Access to the internet has become the lifeblood of modern organisations, and companies have turned to fibre as a reliable means of connectivity. Many businesses are reliant on a single internet link. However, this poses a serious risk in case of downtime. In response, Vox has launched its Active-Active Redundant service, a cost-effective, seamless failover solution that offers continuity, bandwidth efficiency and peace of mind for small and medium businesses.

Cost considerations tend to push many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into only having a single connectivity link, but any disruption will leave them unable to communicate with employees, customers and suppliers. This makes redundant connectivity not just a nice-to-have, but a business-critical service. Those SMEs that do have some kind of failover often make use of a passive service that lays dormant until their primary link goes down. In effect, they are paying for something that they don’t really use.

“The Vox Active-Active Redundant service combines two broadband links from different vendors, offering a load-balanced solution that supports simultaneous traffic across both links, providing customers with seamless failover in case of downtime on one link, with the other link maintaining internet connectivity. Customers with multiple fibre network operators in their area can use fibre as a secondary link, while those without this option can make use of a wireless service,” says Andre Eksteen, senior product manager for FTTB at Vox.

While there are existing active-active solutions on the market, Eksteen says these tend to run on software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) environments and are typically expensive. On the other hand, the Vox Active-Active Redundant service cost-effectively addresses the business need for reliable network uptime. It is a simpler solution, and customers stand to benefit from the savings where they don’t need the host of features that SD-WAN provides.

Active-Active

Customers making use of the Active-Active Redundant service can select between fibre network operators including Frogfoot, Openserve, MetroFibre, Link Africa, Octotel and Vumatel as well as wireless network connectivity providers including MTN and Comsol. Businesses using this service can also obtain their secondary link at a reduced price if the primary link is also provided by Vox.

Pricing starts from R1 798 for dual 20Mbit/s links and the potential monthly savings range between R100 and R400 on the secondary link and R99 for the Active-Active configuration. The service goes up to dual 500Mbit/s links, which are available for businesses with higher bandwidth requirements.

According to Eksteen, benefits of using Vox Active-Active Redundant include increased uptime and business continuity, cost savings from utilising both links for bandwidth and improved efficiency with an active-active configuration that provides customers with burstable bandwidth when both links are operational. In addition, the service is offered as a simplified solution with included router setup, reducing the need for additional devices.

“If your business has a high reliance on network uptime, you must consider introducing a failover service to your connectivity solution. And if you are looking at a cost-effective, seamless failover service that provides you more value for money, look no further than the Vox Active-Active Redundant service,” concludes Eksteen.