Internet Solutions (IS) has scored a South African first with the introduction of a second ISP network, IS2, to provide total network redundancy for SA companies with Internet-dependent businesses.
IS2, a projected R4 million investment, has been specifically designed to be a cost effective, efficient alternative solution for companies wanting to follow a multihoming ISP strategy whereby they secure multiple lines into different ISPs to minimise the risk of network outage.
"A network is said to be multihomed when it is connected to more than one upstream ISP. As a result, such a network would have more than one path to the Internet. In the South African context, multihoming can be implemented for redundant access to local sites only (i.e. the South African Internet) but only in specific cases, for full redundancy (complete local and international access)," explains Stuart Hardy, GM of the IS Networks division.
"Over the years, IS has invested substantially in a fully redundant infrastructure to maximise our service delivery. However, to many of our larger clients, especially those who depend heavily on Internet access and connectivity, that still represents too much of a risk. This is why they have adopted a multihoming strategy.
"The attraction of multihoming with a second ISP has been that, in the event of one ISP going down, the company has an alternate path to the Internet, thereby providing the infrastructure redundancy their businesses need.
"Now IS is providing two independent networks. They`re located remotely - the original IS network in Rosebank and IS2 in New Doornfontein. They have totally different telephone exchanges and separate international links.
"Because IS2 is a stand-alone network totally independent of IS` original ISP infrastructure, we can provide IS clients with a `multihoming` solution without the technical limitations and risks associated with traditional multiple ISP multihoming including the need for portable address space which restricts international redundancy.
"With IS2, our clients have a better and more cost effective solution that not only meets local redundancy needs but also provides full international redundancy - something that is not often available in the South African context," he adds.
IS clients can now have one line into IS and one into IS2, but instead of paying two individual ISPs, they can benefit from economies of scale and dealing with a single supplier.
"In addition, IS can commit to service level agreements that no other ISP can offer clients.
"We can now guarantee a that downtime per year will never exceed 22 minutes. Until now, the industry norm is 99,2% up time - which equates to 40 hours downtime over three months. No e-business related company can afford that, " concludes Stuart.
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