I am amazed at how many 20-30 employee companies still use DSL or cable for their Internet connectivity.  In addition to using ethernet between your offices you should consider using ethernet to the Internet too.  My rule of thumb for Internet use is this:

*    1-4 users, go with DSL or Cable Internet connection

*    5-15 users, go with Cable or a T-1 to the Internet

*    16-24 users, go with 3.0 Mb or 4.5 Mb bonded Internet or begin looking at 10 Mb ethernet connectivity.

*    25 and up on total users you have to be into an ethernet connection.  With this many regular, daily Internet users in your office you’ll need a fat pipe to get your work done.

With the many applications that businesses tie into today, scaling the pipes between your offices and the pipe to the Internet is critical.  Making the wrong decisions on this could make or break a quarter, and maybe a year for some businesses.  Clearly the scale I gave above will vary a bit depending upon the type of business you’re in, but it’s a great place to start for most businesses.

Some of the groups you’ll want to consider for this type of offering are:

*   Qwest QMOE offers many options to fit your budget and your bandwidth requirements.

*  AT&T offers a wide variety of ethernet in the states that they service.

*  XO Communications - One of the few CLEC’s that are beginning to master EoC (Ethernet over Copper) as a viable and well priced offering.

For additional information on WANs – here’s a post from earlier this year.  For additional questions about how ethernet can rock your connectivity, contact a carrier agnostic agency today.

Photo Credit

10 years ago most businesses could get away with having just 1.5 Mb of bandwidth to the Internet.  Today that doesn’t touch the surface on what is needed, particularly if you’re utilizing your connection to access many of the applications now available.  As SaaS (Software as a Service) models continue to grow and more and more businesses reach outside of their LANS for dial tone, CRM, ERP, PLM, SCM, SRM type applications, the need for bigger and better bandwidth will always be needed.  I stuck dial tone in the list above because now more than ever more and more businesses are looking to get a hosted PBX – Telesphere is a company that seems to have a grasp on this technology.

With cloud computing software designers can design, build, and deliver services that allow clients to easily access their applications from virtually any location.  IBM seems to be positioned extremely well to assist many of the large software providers with implementing a SaaS strategy.  Today, increased demand for Internet access is directly driven by the need for business applications.

Most of the carriers will bond T-1′s to provide their customers 3.0 – 9.0 Mb of access, but most have realized that to be positioned for the future they have to provide ethernet grade Internet access.  Qwest has led the way in their 14 states providing ELA (Ethernet LAN Access) to the Internet over their QMOE (Qwest Metro Optical Ethernet) backbone.  TW Telecom, Integra, and XO offer great pricing on their EoC (Ethernet over Copper) offerings.  Be patient when you’re working to check availability and get quotes for this service as it can sometimes be a lengthy process.  As always, make sure that you’re working with a carrier agnostic agency so that you can get multiple pricing from one source.

Happy Surfing!