Agile (News - Alert) responses to changing market conditions and a fierce focus on cost control have long been hallmarks of small to mid-size businesses. As these businesses operate in ever more treacherous economic conditions, they are being forced to become even more nimble and efficient than ever before. 

The cloud has emerged as a key vehicle for meeting business’ needs to control IT costs while improving productivity. By hosting infrastructure, platforms and software in shared facilities, smaller businesses are realizing IT economies of scale that were previously reserved for larger companies. TCO, disaster recovery options and operational flexibility all improve in a cloud environment.

As businesses move IT assets to the cloud, however, they also become much more dependent on the connection to those cloud-based services. What good does it do to have your applications and critical data out in the cloud if you can’t access them, or if the connection is not fast enough to allow the cloud-based services to function properly? Clearly, cloud-based services are only as good as the connection to the cloud itself.

Metro Ethernet has emerged as an exceptional solution for last mile access to the cloud services. When delivered over modern, fiber-centric last mile networks, metro Ethernet provides 10 Mbps to 1 Gigabit per second or even 10 Gigabits per second at a fraction of the operating cost of legacy TDM-based solutions. In addition, metro Ethernet offers the ability to quickly and easily scale up connection speeds with a simple phone call to your carrier; usually without a service visit from a technician. Best of all, it delivers this flexibility and price performance without sacrificing quality or manageability. Finally, as more businesses utilize cloud-based services, security is raised as a concern as their mission-critical data travels to and from the data center. Metro Ethernet offers customers a secure layer 2 network connection, thereby meeting the security challenge without the expense and complexity of legacy, TDM private line solutions.

Metro Ethernet is poised to replace legacy T1 and other TDM technologies for businesses, similar to the way that broadband technology displaced dial-up lines in the residential arena.

Metro Ethernet’s critical advantage heralds from its roots as a data-centric protocol designed with high-bandwidth networks in mind. Many of the competing, legacy technologies come from a voice-centric era dominated by low-bandwidth, copper networks. T1s, originally developed by the Bell system to carry phone calls and later repurposed to carry data and Internet traffic, were long considered the “gold standard” of networking. While T1s are reliable, they are also expensive and deliver negligible bandwidth (1.5 Mbps). Adding bandwidth is an expensive, time-consuming chore that requires “bonding” additional T1s together in increments of 1.5Mbps. In an era when most cable consumers get over 10Mbps to their home, the T1’s cost and complexity simply make it a tool of a bygone age.

Other legacy technologies, notably Frame Relay Service (FRS), are more flexible and data-centric. Unfortunately, they still stumble because FRS is generally carried on top of a T1 or DS3 circuit. While FRS adds management flexibility, it still remains expensive and bandwidth-constrained due to the underlying copper network transport. 

As the cloud heats up, the market is rapidly adopting metro Ethernet’s superior performance. Vertical Systems Group’s July 2011 report, U.S. Ethernet Bandwidth Surpasses Legacy Bandwidth, shows that the volume of Ethernet bandwidth purchased by enterprises in the U.S. has now passed the aggregate bandwidth for legacy TDM circuits. 

While this marks a dramatic shift in the marketplace, we still, in truth, remain at the early stages of the metro Ethernet adoption. The quantum leap in capacity, performance and speed fromm Ethernet allows businesses to take advantage of other bandwidth-intensive services like videoconferencing and business continuity/disaster recovery, as well as other converged voice, video and data services that employees may need. 

Mid-sized organizations looking to the cloud to reduce IT costs and boost efficiency should consider taking advantage of high-performance Metro Ethernet to give them the capacity needed to connect to the cloud today, tomorrow and well into the future.

About the author: Kevin O’Toole serves as Senior Vice President of Product Management and Strategy for Comcast (News - Alert) Business Services. In this role, O’Toole is responsible for the introduction and lifecycle management of data, telecom, video and communications products serving businesses and mobile/cellular carriers. Since 2008, he has also served on the Metro Ethernet Forum’s (News - Alert) Board of Directors.

O’Toole, a 12-year cable veteran, previously led Comcast’s commercial sales channel, and prior to that was responsible for the product management, marketing, sales and operations of the company’s Business Services West Division. Prior to joining Comcast, he worked in a variety of technology, strategy and program management roles at US WEST, MediaOne and LoneTree Capital Management. 

O’Toole holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics/Computer Science and a master’s degree in Information Networking, both from Carnegie Mellon University.