Local Internet service provider RSAWeb yesterday released its new aggregated ADSL product SuperPIPE.
The company says the product can deliver download speeds up to 50Mbps. “SuperPIPE works by aggregating multiple ADSL lines into a single fault-tolerant high-speed connection of up to 50Mbps that can be managed as simply as if it was single ADSL connection.”
It adds that the product can aggregate up to five lines to deliver high upload and download speeds.
Gap filler
Rob Gilmour, MD of RSAWeb, says fixed-line operator Telkom has been far too slow in rolling out faster speeds for business and consumers.
“Although they have just announced their 20Mbps and 40Mbps ADSL pilots, we know that this will be unattainable for many and limited to certain areas. We are launching SuperPIPE to fill this gap in the market.”
The MD also says some other ISPs have launched bonded ADSL products to the market. “However, we have taken a different approach by placing hardware onto either side of the Telkom IPC (ADSL) network in order to ensure a quality high-speed experience. We... offer the first truly aggregated ADSL product to the market, which performs very well for both uploads and downloads alike.”
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says the product is a brilliant technology solution. “Telkom tends to rollout new connectivity technology very slowly, while the market moves quite rapidly.”
He explains that what is really important with this product is managing the throughput intelligently. “That's a critically important thing for broadband, managing the throughput. Simply bonding is not enough.”
Always online
“SuperPIPE is a fully resilient service; we've designed it so that even if four out of your five ADSL lines are unplugged, our automatic failover will ensure you are still online, which is ideal for companies that need always-on connectivity,” says RSAWeb's technical director Mark Slingsby.
“Plus, SuperPIPE inherently allows for much higher throughput than traditional ADSL, which is great for companies that use a lot of VOIP or video conferencing, or regularly download and upload large files.”
Goldstuck says the product won't have an impact on consumers, because it's not aimed at consumers. It will be significant for small businesses, for which ADSL is too slow and fibre is too expensive.
“The window of opportunity for this service is in the delay of LTE. The latency on wireless is simply no match for a fixed-line.”
The company explains that there is currently a huge gap in price, speed and reliability between fibre connectivity, which allows speeds from 10Mbps up to 10Gbps, but at a higher cost than ADSL, which rarely achieves 10Mbps.
“SuperPIPE bridges this gap by offering fibre-like throughput at competitive pricing with some inherent reliability.”
The product is now available across SA and in capped and uncapped packages.
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