ADVERTORIAL the Partner of Choice
James Hickman was appointed Chief Technical Offi cer at Virtual1 in March this year and has already overseen a series of improvements to the Ethernet Everywhere offering. Here he explains why Virtual1 is fi rmly putting its faith in Ethernet.
Ethernet technology is quite simply amazing. I don’t use that word lightly – to me, anything that can last 35 years in the technology world is pretty impressive - but when that technology is not only still in daily use but the very foundation upon which current developments are being pioneered, yes, I think that is amazing.
When I joined Virtual1 earlier this year, Ethernet was one of the fi rst things discussed. Virtual1 had made considerable investment in its Ethernet capabilities during the previous 12 months and I felt it essential to ensure that this continued. Why? Primarily because from a technical perspective there can be little doubt that Ethernet is where the future of WAN lies – at least for the next generation. All the signs are there: carriers are replacing a lot of older technologies within the core to run Ethernet between their core devices whilst dark fi bre carriers are fi nding their native market reducing as customers demand the capabilities of Managed Ethernet services. Even the main technical developments for inter- carrier connectivity are focused around making Ethernet-based networks run more effectively - Ethernet exchanges spring to mind.
So what is it that makes Ethernet so dominant? Quite simply, it is its
prevalence. When Bob Metcalfe developed the technology in the early 1970’s, he developed it to be standards based – quite an elusive feature of the network world. The basket of standards covered multiple aspects, from the error-correction method employed to how big the physical connectors had to be. This meant that manufacturers were able to build hardware that would be widely compatible without being tied to one vendor’s vision of how things should be. The prevalence of the technology meant that the cost of implementing Ethernet dropped; it also meant that because customers could buy equipment from any of the suppliers, price competition and eventually commoditisation followed.
Ethernet expanded quickly to take advantage of a variety of physical mediums and to carry different traffi c. There are some of us that can remember crimping co-ax cable for “Cheapnet” LANs at a time when the idea of running voice and storage as Ethernet over optical fi bre would have been seen as akin to science fi ction.
But fast forward a few years and the fl exibility which Ethernet brought to the LAN is now being exploited for WANs too: whether it’s improving bandwidth or transmitting more data types, Ethernet does the job.
That fi rst meeting at Virtual1 confi rmed my hopes, indeed if anything we will be undertaking even higher levels of investment in our Ethernet capabilities over the next 12 months. We have a number of upgrades already in progress and our hardware partner, Juniper, has a very good Ethernet roadmap, bringing out many useful standards-compliant features which we are reviewing, testing and (usually) deploying at every JUNOS release. Indeed, with demand for 100Gb circuits already in the pipeline despite ratifi cation just over a year ago, we’ll be continually stepping up our capabilities to ensure we continue to meet the demands of our Partners and their customers.
Craig Joseph, Business Development Director at IP Integration, explains why Virtual1 is their fi rst choice for Ethernet.
Customer expectations have changed – as indeed have their priorities. Cost – once the leading concern of most IT Directors – has been superseded by other demands: network resilience, futureproof technologies and business continuity to name but a few. And with the growth of cloud computing adding speed and reliability to the list, it makes choosing the right network partner even more important.
At IP Integration, we look for providers that we are confi dent can help us answer every need of our customers. We provide bespoke solutions so it’s essential we have a partner who can do exactly the same: look at every case on an individual basis and create a network solution uniquely for them. More and more customers are expecting the scalability and speeds which Ethernet access can deliver, but whilst there are many Ethernet providers now operating in the UK, I have yet to fi nd a business which can match the fl exibility, scalability or geographic coverage of Virtual1’s Ethernet Everywhere.
Put simply, we know that whatever the customer needs from their network, Virtual1 will be able to deliver – whether that is Ethernet access in a remote location, bandwidth scalability to 40Gb or even 100Gb or just the enhanced resiliency that is inherent in an aggregated network.
Of course, working with Virtual1 brings more benefi ts than the network. For example, their pricing tool 1Portal is interconnected into all the major carriers and delivers immediate Ethernet pricing so we can respond quickly to customer requests without spending hours researching costs.
But most importantly, we trust Virtual1 implicitly to deliver - that’s why we don’t just use their network for our customers, we use it for our own offi ces too.
Find out more about Ethernet Everywhere. Call Virtual1 today on 0844 884 0800 or visit our website at
www.virtual1.co.uk
www.comms-dealer.com COMMS DEALER | JULY 2011 | 39
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