China enters 5G era

5G

Article | September 28, 2023

Discover key network performance metrics to enhance user experience. Explore in-depth latency, throughput, jitter, packet loss, VOIP quality, and MOS score to optimize network performance analysis. Contents 1. Importance of Network Performance Metrics for Performance Analysis 2. Critical Key Network Performance Metrics to Monitor 2.1 Latency 2.2 Throughput 2.3 Jitter 2.4 Packet Loss 2.5 VOIP Qualiy 2.6 MOS Score 3. Steps to Monitor and Measure Network Performance 4. Significance of Monitoring Metrics in Network Troubleshooting 4.1 Provides Network Visibility 4.2 Prevents Network Downtime 4.3 Observe Bandwidth Usage 5. Overcome Monitoring Challenges in Network Performance Metrics 6. Key Takeaway 1. Importance of Network Performance Metrics for Performance Analysis Network performance involves analyzing and evaluating network statistics to determine the quality of services provided by the underlying computer network. Considering various key network metrics, it is primarily measured from the end-users’ perspective. Measuring these metrics, analyzing performance data over time, and understanding the impact on the end-user experience is essential to assess network performance. Measuring network performance requires considering factors such as the location and timing of measurements. For instance, network performance may differ when comparing paths between cities or during periods of varying user demands throughout the day. Therefore, a comprehensive approach to monitoring network performance involves identifying these variables and identifying areas for improvement. Network performance metrics offer valuable insights into any network infrastructure and services. These metrics provide real-time information on potential issues, outages, and errors, allowing one to allocate IT resources efficiently. Understanding end-user demands can create an adaptive network to meet future business needs. However, comprehensive monitoring requires an advanced network monitoring tool to gather, analyze, and interpret data effectively, optimizing network performance. Leveraging relevant metrics can improve network performance, help make informed decisions, enhance network reliability, and deliver a superior user experience. 2. Critical Key Network Performance Metrics to Monitor 2.1 Latency Latency, or network delay, is a crucial performance metric in network monitoring and management. It quantifies the time required to transmit data between destinations. Factors like packet queuing and fiber optic cabling affect network latency. Consistent delays or sudden spikes in latency indicate significant network performance issues. Monitoring and minimizing latency are essential for ensuring optimal network performance. By actively tracking latency, organizations identify and address issues that may cause delays in data transmission, thereby improving overall network responsiveness and minimizing disruptions for end-users. 2.2 Throughput Throughput metrics for network monitoring enable measurement of the data transmission rate across various network segments. Unlike bandwidth, which represents the theoretical data transfer limit, throughput reflects the successful delivery of data packets to their destination. Variations in throughput can occur across different network areas. A low throughput indicates the presence of dropped packets requiring retransmission, and highlights potential performance issues that need attention. Monitoring throughput is crucial for effective network management. By monitoring this performance metric, organizations can gain insights into the actual data transmission rate, ensuring that it aligns with expected levels. 2.3 Jitter Jitter, a key performance metric in network monitoring, refers to the variation in delay between packets, measured as the difference between expected and actual arrival times. It results due to network congestion, routing issues, or other factors, leading to packet loss and degraded application performance. Jitter disrupts the standard sequencing of data packets and can arise due to network congestion or route changes. Monitoring jitter is crucial for identifying and addressing network stability issues and ensuring reliable data transmission. By actively monitoring this performance metric, organizations can address variations in packet delay, mitigating issues that leads to packet loss and enabling proactive troubleshooting. 2.4 Packet Loss Packet loss, a performance management network monitoring metric, represents the number of data packets lost during transmission. It directly affects end-user services, leading to unfulfilled data requests and potential disruptions. Packet loss can arise from various factors, including software problems, network congestion, or router performance issues. Monitoring the entire process precisely to detect and address packet loss, ensures reliable data transmission and optimal network performance. Monitoring packet loss with the right network monitoring software enables timely troubleshooting and optimization of network infrastructure, ultimately enhancing overall network reliability and performance. 2.5 VOIP Quality VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) quality is a crucial network performance metric. It refers to the overall performance of a VoIP system in delivering clear and reliable voice communications over the Internet, replacing traditional phone lines. Factors influencing VoIP quality include network bandwidth, latency, packet loss, jitter, and the quality of end-user devices. Monitoring VoIP quality ensures optimal system functionality and high-quality voice communications. Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as mean opinion score (MOS), jitter, latency, packet loss, and call completion rates are utilized to assess and optimize VoIP quality. 2.6 MOS Score Mean opinion score (MOS) is a vital performance metric in network monitoring, rating the perceived quality of a voice call on a scale of 1 to 5. It is a standardized measurement developed by the ITU, an international agency focused on enhancing communication networks. Initially designed for traditional voice calls, the MOS has been adapted to evaluate Voice over IP (VoIP) calls. The MOS score considers various factors, including the specific codec employed for the VoIP call, providing a comprehensive assessment of voice calls quality in network monitoring. 