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End-User Traffic Rising, More Traffic Migrating to Private Networks

Business, Technology 12,939

What’s on the horizon for the global internet? We have a few ideas.

International internet bandwidth and traffic growth has gradually slowed in recent years, but remains brisk. And IP transit price declines continue globally, but significant regional differences in prices persist around the world.

The combined effects of new internet-enabled devices, growing broadband penetration in developing markets, higher broadband access rates, and bandwidth-intensive applications will continue to fuel strong internet traffic growth.

While end-user traffic requirements will continue to rise, not all of this demand will translate directly into the need for new long-haul capacity.

Aggregate international internet capacity and traffic growth rates are slowing as the global internet matures and more traffic migrates to private networks. A variety of factors shape how the global internet will develop in coming years.

Transit Costs and Prices

Not only does the transit market exhibit both robust volume growth and sharp price decline, but the escalating bandwidth use actually lowers unit costs and enables the price decline, ensured by stiff competition.

The transit market is in the early stages of 100 Gbps port adoption but is poised to ramp up considerably in 2019, driving unit prices down further. Equipment costs for routers populated with 100 Gbps ports has reached parity with 10 Gbps on a unit basis. Once 10 Gbps inventory begins to clear, few incentives remain to invest in 10 Gbps platforms where scale warrants 100 Gbps.

Not only does the transit market exhibit both robust volume growth and sharp price decline, but the escalating bandwidth utilization actually lowers unit costs and enables the price decline, ensured by stiff competition.

Transit lags the transport market where 100 Gbps is well entrenched in the backbone and network operators are actively exploring higher line rates and next-generation optical transmission schemes. While single GigE sales have declined considerably from the heyday 10 years ago, 10 Gbps sales pervaded for years, suggesting that the next port size will not quickly displace the global market for 100 Gbps—despite brisk traffic growth.

Content Delivery Networks and Caching

The increased reliance on direct connections to content providers and the use of caching will continue to have a localizing effect on traffic patterns and dampen international internet traffic growth. As demand for content and applications grows in new locations, CDN nodes and caches will be deployed into these areas.

While the increase in broadband users and access rates will continue to drive traffic growth in access networks, much of this growth may be managed locally within a network and may not lead to proportional increases in traffic on international links.

The Rise of Content Provider Networks

The largest content providers’ private networks are having a major impact on the growth of internet capacity requirements. The focus of backbone providers has started to facilitate interconnection with handful of large content providers who account for the majority of traffic.

As the content providers extend their networks into new locations, backbone operators will continue to optimize their topologies in response.

As the content providers extend their networks into new locations, backbone operators will continue to optimize their topologies in response. In some cases, backbone operators may reduce capacity or shift capacity to new locations. Additional companies, including Akamai, Dropbox, and Oracle, are in the process building global networks, which will shift additional traffic away from the public internet. As a result, the pace of international internet capacity and traffic growth appears likely to continue a pattern of broad deceleration.

This content comes from TeleGeography’s Global Internet Geography Research Service. This tool provides analysis and statistics on internet capacity and traffic, IP transit pricing, and backbone operators. 

Originally Published @ TeleGeography’s Blog

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Behind the scenes of your home network: Understanding NAT

How To's, Technology 16,070

There’s a lot of technical wizardry behind the usually-simple act of connecting your devices to the internet via a home network.

One of the more fascinating behind-the-scenes systems is a networking protocol called Network Address Translation (NAT).

What is NAT?

While there are technically different types of NAT, the term is most commonly used in regards to the specific type we’ve detailed below. And there’s a very good chance your home network is utilising it.

NAT separates networks into private and public spaces.

The private space refers to your connected local devices – computers, game consoles, phones, etc. – that likely connect to a modem or router.

The modem/router is used to connect your home (private) devices to each other in a local network, and then connects those devices to the internet (public).

Locally, every device on your home network requires a private internet protocol (IP) address to communicate with the modem/router and other devices on the same network.

Externally, your home network connection uses a single public IP address to connect to the internet.

Understanding NAT

An easier way to think about NAT may be as if it were a receptionist taking incoming calls from a single external phone number and directing them to the right internal phone extension.

If someone within that hypothetical business wants to make a phone call, they might get the receptionist to dial out from the company’s single external phone number and then connect the call to the person who requested it.

The phoned person would receive the company’s call from the same phone number that could be dialled to reach the business.

In this analogy, the business phone number is your home network’s public IP address (used for connecting to the internet), and the company’s internal phone extensions are your home network’s private IP addresses for various connected devices (used to connect locally).

NAT is the receptionist answering, making and redirecting calls.

The same is true when someone calls the business (your modem/router’s public IP), at which point the receptionist (NAT protocol) uses a specific device’s extension number (private IP) to forward the ‘call’.

