By Michael Lemm

Generally speaking … to answer the question you’d likely need to at least consider the business oriented, technology parameters, and application specific components requiring emphasis for the specific location(s) involved.

A good answer to the question requires a detailed understanding of the kinds of traffic the proposed network is intended to handle. For example, streaming video often requires high net bandwidth, but can use packet aggregation and may be able to accept the latency inherent in e.g. an asymmetrical satellite downlink.

In contrast, heavy multi-user VOIP might require symmetrical up and downlinks, in which per-user latency and the ability to handle many packets-per-second are much more important to performance than net bandwidth.

Or, you may have hybrid requirements in which part or all of the network has to handle multiple data types and amounts with varying latency requirements.

Once you understand the various network use scenarios, planning becomes largely a matter of understanding peak vs average use per node, as well as local vs pass-through data flows per node, ….. and designing node capacity, queuing, bandwidth shaping and limiting, and overall system requirements accordingly.

Yes …. every company is different hence every network is unique.

Sometimes, network requirements are driven by the applications, sometimes it is the other way around - applications are engineered to cope with certain network realities.

Here is a good example:

If a company has operations all across the world, round-trip delay will be at the top of my concerns. Since realistically the delay between US and China or India will be in the range of 300ms round-trip (or more), the applications will have to be designed with this in mind. For example interactivity across-the-pond is not going to work very well no matter how much bandwidth you throw at it.

To over simplify ….. some common factors will be number of users, criticality of time sensitive information, geographical spread/locations, types of applications, data only or data and voice. You also have to think about whether you are incorporating hubs or data centres. Last but certainly not least at present is what budget do you have to work with because knowing that might simplify some of your decision making.

The two countervening issues are cost and organizational applications demand/expectations.

Depending on an organizations priorities, start with one of the two issues above (i.e. if they’re driven by cost start there since any application driven model will be unappreciated or ignored).

If starting with cost - you’ll likely be building a network model that forces application needs through priority based networking filters to ensure applications are treated with the correct priority based on organizational need and priority.

If starting with applications, be sure to include anything needed during the future 12 months (i.e. don’t use historical demand for anything but a starting point). Needs beyond the 12 month period should be considered to ensure the equipment and services choosen will allow future growth.

To start the process, meeting and discussing needs and expectation with all key stakeholders is critical. This includes IT, Finance, Sales, Marketing and Operations. Anyone left out of this early discovery will likely create gaps in the analysis that will come back to bite you later.

Bandwidth should also be segmented on need across the WAN, internal backbone, distribution network and access network. Also method of delivery is important (i.e. DSL, T1, DS3, OCx, Optical, copper, Wi-Fi). Breaking things out this way will also ensure you have the right technology, enough redundancy, and user flexibility to have a tight fit with the end user and organizational needs and expectations.

Equipment decisions flow from the earlier points and should be defined towards the end of the process. Adjustments to the plan can be made at this stage dependant on equipement capability - assumptions about equipment capability early on are a sure way to have your plan driven by the equipement vendors (not a good thing). For instance, a vendor I know of has some very powerful systems for using wireless at the primary access network ….. but many customer’s made assumptions early on that this was not possible - the results being they over spend on wired technology.

Once a draft plan is created, this should be presented back to the same set of stakeholders you met early on to ensure you’ve captured everything and have one last chance to integrate any changes required since the 1st discussion. Also, this gives you a chance to explain options to the plan and gain buy in to the prefered options.

A common practice is to “find the bottleneck”. In designing a bandwidth solution, you can only be as fast as the slowest component.

In practice it is best to map out two things:

1. Current data rate and maximum capacity
2. Desired data rate

From there you can look at the whole chain and make decisions around what you will do.

Do I need to change network service providers? How much throughput do I need to design in? There is no sense building a ferrari if you only have local driving at low speeds.

But to the other extreme, there is no use designing a small 4 cylinder engine to drive local streets if changing over to the expressway could get you there faster.

The bottom line is that you need to look at your resources from end to end in order to determine the best solution. If you need help you can get it at no cost via ….. Bandwidth Solution.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications….including DS3-Bandwidth.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you’re always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.

Utilizing Existing Equipment
By Frank Napolitano

You may not be aware, but you can upgrade your telecommunications system, and may be able to utilize your existing handsets and more.

Many telecommunications equipment providers like Avaya (Formerly Lucent, Formerly AT&T) as well as Nortel (Norstar, Northern Telecom) have made their newer phone systems compatible with the handsets you may be using today.

This would allow businesses to take advantage of some of the newer technology like Unified Messaging, Unified Communications, VoIP, Enhanced Voice Mail, Auto Attendants, Fax to Desktop, and many others, without having to replace all of your equipment.

Not having to replace all of your handsets can reduce the cost of upgrading your telephone system by 50% or more. For example a $60,000 phone system would include phones costing $35,000. In this case, if the company was able to utilize their existing phones, the cost for a new phone system would have been $25,000.

Not only would a business save money by utilizing their existing handsets, they would also keep their old phones out of landfills. Like computer products, used handsets are not biodegradable and should not be thrown in the garbage anyways. When companies do upgrade their equipment, they should make every effort to donate the equipment, or sell it or give to a company that can refurbish and resell the equipment.

Avaya, and Nortel are not the only companies that you can utilize your existing handsets with. Older Siemens (Rolm) systems, Toshiba, NEC, Intertel, and many others may have handsets and other equipment that can be utilized with an upgrade. There are also companies like AVST, and Siemens that offer software based solutions that would be compatible with virtually any phone system brand.

