Wide area networks (WANs) are essential for modern businesses with multiple locations and branches.
Whether your organization is a bank, a car dealership, a healthcare network or chain restaurant, you will need a safe, fast way to send information to various locations.
Here are some strategy considerations when building a highly optimized WAN:
1. Network Anatomy
WAN networks depend on several key communication points. Local area networks, or LAN, are used by local offices, while corporate networks rely on WAN. WAN encompass LAN networks and provide an integrated point for communication. The networks themselves are connected via a data center, which acts as a hosted service. When looking at strategies to improve network speed, each of these connection points and the data center must be considered.
2. Uptime/Downtime
Analysts estimate that even a network with 99.9% uptime isn’t enough to optimize employee productivity. Up to 4,383 employee hours can be lost each year due to network downtime, even when uptime rates are at 99.9%. The estimated revenue lost can be up to $150,000 per year. This indicates a significant need for an optimized network.
3. Hardware & Software
Hardware, software, and applications all converge with circuits to create an optimized network. Network designers must inventory all equipment to determine the most effective WAN design. Once this has been decided, engineers are able to determine the most effective network map that will meet an organization’s needs.
4. Bandwidth & Circuits
An additional design element is the bandwidth necessary to decrease latency and downtime. Circuits determine the speed at which certain amounts of data can go from point to point with minimal latency. Choices like DSL/cable, fiber optics, ethernet and WiFi promise to meet different data loads and transit speeds. However, it’s important to consider how long it will take to correct issues with a circuit. Mean Time To Repair, or MTTR, is an important element of latency and optimization equations.
5. Failover
Each network component must integrate with a failover solution. These solutions can include a secondary VPN, redundant hardware and point-to-point connections.
6. Negotiating a Service Level Agreement
Once you have determined hardware, software, circuits, applications and network operations center (NOC), you’re ready to build the network and deploy it.
There’s just one legal matter to settle first.
Most organizations enlist the assistance of legal counsel before signing on to a service level agreement (SLA). These contracts can be difficult to exit and expectations need to be clearly defined before a commitment is made between parties.
Defining an SLA project plan is one strategy that keeps costs manageable and expectations clear. The telecom organization must be held accountable to this plan. In addition, a clause that provides a timeline for network fixes and improvements should be included.
7. Deployment
As mentioned above, exiting an SLA might be difficult and expensive. When WANs are deployed, each aspect must be tested continuously to ensure high levels of service. Outsourced NOCs should provide 24/7 monitoring to safeguard the network. They help track key performance indicators (KPIs) that have been outlined in your service level agreement.
If the network isn’t optimized as promised, then the sooner you know the better. This will help correct any problems or provide you with the information you need to exit an agreement.
With the right plan and service provider, your WAN can and should achieve high optimization and low latency. This improves revenue and increases employee productivity and customer service.