Why networks need NAT

Public IP addresses have traditionally been in limited supply.

When the IPv4 protocol – the one that controls most current internet traffic – was established back in the 1980s, it was limited to just over 4-billion public IP addresses.

Given the exponential growth of the internet in recent years which, in turn, necessitated the creation of new internet connections, the NAT protocol was used to address the public IP address shortage.

Because of this shortage, the numerous NAT-controlled private IP addresses (millions across three address ranges) allow multiple local home network devices to connect the internet through a single public IP address provided by a retail service provider.

Ultimately, the newer and upgraded IPv6 protocol has been designed to complement (in the short- to mid-term) and may even potentially replace IPv4.

Given the massive number of public IP addresses available under IPv6 (340 undecillion), the NAT protocol will no longer be required if IPv4 is fully retired. For now, however, it is still very much needed.

Benefits of NAT

The most obvious benefit of NAT is that it removes the requirement for every device on a home network to have a public IP address, which have been in short supply thanks to the limitations of the IPv4 protocol.

Another implicit benefit is NAT security.

Local devices use private addresses on your home network and are generally hidden, unlike the public address of your internet connection.

An external IP address must be public so your devices can send and receive data from websites, email servers, streaming services, online gaming networks, etc.

Modem/routers tend to use something called Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to automatically assign private IP addresses to devices that connect to your network via wi-fi or Ethernet cable.

This means connecting devices to a local network with DHCP enabled is generally straightforward and fast.

If DHCP is disabled, private IP addresses must be manually inputted on each device, based on the accepted local IP address range of the modem/router.

Drawbacks of NAT

By keeping private devices hidden behind the NAT protocol, it can cause issues with peer-to-peer (P2P) connectivity. P2P is not as common as it once was, but there are still some uses.

P2P connects devices directly to each other, bypassing the need for a traditional peer-to-server connection, in order to make phone or video calls (VoIP), exchange files, or play online games.

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) networking protocols on modem/routers are kind of like DHCP for the internet.

When active, the UPnP protocol dynamically opens ports to facilitate online P2P connectivity for devices on a local network.

In terms of online gaming, if a home network has multiple gaming consoles attempting to play online at the same time, UPnP is required to ensure smooth connectivity.

If UPnP is disabled, the other option for ensuring P2P connectivity when using a NAT is to manually open ports (called port forwarding) and assign them to a specific local device.

Port forwarding permanently (until disabled) leaves designated ports open, and it’s advisable to only use either UPnP or port forwarding (in that order).

Where applicable, you should also keep your modem/router firmware up to date to ensure that networking protocol features such as UPnP are functioning properly.

You might not even know you have NAT problems until you encounter connectivity issues with P2P systems, because normal usage – web browsing, sending/receiving emails, instant messaging, etc. – isn’t generally impacted.

NAT is essential given the current limitations of the IPv4 protocol, whose stopgap pros currently outweigh the potential P2P cons (which will change once IPv6 becomes more commonplace).

Ever wondered how video streaming actually works? You can learn all about it here.

Original Content published at NBNco

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The internet of me: personalised automation for your gadgets and apps

Technology 12,226

Personalised, automated tech by way of learning algorithms is on the rise. Here’s a peek at what’s around the corner and beyond the horizon.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an increasingly popular term that may refer to any number of technologies surrounding connected devices.

One such IoT area that’s starting to become more and more relevant is one where learning algorithms make for automated and, ultimately, personalised experiences with various connected devices.

This may cover video streaming recommendations, automated music playlists based on your personal listening habits, or a smartphone geolocation function that learns your home and work address, then recommends you take an umbrella on a potentially rainy day.

These personalised IoT tech features have been colloquially dubbed “the internet of me” in some corners of the web, and they are poised to expand even further in 2017 and beyond.

Expansion of common IPAs

Intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) have become a feature of certain connected devices.

With an IPA, you simply talk to your device or software, then it interprets what you’re saying and responds accordingly.

It was widely popularised with Apple’s Siri and has expanded in more recent years to include the likes of Microsoft’s Cortana, Samsung’s S Voice, Google Now, and BlackBerry Assistant.

A relatively new instance of an IPA is Google Assistant, which takes the Google Now tech to the next logical level with its ability to engage in two-way conversations.

This means Google Assistant can make voice-requested search results seem more personable, by reading them back to the speaker instead of presenting a visual answer to a spoken question.

It is also designed to be better able to understand contextual questions, and it’s likely that other IPAs will explore more down this conversational patch in the not-so-distant future.

In its current forms, personalised IoT home tech is an extension of readily available connected devices like smartphones, tablets, and computers, which is why IPAs are popular inclusions in such devices.

For 2017, there’s a movement towards a wider array of devices that might not have previously been connected.

