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Best Effort Internet vs. Service Level Agreements

Best effort internet, like coax, implies sharing the connection with other organizations. The service provider promises to deliver the best effort that is available. 

A direct connection or dedicated internet like fiber gives you a private line from your router to the ISP. These lines come with service level agreements (SLAs) and are contractually obligated to deliver. However, construction costs are sometimes necessary to gain access to SLA services.

Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)

A software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a device that sits on top of the network and lets administrators remotely control network traffic and applications. For example, bandwidth used by business-critical tools like a CRM can be prioritized over the use of a non-critical application like YouTube.

SD-WANs require at least two internet connections of any type. The device will test the connections to determine the quickest route and breaks the information down into packets to send. A true SD-WAN device is capable of replacing the use of multi-label protocol switching (MPLS) though not all do. Some still require physical or on-premise equipment like routers, which eliminates the benefits and savings from virtualization.

IoT (Internet of Things)

Senors are a key componet to Internet of Things (IoT) networks and adding hardware such as sensors can often stress a legacy network that was not built for IoT capacity.  While 5G networks continue to expand and allow for greater IoT potential, current networks are typically adapted to support ongoing IoT projects.

Visit our resources page to help determine what solution is best for your organization.