3. Steps to Monitor and Measure Network Performance Step 1: Deploy a Software for Network Monitoring To effectively measure network performance, deploying dedicated network monitoring software is crucial. While temporary tools like traceroutes and pings can provide insights into ongoing problems, they are insufficient for troubleshooting intermittent network issues. Relying on periodic tools for intermittent issues is reliant on chance, as it may only detect problems when they occur during tool usage. By implementing comprehensive network monitoring software, one can proactively monitor and analyze network metrics, historical data, and performance, allowing for timely detection and resolution of both ongoing and intermittent network issues. Step 2: Distribute Monitoring Agents For comprehensive network performance measurement, businesses must distribute monitoring agents strategically across key network locations. These specialized software agents continuously monitor network performance using synthetic traffic, simulating and assessing the end-user perspective. By distributing Monitoring Agents, organizations can: • Measure key network metrics, including jitter, packet loss, and throughput. • Identify and troubleshoot intermittent network issues that are challenging to pinpoint. • Receive alerts regarding any performance degradation, ensuring a timely response. • Collect valuable data for in-depth troubleshooting and analysis, facilitating proactive network management and optimization. Step 3: Measure Network Metrics After deploying the monitoring agents, they continuously exchange synthetic User Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic, forming a network monitoring session. During this session, the agents measure network performance by evaluating key metrics and conducting network traffic analysis. The metrics used in the analysis include specific parameters, and the results of these measurements are presented in a network response time graph, providing a visual representation of the network's performance characteristics. Monitoring and analyzing these metrics enable organizations to gain valuable insights into network performance, facilitating informed decision-making and convenient network performance troubleshooting. 4. Significance of Monitoring Metrics in Network Troubleshooting 4.1 Provide Network Visibility Monitoring metrics plays a vital role in network troubleshooting by offering network visibility. They enable the identification of performance bottlenecks, configuration problems, and security vulnerabilities that detrimentally affects network performance. These issues can be addressed through targeted troubleshooting efforts, resulting in improved network performance and enhanced end-user experience. Organizations identify and resolve network issues by monitoring metrics, ensuring optimal network functionality and overall business productivity. 4.2 Prevent Network Downtime Effective monitoring metrics are instrumental in preventing network downtime, a costly concern for businesses. Swift identification and resolution of network issues through proactive network performance troubleshooting help minimize downtime, ensuring uninterrupted business operations. By promptly addressing potential problems, network troubleshooting safeguards against lost productivity, revenue, and customer dissatisfaction. Maintaining a proactive approach to monitoring and resolving network issues to enhance network reliability and business continuity. 4.3 Observe Bandwidth Usage Monitoring metrics are essential in network troubleshooting as they enable the observation of bandwidth usage. This allows organizations to detect abnormal or excessive utilization, pinpoint key performance issues and ensure optimal resource allocation. It allows for identifying critical bandwidth-hogging applications or network intrusions, helping experts take immediate action to mitigate risks, safeguard data, and protect the overall network integrity. Additionally, experts can optimize network performance and ensure a seamless user experience for organizations relying on efficient network infrastructure. 5. Overcome Monitoring Challenges in Network Performance Metrics Enterprises seeking to ensure optimal network performance and improve overall business operations must overcome network monitoring obstacles. Effectively monitoring, tracking, and improving network performance requires a strategic combination of skilled personnel, advanced technologies, and well-defined strategies. Failing to address these requirements results in various challenges that hinder the ability to enhance network performance effectively. The challenges that businesses often encounter include managing scalability, handling massive data volumes, achieving real-time monitoring, dealing with multi-vendor environments, addressing network security and privacy concerns, and adapting to evolving network demands. Each obstacle presents unique complexities that require tailored approaches and expert insights. To overcome these challenges, enterprises must invest in comprehensive monitoring tools capable of handling the scalability demands of growing networks. These tools should provide real-time network visibility, robust analytics capabilities, and intelligent data filtering mechanisms to extract meaningful insights from vast network data. Establishing clear monitoring objectives aligned with business goals and defining key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential in effectively addressing network performance challenges. 6. Key Takeaway Monitoring network performance metrics is crucial for assessing the quality of services a computer network provides from an end-user perspective. It involves continuously tracking and analyzing key metrics such as latency, throughput, jitter, packet loss, VOIP quality, and MOS score. Organizations can actively monitor and assess performance, proactively identify intermittent issues, and collect valuable data for in-depth analysis by implementing dedicated network monitoring software and strategically deploying monitoring agents across the network. In addition, it is imperative to emphasize the significance of monitoring metrics in mitigating the potential financial impact of network downtime, enhancing the utilization of available bandwidth resources, and efficiently tackling the complexities inherent in scaling operations, real-time monitoring, diverse vendor ecosystems, security concerns, and the ever-evolving requirements of modern networks.