Upcoming IoT indoors tech

In the bathroom, there are products like the Kolibree Ara Smart Toothbrush, which collects data about your brushing habits and offers personalised feedback via integrated AI technology.

The HiMirror analyses wrinkles, spots, pores, and dark circles. This smart mirror then recommends a personalised skincare routine to help improve blemishes, with support for multiple profiles for people living under the same roof.

In the kitchen, Smarter’s FridgeCam sits in your fridge and detects stored items, then uses a companion app to notify you about expiry dates and nearby grocery stores.

The fridge camera also offers cooking suggestions based on your fridge-stored items that are close to expiring.

In the bedroom, the Zeeq Smart Pillow plays music, analyses sleeping patterns, uses an alarm that wakes you gently (during light sleeping), and vibrates to encourage snorers to change positions (reportedly, without waking them up).

There’s also the Sleep Number 360 SmartBed, which makes automated changes to firmness during sleep (and snoring) for individualised comfort in a shared bed.

The Kuri home robot can be configured to wake you at a particular time, too, but has other personalised functions.

For instance, Kuri understands a tap on the head and answers with chirps and a smile.

The smart robot can also recognise familiar faces and responds to questions with facial expressions or movements. It can even automatically map and monitor your home while you’re asleep or livestream while you’re away.

New IoT tech outside the home

Heading outside, IoT tech covers smart devices like Fenotek’s Hi) smart doorbell.

The Hi) learns familiar faces and, via an iOS/Android companion app, notifies homeowners when an unrecognised person approaches.

Out in the yard, the Rachio Smart Sprinkler Controller automates sprinkler systems and switches on or off based on your local weather patterns to help preserve outdoor water usage.

The future of personalised IoT tech

There will be other advancements in familiar personalised IoT tech in the future.

Google Maps, for instance, is currently expanding trip functionality to provide additional convenience indicators such as ease of parking for your planned destination.

Given that Google Maps already tries to make your life easier by figuring out your home and work addresses, and can be set up to give you automatic route or traffic predictions right before you head to work for the day, this could further improve the experience.

Beyond the familiar, it’s also expected that IoT will expand into more places outside the home, perhaps initially by way of the expanded personalisation of wearables (e.g. personalised gym equipment regimes).

That’s not to say that IoT home devices will be neglected; there are predictions the smart home market will grow to $60 billion worldwide by 2020.

There’s also chatter about expansion of the so-called ‘edge’: the space between the internet and IoT devices.

Whatever the future, it’s clear that personalised IoT tech is going to get deeper in terms of what we’re familiar with and broader in its expansion into additional spaces over the coming years.

Interested in exploring the Internet of Me? One of the more common and popular examples available today is through music streaming services that know what you want before you do.
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Tech talks: When machines speak to each other

Technology 11,407

The internet of things is leading us towards a machine-to-machine revolution and a new era of human efficiency driven by fast, accessible internet.

We all want to spend more time doing what we enjoy and hanging out with those we love, and less time working, but there’s just so much to do.

So we started building machines to help solve this problem: to improve our efficiency by granting us a helping hand unrestricted by the limitations of the human body and, more recently, the human mind. These machines have evolved exponentially. So what can we expect next?

No doubt you have heard of the Internet of Things: it’s one of the big buzz terms in technology at the moment. The huge improvement in internet infrastructure throughout Australia is allowing more and more machines to connect to the world around them.

They predominantly use this connectivity to gather real-time data in order to more efficiently complete their assigned task, whatever it may be. A simple example could be your TV or streaming app suggesting an alternate show based on what other people with similar tastes have watched.

A more niche one might be smart locks, or smart lights. By 2020, the average Australian home is predicted to house 29 connected devices.

The next big step for the Internet of Things is for these connected machines to talk not to us, but to each other. It’s been coined machine-to-machine or M2M.

If one machine is fulfilling a task that has a knock-on effect to another, why does it wait for a human to point this out? It’s not always necessary, so why not cut out the ‘middle man’?

We’ve already seen this for years in contained systems. For example, think of the way that a car knows to engage traction control when the wheels on your car begin to slip.

But now this idea can exist across machines and across vast distances. If Google Maps knows you’re 30 minutes from your destination, and Google Calendar knows your meeting is in 15 minutes, why can’t it automatically inform the other attendees for you of your revised ETA?

The possibilities are limitless, so we wanted to start stimulating your imagination. Here are some examples of how machines could cut out the human in the middle, and make the right decisions without the need for manual input.

Morning coffee

You’ve set your alarm for 6am and you want to begin you day as you always do, with a warm cup of coffee. By connecting over your home wi-fi, your alarm clock might tell your coffee machine to start brewing a cup so it’s ready as soon as you enter the kitchen.

Better yet, that smart watch on your wrist may have detected you had a restless night and can tell your robot barista to make it a double.

