GRIDtoday Logo Altair

DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /

   ( Table of Contents )   

Breaking News - Networking:

Allstream Enhances Next Gen. Converged IP Network Services

Allstream, a leading communication solutions provider with a world-class portfolio of connectivity, infrastructure management and IT services, announced a significant enhancement to its Business IP Service: Dynamic Class of Service.

Allstream's Business IP offering is a national private IP converged network service that uses Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) to support four different classes of service and enable priority service to applications that have performance sensitive requirements.

The new Dynamic Class of Service feature enables customers to converge many diverse applications over a single network by using the class of service capabilities to control how the Business IP service handles their traffic. Customers can consolidate and simplify their infrastructure, thereby implementing one network to cost effectively meet all of their data networking needs, while accommodating the varying demands of their business-critical applications.

With the ease of a single access Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC), customers can prioritize IP packets depending on the type of traffic to optimize flow and business efficiency. Customers can then mark these packets from a Customer Edge Router (CER) and select from four classes of service:

  • Real Time: provides low loss, low latency, low jitter and ensured bandwidth for priority traffic.
  • Two Data Classes (Bursty High & Bursty Low): offer different levels of forwarding assurance, according to the services subscribed to, meaning IP packets are forwarded with high reliability.
  • Best Effort: allows for "best effort" forwarding behaviour for non-time sensitive data transfer.

"Dynamic Class of Service is part of our next generation converged IP network services," said Mike Kologinski, executive vice president of marketing at Allstream. "As data networks become increasingly complex, customers want simplicity and scalability for their networks. With Dynamic Class of Service, customers get a single network solution for all of their traffic types, and achieve increased efficiency, along with the security of a private network. When launched in 2000, Allstream's Business IP offering was one of the few IP MPLS services available in Canada. This new enhancement is another example of Allstream's commitment to service innovation."

Features of the Dynamic Class of Service include:

  • One infrastructure, giving customers an efficient, scalable, high-performance way to incorporate business-critical IP applications into a secure data network.
  • Fast throughput, delivering the throughput and delay characteristics to realize manageable and predictable performance for mission-critical and real-time applications.
  • Industry standard technology, with MPLS technology that simplifies and streamlines IP addressing, optimizing customers' data networks without the use of authentication, encryption or tunneling protocols.
  • Enhanced service level agreements provide guaranteed uptime, with 24/7 monitoring.
  • Network consolidation, allowing customers to simply and cost-effectively expand their IP-enabled network by eliminating the need to purchase multiple Permanent Virtual Circuits at each location.

Allstream's suite of Data Network services includes Business IP, ATM, Frame Relay, Transparent LAN and Private Line. With a broad range of data network services, Service Interworking capabilities, IP enabled solutions and national network infrastructure, Allstream provides customers with customized data connectivity solutions based on their unique requirements.

( Top of Page )

   ( Table of Contents )