordable cellular "aircards" first hit the market many years ago, many IT directors with low-speed bandwidth needs said, "Cool! Now I've got a nice easy alternative to DSL or a T-1 to back up my data network."

Within a year or so cellular aircards stuck into a wireless data router were the standard data backup for many wide area networks (WANs) across the country for those businesses that could get by with 400k download & 150k upload.

Now, fast forward a half-dozen years, and IT directors have migrated from the 400k/150k speeds of the "2G" cellular networks to the 3g/1.5g data speeds of today's 4G/LTE/WiMax cellular data networks from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.

While the wireless data speeds have increased though many IT directors are still relying on aircards in wireless routers to backup their networks.

Are Aircards Enough to Power a Business Grade Data Network?

I decided to post the question to Mark Gianinni, CEO of Accel Networks, a business grade wireless data integration company that specializes in creating wireless data networks for multi-location companies across the company.  

Click the audio player below to listen to the interview. Click here to download an MP3 recording of the podcast. Scroll lower to read the transcript.

 

 

Dan Baldwin:  Hello.  This is Dan Baldwin, and today we are speaking with Mark Gianinni, the CEO of Accel Networks, who is also the co-founder.  Mark, thanks for being with us today.

Mark Gianinni:  Well, I appreciate the opportunity, Dan.

DB:  The subject of our Podcast is:  Are Aircards Enough? What constitutes a proper wireless LAN for business grade use.  Mark, go ahead and start us off by answering this question. 

Will Your Office Computer Network Fail When the Internet Switches to IPv6 in 2012

By Dan Baldwin

I count on the public Internet to work in my day-to-day business dealings. If the public Internet stops working, so does my business.  But who even owns the public Internet and who's doing what to make sure it keeps working? Is it really Al Gore?

So when I was recently invited to listen to a webinar about the implications of the pending "Internet switch to IPv6" I said to myself, "Huh, that sounds kind of important."

I'm glad I got the information. Ten minutes into the presentation I'm thinking to myself, "This seems like a pretty big deal and it might start affecting my business this year or next!"

Following is what I think I've learned about the whole issue and what I'm sharing with my clients about what it means for their office computer network's ability to communicate over the public Internet next year and beyond after the public Internet "converts to IPv6".

Executive Summary: IPv6 is not the 2012 Mayan apocalypse some predict, but it is "something".

 

What Business Owners Need to Know About How IPv6 Will Affect Their IT Costs

1. What's IPv6?

IPv6 refers the the new "IP" ("Internet protocol") naming convention for any piece of gear on the Internet (computers, routers, switches, smart phones, tablets, security cameras, etc.) that needs to be found by any other piece of gear.  The older naming convention is IPv4.

 

2. What's the IPv4/IPv6 problem?

Just as every telephone on the planet needs it's own telephone number to receive calls from other telephones, every piece of equipment on the Internet needs it's own IP address so other equipment can find it.

Currently, most every piece of equipment has an IPv4 IP address.  "The people in charge" of handing our new IP addresses have informed "us" that they are pretty much completely out of IPv4 IP addresses.

Not to worry though because "they" have a whole bunch of the new IPv6 addresses.

 

3. Can't computer gear with a mix of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses find each other on the Internet?

Since I'm a business owner myself and not a computer geek I investigated the question by asking around among other business owners and by searching the Internet and came up with the following four answers, "Sure they can. Maybe they can. I don't know. Probably not."