Always-On Internet
Why?
Does your business depend on the Internet? No, not “is it convenient”, but does it NEED it? Many companies do. They depend on the internet for orders, to access company databases, to obtain forms and to get approvals. Companies depend on the Internet for E-mail, research on their markets, to track shipments, and to make purchases.
Some businesses, those who sell to the US Government, process import/export approvals, or require to-the-minute market data, really can’t operate without the Internet. So what do those companys do when a fiber optic cable is accidentally cut? They suffer.
The fact is, there is no way to guarantee 100% up-time. Bad things happen. What can be done is to recognize the most common system failure modes, and create a system to minimize the effects of system failure.
Very simply. If nothing is certain in life but death and taxes, there are some things in life that are more probable than others. For example, of all the bits and pieces necessary to make your Internet connection the physical infrastructure, be it copper wire or fiber optics, is the one most likely to cause extended service interruption.
Why? Unfortunately, people dig. Holes, trenches, pipelines, and sewer lines. Holes to set telephone poles, holes for swimming pools, holes for fence posts. Holes for gutters, holes for drainage ditches - - - - Well, a lot of holes, anyway! And when a hole inadvertently coincides with an Internet transmission line, the result is downtime.
Internet delivered by radio, too, is susceptible to outage. Rain and snow do not have much effect, but occasionally we get hail. Hail can (and has!) caused antenna damage, and lightning has (although very infrequently) knocked out transmitters.
So if Internet is important to my business, how do I make quite sure I am never without it?
1. Take two, widely separared, highly reliable paths to the Internet - -
2. Connect them to a well engineered, highly reliable switch.
3. Make sure the switch is smart enough to test each connection.
4, If the primary Internet connection fails, switch to the standby.
If a business is connected to the Internet by BOTH landline and wireless, it is not possible for both paths to be made inoperable by a single event
What?
Autophone of Laredo’s “Always On” Internet systems consist of:
1. Landline Internet Path
2. Wireless Internet Path
3. Sensing Unit to determine integrity of each path
4. A switch to connect the user’s LAN to a know good secondary connection,
should the primary connection fail.
Affordable
Because the stand-by Internet connection is not normally connected to the Company LAN, it has no effect on the Internet provider’s ‘load’. Therefor, it can be provided inexpensively.
You have to test
But if the standby Internet connection is not connected to the LAN, how do we know it is capable of taking over in case the primary connection fails?
You have to test. Once/month, Autophone of Laredo switches the customer Internet connection to the stand-by connection for that very purpose. All Internet functions; e-mail, site access and web-page will be fully operational on the stand-by connection, UNLESS there is a problem on the standby path. If there WERE a problem on the standby path, when would YOU like to know about it? During a routine monthly test, whith the primary source up and available, or when it is really needed (when the primary path fails)??
