Gigabit Ethernet Port Scales WAN Bandwidth

When you are ready to make the move from copper to fiber bandwidth levels or upgrading an OC-3 SONET service, you are faced with a choice. What level of bandwidth do you install?

Why not give yourself flexibility for the future and the opportunity to pay only for what you need right now? This is what a Ethernet port strategy can do for you.

Scalability is a new idea in business telecom services. When you install a T1 line, it requires a very specific T1 interface that include a CSU/DSU circuit unique to the T1 line specifications. Upgrade to a T3 line (DS3 bandwidth) and you’ll find that you can’t just plug that T3 into your T1 router. The interface is completely different. Even the connecting cable is different. With DS3 you are looking at a pair of coaxial BNC connectors that don’t support any other service. Now, make yet another move on up to OC-3 service. Your router interfaces for T1 and T3 are no good. You need a fiber input to your router.

It doesn’t get any better when you start moving up the fiber optic hierarchy. You can’t just plug OC-12 or OC-48 into an OC-3 port and have everything spring to life. They are different services requiring modifications. You’ll likely need a new interface card and programming changes to your router. If you have a managed router, that probably means a truck roll to your premises to swap out the CPE (Customer Premises Equipment).

In the back of your mind, you must suspect it doesn’t have to be this way. Those new PCs have NICs (Network Interface Cards) labeled 10/100/1000 Mbps. That means that you can plug them into any LAN running at up to 1 Gbps and they’ll work just find. Even the connector takes the same RJ-45 patch cord. Wouldn’t that approach be far superior for WAN connections too?

This is the beauty of Carrier Ethernet, which includes Metro Ethernet, MPLS network access and long haul point to point connections. Ethernet beyond the LAN has been designed to be as flexible as Ethernet on the LAN.

One of Ethernet’s best features as a bandwidth service is ease of scaling. If you are running 50 Mbps service and find your needs have increased so that you now need 100 Mbps, you can just call up your service provider and request an upgrade. In a matter of hours or a day or two at the most, your WAN network speed will double. In that time, no one has knocked on the door with a new router under their arm. In fact, you haven’t seen anyone from the service provider. It was all done over the phone.

There is a trick to making this work. The magic is all in the installed Ethernet port. When you order Ethernet service, make sure that you have a port installed that will support the highest bandwidth you reasonably expect to be ordering down the road. Most ports are the standard Ethernet speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1,000 Mbps. It’s also possible to get a 10,000 Mbps or 10 GigE port with a suitably fast managed router if your needs are that high.

With Ethernet over Copper, you are probably looking at a 100 Mbps Ethernet port at most. Be sure you know just what your maximum speed will be, because EoC is distance limited and requires more copper pairs as speed increases. Ask what bandwidth your installation will support compared to what you are ordering initially.

With Ethernet over Fiber, it likely makes sense to install a Gigabit Ethernet port. The fiber itself has more capacity that you are ever likely to employ. The speed of the port will be the limiting factor, along with the capability of the carrier’s equipment that feeds that port. Once again, it is smart to plan for the future but buy for today. Get the bandwidth you need now, but be sure that the system is engineered to allow for fast and easy upgrades as you need them. That will be especially handy if you get hit with a sudden increase in traffic or a need to support massive amounts of video or enormous file transfers that you didn’t anticipate.

Are you ready for a bandwidth upgrade, but unsure of what commitment to make? Give yourself some breathing room with a Gigabit Ethernet port and the ability to scale up your bandwidth as needed. Get prices and availability of Ethernet ports and line speeds now.

Why You Want A GigE Port

Are your bandwidth needs uncertain? By that, I mean that you know what level of traffic you have right now. It’s what you’ll need tomorrow, next week or during the holiday shopping season that’s in question. So, what do you do about it?

The problem with being wrong about your bandwidth needs is that you either pay way too much, or run the risk of losing a lot of business if you run out of capacity. Neither situation is acceptable. Let’s see how you can make better arrangements.

Traditional telecom services take a long time to install and upgrade. They’re not very scalable. A scalable service makes it easy to adjust bandwidth. Generally all you have to do is call your service provider and say, “crank it up.” They’ll do just that, usually without sending anyone to your business locations, and simply adjust your bill accordingly. The beauty of scalable services is that you can hedge your bets. Order the bandwidth you need today with a little margin for bursts of traffic. Then scale up your service as business operations require. This way the added business activity pays for the additional bandwidth and you don’t take a hit to your profits.

What kind of bandwidth is scalable? Ethernet services meet that definition. They are available in the industry standard speeds of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1,0000 Mbps and 10 Gbps. But you can generally order levels in-between. Service typically starts at 3 Mbps, which is twice the speed of a T1 line at about the same cost. The exact increment between service levels varies among providers, but 5 or 10 Mbps steps are common.

Compare that to scaling up from T1 at 1.5 Mbps to DS3 at 45 Mbps or OC3 at 155 Mbps. Each jump requires different termination equipment and considerable time and effort to install. With Ethernet, you can select any incremental speed up to the limit of the installed port.

This is why you want a Gigabit Ethernet port if that option is available. The speed of the port is the maximum speed of the service that can be provisioned without changing out equipment and perhaps having to bring in new lines. With a GigE port, you can commit to 100 Mbps service while knowing that you can easily upgrade that to 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, 750 Mbps or even a full 1,000 Mbps. That “future proofs” your service without having to commit to massive levels of bandwidth that you can’t possibly use right now.

Of course, the proper port size is related to the nature of your business. Not every business will need Gigabit Ethernet service in the foreseeable future. Smaller business may be quite comfortable with Ethernet over Copper at a maximum of 50 Mbps. Others only need one to two hundred bits per second. What is right for your company? Why not get a set of price quotes for Ethernet services available at your location and then decide. You’ll likely be surprised by how much you can get for your bandwidth dollar.