A new age of innovation is upon us, bringing with it self-driving cars, state-of-the-art phones, on-demand video streaming services, and more. Despite constant advancements, why are we still dragged down by lagging bandwidth?
An article in Data Center Knowledge, an online thought leader in the data center industry, explores this topic in “Why You Still Have a Bandwidth Problem.”
Here are some of the key issues:
1. Fast-Growing Applications
The internet has had a hard time keeping up with the demands placed on it by user-driven applications, especially those littered with multimedia ads. These services require speed, always-on availability, and an uncompromisingly positive experience for the end user. Much of the established infrastructure is not designed to deal with the intensity of demand, and increased traffic loads only make the problems worse.
Providers face additional challenges delivering consistent, high-quality services to users in remote areas who expect fast speeds and zero downtime. According to the article, “a connection that supports 1.8 Gbps between London and Frankfurt on a low-loss connection is reduced to just 2.2 Mbps to Singapore at only .1 percent loss, typical between regions. This is close to a 1,000 times decrease.”
2. Limitations Associated With Content Delivery
Current routing and transport protocols no longer provide adequate service. Many companies have invested in Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs) to boost delivery speed and enhance performance, but those solutions can only do so much.
Providers can’t control:
- Geographical circumstances
- Pre-provisioned Points-of-Presence (PoPs)
- Limitations from cloud providers
To compensate, providers rely on traditional methods like adding new data centers and employing quicker refreshes for edge caching. Although these approaches have some positive impact on bandwidth speed, the article emphasizes these quick fixes are “a Band-Aid for a bullet hole.”
3. Cloud Networking
Cloud computing offers elasticity, on-demand capacity, use-based pricing, and more. Unfortunately the potential has not yet translated into results. Providers are “holding back because they cannot guarantee quality, stability and speed.”
Taking full advantage of the flexibility cloud computing promises and breaking ties to physical infrastructure will enable providers to respond in real time to fluctuating traffic, adapt to the demands of a diverse range of applications and devices, and better serve their users.
4. Reactive Internet
Traditional infrastructures tend to take a “reactive posture.” To adapt to the burst of traffic and demand, networks need to become proactive. Knowing what’s going on at granular levels and taking immediate action using innovative, cloud-based approaches will allow providers to implement real-time solutions, support an array of new services and applications, and deliver superior results to the end user.
Click here to read the full article.
Activo can help your business determine the right amount of bandwidth, implement an effective solution, and monitor the results. Contact us today to discuss the best solution for you.
More from Activo:
