Internet connectivity has become the central fabric of our modern economy. Its availability, and that of the applications that depend upon it, is as much a given as other utilities that we take for granted: electricity, water, gas, etc.
Nick Sacke, Head of Products and IoT, Comms365, explains why businesses today need to be able to deliver a symphony of applications, and the internet is the orchestra that must perform it. Without careful management, maintenance, continuous orchestration, and contingency, there is a real risk that at that crucial moment, all they will hear is silence.
Demand vs expectation & performance
According to the 2021 App Attention Index, 76 per cent of people said their expectations of digital services increased over the pandemic, with the range of digital services consumed also increasing. However, the same report cited that 83 per cent of people reported having encountered problems with applications and digital services during 2020 / 2021 – and 61 per cent of people state their expectation of digital services has changed forever and they won’t tolerate poor performance anymore, with 60 per cent of people also blaming the application or brand, irrespective of issue.
At a consumer level, the consequences of poor performance might include reputational damage; losing customers to an alternative service or provider, or abandoning the service altogether. Yet, the last few years have also seen a huge increase in digital transformation in areas such as manufacturing, healthcare, and public services / critical national infrastructure, where application performance becomes critical. Not only is a failure at the point of delivery unacceptable, but businesses, and service providers, may be subject to regulatory fines, or worse.
Complexity has increased
Cloud computing, whether it’s fully cloud-native or hybrid, is here and will continue to be crucial in the future. In addition, we are witnessing the evolution of new technologies, such as Edge computing, 5G, and cellular satellite: in effect, applications today can be housed anywhere, and data/services delivered through multiple networks and technologies, are designed not only for areas with good connectivity but particularly to meet the equally demanding needs of those organisations still facing poor or intermittent bandwidth and performance.
Businesses need to be able to prioritise the applications that are either mission critical (i.e. data that needs to be delivered immediately) or services that are not tolerant to network delay (e.g. voice, video) - through, for example, fast lane internet - whilst still safeguarding other essential services.
This is where service providers need to come to the fore; to aggregate and bring together those disparate technologies and networks to create a reliable, high-quality, and flexible service because there is no single, complete solution for every situation.
Network resilience
Bonded Internet combines software-defined networking technologies and techniques into a solution that provides an internet networking infrastructure that makes for an optimised experience; obtaining the high-performance experience that everyone requires, in terms of stability and speed for users, as well as data traffic prioritisation of applications for network management and control within organisations.
Optimising internet connectivity and application reliability by using solutions such as Bonded Internet enables a business and/or service provider to select and prioritise specific traffic types over the network. Bonded Internet allows virtually any type of internet connection - from multiple carriers, to be used as connectivity, including 3G, 4G, 5G, FTTC, Ethernet, or any combination of these, using Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technology. Combining wireless and wired connectivity access types in this way increases reach and boosts reliability and resilience, essential to a good user experience.
Moreover, using quality of service (QoS) rules, organisations can select and prioritise specific data traffic types, which is essential to support the performance of critical applications.