Unified Communications, Network Security

Article | July 10, 2023

Something revolutionary that solves problems becomes a product or service with many trade secrets you cannot afford to let loose in the market. All small, medium, and large businesses worry about how vulnerable they are to threats as far as data sharing within the organization is concerned. This is where a private network comes in. Every business wants to take a technological leap for scalability. Two of the factors that private networks address are independence from commercial carriers for the network and maintaining the privacy of trade secrets. This helps achieve long-term goals to scale your business. Powering your enterprise private network with the futuristic speeds of 5G can help your business achieve two goals at once. Take a look at why 5G has now started to matter even more. Why 5G? By 2026, the 5G market will reach $667.90 billion, with a CAGR of 122.3% from 2021 to 2026. It is estimated to go beyond $1.87 trillion by 2030. This massive technological transition will forever change how we communicate, process information, and connect with the cloud. A boost in turnkey research and development is one of the vital benefits of 5G that will help your business be one step ahead in the market. What Makes the 5G Enterprise Private Network Ideal for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses? A private enterprise network is VPN, LAN, WAN, or cloud-based. High-speed internet and low-latency data sharing or transfer are achieved using fiber optics in a 5G EPN. Expect superior service security, network slicing, enhanced service quality, and no risk of network congestion. Design your 5G EPN as per the software integrations required for your small and medium-sized business. This will allow seamless integration for present and future needs. 5G is about 100 times faster than 4G, leading to incredible speeds and unlocking many never-seen-before possibilities accelerating the speed of research for your enterprise. The network efficiency and the traffic capacity it can handle are 100x. Connecting and sharing data in almost real-time is made possible with 5G. This means, a private 5G network can reduce the infrastructure needs of relatively more demanding managed wired networks for small and medium-sized businesses supporting 5G ecosystems. But it will keep up with the most advanced wireless technologies of the future and stop supporting older ones. In addition, 5G supports lower power consumption than 4G during data transmission. This means enterprises get better battery life on devices running 5G, including 5G IoT devices. How Secure is a 5G Enterprise Private Network? The 5G enterprise private networks are integrated or hybrid EPNs (enterprise private networks) and independent EPNs. It depends on whether your business wants to lease 5G spectrum from the government or a mobile network operator (MNO) and whether you will use a hybrid or independent EPN. • Integrated 5G EPN: A small business can lease a private 5G line from an MNO. A public 5G network backs a virtual private network (VPN) for medium-to-small businesses. On the other hand, MEC and UPF from a public 5G network are used to set up a local network for large businesses. • Independent 5G EPN: This is the most secure type of 5G EPN, the independent 5G EPN. It is independently built for your enterprise, owned, operated, and managed by you. You will be handling the RAN, core, edge computing nodes, and the wireless spectrum reserved for your use. These are mostly the goals of a large business that sends and stores data that needs to be very secure. An independent 5G EPN is the best solution for large enterprises looking for the most secure private network. Also, it applies to businesses dealing with massive amounts of data. Why Use the Cloud for Storage and Retrieval of Data in 5G EPN? Access computing resources, data storage, development tools, and applications across the internet with the help of the cloud. The combined features of 5G and a private enterprise network create a healthy environment to implement cloud infrastructure. When thinking about using the cloud to store and get data in a 5G EPN, keep in mind the good things about it. Interconnected, shared resources 5G speed Improved reliability Increased data accessibility Better privacy and security Efficient connectivity Now that we have learned networking fundamentals for a better 5G EPN are resolved with the help of the cloud, let us discover how it can help your business scale. How Can Your Small, Medium, or Large Business Scale up With a 5G EPN Network Easily? You can use a 5G enterprise private network, or EPN, to get the most important benefits for a small business. Speed to promote an industrial digital transformation IoT readiness Better control over digital assets. Improved security Reliable coverage Network slicing Ultra-low