Thinking about cloud networking, what normally comes to mind is meshed data networks transferring packets from location to location. But some companies are also moving their telephone services to the cloud. What advantages and challenges does this present?

In a way, the original public switched telephone network is the oldest existing example of a cloud network. It is a managed system, carefully engineered to assure availability and quality of service, that serves a vast number of users simultaneously. Each customer connects to the cloud via a direct line to the nearest cloud port at the local central office. Users don’t really care to know what goes on in those vast switching offices. They just want to be able to make a call from one location to another at will.

Some companies engineer their own telephone cloud networks using ISDN PRI digital lines to connect PBX systems at multiple offices. The advantage of doing this compared to using the public network is that you don’t have to pay for each call. Only those calls to and from the outside world are subject to a fee.

The more modern approach is to set up converged voice and data networks between business locations so that only one network need be maintained. MPLS networks are often used to implement this cloud network, as they are capable of maintaining quality of service at reasonable cost. On a large scale, this is known as enterprise VoIP. There may be only one IP PBX system at headquarters that coordinates all calls, or each location may have a smaller system. ISDN PRI trunk lines connect to the public telephone network for off-net calls.

SIP Trunking offers an alternative to the ISDN PRI trunk lines for transporting voice traffic. A SIP trunk is part of the VoIP system and acts as the network connection to a remote service provider. That service provider handles termination of calls to the public phone system as needed. Since they terminate calls for many customers, per minute costs can be lower than ordering phone lines locally.

Some companies go even further and get all their telephone services from the cloud. All they have is individual SIP telephones or analog phones with adaptors connected to their company LAN. A private line connection or SIP trunk connects to what is called a virtual PBX system at the service provider. It handles all telephone switching, on-net and off. This system is ideally suited to “virtual” companies that don’t have a bricks and mortar presence. The employees are scattered over a wide geographical area. Thanks to the virtual PBX, they are interconnected just like they would be within a physical office building. Even the receptionist is virtual, routing incoming calls by voice or keypad requests.

Would a cloud networking approach help your company improve productivity while reducing costs? You can find out with a simple inquiry to an expert consultant regarding enterprise VoIP telephone services.

Not so long ago, 10 Gbps was considered an enormous amount of bandwidth. So enormous that it only made sense for carrier backbone networks. Not anymore. Now enterprises are gobbling up that much WAN bandwidth and looking for more.

Who could possibly require 10 Gbps, short of an Internet service provider or MPLS network operator? Financial services, streaming entertainment media and medical campus connectivity are three applications on the cutting edge of high bandwidth demand, as reported in Carrier Ethernet News. How much more would they like? Some are licking their chops at 40 Gbps and even 100 Gbps.

How can a carrier keep up? Make no mistake about it, competitive service providers are in a scramble to make sure they have enough capacity to supply this burgeoning demand for higher and higher bandwidths. The once impressive T1 line is now considered a small business service. DS3 still hangs on for medium size business applications. OCx SONET, recently the darling of large enterprises, is starting to see its flame flicker on the way out. What’s happening is more than a simple escalation of bandwidth requirements. It’s a wholesale move from legacy telecom services to Ethernet connectivity.

Why Ethernet? There are a couple of strong forces at work nudging WAN bandwidth suppliers in the direction of offering Ethernet rather than some other type of connection. The first is a realization that analog telephony, the impetus behind the buildout of the massive PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), is now the smallest piece of the bandwidth pie. It’s the PSTN standards of T-Carrier & SONET that created the digital WAN services that have been pressed into service for data packet transport. The big piece of the pie is digital data and biggest piece of that pie is video.

No only are data packets the predominant information that needs to be moved from one place to another, but the networks generating those data packets are nearly all based on Ethernet. Why switch to something else just to get from one Ethernet network to another?

That’s what many carriers have concluded. Their new state of the art national and international networks are all designed to transport Ethernet packets. Those packets may represent voice from enterprise VoIP telephone systems, video conferencing or video streaming, medical images, or data file transfers. Interfacing and management of Ethernet bandwidth is more compatible with local area networks running Ethernet, but that’s not all. In most cases, Ethernet bandwidth is cheaper on a Mbps or Gbps basis than any other service.

How much cheaper? That depends on what facilities are available in your location more than anything. If you have competitive Ethernet services available, it’s not uncommon to get twice the bandwidth for the same money or keep the bandwidth you have now and get a big cost savings.

Can you ignore the Ethernet revolution? Only at the peril of your budget! It’s quick and easy to see what Ethernet bandwidth services are available for your business location. Why not take just a minute and put in a request for services and pricing now?