The number of cloud-based service offerings has significantly increased, with almost every telecom and IT company seemingly having a cloud offering. But what’s causing this rapid growth?

There are two primary factors driving the implementation of cloud computing services. First, a robust data center is needed to house all the necessary equipment, along with adequate cooling, backup power, and security. Second, reliable connectivity is crucial. A groundbreaking cloud service is useless if it can’t be delivered reliably. Enterprise customers need assurance that the system will be consistently available and functional, without any slowdowns or interruptions.

This demand for reliability gives network bandwidth providers an advantage in promoting their high-performance cloud solutions. EarthLink Business is a prime example. With a long history in the metro and long-haul network business, EarthLink possesses a high-speed nationwide network covering 28,000 fiber route miles and 90 metro fiber rings. This network supports six classes of service for MPLS over Ethernet, T-1, and DSL connections. Importantly, Class of Service (CoS) is maintained across the entire network.

Why is this important? Today’s converged networks need to handle data, voice, and video traffic seamlessly. Voice over network communications, such as VoIP telephony, are particularly susceptible to latency, jitter, and dropped packets. CoS is essential to prioritize real-time, two-way services like VoIP, ensuring they are not hindered by bandwidth-heavy file transfers and backups.

This highlights the advantage of a high-performance, privately operated network over relying on the public internet. A private network operator can precisely allocate resources to guarantee the quality of all packet streams. In contrast, the public internet offers no such assurances; packets are sent out with no guarantee of consistent delivery. While this is generally acceptable for one-way video, email, and web browsing, it often falls short for enterprise VoIP, video conferencing, and cloud access.

Connectivity is crucial for cloud services, particularly for applications that rely on speed and responsiveness. While background processes like file backups may not be noticeably affected by network issues, applications running as SaaS (Software as a Service) will suffer from delays and latency, impacting productivity and potentially negating the cost savings of moving to the cloud.

Recognizing the competitive edge of offering both cloud resources and connectivity, companies like EarthLink Business are rapidly expanding their cloud services. EarthLink is constructing four additional data centers in San Jose, Chicago, Dallas, and South Florida, while upgrading an existing facility in Rochester, NY.

To accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic from cloud users, the fiber network is also undergoing expansion. Key East Coast markets such as Ashburn, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Orlando are being targeted, along with Texas cities like Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston. The entire network is being enhanced to support a new benchmark of 100 Gbps, a significant leap from the current 10 Gbps fiber optic service typically available in major metropolitan areas.

If you’re considering migrating your IT operations to the cloud but are concerned about potential performance drawbacks, explore enterprise-grade cloud computing and networking services to learn how they are enhancing the performance standards of cloud computing.