latency Improved bandwidth Improved quality of service (QoS) You will have complete control over configuring and customizing your EPN, managed independently by your in-house 5G networks. Explore the future avenues of 5G private networks in detail. The Future of 5G Private Networks and Wi-Fi with Industrial Use Cases: According to a study by RAN Research, by 2028, private 5G networks will generate about $23.5 billion, with 19% usage in the manufacturing industry and 12% of the network in the healthcare industry. The deployment of the 5G network and upgraded Wi-Fi standards will likely be saturated by 2024. Most of the investments would be towards upgrading the infrastructure and maintaining the network. The goal of fierce competition among telecom network operators will be to gain rapid market share, bringing down the cost of usage. The new service providers will garner competition from telecom giants, while 5G private networks from different enterprises will still be dominant and mainstream in providing security, privacy, and data isolation. Leading Industrial Use Cases Healthcare: A revolution in healthcare benefiting from 5G technology is bound to happen with their transition to a cloud-native architecture. The need for high-speed and reliable connectivity will arise sooner or later, and 5G private networks will perfectly meet the requirement. The driving forces for healthcare to adopt 5G private networks include the shift to demographics, value-based and patient-centric care, and emergency healthcare. In addition, the use of big data analytics, the internet of medical things (IoMT), better wearable medical technology, hospital remote monitoring systems, e-Health and more will need the speed that 5G offers. Manufacturing: The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) uses private 5G networks. Depending upon the software-defined implementation of the 5G network, 5G does not just allow remote monitoring of production lines; it also regulates maintenance and device lifecycle while powering industrial automation. 5G is also finding its way into implementing augmented reality for troubleshooting electronics, additive manufacturing and 3D printing, automated guided vehicles, camera-based video analytics and more. Collaborative robotics, supply chain optimization, and maintenance using a digital twin are a few other things that are worth mentioning. Supply Chain: Due to near-shoring, manufacturing and distribution will decentralize. Due to Internet of Things (IoT) devices with sensors, supply chain and shipping logistics companies will be able to reduce delivery times, have better control over warehouse and transportation environments, and offer great asset management services. Final Thoughts Finding the right 5G private network type for your enterprise is easy. It offers enhanced security while connecting to the cloud, IoT and more. This would allow the development of futuristic products and services, touching multiple industries, with healthcare, manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics among the top. Keeping trade secrets and the latest research and development secure and enhancing the capabilities by integrating future technologies will improve with a 5G EPN. With a 5G private network for your enterprise being used on a large scale, the future of networking looks bright. FAQs: What is the difference between a public 5G network and a private 5G network? A single location or several locations of the same institution, business, or organization are the focus of a private 5G network. On the contrary, the public 5G network is nationwide with millions of subscribers without being dedicated to serving a single entity. Because of this, 5G EPN infrastructure solutions will probably be used on college campuses, in factories, hospitals, military bases, transportation hubs, and other places. What is a private 5G network and what are the benefits of a private 5G network? A 5G private network offers low latency, high bandwidth and multiple connections with access control, which are perfect for business applications for small, medium and large enterprises. Furthermore, 5G private networks allow you to tailor them to your business requirements, making them an excellent investment for your business. Again, while diversifying your business as per customer and market demand, it is crucial to have a networking infrastructure that can adapt to your changing needs. Therefore, a private 5G network becomes even more critical. How does EPN help in centralization and business continuity? When implementing business continuity planning and centralization of your organization, a 5G EPN can provide several benefits over a public network. It makes integrations easy, provides high-quality services, improves access control and reliability, and lets your business share resources in the best way for its current and future needs.

Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Infrastructure

Article | June 16, 2023

When you're immersed in ultra-fast 5G amazing services, 600 million people around the world are still blocked from accessing mobile networks. When you experience seamless online shopping and online education, 3.4 billion people worldwide have not experienced mobile Internet services. On the road where connections are not connected, no one will be left behind. We can feel the life changes by RuralStar deployment.

Article | September 16, 2021

If you are clued into IT, then most likely, you are aware of the latest trending technology, edge computing data centers. Edge Computing ensures exceptional speed, with firm privacy and security compared to the conventional cloud methods, thus making edge data centers an imperative option for everyone. The world is undoubtedly moving faster, thereby perpetually pushing the power of next-generation innovation. Edge computing data center has emerged as a substitute to cloud computing, that keeps the data processing power at the “edge” of the network. But, it also comes with a set of challenges to the network. Edge computing devices that have processing functions are expensive and to operate the older version, additional equipment is required, which incurs extra expenditure. Despite the challenges, edge computing has turned out to be the biggest technology investment. So, let’s break it down here with comprehensive details to understand how this latest trending technology is all set to shape the future of the data center. A Brief on Edge Computing The word edge refers to the literal geographic distribution that brings computation and data storage nearer to the data sources. It improves the response duration and saves bandwidth as it runs fewer processes in the cloud and shifts those processes to local destinations such as on a user’s computer, an edge server, or an IoT for that matter. In a nutshell, edge computing is a topology that enables data to be analyzed, processed, and transferred at the edge of a network, It helps diminish the long-distance communication that takes place between a client and server. A significant advantage of using edge computing lies in its high speed and better reliability. In addition, it offers improved security by distributing processing, storage, and applications across wide-ranging devices and data centers. What’s more, it paves the way for a budget-friendly route to scalability as well as versatility, enabling organizations to expand their computing capabilities through an amalgamation of IoT devices and edge computing data centers. Edge Data Centers and Their Usage! There isn’t any specific explanation that would describe the idea of an edge data center, considering it isn’t one consistent style of the facility. It instead consists of smaller facilities that serve both edge computing and larger-scale cloud services. Since they are located closer to the population, they could easily extend the edge of the network to deliver cloud computing resources and cached content to end-users. Typically, they connect to a larger central data center or multiple computer data centers seamlessly. Latency has forever been a matter of concern for cloud data center managers. In recent times, it has emerged as a key obstacle due to big data, the Internet of Things, cloud and streaming services, and other technology trends. Moreover, in today’s time and age, end-users and devices demand access to applications and services anytime and anywhere, which leaves no room for latency. Consequently, companies across the spectrum are establishing edge data centers to ensure cost-effective and high-functionality ways to provide customers with content and performance. A great way to learn more about the data center would be to understand its usage. The following are some of the services that primarily rely on edge computing: Internet of Things Internet of Things tools essentially require low latency and reliable connections to the data center to function with high intensity. IoT devices add up a vast number of edge computing utilities; thus using edge computing makes it simple and effective. Streaming Content Streaming content is one of the most consumed form of infotainment. Users today want their video to get started with a single click that edge facilities help achieve. Drones While Drones are increasingly getting popular, their features are also massively advancing. For example, with edge