AV Technology - October 2008 - (Page 22)

business THE COST OF BANDWIDTH HD, telepresence, and video streaming can increase productivity, but at what cost? By Elaine Jones here’s no doubt that the demand for communications bandwidth has increased in recent years and that demand will continue to increase as more consumers, enterprises, and schools adopt IP-based technologies. Cisco estimates that global IP traffic will exceed half a zettabyte by 2012. (How much is a zettabyte? It’s one trillion gigabytes.) To reach that number, Cisco says, global IP traffic will nearly double every two years. A major contributor to the growing bandwidth usage is video — peer to peer, TV, and video on demand being responsible for much of the increase. In the enterprise world, new bandwidth demands are coming from videoconferencing, video streaming, and VoIP applications. Business videoconferencing primarily used ISDN data lines until just a few years ago. That changed around 2004, based on estimates by Wainhouse Research — during that year, IP became the most common method for hosting videoconference calls. Now, virtually all videoconferencing endpoints offer IP capability as the network standard; ISDN connectivity costs extra and, in some cases, is not available at all. How are videoconferencing applications affecting bandwidth needs in the enterprise? A T single high definition (HD) video call requires between 1 and 4 Mbps for optimal quality; a telepresence room could require 20-plus Mbps. Add extra conferencing rooms for daily collaboration, video streaming for employee training, your VoIP system, and so on, and your overall bandwidth requirement could be huge. Another important factor is the allowable burden on your network, which is typically less than 30 percent of the rated capacity. Although your HD call may only consume 1 to 4 Mb of network traffic, the network capacity needed to handle COST COMPARISON Here’s a comparison of various bandwidth costs. These are average monthly bandwidth prices on a national basis. Prices can vary widely; they are likely lower in major metro areas and higher in rural areas. SERVICE DSL T1 DS3 (or T3) Ethernet over copper Fast Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet BANDWIDTH (MBPS) 1.54 1.54 45 10 100 1,000 MONTHLY COST $100 to $150 $450 $5,000 $950 $3,000 $18,000 PRICE PER MB $65 to $97 $292 $111 $95 $30 $18 Source: www.ethernetbuildings.com, John Shepler. that burden could be in the range of 14 Mb. “A few years ago, companies needed just a couple megabytes of network service for videoconferencing; today, in many cases, they need 10, 20, 50 Mbps or more,” says Ira Weinstein, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. The way that companies are acquiring bigger bandwidth “pipes” is also evolving. “Ten years ago, companies were putting in point-to-point connections with dedicated T1s or DS3s, in effect building their own video network — so the cost of increasing bandwidth was massive,” says Weinstein. “If you wanted to add a new location to your network, you had to add one (or more than one) T1 line.” Weinstein says this method of bandwidth topology, although still in use within some enterprises, is less flexible than other options now available. “Cloud-based networks, such as MPLS (multi protocol label switching), have dramatically eased the cost of high-quality network transport,” he says. “MPLS customers incur two types of costs; a local access fee for the connection (sometimes called the ‘last mile’ or ‘local loop’) between their building and the cloud, and a network access fee (called a port fee) for the traffic they’ll be routing through the provider’s backbone. Combined, these costs are typically much lower than the cost of creating your own end-to-end data network.” Your location is a prime factor in determining the price you’ll pay for bandwidth. The closer you are to the service provider’s point of presence (PoP), the less you’ll have to pay. Another factor is the network performance or quality of service (QoS) required for your environment. “If you run multiple applications on a converged network, meaning you’re putting video, audio, and standard traffic on a single LAN/WAN, QoS is a key part of maintaining audio and video performance while protecting other network traffic,” says Weinstein. “Realtime applications cannot tolerate high levels of latency, packet loss, and jitter that occur on www.avtechnologyonline.com www.avtechnologyonline.com 22 | AV TECHNOLOGY || october 2008 AVTECHNOLOGY october 2008 http://www.ethernetbuildings.com http://www.avtechnologyonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - October 2008

AV Technology - October 2008 Contents Precedent Corporate: Residential AV Does Not Equal Commercial AV Government: Funding Problems? Education: DIY ISP.EDU, Part Two The Cost of Bandwidth Star Grounding Wars Understanding IoIP How to Equip a Smart Classroom Two Rooms With A View From Primitive to Professional Product Review:�Visionary Solutions AVN 420 Encoder Product Spotlight: Document Cameras New Products Ad Index AV MO: Using Infrared Microphones

AV Technology - October 2008

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