WAN Cost Reduction via Unified Bandwidth Management

XRoads Networks has developed a number of methods to reduce WAN costs by utilizing our Unified Bandwidth Management platforms. UBM takes advantage of a number of core bandwidth optimization and shaping capabilities in order to improve performance, WAN efficiency and redundancy.

In order to reduce the cost of your WAN connection, first you must understand how your WAN is being utilized, are your critical applications prioritize in order to ensure the most efficient use of your monthly telecommunications costs. XRoads' UBM platforms provide detailed WAN usage data, both realtime and summarized for up to a full year so you see exactly how your bandwidth is being consumed.

Example: The customer has an existing dual-T1 connection (3Mbps) and wishes to increase speed and reliability as currently both T1's go through the same provider.

Solution: The customer obtains an EdgeXOS appliance along with a business-class DSL connection, the dual-T1's are kept until their contract ends, at which time the customer replaces the dual-T1's with a cable connection (15Mbps or 5x original bandiwdth).

Savings of 62% / Full ROI Within 7 Months + Build-in Redundancy

The average per customer cost savings is between 40-80% by leveraging XRoads Networks equipment, and this calculation does not factor in cost savings from potential network outages. See WAN Outage Avoidance for more information on cost of not having redundancy in place.

WAN Efficiency: How does one achieve it?

The best way to maximize your WAN connection from a cost perspective is to understand how much bandwidth is being consumed by your critical applications, and then reallocating bandwidth dynamically based on that consumption. If you have a 10Mbps connection, and you are using 8Mbps on average, you might think you need to upgrade your WAN link. However, if your business applications are only using 5Mbps then you simply need to reallocate and prioritize the bandwidth, i.e. no upgrade is required. This savings is in real dollars and can directly affect your annual budget in a positive way.

Additionally, consider that you have reached the period where additional bandwidth is required. While upgrading an existing link is certainly a viable option, another option might be to obtain a more cost effective solution by way of a broadband link, i.e. DSL, cable, wireless, etc. Broadband connections are typically less expensive then additional T1 lines, fiber or metro-Ethernet, and provide added redundancy which you would not obtain from upgrading your existing Internet connectivity.

How can XRoads' assist?

XRoads' provides its appliances to customers for 30-days to test out, during this time a customer can quickly learn how their bandwidth is being utilized and work with XRoads' engineering team in order to optimize their WAN connectivity in order to utilize their bandwidth in the most efficient manner possible.