computing, drones could be controlled even from far-flung locations without any hitch. Artificial Intelligence AI is one of the most thriving technologies that have taken over the world with its magnificent scalability, To make AI advantageous to the system, it should be able to access data, process it, and communicate with the end-users effectively and quickly which an edge data center allows. Virtual Reality Virtual Reality needs to get updates as quickly as possible to create an immersive world for the users. Though primarily associated with gaming, VR has also gained recognition for different paradigms such as communication, education, and several other significant uses. Edge Computing and Data Centers – The Future! A dedicated 5G Provider Edge Computing is underway, building mammoth telecommunications capabilities into data center growth trends. These facilities could change the dynamics of 5G providers for enterprise brands and emerge as the dedicated 5G providers for organizations. Support sustainable business goals Edge data centers are being looked to as a periphery that can help build more efficient solutions to enable the sector’s sustainability. Edge computing is specifically designed to keep applications and data closer to devices and their users. Therefore, there is little doubt over the impact that edge computing will have on sustainable business goals. Making way for Robot Security Guards Evolution in AI and IoT has drastically changed the human staffing needs inside the data centers and made way for Robots. Currently, Robots have been deployed in some of the hyper-scale data centers for specific tasks. Whether it is the automated inspection, faulty disc locating, or disc charging, with Robots at the helm of affairs, everything can be completed seamlessly. Many data center and robotics professionals are predicting that the next couple of years will be big leaps when it comes to placing more robotics in the data center environment. Bill Kleyman - now Switch EVP of digital solutions - wrote in 2013. How Does One Choose a Location For a Data Center? Data centers are a critical part of any business enterprise operations. Hence, decisions regarding its locations cannot be relegated to an arbitrary choice. In the past, companies used to set up their edge data centers closer to their offices to maintain the proximity. However, that is swiftly changing now as the equipment administration and monitoring can be achieved remotely. With the data center industry transforming, performance is no longer the sole consideration. To create a defining success of the data centers, companies are now looking for different sites for their data centers, primarily focusing on factors like economic, political, social, and geographical. The current scenario highlights the significance of considering Energy efficiency, business continuity plan, and resource optimization. With so much at stake, the edge data centers should be effortlessly accessible. Conclusion Edge computing and data center growth has garnered a lot of interest among the users over the past few years. It will continue to thrive for many more years to come as it meets the eye of the global tech demands and the current and future needs of the users worldwide. Frequently Asked Questions What are the benefits of edge computing? One of the top benefits of edge computing is its quick response time and low latency period across all devices. It also simplifies the bandwidth and creates less risk in corporate security. What are the drawbacks of edge computing? A significant drawback of edge computing is the need of a huge storage capacity. The security challenge is also relatively high due to the massive amount of data stored in it. Moreover, the expensive cost factor is also a disadvantage of it. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the benefits of edge computing?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "One of the top benefits of edge computing is its quick response time and low latency period across all devices. It also simplifies the bandwidth and creates less risk in corporate." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the drawbacks of edge computing?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A significant drawback of edge computing is the need of a huge storage capacity. The security challenge is also relatively high due to the massive amount of data stored in it. Moreover, the expensive cost factor is also a disadvantage of it." } }] }