A welcoming home

You’ve just left work and it’s been a long day. As soon as you get home, you want to slip into something comfortable and curl up on the couch.

The GPS on your phone knows how long that trip should take, and your air conditioner knows how long it will take to get your house to the optimal temperature.

The former can advise the latter of your estimated arrival time, so it can turn on at the most efficient moment and hit the perfect temperature as you walk through the door.

Smart sprinklers

The weather service has identified that rain is coming, and it will be in your area shortly. Aware of this, your AI assistant contacts your sprinkler system and deactivates its, now unrequired, daily activity.

This saves your lawn from being overwatered, helps out the environment, and also saves money from your water bill.

Freshly washed clothes

Are you sick of leaving wet loads in the washing machine for too long, requiring them to be re-washed to get rid of that horrid damp smell? What if your washing machine would not turn itself on until an hour out from the optimal drying time?

By connecting to weather monitoring machines that track wind, humidity and sunlight, your washing machine may not only know when to turn itself on, but be able to plot a rough schedule for the whole week.

Expedited medical attention

Wearable devices of the future could monitor your vitals and be able to identify any significant issues in real-time.

They could be able to notify emergency services in the advent of something catastrophic occurring, passing on your vitals, exact location and any personalised medical history, such as blood-type or known allergies.

When emergency services arrive they are pre-prepared with the knowledge and equipment to act swiftly.

Car service on demand

Do you really need to service your car every six months? Not every car and driver behaves the same way and gets the same use.

Future connected vehicles could be able to monitor themselves, identify when a tipping point of issues has arisen and then reach out to your local manufacturer to book in a service based on openings in your connected calendar.

If it’s self-driving, it might even pick a free point in your schedule to drive itself to and from the mechanic!

Fewer red lights

Nothing is more frustrating than being stopped at a red light for a long time when there is no traffic coming the other way.

Future transport infrastructure could use Australia’s high-speed internet to rectify this problem.

The machine controlling the lights could talk directly to local sensors monitoring the traffic in order to adapt to the on-road requirements in real-time.

Sparkling floors

Always fall behind on your home cleanliness?

What if sensors that can pick up the levels of dust particles on your floor and in the air can connect over home wi-fi with automated vacuum cleaners and air-filter systems?

They could then turn on as required, ensuring that a minimal amount of build-up occurs in your home, helping it – and your family – to stay as healthy as possible.

“If This Then That”

Have you heard this phrase before? Often abbreviated as IFTTT, this is a rudimentary system of establishing machine-to-machine connections to help your day-to-day efficiency.

It’s available for use right now for free via the IFTTT website, and is a great experimental tool for those keen to explore more about this inevitable future.

They have helpful tips and ideas to get started, and a number of sites can be found in Google to share great IFTTT discoveries you can copy for your own needs.

It’s time to get M2M ready.

Enough about the internet of things, have you heard about the ‘Internet of Me’? It’s all about personalised, automated algorithms designed to seamlessly run your apps and gadgets, based on your own preferences and usage patterns.

Original Content published at NBN AUSTRALIA

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Network Topology Types with Diagrams

How To's, Technology 22,623

What is Topology

Network topologies describe the ways in which the elements of a network are mapped. They describe the physical and logical arrangement of the network nodes. The physical topology of a network refers to the configuration of cables, computers, and other peripherals

Types of Network Topology Diagram

Types of Network Topologies with Figures

A network topology is the arrangement of a network, including its nodes and connecting lines. There are two ways of defining network geometry: the physical topology and the logical (or signal) topology

1. Bus Topology

Bus Topology in which all of the nodes of the network are connected to a common transmission medium which has exactly two endpoints (this is the “bus”, which is also commonly referred to as the backbone, or trunk) – all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted over this common transmission medium and is able to be received by all nodes in the network virtually simultaneously.

The two endpoints of the common transmission medium are normally terminated with a device called a terminator that exhibits the characteristic impedance of the transmission medium and which dissipates or absorbs the energy that remains in the signal to prevent the signal from being reflected or propagated back onto the transmission medium in the opposite direction, which would cause interference with and degradation of the signals on the transmission medium.

Advantages of Bus Topology

  • It is Cheap, easy to handle and implement.
  • Require less cable
  • It is best suited for small networks.

Disadvantages of Bus Topology

  • The cable length is limited. This limits the number of stations that can be connected.
  • This network topology can perform well only for a limited number of nodes.
Bus Network Topology Diagram

2. Star Topology

Star Topology in which each of the nodes of the network is connected to a central node with a point-to-point link in a “hub” and “spoke” fashion, the central node being the “hub” and the nodes that are attached to the central node being the “spokes” (e.g., a collection of point-to-point links from the peripheral nodes that converge at a central node) – all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network is transmitted to this central node, which is usually some type of device that then retransmits the data to some or all of the other nodes in the network, although the central node may also be a simple common connection point without any active device to repeat the signals.

