‘Bulletproof broadband’ is on the way
If load-shedding is playing havoc with your connectivity, take heart as a solution is at hand
● Businesses and households that experience fibre connectivity interruptions during load-shedding are in for a reprieve.
As load-shedding reaches the point where cellular towers cannot recharge fast enough to last through multiple power cuts a day, mobile broadband no longer provides an adequate guarantee of uninterrupted connectivity.
Companies for whom a constant connection is mission-critical have multiple forms of backup, but these tend to be isolated from each other and do not provide automatic failover. A new solution put together by a group of companies aims to address this gap.
Comsol, which provides high-speed connectivity over long distances via microwave signals, has partnered with Fusion Broadband, which provides a system that combines microwave and fibre connectivity, and automatically switches from one to the other if either fails. The system allows a business or household to access the combined speed of both connections through Wi-Fi. They have also roped in Mustek, which provides cost-effective inverters, to power a combined fibre box, microwave receiver and any connected Wi-Fi routers to ensure uninterrupted high-speed connectivity.
In combination, it provides the first fully integrated “bulletproof broadband” solution in South Africa. The key is that the Fusion Broadband offering is a “software-defined wide area network” (SD-WAN) service, which allows enterprises to extend their networks over wide geographical areas, and to manage all aspects of connectivity through an online platform.
Kirthesh Sundersingh, director of business development at Fusion Broadband South Africa, says the solution was developed in Australia “in a connectivity environment made up of many good and bad data networks covering thousands of kilometres between cities”.
“To address connectivity problems and improve performance, Fusion applied sophisticated software and algorithms, which were developed further over many years into a full SD-WAN solution. Similarly, the South African connectivity environment is a mix of good and bad networks, making Fusion’s SD-WAN better suited to handle the connectivity challenges faced by South African businesses. By implication, this solution is better suited for the South African market than for its Silicon Valley equivalents.”
A key need addressed by the solution is the requirement of organisations in financial services and telecommunications to have guaranteed uptime, especially as an increasing number of businesses move their operations into the cloud. “The operations of most businesses are dependent on technology and cloud services which require 100% connectivity uptime as they migrate from on-premises IT infrastructure,” says Sundersingh.
“The constant power outages contribute to connectivity failures which require businesses to install a power backup and use multiple ISP connections to maintain connectivity resilience. Fusion’s SD-WAN solution was designed for small and medium enterprises with isolated sites or branches. It is fully automated, can be set up in minutes, is easier to maintain without technical on-site support, and delivers a bundle of benefits that a business really needs, in one affordable solution. The automation, zero-touch and easier-to-use solution dramatically reduces barriers for SMEs to achieve resilient connectivity.”
It seems to be an obvious offering for service providers but has previously only been available at a high cost. Guaranteed uptime was seen as purely a large-enterprise requirement, and was priced accordingly. And it was often structured in such a way that only sophisticated IT departments could manage it.
“Attempts to apply an enterprise solution to the SME sector have been problematic, leading to a realisation that an automated, plug-and-play solution is better suited,” says Sundersingh.
While the Fusion SD-WAN solution is ISP-agnostic, meaning it can be deployed by any internet service provider, the partnership with Comsol allowed Fusion Broadband to demonstrate the benefits of combining several high-speed connections. This writer tested a combination of a Comsol 100Mbps fibre and a 400Mbps fibre connection from Afrihost. It achieved a “fused” broadband connection of just under 500Mbps — enough for the current needs of most small and medium enterprises.
Justin Colyn, chief sales and marketing officer of Comsol, describes the microwave connection as “fibre in the sky”. Adding it as a second connection, fused with the SDWAN solution, he says, provides “enterprisegrade resilience”. It can be deployed by businesses that have an existing fibre connection as low as 50Mbps.