Quinn Ebert

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My Recommendation for Small Businesses: DSL

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) services provide broadband speeds over existing copper telephone wires (or, can use freshly-installed copper pairs in a form of DSL called “dry loop” DSL — sometimes called “OneLink,” especially by Covad-brand vendors).  The ability of this service to deliver (currently) speeds of up to 52mbps downstream and just over 2.0mbps upstream mean that, in areas close to the local telephone switching office, businesses can acquire high-end connectivity for extremely attractive prices (often for as little as the price of a home broadband Cable connection, for certain speed configurations).

Real-World Pros: Primarily, DSL (or Cable, where feasible) is chosen by small businesses due to its very high level of affordability, and reasonable performance attributes.  It allows businesses to receive high-performance Internet (WAN) connectivity for a nearly-immediate ROI.

Real-World Cons: In the real world, DSL performance is highly contingent on the DSL customer being a reasonable distance from the Telephone Company’s nearest switching office.  The distance from the switching office, in the real world, often determines not only how fast a DSL connection can “really” be, but also how reliably it will perform.  Even so, it is quite likely that most business locations will be reasonably close enough to the switching office so as to allow them fairly reliable Internet connectivity.

My Recommendation for Medium-Sized Businesses: Frame Relay

Frame Relay builds upon the technology of ISDN to provide high-speed WAN connectivity for Medium-to-Large-size LAN’s.  The primary intent of design with Frame Relay was to provide for a more cost-effective means of WAN connectivity for businesses which might otherwise find it necessary to lease or purchase dedicated lines for their WAN connectivity.

Real-World Pros: Primarily, again, the cost effectiveness of Frame Relay makes it an ideal choice for businesses which need cheap but fast communications between various physical locations.

Real-World Cons: The quality of Frame Relay connectivity is highly dependent upon service providers both having decently-designed networks, and not overselling bandwidth on their networks.  Since frame relay does not itself take care of quality of service, or guarantee of delivery, it is highly important that the operators of frame relay networks keep sensible network design and availability of bandwidth in mind at all times in order to maintain a decent standard of service for their customers.

My Recommendation for Large Businesses: SONET/SDH

SONET and SDH describe a set of protocols used for transmission of (esp. Computer Network) data over optical fiber networking cable.  While the ever-looming promise of “Optical Ethernet” is available to some areas, the much more ready availability of these optical standards for carrying 10gbps Ethernet links over long distances at-speed makes them one of the most attractive connectivity options for large companies that demand high-speed, reliable communications for large numbers of networked systems.

Real-World Pros: The high level of availability and adoption of SONET/SDH indicates that it is a well-performing option for high-speed Internetwork connectivity.  Moreover, the ability of this protocol to support full transfer of a 10gbps stream of data over a rather long physical distance makes it a perfect choice for companies that require near-guaranteed flawless performance in connections between their connected IT assets.

Real-World Cons: The only apparent major “con” of SONET/SDH is the price.  This is a “very serious” type of connectivity, but is then again meant for use by “very serious” customers who require only the best connectivity available.  Also, as with the service itself, it can be assumed that CPE (connectivity equipment/Customer Provided Equipment) for this type of connection is also rather expensive.