Emergia Solutions, a South African BEE company, has partnered with German innovator, Controlware GmbH, to offer carrier and corporate network backup solutions for leased lines using ISDN. The solution is optimized to drastically improve network uptime, with full management capabilities to ensure ease of use and reduced maintenance costs.
According to the Managing Director of Emergia Solutions, Eugene Smith, Controlware`s ISDN backup solution allows carriers and companies to increase the uptime of their leased lines by creating an alternative link via ISDN in case of leased line failure. "The benefits are enormous," according to Smith.
"Firstly, this is a far better backup solution than duplicated leased lines since you only pay for used backup time rather than for a full duplicate line. Secondly, it is a better solution than the ISDN via the router solution since routers are not optimized to switch back and cannot be properly managed for backup".
The backup solution is interoperable with various network vendor solutions such as Cisco, Nortel, 3Com, Huawei, etc. In addition, a range of network technologies such as VSAT, TETRA, Diginet and Frame Relay can be backed up from bandwidths of 64 kbps up to 2 mbps. All this is possible through boxes that can comfortably sit on a desk or in a rack. The option of bandwidth-on-demand can be integrated into the boxes to allow customers to use ISDN to top up their leased lines.
A strong point of the Controlware solution is its management system, which provides a view of the complete backup scenario. The management works with HP Openview and IBM Tivoli management platforms. As leased lines fail, alerts are sent and the line break is depicted on screen. The ISDN backup switches on automatically and is cut off again without any intervention when the leased line is restored. As a result, IT staff can be proactive rather than reactive. SLA performance improves, and an impressive ROI can be derived from the solution. Emergia Solutions`s partner for the products, Controlware, pioneered the ISDN backup solution over twenty years ago and is a world leader in the technology.
"We are certain that we have partnered with the best in backup solutions," according to Eugene Smith. "Controlware employs about 500 people, mostly engineers, and services clients such as British Telecom, France Telecom, Equant, Infonet, Telkom SA and Deutsche Telecom. With that kind of clientele, the solutions have to be proven and tested rigorously."
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