Comms Dealer October 2009

MARKETWATCH
www.comms-dealer.com
EXIT MATTERS...
BROADBAND
update:
By Nigel Cook, CEO of Evolution Capital
Andrew Dickinson, Sales &
Marketing Director at Griffin
I’ve never been able to pick six winners at
a race meeting, but it’s no more difficult
Internet, looks at ways in which
than calling the top or bottom of the market
resellers can get more revenue
– not many people can do that either.
Some are optimistic about recent stock
and margin out of broadband
market rises. Others think that the global
and offer a business-grade SLA.
economy is very frail. And there are those
who go for the bold option, hold their nerve
and make acquisitions at realistic prices.
Kraft’s targeting of Cadbury springs to mind.
Pressure, of course, inspires creativity. Last
year there was a return to barter, the oldest B
T is now advertising 20Mb broadband,
and with initiatives like Fibre to the
Cabinet (FTTC) speeds are set to double
form of trade, in which Mitchell and Butler again. Enterprises would be interested in
swapped 21 hotels for 44 Whitbread pubs. using this super-fast broadband for private
It just shows what lateral thinking can do. networking and leased line replacement if only
SLAs were better. I challenge anyone to find a
Andrew Dickinson
There has been a lessening of M&A activity single broadband DSL circuit with a four-nines
in the past year but after a quiet 2009 first (99.99 per cent) uptime SLA, let alone four- Option 4: Buy two broadband lines from a
half, there was greater activity in the third nines actual uptime. So the question is what broadband aggregator that can route the
quarter and some lines in the Financial do you do if you need uptime approaching same IPs down two broadband lines from two
Times caught my eye. It reported that four-nines and don’t want to spend the money different carriers and attach a fail over router
companies completing M&A deals in the on a leased line? There are four choices: to the end. This is probably the best option as
second quarter of this year are already it offers diverse carrier networks for decreased
out-performing their deal averse peers by Option 1: Buy two broadband lines from one failure chance, fast recovery times with no
8.5 per cent, according to analysts from supplier and swap the router over if one need for physical router changes or cable
Towers Perrin and the Cass Business School. fails. This is generally no use as more often plugging – you can maintain the same IPs and
than not the fault will be in the carrier’s manage VoIP calls and hosted applications.
Major M&A activity may be boosted backhaul network, so the other line will fail
by the pressure on boards to deliver at the same time. Also who really wants to Watch out for failover routers that use
shareholder growth. Cost cutting can only be messing around with routers, some end the broadband signal at the router to
go so far – premises need heating and users simply are not technically able. indicate which line is live. We found that in
lighting and the executive washroom will many cases this remains up while Internet
always need loo rolls. The quickest and Option 2: Buy two broadband lines from access has actually completely failed.
most effective way to meet expectations two suppliers and attach a fail over or load Furthermore, if you can find an aggregator
is via mergers and acquisitions, as the balancing router to the end. At first glance that offers simple routed IP failover services
President of Kraft will doubtless confirm. this looks like a good solution that gives you with compatible routers (ideally pre-
supplier diversity but what if you need to run configured), it gives you the opportunity to
That said, deals are taking longer and an application such as voice which needs to offer a managed failover service. With a
there is even greater focus on due maintain the same IP address on both lines? simple network monitoring tool you can offer
diligence. If market confidence should take your customer performance statistics and
another hit, the broader recovery may Option 3: Bonded ADSL – this can be a good inform them how often the service would
prove unsustainable and pedestrians on choice, but it is generally difficult to offer have failed had it not been for your solution.
Threadneedle Street could possibly risk being carrier diversity as bonded solutions need near This adds the all important managed feel that
struck by bankers jumping from 10 floors. identical latency on both lines. Also packet commands extra margin, extra loyalty from
based load balancing (referred to in the your customer, and increased confidence in
I can only suggest that Chief Executives take industry as ‘True Bonding’) is not always good any hosted solutions your are selling to them.
courage. There are opportunities out there for voice because it can cause packet re-
to acquire distressed assets at tempting ordering (jitter). BT Wholesale does not support Finally, I would like to thank Michael Cox,
valuations. But make the most of this while the legacy bonding protocol (MLPPP for the Griffin’s Product Manager for ADSL Failover, for
you can – the window of opportunity might techies) on its network, but some ISPs continue helping with this article and our Engineering
just slam shut. to take the risk and offer it as a service. Who department who have spent many months
n
wants an unreliable solution with no support? developing and testing the product.
n

44 COMMS DEALER OCTOBER 2009 www.comms-dealer.com
44 Griffin.indd 1 6/10/09 08:43:56
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