Staying in touch is one of the most vital requirements of any business. Whether that's staying in touch with your staff or your customers, keeping information flowing makes your business more agile and competitive.
That's why having access to your information - no matter where you are - is vital to businesses. For a growing business, this presents some unique challenges. Expand your company to a different site and all of a sudden the IT infrastructure that you need to keep your company talking becomes much more complex.
What is a next-generation network?
Next-generation networks converge voice, data and Internet access onto a single communications infrastructure. Instead of having separate networks for voice and data, everything travels across the same infrastructure using Internet Protocol (IP) - the communications protocol used by the Internet.
You may already be familiar with this idea, as perhaps you use an IP-based telephony service within your company. But the important point about next-generation networks is that they expand the use of IP as the backbone of networking from within a single site to intra-site communications. This means that you could offer the same services to any site capable of getting an Internet connection.
However, IP isn't the whole story in relation to next-generation networks. Usually 'next-generation network' is used to describe the physical backbone that communications companies are rolling out for their voice and data services. The backbone takes advantage of the high capacity and reliability of fibre optic cabling and usually has a large number of points of presence (POPs) covering major city areas.
Running on top of this is a technology called Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). This adds extra data to any packet sent over the network, describing what kind of data it is (voice, Internet, video and so on) and allowing the network to prioritise how the traffic is routed. For example, voice or video, needs to be an uninterrupted stream to work effectively, so should be prioritised over web browsing.
Using a next-generation network allows companies to abandon the traditional "hub and spoke" approach to linking their sites. Instead of using dedicated connections between sites - usually leased lines - they simply need a connection to the nearest point of presence of the next-generation network. From there, all their traffic is routed across MPLS over a virtual private network, connecting each of their sites securely - no direct connections required.
Business benefits
Next-generation networks have many business benefits, but the key ones are simplicity and cost. Instead of having multiple networks carrying voice and data services, you can have a single pipeline carrying both. This is especially important to an expanding business. Traditionally, adding an additional site meant a lot of headaches - getting voice and data services meant two sets of installation hassles. You might need a high-speed DSL connection for Internet connectivity, a switch running into your phone provider's system and a leased line giving you a direct connection to your main site for wide area networking. Getting all this installed and keeping it up and running can be a major challenge.
With a converged, next-generation network, you only need a single pipe into your building to handle voice, Internet traffic and data connectivity between sites. Your pipe connects to the main next-generation network and all traffic runs there across a virtual private network - no dedicated lines between sites are required. This means installation and only one connection to maintain. Fewer systems to maintain obviously gives you the potential to cut costs, as it simplifies your infrastructure and therefore your IT support needs.
What's more, your connection is scalable, and can be appropriate to the size of the site. For example, you might have a small site with only a handful of staff, which can be connected via a high-speed DSL connection and yet receive all the services available to employees at your main site. Larger sites could use quicker connections, with services such as THUS’ National Ethernet, to deliver voice and data to hundreds of employees.
In summary
No matter what kind of business you're in, next-generation networking can deliver real benefits to you, in terms of both potential cost savings and flexibility - and that's why it's important to choose a telecoms provider that has plenty of experience and knowledge of them in order to meet your requirements now and in the future.
For more information about next-generation networks, visit http://ngn.thus.net/nextgen/reservenow.aspx.