Companies Running out of Bandwidth Seek Solutions

Large, well-established enterprise businesses are reaching the end of their bandwidth rope. After hanging on for a decade, and sliding further down each time they realize the pitfalls of dealing with ILECs, they’re now hanging on to the last, skinny thread of their current connectivity situation.

It’s time to let go and get a better solution.

Even though businesses have realized their ILEC SONET ring is incredibly expensive, that they’ve been relying on legacy core infrastructure far past its prime, and probably been over-paying for their bandwidth, many still fall back on old excuses for not looking at their other options.

First of all, change can be a scary thing. Beyond the mere idea of change, customers are sometimes handcuffed by long-term contracts as well as the concern that core traffic riding on the ILEC network may somehow be in jeopardy with a change. The perceived cost and high-risk of switching makes many IT directors averse to change. They’re simply willing to settle for less than the need – and at a premium price – from the ILEC.

Because of this, ILECs will continue “business as usual,” with no pressing need to improve the process, add flexibility or make solutions more affordable. The ILECs ignore the needs of the customer, despite the fact that technological boom of recent years has left businesses with a strong reliance on bandwidth-heavy, data-intensive, high-speed networking applications for critical day-to-day functionality. Not to mention that web traffic has also doubled over the past 15 months, according to recent article, “The Future of Bandwidth” by Suzy Frisch.

Some companies have been forced to prioritize bandwidth usage, giving sales and CRM functions priority over less critical tasks, such as human resources operatives. More than anything, today’s enterprise businesses require something the ILECs can no longer provide–physical network diversity and telecom diversity – the reality that if consolidation occurs or if a carrier goes under, that businesses maintain their connectivity.

So how do companies solve this problem? Read “More Bandwidth for Less Money” to learn how.