Tip....How To Determine Network/Bandwidth Requirements For Supply Chain Management Systems

Following is a list of information packed articles to help you solve your bandwidth issues with a supply chain management system network design and installation. You'll get tips on what to look for, what to ensure is part of any design package, how to compare providers for any solution you decide upon, and where to find the best deals so you have the best chance at the most cost effective solution.

* What Bandwidth Solution (T1, DS3, OC3) Makes Sense For A Supply Chain Network?

“A company's supply chain network can be a complicated animal. To service this network of constant data sharing and storage requires a high performing reliable network backbone. An important part of the design is the right level of bandwidth support .... T1, DS3, or OC3 bandwidth circuits to be exact. Making the right decision on what circuit to choose means navigating a number of issues.”

* Meeting Your Bandwidth Requirements For Supply Chain Management Applications

"Deploying an Supply Chain Management (SCM) solution that provides the intended return on investment requires that the applications, servers, and enterprise network infrastructure work together seamlessly. This is easier said than done and will necessitate a thorough evaluation of your bandwidth needs to meet the demand."

* More On Meeting Your Bandwidth Requirements For Supply Chain Management Applications

"The key to a successful SCM implementation is a clear understanding of the business objectives and business requirements of the company the SCM primarily supports. This often includes a number of legacy systems which need to be integrated into the solution. From this will come the technical objectives to be met and the technical requirements that frame the solution. Only then will the communication requirements for bandwidth capacity, reliability, resiliency, latency, security, and expandability be meaningful."

Effective Employee Cybersecurity Awareness Training And Educational Programs Are Crucial To Protecting Your Company...Don't Take Them Lightly (VIDEO)

 Whether your workforce is onsite or remote, cybersecurity awareness training should be an integral part of the culture of your company. Empowering your employees to be a part of the cybersecurity solution will transform not only their work environment, but the cyber safety of your company. The following video shares Threat Protector, one of numerous Best-In-Class providers of employee security awareness training and educational programs we can source for you.

To learn more about all the options available to you for meeting your organization’s data protection and network security requirements (including security posture and risk assessments, and awareness training and employee education programs) .... plus comparisons of 100s of best-in-class network security / cybersecurity providers and what they have to offer ... simply ask us at http://ds3-bandwidth.com/network-security. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3.

#NetworkSecurity #Cybersecurity #cybersecurityawareness #cybersecuritytraining

Who Is The Best Business Broadband Provider?

This question is often asked by IT staff at any given business …. but what they really mean is “who is the best business broadband provider …. for ME?” Even more specifically … “who can give me exactly what I need ….. where I need it …. to do what I have to do with my data/voice network?”

If you ask this ….. read on so you’ll be better positioned to ask the question in a more meaningful way; and get a response that makes the most business sense for your specific situation.

Most importantly ….. to get a complete and worthwhile answer ... there really needs to be more information provided which better describes exactly what your requirements are.

What is the exact location or locations? What is your budget? What applications must your network support (voice, data, multi-media, conferencing, number of users, 1 or more locations - single building or campus, etc.). What's your current usage? What’s your projected future usage? What do you have now (T1, DS3, etherent, etc.)? What’s your current uptime, latency, SLA, and QoS? Who's your current provider? Are you currently under a contract and when does it run out?

Don’t focus solely on speed … or price either. You also need to consider uptime, latency, packet forwarding, and other issues. Both in analyzing your current “state” …. and estimating your future “grow to”.

First start by asking yourself which applications you need to run over the link. People don't buy networks, they buy access to applications.

Then you need to look at the expected usage over the link. The profile of the applications is also important -- are they latency constrained? Are they bandwidth hogs? Is it sporadic access or sustained? Are you bringing Internet over the link?

How far apart are your sites (if this is a multi-site install)? Will that introduce latency? Is that latency going to be a problem?

You also have to look at what you can get. Maybe all you can get is a T1.

Depending on the answers above, you might also need to look at WAN acceleration, Citrix, or other such technologies to get around application limitations. Some applications just don't work well when they're separated by their users by more than a few milliseconds.

That said .... initially I'd lean toward a T1; probably integrated (voice and data). But that will depend on number of users and load (video conferencing, large multi-media file sharing, etc.) and so forth. You might need to go bonded T1 or DS3 (T3) bandwidth if your load/usage is large. If available, ethernet should be an option at least from a cost effectiveness standpoint.

As for a provider .... shop around. Remember that location is key when buying broadband. Use a consultant who can talk the language and negotiate for you. If you do this yourself you'll get frustrated, spend a lot of time and effort, and likely be talked into something you really don't need ... at a cost more than you should pay. If you’d like free help with this …. I strongly recommend the no cost services at:

Compare Business Broadband Providers

OC3, OC12 & OC48 Bandwidth (Fiber Optics)....Ideal Solution For High End Users

The ideal solution for high end bandwidth users where connectivity is essential for operations isn't a simple T1 or DS3 dedicated line...you need an "OC" fiber optic network. So just what is OCx, what can it do for you, and what do you need to know?

