Today’s modern businesses must have extensive network capabilities to thrive. Modern enterprise networks have to interact with their customers instantly, with near-perfect context across a wide variety of channels. Scaling the systems to handle those interactions is what keeps IT managers up at night.
Enterprise Network Concerns During the Shift to Digital
This transition to digital is precisely why enterprise networks must be built to handle the growing bandwidth demands that come with doing business today. At Bandwidth IG, we’re noticing that modern businesses fall into one of two categories:
- Digitally transformed
- Those on their way to becoming digitally transformed
In both cases, their reliance on data is growing exponentially, which drives the need for more bandwidth – especially between data centers. As our team continues to help enterprises digitally transform with our custom dark fiber networks, we’ve found that IT managers look at four factors when they evaluate fiber networks. In this blog, we examine each of these factors and how solving for them is essential to the success of any enterprise network.
Factor #1: Signal Loss
Many fiber networks were originally placed in the ground more than 20 years ago. What’s more, many of those networks have grown through acquisition. Company A acquires Company B’s existing fiber network, and Company A mashes Company B’s network with its own. This is done by splicing cables together, which results in signal loss. Signal loss is a major factor for IT managers because it results in a slower and less reliable network. The network is negatively affected each time a splice is introduced, which is why expanding or building networks through acquisition is not always ideal.
How Bandwidth IG solves for signal loss: Our customers value our network because it is brand new. It has not been built through acquisition, nor has it been chopped up to reach cell towers or other buildings. As a result, we have customers who can leverage C + L bands with their optronics, allowing them to exceed 30Tbps of bandwidth on a single pair of fibers.
Factor #2: Latency
As we’ve stated, most legacy fiber networks were built 20 years ago when it was common practice to build networks to go directly to commercial buildings and cell towers – not directly to data centers. For IT managers at today’s modern enterprises, a fiber network that is intentionally built to reach data centers is a key factor when it comes to a network’s speed. All data passes through a data center. The more direct the route between data centers, the faster that connection will be. The circuitous routes that legacy networks take result in higher latency, which slows down networks. In an environment where time is money, higher latency is unacceptable.
How Bandwidth IG solves for latency: To put it simply, we ensure low latency by taking the most direct route between data centers as possible.
Factor #3: Diversity
In addition to signal loss and latency issues, legacy networks also struggle to offer true diversity. Working with a fiber provider that offers a truly diverse route means enterprises have a stronger chance of remaining operational in the event of a cut line or similar situation affecting major lines. When many legacy networks were being built, they sought economies by burying their infrastructure in a common ditch, so chances are if one network is affected by a cut, all others in the same location will be as well.
How Bandwidth IG solves for diversity: Our networks are intentionally placed to make sure they aren’t in the same ditch as our competitors. In addition, we ensure plenty of available inventory by placing a minimum 1728 cable along with several additional ducts installed simultaneously.
To learn more about the importance of true route diversity and Bandwidth IG’s approach, check out our article, System Failure? How Adding Network Diversity can Keep Enterprises Online.
Factor #4: Inventory
The final network factor IT managers must solve is inventory. When the legacy networks were built in the 1990s, there were only 400 million people accessing the internet. It just wasn’t possible for those companies to foresee the exponential growth of bandwidth demand we have today, which has surpassed 5 billion users. Unfortunately, that means they likely maintain smaller amounts of fiber in their networks. The lower fiber count makes it hard for enterprise networks to quickly scale to handle the growth of data transmission that today’s data-intensive applications require.
How Bandwidth IG solves for inventory: We build networks that meet the needs of today’s modern enterprises, and that will continue to meet bandwidth demands well into the future. Bandwidth IG ensures plenty of available inventory by placing a minimum 1728 cable along with several additional ducts installed simultaneously. All positioned to quickly scale.
Your Partner in the Digital Age
As we move further into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, signal loss, latency, diversity and inventory will be even more important to IT managers as they look for ways to scale enterprise networks. Our experienced and knowledgeable team knows what it takes to build networks that will carry modern businesses into the future, and we remain committed to building and maintaining networks that do just that.
Learn more about our enterprise network capabilities on our Corporate Network Connectivity page or contact us anytime!