Advantages of Star Topology

  • Easy to manage
  • Easy to locate problems (cable/workstations)
  • Easier to expand than a bus or ring topology.
  • Easy to install and wire.
  • Easy to detect faults and to remove parts

Disadvantages of Star Topology

  • Requires more cable length than a linear topology.
  • If the hub or concentrator fails, nodes attached are disabled.
  • More expensive because of the cost of the concentrators.

Star Network Topology Diagram

3. Ring Topology

Ring Topology in which each of the nodes of the network is connected to two other nodes in the network and with the first and last nodes being connected to each other, forming a ring – all data that is transmitted between nodes in the network travels from one node to the next node in a circular manner and the data generally flows in a single direction only.

Advantage of Ring Topology

  • Very orderly network where every device has access to the token and the opportunity to transmit.
  • Easier to Mange than a Bus Network
  • Good Communication over long distances • Handles high volume of traffic

Disadvantages of Ring Topology

  • The failure of a single node of the network can cause the entire network to fail.
  • The movement or changes made to network nodes affects the performance of the entire network

Ring Network Topology diagram

4. Mesh Topology

Mesh Topology in which each of the nodes of the network is connected to each of the other nodes in the network with a point-to-point link – this makes it possible for data to be simultaneously transmitted from any single node to all of the other nodes.

The physical fully connected mesh topology is generally too costly and complex for practical networks, although the topology is used when there are only a small number of nodes to be interconnected.

Advantage of Mesh Topology

  • No traffic problem as there are dedicated links.
  • It has multiple links, so if one route is blocked then other routes can be used for data communication.
  • Points to point links make fault identification easy.

Disadvantage of Mesh Topology

  • There is mesh of wiring which can be difficult to manage.
  • Installation is complex as each node is connected to every node.
  • Cabling cost is high
Mesh Network Topology Diagram

5. Tree or Hierarchical Topology

Tree (or hierarchical) Topology in which a central “root” node (the top level of the hierarchy) is connected to one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the second level) with a point-to-point link between each of the second level nodes and the top level central “root” node, while each of the second level nodes that are connected to the top level central “root” node will also have one or more other nodes that are one level lower in the hierarchy (i.e., the third level) connected to it, also with a point-to-point link, the top level central “root” node being the only node that has no other node above it in the hierarchy – the hierarchy of the tree is symmetrical, each node in the network having a specific fixed number, f, of nodes connected to it at the next lower level in the hierarchy, the number, f, being referred to as the “branching factor” of the hierarchical tree.

Advantages of a Tree Topology

  • Point-to-point wiring for individual segments.
  • Supported by several hardware and software vendors.
  • All the computers have access to the larger and their immediate networks.

Disadvantages of a Tree Topology

  • Overall length of each segment is limited by the type of cabling used.
  • If the backbone line breaks, the entire segment goes down.
  • More difficult to configure and wire than other topologies.
Tree network Topology diagram

6. Hybrid Topology

The hybrid topology is a type of network topology that is composed of one or more interconnections of two or more networks that are based upon different physical topologies mentioned above

Advantages of a Hybrid Topology

  • It is extremely flexible.
  • It is very reliable.

Disadvantages of a Hybrid Topology

  • Expensive
Hybrid Network topology diagram

 

Original content published @ Telecom NEWs

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Latency: What’s the Differences Between Fiber and Copper?

Business, How To's, Technology 24,254

Fiber optic communication has development rapidly in recent years. And in many applications fiber optic cable has replaced copper cable for higher speed and higher bandwidth applications. Therefore, numbers of people claim that fiber optic lines have lower latency than copper connections, while others do not think so. Then what’s the latency differences between fiber and copper?

fiber-vs-copper latency

Latency in Fiber and Cooper

Before comparing the latency differences between fiber and copper, latency refers to a time delay between stimulation and its response. Usually, it’s caused by velocity limitations in a physical system. Put it in simple terms, latency is the time it takes for a signal to travel from one place to another place. And there are diverse types of latency: network latency, Internet latency, audio latency, WAN latency, etc. No mater in a fiber optic network or a copper network, latency can be described as distance and speed. In addition, latency does exist. It’s just a question of fast or slow. One key factor that affects the latency is the signal speed in transmission media. Fiber and copper are two of transmission media. The type of media used in communication system depends on the bandwidth and transmission distance required by the application.

Fiber Latency

As we know, the speed of light in free space is about 3×108 meter per second. While the speed of light in air is slower than that in a vacuum. So does in the glass. Therefore, when an optical signal travels in a fiber link, there are five latency contributors: two are created when the signal moves from the electrical domain to the optical; another contribution occurs as the signal goes through the optical fiber; and as the signal is converted from the optical domain to the electrical, latency occurs.

fiber latency

Copper Latency

Signals in copper cables are easy to be interrupted by around environments, especially in longer distance transmission. The signals will attenuate as distance increases, which will lead to data transmission error, page error and make users feel slow speed at the moment. Actually the transmission speed doesn’t slow slow down. Besides, alien crosstalk also would cause transmission errors and latency.

copper latency

Fiber vs Copper: What’s the Latency Difference?

