The cost of multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) as a way to bolster first- and last-mile wide area network (WAN) connectivity for broadband internet isn’t realistic for most enterprises. In order to improve bandwidth to the level that is required for cloud solutions and, in particular, unified communications (UC), there must be some strategies in place to combat congestion and packet loss.

While the development of cloud communication tools like UC rely heavily on a steady supply of bandwidth, it’s part of a broader trend over recent years. Internet speeds have grown exponentially, and the improvement in available bandwidth makes tools like this possible. Many cloud applications are bandwidth-hungry and create increased demand with large file backups.

For UC and its video features, delays and latency make it difficult in an unoptimized setting, with dropped calls or poor quality a common threat. The expense of deploying MPLS or first- and last-mile along with the management overhead make it an unattractive option for most enterprises. The solution is a better understanding of broadband internet limitations and the implementation of the following options that can be combined with transport optimization, compression, and other tools that boost connectivity success:

Path Replication: Equipping the network with path replication can be a loss-recovery mechanism. It allows certain traffic to be replicated in the primary and secondary links. The packet is duplicated and delivered between the edge and the node if one of the links has a loss. This technique can be used in any type of quality of service (QoS) traffic.

The advantages of path replication are improved application quality for solutions like UC, the elimination of problems like packet loss and jitter, and improved reliability.

Adaptive Loss Recovery: This technique uses a feedback mechanism to retransmit lost packets. It is achieved through a lightweight algorithm (similar to a transmission control protocol) that recovers packet loss. If a receiver doesn’t receive a packet, it requests a retransmission from the peer using a negative acknowledgement (NAK). The required amount of bandwidth is proportional to percentage loss through the links. 

The elimination of packet loss, improved reliability, lowered cost, and more efficient use of bandwidth are just some of the positive results gained with adaptive loss recovery.

Load Balancing: This allows the enterprise to utilize both primary and secondary paths by sending packets down alternating paths. Distribution of the traffic is based on a round-robin, packet-based design in order to streamline the use of resources.

The advantages of load balancing include improved performance by avoiding congestion on any particular link and improved link utilization. 

While any cloud-based solution will demonstrate improved performance and speed as a result of these features, communication technology like UC and its cloud-based counterpart, unified communications as a service (UCaaS), will benefit the most.

By using adaptive loss recovery, path replication, and load balancing, enterprises can improve bandwidth to better support communications applications. For more information, contact us at Cloud Source.