What is an OCx Circuit?

'OC' stands for Optical Carrier and is used to specify the speed of fiber optic networks conforming to the SONET standard. SONET, (Synchronous Optical Networks), includes a set of signal rate multiples for transmitting digital signals on optical fiber. The base rate (OC-1) is 51.84 Mbps. Certain multiples of the base rate are provided below with bandwidth amounts. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) makes use of some of the Optical Carrier levels.

Optical Carrier lines provide content providers, ASP's, ISP's & large enterprises with dedicated Internet connectivity. These Optical Carrier Level circuits are an ideal solution for high end bandwidth users where connectivity is essential for operations. Some examples are large data centers, high tech research facilities, university infrastructure, airport complex, and casino video security and data systems.

What is an OC3?

An OC3 can be three DS3s (T3s) or as one 155M pipe. The benefit in using DS3s is that each can be separated back out as individual T1s (each with 24 channels). To put it into perspective, the speed of an OC3 connection is 155Mbps. This is equivalent to 3 T3 lines or 100 T1 lines. An OC12 connection is 622Mbps, equivalent to 14 T3 lines or approx. 414 T1 lines.

What is an OC12?

An OC12 is approximately equal to 4 OC3s and runs at 622 Mbps. which makes it an excellent point-to-point IP delivery connection. The greatest benefit to an OC-12 is that bandwidth can be added to a business as it grows without any major system overhauls. An OC12 can also allow a business to have unlimited IP addresses which insures that growth is never limited...

What is an OC48?

An OC48 works as a reliable fiber optic backbone for large networks which require volume extensive voice/data/video traffic. It is a long-haul backbone fibre connection capable of transmitting data at 2.45 Gbps. To put it into perspective the speed of an OC48 is the equivalent of having 48 T3's OR 1,344 T1 lines

The pricing for these type of connections can vary widely depending on the carrier, location of service and the exact application for which the connection is being used. Due to this complexity it is suggested to use the services of a consultant such as FreedomFire Communications to research available providers and find the best fit to meet a specific requirement.

Business VoIP Solution .... What Does It Really Mean?

A business voip solution is an alternative to a traditional switched-voice service. Instead of using dedicated trunks between PBXs, you can share the bandwidth with your data services, making better use of the available capacity. With prioritization techniques, you can ensure that your voice traffic gets through the network in the appropriate time to maintain voice quality.

For a typical internet telephony application, assume that you have a number of offices that need to communicate with each other. The telephony traffic can be carried across the internet or across a third party network or VPN .... and be delivered to the distant end without using the PSTN or a leased line. It depends on what you want to achieve.

You can have an IP PBX for internal use only, with all your staff connected over the same LAN infrastructure as they use for data - separating voice and data traffic by using VLANs, with external access to the PSTN. If you have more than one office, you can link them using leased T1 or DS3 bandwidth lines, metro ethernet or xDSL in the same way as you would for a data service - VoIP is, after all, voice packets being transported in the same way as data packets.

As the VoIP traffic is handled just like any other data traffic, it doesn't really matter where your PBX is located, just as you can have a hosted server for your data, you can have a hosted server for your VoIP. You can have the IPPBX in your office or in a data centre, it makes no difference.

SIP trunking? Now there's a buzz phrase. SIP is a signaling protocol in the same way as H.323 or QSIG are protocols. SIP is a standard and lots of manufacturers intrepret the standard in their own way but, fortunately, lots of the SIP interpretations work together.

Session Initiation Protocol works over IP and should enable replacement of PSTN trunks by the internet. So, again, voice traffic can go over the internet instead of the PSTN with a resulting saving in cost.

Don't forget though, that the internet is unregulated and unmanaged. Voice traffic is sensitive to packet loss, delay and jitter (variation in delay). So at peak times ( just after school in the evenings and on weekends) your voice traffic may break up. Meaning it would be worthwhile looking at having a managed network service to guarantee the quality of your voice traffic for those critical calls.

VoIP works between products from the same manufacturer and sometimes it works between manufacturers. Some manufacturers have produced interfaces and some third parties will provide gateways to enable collaboration. My recommendation would be to check first.

Hardware? Go for something that lots of other people use.. Cisco, Avaya, Alcatel. Cisco started in data and moved into voice. Avaya and Alcatel started in voice and moved into IP data. They have their own ways of implementing VoIP. Cisco is only VoIP. Avaya and Alcatel can give you a migration from traditional voice, reusing handsets from their analog and digital services adding IP telephones as the transition continues. IP telephone handsets are expensive.

For more help in designing a business VoIP solution for your network .... I recommend taking advantage of the services available here:

Business VoIP Solution

Their assistance is free and and they often can find special deals from providers in your specific location.