Internet connectivity is an essential component of colocation services. Over the past two decades much has changed regarding colocation bandwidth. Prices have dropped dramatically, and available bandwidth has risen. Some colocation providers began offering alternate variable pricing plans based on the amount of data transfer consumed each month in addition to the original model which charged a fixed price for a guaranteed data rate.
In the early days, when CAPS first opened its data center in Shelton, most clients had limited bandwidth. Twenty years ago, affordable Internet circuits ranged from 1 to 10 Mbps. Today, as connectivity costs have plummeted, it is common for colocation clients to employ 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, or even higher capacity circuits.
Redundant Bandwidth Available
Most colocation clients at CAPS purchase Internet bandwidth directly from CAPS at a fixed rate per month. They get a committed data rate and an automatic fail-over Internet circuit for back-up. Client Internet activity provisioned over redundant infrastructure is monitored continuously. If packet losses or retransmission rates exceed an alert threshold, the circuit automatically transfers to the backup circuit utilizing Border Gateway Protocol technology.
Circuits provisioned from CAPS provide symmetric bandwidth. This means the data rate is the same on the transmit and receive paths of the circuit and will be at the contracted bandwidth rate; give or take a small percentage. Though consumer Internet service providers also advertise symmetric bandwidth, they are more likely to deliver lower transmit and receive bandwidth at times. This is because Internet service providers typically over-provision bandwidth across their customers. Though they may advertise a 1 Gbps circuit, the actual available bandwidth at any given time may be half this rate or less depending on the data transmitted by all clients at a given time on this circuit.
May Save Money Purchasing Bandwidth Direct
Though CAPS sells Internet connectivity as part of its colocation service, we also allow clients to purchase their Internet bandwidth directly from an Internet service provider. Clients who purchase a circuit from an Internet service provider will not be able to rely on our backup failover circuit for redundancy, but they may save money.
The Internet service provider market is extremely competitive. Carriers often offer great deals for Internet bandwidth. Recently some of our clients have decided to order an Internet circuit directly from a provider offering an attractive monthly rate. They recognize they may not actually be able to transmit and receive data at the full rate at all times. Even if they only get half that rate, it may still fulfill their requirements while saving them money.
Clients who opt to purchase low-priced Internet circuits take advantage of the fact that some colocation providers, like CAPS, allow them to procure their bandwidth directly. The flexibility to choose from a variety of suppliers makes it possible for clients to save money for those Internet services where redundancy is not required. We expect this new trend to continue as clients strive to save money while providing the data connectivity their organizations require.
