Every year the internet industry is greeted with another confusing acronym. 5 years ago, it was EAD, 3 years ago it was EFM and this year it’s GEA.
So what is GEA?
GEA stands for Generic Ethernet Access. In short, it is a new low cost product in the Ethernet leased line family. The product uses FTTC infrastructure for the ‘last mile’ but is backhauled over the carriers Ethernet network. What this means in practise is that the cost-base is significantly lower for these services then for say, a fibre Ethernet leased line. In fact, partners can buy up to 20Mbs symmetric for roughly £170 per month. This includes managed hardware, a full business grade SLA and a shorter lead time the fibre Ethernet or EFM.
So in terms of ‘bandwidth for your buck’, GEA is a compelling proposition. It addresses a large SME market of customers that still cannot afford fibre Ethernet but for whom connectivity is becoming increasingly crucial for. It’s price point put’s it almost in the broadband product family. However it has two key business benefits over broadband. Firstly, unlike broadband a GEA line does not need to authenticate with the ISP. Authentication and re-authentication essentially amount to tiny but multiple blips. Over a period of time they make a line less stable and less suitable for real-time critical applications such as voice and video. Secondly, the service comes with fix SLA that is impossible to get with any lower price broadband services. As businesses become increasingly reliant on their internet connection, every hour of downtime costs can amount to significant losses in revenue.
GEA is currently being offered by two major carriers, BT Wholesale and Talk Talk Business. BT call it GEA and Talk Talk call it Ethernet over FTTC (EoFTTC).
As with all services, we at Digital WWW remain supplier agnostic. We are offering both services to our partners and will advise partners on the most appropriate service based on availability, budget and requirement.
If you would like a quotation or would like to check availability for one of your customers then please go to our GEA availability checker.