If your business, or a business you know of has an older phone system, and perhaps due to cost restrictions, can not purchase a new system at this time, please contact Frank Napolitano at 630-830-6890 to find out how we can utilize as much of your existing equipment as possible and still offer your business all the cutting edge technologies you need, and perhaps even make your company more environmentally friendly at the same time.

Avaya has named a new president and CEO: Kevin Kennedy, currently the CEO of JDS Uniphase, makers of optical communications hardware.

Kennedy will take over Avaya, which is primarily focused on enterprise communications software, in early January, replacing interim CEO Charles Giancarlo who came on board earlier this year when Lou D'Ambrosio left for medical reasons.

Kennedy and Giancarlo spent time together in the '90s working together as Cisco executives, with Kennedy leaving the company in 2001. Giancarlo hung on until 2007.

Kennedy announced he would be leaving JDS Uniphase during the company's quarterly earnings meeting yesterday at which he also announced 400 layoffs and shutting down seven sites. He also predicted revenue would drop by the end of next quarter.

In its analyst meeting earlier this month, Giancarlo described Avaya as being in the midst of an overhaul to correct basic internal and external business systems to improve efficiency and customer satisfaction. He said those corrections will be in place by the end of next year and that 2010 will mark a new phase for the company. Giancarlo also discussed application server and economic opportunities for Avaya in an interview with Network World last week.

As for Kennedy, he has also served as COO of messaging-software vendor Openwave Systems, and as a senior vice president at Cisco, where he was in charge of service provider business and software technologies. He also spent 17 years working at Bell Laboratories where he developed products including modems, PBXs, FDDI switches and a voice-response system.

He also sits on the boards of JDS Uniphase, Polycom and LKA-Tencor. In addition, he is on the board of regents for Loyola Marymount University. Kennedy has a B.S. from Lehigh University and a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, both in engineering.

Giancarlo will remain on the Avaya board of directors after Kennedy takes over as CEO

Polycom today announced expansions to its telepresence product line intended to gain a competitive edge over companies such as Cisco Systems and Tandberg, including better picture quality, centralized management software and a larger ecosystem of partner companies in a centrally managed end-to-end solution. 

Polycom's goal is to give enterprises who want to use telepresence to improve employee productivity and reduce travel a better opportunity to tie in all parts of their businesses, from the headquarters location with an immersive telepresence room to locations with conference rooms and desktop solutions, said Joan Vandermaten, vice president of marketing for video solutions at Polycom. Polycom also is working with service provider customers to enable them to offer managed solutions that tie all these different locations together for the enterprise customers, said Mark Roberts, vice president of ecosystem marketing.

For higher picture quality, Polycom is extending 1080p and broadcast-quality 720p at 60 frames per second throughout its telepresence product line which includes both immersive and room solutions, along with high-definition voice quality in stereo.

"We are upping the bar for room systems and immersive telepresence," Vandermaten said. The 720p at 60 frames per second, in particular, delivers a high-quality picture to telepresence systems using less bandwidth,

"Unless you have very large screens or monitors that are auditorium-sized, the human eye cannot see the difference between 720p and 1080p." Vandermaten said. "For most room-based videoconferencing, the screens are not large enough, and the distance from the screen is not great enough for there to be a difference. And the bandwidth issue is huge because companies want to deploy this across their networks, where bandwidth can become an issue."

The newer picture quality is available on some systems now and on all systems by the first quarter of 2009 and is also available as an upgrade on existing system, Vandermaten said.

New software allows telepresence operators to work with many endpoints in a provisioned model, "that allows you to scale up quite large to up to 5000 endpoints," Vandermaten said. "Instead of managing those individually, you can manage everything from the server, changing profiles, setting up classes of service and quality of service - all that is done at the service and pushed out into the network."

"What we are seeing," Roberts said, "is a lot of people becoming interested in visual communications - either it's the hype around telepresence, or cost avoidance in travel or green initiatives. There are a variety of reasons driving people to explore visual conferencing. Companies may start by buying a system for their West Coast operations, but ultimately they want to leverage that to be accessible across the enterprise. And for a mobile person in the field, it can't be a telepresence or conference room -- the desktop solutions has to be managed as well."

The new software enables "buddy lists," an easy point-and-click way for end-users to take advantage of presence technology to make and manage their video conferencing, Vandermaten said.

Polycom's technology fits well into the managed services approach because of the centralized management, Vandermaten said.

As part of its announcement, Polycom also unveiled an expansion of its Polycom Arena ecosystem to include more than 60 partners, most recently GN Netcom, Mitel and Qumu.

Additions to the ecosystem are made based on customer demand and need, Roberts said.

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Mushroom Networks today introduced a hosted broadband bonding service meant as a faster, cheaper alternative to T-1s. 

The service makes use of access networking equipment that the startup unveiled in February for sale to service providers. That gear bonds up to six broadband lines of various types, including T-1s, cable, DSL and satellite (and lines from different providers), to achieve greater bandwidth. That product allowed bonding of downstream, but not upstream, channels.

The new service - targeted directly to business customers in addition to service providers - includes bonding of uplink channels. With it, Mushroom is promising broadband speeds 20 times faster than a T-1 for about $150 a month - a price Mushroom said is about a third that of T-1 service. The entry-level offer, excluding the price of the customer premises gear, starts at $50 per month for up to 5 Mb/s of uplink speed (six bonded DSL lines, for example).

Mushroom will continue to sell its equipment to service providers and enterprises interested in asymmetrical speeds. But for bonded uplink channels, Mushroom will host the service to customers of both types.

  

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