Wide area networks
South West Communications Group designs efficient, secure and cost-effect WAN solutions for businesses using a wide range of connectivity technologies.
A wide area network (WAN) can span large geographical areas to link many offices using a variety of different media, transmission methods and protocols. The success of any WAN implementation is the use of the correct combination of services, from both a technical and commercial standpoint to build and deploy a reliable, efficient and secure network.
The traditional means of linking offices was through point to point leased lines and the subsequent meshing of these lines to provide enhanced resilience. Today South West Communications Group is able to provide more diverse WAN solutions designed using modern technologies which can provide a higher level of flexibility together with better value for money.
These solutions can be provided using one or indeed, a combination of the following:
Leased lines - Leased line connectivity provides reliable, secure, efficient and exclusive connections between geographically distant offices for voice and/or data via permanent point to point connections. However, the cost of this service can in many cases be prohibitive with fixed monthly rental charges based on distance and the speed of the circuit balanced by the fact that this service is uncontended and thus the quality of the service assured.
Point-to-point microwave - Wireless point to point connectivity replaces the need for expensive leased line connections or installation of overhead/underground cables which can be prone to being disturbed by contractors. In order for businesses to make use of a microwave connection, they simply need line of sight or indeed near line of site between locations up to 10 miles apart. This connectivity method is highly cost effective, both in terms of the set up and ongoing support costs, and delivers a private network on an Ofcom registered frequency offering high bandwidth connectivity up to 1Gb to support voice, data and video applications.
MPLS - Multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) is a private carrier network which provides an efficient mechanism for delivering voice, data and/or video over traditional connections such as broadband, leased lines and Ethernet circuits without losing any quality of service.
MPLS assigns short identifiers (labels) to the data/voice/video packets and these labels are then looked up in pre-defined indices to forward, and sometimes to prioritize the traffic through this private network to ensure that there is no effect on the quality of transmission. As this is a private network like the traditional leased lines there is no need for firewall protection.
South West Communications Group can offer MPLS solutions over all available transmission types and bandwidths to meet any business’s needs and combines the flexibility of an any-to-any communication topology (i.e. any office on the network can directly connect to any other office on the network unlike point to point leased lines which only connect A to B).
As connection and rental charges are not distance dependant, an MPLS network provides a cost efficient solution when compared to a traditional leased line WAN.
VPN - A virtual private network (VPN) is a network that is designed using the Internet to connect offices and home workers worldwide. VPNs need to ensure the security of the data sent over the public network and will use encryption and routing protocols to do so ensuring that only authorised users can access the network. However as Quality of Service is not assured over the Internet, voice quality cannot be guaranteed.
The actual connection to the Internet needs to be of sufficient bandwidth to support the data being transmitted. South West Communications Group can offer an economical and efficient connection via our ADSL Max service portfolio or indeed Internet leased lines where required.
VPN connectivity is by far the most economical and flexible way of linking sites but is the least secure and is not suitable where toll quality voice calls are required.
Failover - For most organisations, it is of vital importance that automatic backup is available in the event of a primary WAN connection failing in order to ensure continuity of service. Failover could take the form of a backup ISDN2 or ADSL connection or by using any of the above technologies whereby the network will automatically detect a dropped connection and re-route the network traffic via the alternative link seeming operationally transparent to the customer.
South West Communications Group has used its expertise to design and install perfect WAN solutions for companies across the UK, including Mole Valley Farmers.
