The network topology defines the reliability

What influence does the network topology have?

Are you responsible for connecting two data centers? Or networking several display boards at railway stations? Or connecting hundreds of sensors to an evaluation application for monitoring air value limits? Then the topology of one network will differ from the other.

Every application has specific requirements regarding availability, reliability, latency and costs. Their characteristics are defined by the network topology. The physical topology describes the position of the devices in the network, the logical topology the data flow between the devices.

How to choose the appropriate topology?

To answer this question, we are at your disposal with our expertise. These 4 criteria may already help you:

Number of sites: Is it a point-to-point connection, e.g. between two data centres, or is it a mesh network of several sites? Or does a ring provide the optimal connection?

Connectivity: How high is high availability? Is 90% enough or is it 99%? The more redundant the routing, the more failsafe the network.

Bandwidth: Is half the capacity temporarily enough in the event of damage or should the maximum capacity be available at all times?

Cost: Every additional node in the network, every level of redundancy has its price. What fits my application?

How do you create redundancy?

• Layer 1: On this layer it is the physical connections.
• Layer 2+: From layer 2, it is the logic in the switch and/or the protocol that provides redundancy.

By the way: Topology is not only an issue with wired networks, but also with wireless, such as IoT applications, the topology defines the quality of the network. The difference is that here the air is used as the transmission medium and the network is built from different antennas. There are also point-to-point – one to many – or meshed networks.

High availability thanks to complete redundancy

Especially in the Data Center Interconnect (DCI) or Storage Area Network (SAN) environment, highly available networks without loss of bandwidth or connectivity are required. With the right network topology, highly available, secure transmission networks can be built. Besides point-to-point connections, we also offer complete xWDM communication networks.

The classic design provides for complete redundancy of hardware and fiber optics. Regardless of which element breaks, data traffic continues to flow thanks to intelligent automation. In addition to high availability, you benefit from short switching times in the event of failure or flexible interconnection of bandwidths.

What happens in case of damage?

Unfortunately, cases of damage can never be ruled out. During construction, a fiber optic cable is destroyed or a piece of hardware breaks. We eliminate these temporary bottlenecks for our customers as quickly as possible in accordance with defined SLAs. In our Swiss warehouse the spare parts are ready for use – without getting stuck at customs.

Our offer

Together with you we design the desired network topology and network availability. Not every application needs a highly available network. With our modular solution portfolio, our expertise and our maintenance and service offerings, we can find a solution for every application.