Signals are transmitted at 2/3 the speed of light in fiber optic cables. In copper it can be faster than that. However, this cannot account for system latency. In longer distance, latency in fiber optic system is lower because of less need for processing and repeating of the signals. While signals in copper are affected by electromagnetic interference and are prone to higher rates of loss over long distances.

In addition, no mater in a fiber optic network or a copper network, latency can be described as distance and speed. In addition, during the whole transmission process, serialization delay that shows how fast a data pocket can be serialized onto the wire, has far more impact on shorter distances. For example, it will take 8ms to serialize a 1500-byte packet on 1.5Mbps link, while it will only need 1.2us on 10Gbps, or less on higher speed. That shows speed makes a significant difference.

Summary

In a word, the latency differences between fiber and copper are influenced by transmission distance, speed and environments. For shorter distance, copper cables can be the first choices, for the delay in it does not mean much and its low cost. For longer distance transmission, fiber cable offers lower latency for the whole network and can be an optimal choice.

Related Article: What Is Copper Trunk Cable and How to Use It?
Related Article: Fiber Optic Cable vs Twisted Pair Cable vs Coaxial Cable

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Data Switch vs Hub in a Home Network

How To's, Technology 15,546

Data switches and hubs are common networking devices used to regenerate degraded signals and split a signal into multiple signals. They are handy for splitting up an internet connection to your home network. But do you know how they work in a home network? If they both accomplish the same thing, what’s the difference between a data switch vs hub?

What Is a Data Switch?

A data switch is charged with the job of connecting smaller segments of a single network into a connected whole. It transfers data across a network segment using MAC addresses for reference. Data switches are extensively used in Ethernet local area networks. A data switch operates on the Data Link Layer of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model. This means that data switches are fairly smarter than hubs, as they can route data on a dynamic level. If information is destined for a certain computer, the data switch will only send the data to this computer. This addresses our collision problem as switches use what is called micro-segmentation, which will be elaborated later in this article.

What Is a Hub?

Hub is a network device which controls number of switches and router for the whole network. A hub is a “dumb” device in that it broadcasts whatever it hears on the input port to all the output ports. The good thing about “dumb” devices is that they don’t need much configuration or maintenance. But this leads to collisions between data packets and a general degrading of network quality. If you have a hub set up between your router and the rest of your network, you’re setting yourself up for a huge headache. A hub looks just like a switch, but works differently on the inside. You connect devices to a hub using Ethernet cable and any signal sent from a device to the hub is simply repeated out on all other ports connected to the hub.

Data Switch vs Hub in a Home Network

Data switch vs hub? How do they differ from each other? Hubs are considered Layer 1 (Physical Layer) devices whereas data switches are put into Layer 2 (Data Link Layer). This is where hubs and switches mainly differ. The Data Link layer of the OSI model deals with MAC addresses and switches look at MAC addresses when they process an incoming frame on a port.

switch vs hub

Moreover, a data switch is much smarter but pricier than a hub. A data switch can actively manage the connections between the input port and the output ports, so you won’t run into the collision problem or any of the other issues that plague hubs. As you can see below, there are multiple collision domains or segments for the switch network. If computer A and computer B sent data to each other at the same time, you would have a collision. Computer A and computer C or D, however, will not experience a collision in the process. In comparison, for a hub network, there is just one collision domain, which means that if one computer transmits data, it would be interrupted by any of the other computers in the network. Thus, the more devices you connect to the hub, the more collisions there will be in the whole network. The following figure illustrates a data switch vs hub in collision domains.

switch vs hub in collision domain

Conclusion

Data switch vs hub, which one should you choose for a home network? If you purchased the device in question within the last few years, the chance is almost zero that it’s a hub. Historically, switches were expensive and hubs were cheap, but advances in technology have made switches so cheap that they don’t even bother making hubs anymore. Thus, nowadays data switches are higher-performance alternatives to hubs in a home network. FS provides a full set of high performance data switches, including gigabit ethernet switch, 10gb ethernet switch, 100gbe ethernet switch, etc. If you have any requirement, please kindly visit www.fs.com.

Related Article: What’s the Difference: Hub vs Switch vs Router

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VPN vs VLAN: What’s the Difference?

Business, Technology 20,993

As the popularity of the Internet has grown, many businesses are seeking for approaches to extend their own networks. First came Intranets, which are sites designed for use only by company employees. Nowadays, many of them are creating their own VPN (Virtual Private Network) or VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) to accommodate the needs of remote employees and distant offices. What is a VPN and what is VLAN? This post will explain these two terms and the differences between VPN vs VLAN.

