Viewing posts categorised under: Opinion

11.02.2015

GEA for Dummies

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.

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08.01.2015

Mobile for Modern Business

Since its earliest days, the mobile industry has been plagued with restrictive pricing and contract policies. It has also been largely impossible for channel partners to sell mobile solutions. Having spoken to many SME customers over the years, the consensus is that they would be willing to pay a premium just to avoid having to deal with the network operators directly. This led to some SMEs using mobile brokers, who sold contracts and managed the service (to a degree), but the billing and ultimate control remained with the mobile operator. It would make perfect sense for an SME to buy this one additional service from the provider who is already supplying their fixed line, internet and IT support services. The problem has been that until now, the mobile operators have not been willing play ball. It would seem they have been too focussed on their vastly expanding consumer market and have lost sight on what businesses actually need. Well, finally the tide seems to be turning. Digital WWW recently announced a deal agreed with Vodafone to offer a competitively priced mobile offering. One that is based on one month contracts and SIM only. Finally, this allows business to buy their mobile phones flexibly, increasing or decreasing their workforce as they need, and without penalty. Therefore users (employees) become device independent, and gone are the days where every new employee means a new 24 month contract. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), has been an industry buzz word for a couple of years now but without developments like this, it was largely impossible for businesses to actually implement. It has been more Bring Your Own Device….. And Contract. Now it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel. Daniel Priestman

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