Businesses dependent on always-on connectivity or running applications in the cloud can no longer afford to risk their connections by using lower-grade backup connectivity: they need like-for-like primary and secondary connections that are bonded.
This is according to Justin Colyn, Sales and Marketing Director at Comsol, who says multi-connect is crucial for continuity in the modern business. “Multi-connect is multiple last mile connections, using different mediums that have the same characteristics from alternate service providers,” he explains.
Colyn notes that a secondary connection is important, as backup to keep business running should local fibre infrastructure be dug up or damaged, or in the event of a major fibre outage or internet service provider outage. A single link from a single service provider is a single point of failure, which is a business continuity risk, he says.
“Say you lose your last mile, and because you have only one last mile connection going into your business, you can do nothing. That last mile connects to a ring, and if you lose the ring, once again you have a problem,” he says. To counter the risk of losing their only connection, most organisations have some form of backup solution. However, not all backup solutions are up to the task of supporting business as usual, Colyn says.
“Many businesses who depend on a high-speed internet connection will have a primary fibre connection and opt for an LTE last mile connection as a failover. The challenge with this is they may have a 50Mbps fibre link and economised with a 10Mbps or best effort LTE link as backup, which will automatically mean a slower connection should the local fibre ring go down. But on top of that, when a local ring goes down, every other resident and business in the area will be connecting to the same 4G LTE tower, further impacting quality of experience.”
This means latency, jitter and a poor user experience. In stores, it could mean significant delays at pay points, and possible lost revenue, he notes.
“To maintain business continuity with the same connection quality, organisations should have a like-for-like backup connection, for example, a 20Mbps fibre line and a 20Mbps licensed fixed access wireless connection that work in unison and are bonded so that under normal operating conditions, you have 40Mbps to use,” Colyn says. “The reason for this is that if a fibre outage occurs, the second connection can bypass the localised outage and connect to a wireless node anywhere from 5km to 15km away. For example, if your office is in Fourways and the suburb has an outage, but you’re able to connect to the next microwave node in Riversands, your connection is now outside of the localised failure and business continues as usual. If the characteristics of the last mile infrastructure are exactly the same at a wireless level as they are on fibre, employee and customer experience will be maintained.”
With a like-for-like multi-connect solution, organisations are hedging their bets, ensuring they have a fibre-like connection in all eventualities.
“When bonded together through an SD-WAN solution, the second connection will automatically take over should the primary connection fail, and businesses won’t miss a beat, so continuity is assured,” Colyn says. “A multi-connect architecture – bringing together the best of fibre and licensed wireless in a single solution – enables hybrid connectivity for peace of mind that the last mile connection will perform as expected, even if an outage occurs on one network.”
Share