| This article provides an overview of T1 Internet | | | | moved to the "cloud." In the neighborhood of 10 |
| Service benefits for companies seeking higher | | | | employees, a company will find it's |
| reliability and availability. Since T1 Internet service | | | | telecommunications needs more feasibly served |
| comes with a service level agreement (SLA), | | | | by a business Internet T1 service. |
| typical availability is much higher than DSL or cable. | | | | Voice over IP (VOIP) has become commonly |
| Also, with T1 Internet service, the upload and | | | | used as well as various shared data services. |
| download rates are consistent. This is valuable for | | | | Examples include prevalent applications such as |
| critical information needs, where limited downtime | | | | SalesForce.com, GoogleApps, and many more. |
| can be tolerated and productivity depends on | | | | Generally, the quality of information available on |
| consistently fast Internet access. Also, for voice | | | | the Internet has improved over time, causing |
| applications a T1 can include quality of service | | | | more extensive dependence on connectivity to |
| (QOS) to ensure the service levels and | | | | applications and online data sources. Changing |
| consistency required for quality voice traffic. | | | | business operations and usage all necessitate |
| Many small companies make use of low-cost | | | | additional bandwidth and reliability. Sales revenue |
| Internet access methods, such as DSL, cable, and | | | | and productivity of employees can be affected |
| fios. To keep costs down, all of these methods | | | | for each minute of downtime. Imagine having no |
| use shared resources to connect users to the | | | | office telephone service for up to 5 days. |
| Internet itself. In addition, reliability is not assured, | | | | Although difficult to measure, timely information |
| although a "best effort" is made by vendors to | | | | or lack thereof can make or break many small |
| maintain connection. A business Internet T1 data | | | | enterprises. This is especially true for companies |
| line, although using the same technology as SDSL, | | | | using "cloud computing," where online collaboration |
| is given a higher value by the telcos. A T1 failing | | | | and information for daily operations in office |
| will be repaired within hours whereas a DSL, cable, | | | | calendaring, documents and financial data are only |
| or fios user might experience a 5 day time to | | | | accessible through the company Internet link. |
| repair. | | | | With business Internet T1 service, the SLA offers |
| Telecommunications vendors provide higher-end | | | | a "guarantee" of reliability and availability of |
| services, such as business Internet T1 service, in | | | | essential Internet services. Although many don't |
| order to address higher reliability and consistency | | | | realize it, a company's Internet connection is an |
| needs in some businesses. As a company grows | | | | essential resource as more business functions and |
| and adds employees, the value of an Internet | | | | information needed for daily operations now must |
| connection increases and the company often | | | | have reliable service. An outage even for hours or |
| needs higher availability. Often, the usage and | | | | a few days at a time can be fatal to daily |
| reliance on the Internet also increases as services | | | | operations or even the enterprise. |
| such as voice, and shared data services are | | | | |