Network Design

There are many ways to design a network However, some network designs are more cost-effective than other designs. The following are ways that companies can improve the cost effectiveness of their network design based upon their needs:

• Dedicated solutions are typically more expensive than shared solutions. A dedicated circuit between two locations will cost more than installing the two locations on MPLS. Assuming one of these locations is your data center, you are now able to use this MPLS connection to support other multiple locations. Once you add a site to the MPLS network, it will have access to all other locations. This solution provides the ability to use more cost-effective bandwidth at the data center (higher bandwidth drives a lower cost per KB), which reduces the amount of equipment required.
  Top Tip: Validate assumptions

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  "We saved money by understanding how the field offices and sales people do their work. Their needs have changed overtime, and we re-validated our original assumptions. This included requirements related to up-time, mobile capacity, response, and redundancy."
  —Mykolas Rambus
  Forbes Media

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• The use of MPLS will substantially save costs with the implementation of a disaster recovery site. You are able to connect the disaster recovery site to the MPLS network and immediately have access to all sites.
• Use Internet services where applicable. Internet service does not come with a service level agreement (SLA), nor does it require the same time to restore as other services. However, overall Internet services such as DSL and dedicated T1 access have become more reliable. If the particular location does not need the SLA provided by other services, installing an Internet connection saves costs.
• Supporting Microsoft services over a WAN requires expensive high levels of bandwidth. Investigate WAN optimization products that provide Local Area Network (LAN)-like response times over a WAN without the need to increase bandwidth.
• Validate assumptions about how the business functions as the business needs might have changed over time and you may need to make network design changes. For example, one company looked at how sales people in the field completed work and was able to reduce costs by making changes to the network design. These changes more closely match how work was being done—including at home, at Starbucks, and at the office. Up-times and redundancy needs in field offices were also different from when they originally designed the network.
• In times of desperation, approach the business with the costs of backup services to primary WAN connections. Include statistics of outage frequencies and durations. The business areas may be willing to run the risk of an outage given the costs to provide the backup during tough times.
  Top Tip: Design the network for growth

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  "We redesigned the network and changed the way we think to reduce overall costs. Rather than reactively adding bandwith on a project-by-project basis when we hit a constraint, we built the global network for growth. This is much more cost effective and reduces costs by the way we acquire and procure bandwith."
  —Roger Champagne
  Laitram

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• Stay abreast of new technologies and consider using them to lower telecom wireless and data services costs. For example, MPLS can carry data and voice traffic at lower costs, or use session initiation protocol (SIP) to consolidate local voice, long distance, and data services.
• Review chatty applications, the possibility of content or data distribution, and application re-design improvements to reduce network bandwidth requirements.
• Investigate wide area Ethernet access as an alternative to DS3s and T1s.