techguyga
MCSE, DCSE
Premium
join:2003-12-31
Cumming, GA
|  International Connectivity
I hope I'm posting this in the right forum...
Our corporate HQ (located in the UK) has asked me to start thinking about a dedicated connection between the US Corporate office and them. We are located in Atlanta, GA. What would be the best solution for a reliable, somewhat fast connection? Should we be looking at something like MPLS, or something like private line service? I've set up many WANs in the States, but never anything from here to someplace outside the country. I'm just not sure what solutions are out there and what carriers I should even be looking at.
Any ideas to point me in the right direction? Oh, and the UK office has budgeted around $4000/mo for whatever we can come up with.
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My hourly rates:
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$35 per hour if you want to watch.
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LBDSL
Lightning Bolt
VIP
join:2002-01-07
Auburn Hills, MI | 1st question I would answer is, what type of bandwidth do you need between the two locations? T1, Fractional DS3, etc?
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Lightning Bolt Technologies |
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techguyga
MCSE, DCSE
Premium
join:2003-12-31
Cumming, GA | The most we can get for the money budgeted. It'll need to be at least T1. A frac DS3 might be an option. |
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techguyga
MCSE, DCSE
Premium
join:2003-12-31
Cumming, GA | Let me clarify...We need at an absolute minimum 1.5mbps of bandwidth. Somewhere between 4-8mbps (or more) would be preferrable if it fits the budget. |
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aryoba
Premium,MVM
join:2002-08-22
| MPLS should be the way to go. You don't really wanna setup Frame Relay network since with MPLS you can have more bang with your bucks.
Since you are looking at minimum of 1.5MBps, then on the US side the circuit should be at least T1. With 4-8 MBps possible need, you may need to consider Fractional DS-3. From the US local loop perspective, the telco/ISP would probably bring in fiber for less-hassle upgrade from T1 to Fractional DS-3; especially when your Atlanta office is within MAN (Metro Area Network).
With global connectivity, you should consider to deal with Tier 1 ISP such as AT&T, Verizon, Level 3, and Internap. They will handle both US and UK side. Work with one of those major carrier for the best solution. |
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techguyga
MCSE, DCSE
Premium
join:2003-12-31
Cumming, GA
| We've got fiber in the US office already that we utilize for Metro Ethernet to some smaller satellite offices. I think I'll give my sales rep at AT&T a call. I'm sure he'd be happy to sell us something.  |
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WiFiguru
Formerly jnethostman
Premium
join:2005-06-21
Bakersfield, CA | reply to techguyga
Hit up Cogent.
Cheap Point to Point solutions!
Just a suggestion.
A more premium carrier would be XO, or TWTelecom.
-Jarrett |
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techguyga
MCSE, DCSE
Premium
join:2003-12-31
Cumming, GA
| Well, AT&T came back with their proposals...
w/2-Year Contract
1.5Mbps $1920
3.0Mbps $3840
w/3-Year Contract
1.5Mbps $1846
3.0Mbps $3692
Sounds kind of crappy to me, so I gave Cogent a call. They offered me 100Mbps for about a grand per month, but since neither end was anywhere near their backbone, they said local loop charges would skyrocket the price and degrade the maximum bandwidth they could offer.
Ah well. I guess there's more checking to do. Thanks for the help thus far!
--
My hourly rates:
$25 per hour.
$35 per hour if you want to watch.
$45 per hour if you want to help.
$75 per hour if you already tried to fix it.
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aryoba
Premium,MVM
join:2002-08-22 | You may want to start a new thread under this forum to find out if you can get the best price quote
»ISP b2b etc |
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BigCreek
God Is Good.
Premium
join:2002-06-25
Heber Springs, AR
| reply to techguyga
Maybe I missed something, but why not just use a VPN?
(I presume these sites already have high quality Internet connections.)
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SBC Static DSL; Linux. Terrific wife & kids; live on a farm by Big Creek. Software & network consultant. |
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techguyga
MCSE, DCSE
Premium
join:2003-12-31
Cumming, GA
| reply to BigCreek
Re: International Connectivity
said by BigCreek  :Maybe I missed something, but why not just use a VPN? (I presume these sites already have high quality Internet connections.) Well, we do already have VPN connectivity between sites, but we have some new applications launching by the end of the year, hosted in the UK. While the bandwidth requirements are relatively low, they are business critical. Routing traffic out over the interweb tubes just won't cut it. We need something that will afford us to manage CoS tagging for our applications and ensure the traffic is routed properly and in a timely fashion. We are, at the same time, diving into IP phone connectivity between sites. MPLS seems to be the best option for all of the above, and also offers resiliency to the network design.
--
My hourly rates:
$25 per hour.
$35 per hour if you want to watch.
$45 per hour if you want to help.
$75 per hour if you already tried to fix it.
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