What Is a VPN?

A VPN is a virtual private network that utilizes a public network (usually the Internet) to connect remote sites or users together. A typical VPN network has a main local area network (LAN) at the corporate headquarters of a company, other LANs at remote offices or facilities, and individual users that connect from out in the field. Instead of using a dedicated leased line, a VPN uses “virtual” connections routed over a public or shared infrastructure such as the Internet or service provider backbone network. Therefore subscribers who are physically isolated from the main LAN can get access to the company’s private network and remotely.

VPN Applicable Network Scenario

Here is a typical example of using the VPN network. As illustrated in the figure below, Network “A” sites have established a VPN (depicted by the red lines) across the service provider’s backbone network, where Network “B” is completely unaware of it’s existence. Both Network “A” and Network “B” can harmoniously coexist on the same backbone infrastructure without interrupting each other.

VPN Network

What Is a VLAN–the Subcategory of VPN

A VLAN is a group of networking devices configured to communicate on one or more LANs as if they were attached to the same wire, but actually they are located on a number of different LAN segments. VLAN networks are based on logical instead of physical connections with great flexibility. A VLAN network defines broadcast domains in a Layer 2 network. A broadcast domain is the set of all devices performed to receive broadcast frames originating from any other device within the set. Broadcast domains are usually bounded by routers since routers do not forward broadcast frames.

VLAN Applicable Network Scenario

As shown in the figure below, Layer 2 network switches are used to create multiple broadcast domains based on the configuration of these switches. Each broadcast domain is just like a distinct virtual bridge within a switch. By adding a Layer 3 router, it possible to send traffic between VLANs while still containing broadcast traffic within VLAN boundaries. The router uses IP subnets to deliver traffic between VLANs. Each VLAN has a distinct IP subnet, and there is a one-to-one correspondence of VLAN and IP subnet boundaries.

VLAN Network

VPN vs VLAN: How They Differ From Each Other?

VPN vs VLAN, they are two different concepts but related to each other. A VLAN is a subcategory of VPN, but they are designed for different hierarchies. VPN constructs range from Layer 1 to Layer 3, while VLAN is purely a layer 2 construct. A VLAN is used to group multiple computers that are not usually within the same geographical areas into the same broadcast domain. A VLAN can also segregate computers in a larger local network into smaller networks for each office or department and shielding the data so that they do not act as if they are on same network even if they are in the same switch. However, a VPN is more often related to remote access to a company’s network resources. It’s a method of creating a smaller sub network on top of an existing bigger network compared with VLAN.

Summary

No matter which one you choose over VPN vs VLAN, the foremost thing is to get reliable network switches or routers implemented in VPN or VLAN networks. FS can always fulfill your requirements by offering gigabit ethernet switch, 10gbe switch, 40gbe switches, as well as new gigabit VPN routers. They’re with powerful data-handling capacity and high compatibility for applications in data centers and enterprises.

original content published by FS.COM

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LAN vs WAN vs MAN: Which One to Choose?

Business, Technology 22,694

Network is essential for establishing communications among devices such as computers, routers, or fiber switches to operate over the area they cover. LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network) and MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) are the three most prevalent types of networks that are utilized today. There are some similarities and differences between them. LAN vs WAN vs MAN, which one should you choose?

LAN vs WAN vs MAN

What Is LAN?

LAN is an interconnection of a group of related networking devices within a small geographical area where the distance between these devices is small. Some of the LANs also cover the networks in office , school, and home. Most of the LANs are built for the purpose of sharing vital resources such as printers and exchanging files.

LAN is also widely used to provide services such as sharing computer applications, gaming and accessing the internet. This type of network is under the control of one administrator who is in charge of the configurations and settings and other devices connected through Ethernet cables and wireless routers.

What Is WAN?

WAN is a kind of network connection between multiple networking devices over a large geographical area. The connection can be between different cities or even countries. A WAN network can be a collection of small networks that have been combined, or it can be as a result of various private business entities. One good example of WAN is the internet, since it connects computers from different corners of the world.

The WAN network is too complex to be managed by private administrators. Therefore, WANs usually have a public ownership, where network devices in this network can be connected either by cables or through a wireless connection.

What Is MAN?

As the name suggests, MAN is a type of network that connects network devices within a specific geographical area. MAN lies in between LAN and WAN. The area covered by MAN network is larger than that in LAN but smaller than that in WAN. MANs are mostly used to provide fast connections to cities and large institutions.

MAN experiences comparatively high speeds to facilitate fast sharing of resources such as files within a city. One main disadvantage of the MAN is the high cost. The technology deployed for MAN network is pricier than that of LAN and WAN.

