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Bursting the VPN conundrum


Johannesburg, 06 Dec 2016
Esso Ndlovu, senior product specialist, Neotel
Esso Ndlovu, senior product specialist, Neotel

With the adoption of cloud and the influx of high bandwidth and demanding applications, the days of the traditional methods for setting fixed bandwidth limits by service providers are numbered. Conventionally, most enterprises have had steady bandwidth usage throughout the month. For them, the standard network solution on offer from most service providers has been a consistent and fixed bandwidth offering.

However, for many sectors, such as banking or retail, their network activity tends to come in bursts, sharp peaks at specific times of the month driven by market demand. Often, these enterprises are forced to pay for that peak bandwidth throughout the month, with high prices attached to those periods when they require peak bandwidth, says Esso Ndlovu, senior product specialist, Neotel.

South African enterprises need a solution that can address dynamic changes in bandwidth requirements. A solution that allows them to access the bandwidth they need without having to pay a peak rate each month for only one week of actual peak usage. For example, financial institutions only tend to experience these fluctuations in demand at the end of the month, yet must pay the expensive tariff for the entire month.

Ndlovu believes it's time service providers recognise that every enterprise is different, each with varied and complex bandwidth requirements and their own specific connectivity challenges. Enterprises should be allowed to scale their usage according to their needs, and they should be able to manage this scale themselves.

Flexible VPN for business

The Neotel Burstable VPN, is less expensive than traditional offerings and allows the enterprise to control its bandwidth spend and usage. It also comes with significantly less administration headaches - configuration is done automatically.
"Deploy once and all dynamic bandwidth requirements are sorted," says Neotel's Esso Ndlovu. "We built the system using the percentile billing model after spending time researching the different billing methodologies - it was important to find the right fit. Companies are billed on what they use."
The Neotel Burstable VPN introduces the flexibility that many organisations require to grow their businesses, expand their physical retail spaces and access the ubiquity of the cloud. Ndlovu adds that it makes sense for the business to use a burstable solution over a private network which provides performance, security and scalability within the much-needed guarantee of uptime and reliability.

"Technology and network capability have evolved to the point where the business shouldn't be pushed into a corner anymore," says Ndlovu. "The flat rate model is a strong one, but it isn't adaptable enough. It is time to introduce the flexibility of a consumption model to the South African market. With this model, the company can choose the solution which best fits their growth, strategic goals and demand."

If any business wants to use more than three to four times more bandwidth than usual, then they should be allowed to do so without a price or performance penalty. Interestingly, Ndlovu points out that globally, few organisations have developed a viable burstable solution. The question is - why not? The flat rate certainly works, but it equally certainly doesn't work for every business. There should be more variety in network offering, especially considering how competitive and congested the market happens to be today.

"We've developed our own burstable VPN solution that provides our customers with the ability to adjust their bandwidth on demand," says Ndlovu. "With our solution, the organisation can burst their network and only pay for what they use. It makes perfect sense for any organisation which experiences varied peaks in demand.

"It solves more than one challenge for the business," concludes Ndlovu. "Gone are the days where the enterprise wants to be forced to commit to a set rate when it only uses the functionality for a day or two. A burstable solution allows for seamless adoption of cloud functionality on demand."

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