Key Comparison Between LAN vs WAN vs MAN

LAN vs WAN vs MAN, there are similarities and differences between them as listed in the chart below.

Parameter LAN MAN WAN
Ownership of Network Private Private or Public Private or Public
Design and Maintenance Easy Difficult Difficult
Propagation Delay Short Moderate Long
Speed High Moderate Low
Congestion Less More More
Application College, School, Hospital Small towns, City Country/Continent

Conclusion

Generally speaking, there are many advantages of LAN over MAN and WAN. LAN provides excellent reliability, high data transmission rate, and they can easily be managed. However, LAN cannot cover cities or towns and for that MAN is needed, which can connect city or a group of cities together. WAN is not restricted to a geographical location, although it might be confined within the bounds of a state or country. No matter which kind of network you choose, the routers or network switches you choose should be eligible to better satisfy your demand for network architecture. FS provides high performance gigabit PoE switch, 10 gigabit switch, 40 gigabit switch,etc. If you have any requirement, you can kindly visit www.fs.com.

 

Original content published by FS.COM

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MPLS vs Ethernet for WAN Connectivity

Technology 15,040

A WAN (Wide Area Network) is a communications network that spans geographically dispersed areas such as across cities, states or countries. A business may have a WAN comprised of cloud services, its headquarters and smaller branch offices, so the WAN is used to connect all sites together. The two most popular WAN connectivity options are MPLS ((Multiprotocol Label Switching) and Ethernet. To help subscribers analyze the differences between MPLS and Ethernet, this side-by-side MPLS vs Ethernet comparison provides a quick overview of the pros and cons of each WAN connectivity option.

MPLS vs Ethernet

What is MPLS?

MPLS is a protocol for efficient network traffic flow between multiple locations. MPLS operates similarly on a data switch and router, sitting between layers 2 and layer 3 network. MPLS uses labels for fast packets forwarding and routing within a network. In MPLS network, the MPLS switch (typically Gigabit Ethernet switch and 10GbE switch) transfers data by popping off its label and sending the packet to the next switch label in the sequence. The main benefits of MPLS network service are listed as below.

  • Reliability: MPLS is most widely used way to interconnect data centers with remote offices and branches to other branches since MPLS does require an entire block of IPs.
  • Service: With MPLS, there is a higher service level agreement that include delivery guarantees for speed and class of service (COS), unlike consumer broadband.
  • Labor Cost: MPLS allows businesses to leave WAN routing to the service provider and keep fewer WAN engineers on staff.

What is Ethernet?

Ethernet is a network protocol that controls how data is transmitted over a LAN (Local Area Network), such as those in a room, office, building or campus. As a point-to-point system, an Ethernet network uses Ethernet cables to connect PCs, switches or routers. Most desktop and laptop computers come with integrated an Ethernet card so that it’s easy to connect. Although the functionality of Ethernet is not as high-performing as that of an MPLS network, there are still some merits making it appealing.

  • Affordability: Although the scalability of Ethernet is smaller than that of MPLS, Ethernet is more affordable than MPLS, thus becoming the optimal choice for small and medium sized businesses.
  • Simplicity: Ethernet is best for connecting one data center to another, including using metro Ethernet to connect corporate sites dispersed geographically.
  • Professional Resources: Ethernet gives in-house WAN engineers control and responsibility over routing.
  • Disaster Recovery: Ethernet offers low latency and high output, which is ideal for disaster recovery.
  • Availability: Ethernet exchanges have made Ethernet WAN services available in more locations.

MPLS vs Ethernet for the WAN

Take a closer look at the subtle difference between MPLS vs Ethernet for the WAN connectivity from the chart below.

Parameter MPLS Ethernet
Scalability Scale to over thousands of sites Scale to up to hundreds of sites
Application Interconnect data centers with branch offices and branches to other branches Interconnect data centers
WAN routing Leave WAN routing to the service provider and keep fewer WAN engineers on staff Give WAN engineers control and responsibility over routing
WAN protocol behavior Handle any-to-any connectivity, including voice and video Offer low-latency and high-throughput, which is ideal for disaster recovery.
Quality of service (QoS) QoS options to enable preferential treatment of latency-sensitive traffic like VoIP Network engineers can bypass QoS complexity by hooking switches directly to Ethernet pipes
WAN management Complex Simple
Cost High Low

Summary

When weighing the pros and cons of MPLS vs Ethernet, make sure to examine your business needs and understand the resources available within the network, as well as what options exist in your geographic area. Most ISPs nowadays also offer an ISP-managed MPLS service, so they can manage the equipment, and basically get an Ethernet handoff to a switch, which is the so called “MPLS over Ethernet”. No matter which solution you would prefer, your network selection will influence the quality, reliability, service and cost of your WAN connectivity.

Original content published by FS.COM 

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