Clever Connections
We start by assessing your network from the ground up
At Clarity we have a number of tests to assess your network and hardware performance. We can predict how your network will handle new or additional applications based on these.
Network Architecture Review
Is your network suitable for your business requirements?
Does the cable type support the performance capability of your network hardware.
Review the network hardware on site
Are the routers/ firewalls/switches suited for optimum performance?
How many network ports are needed per employee?
Do you have enough network connections to facilitate your potential?
Review your bandwidth requirements
Is your internet connection suitable to run the applications your staff use?
“At Clarity we can provide a wide range of network solutions for your business requirements”
Cabling
Cabling is the backbone that all networks run on, if the cabling is poor the best equipment in the world will be a waste of money.
Cable types
A minimum of Cat5e is an industry standard, with new installations favouring Cat6.
Fibre is primarily used to link comms cabinets in separate buildings and if used can relieve data transfer of large files between departments.
Cat5e
10 / 100 / 1000 BaseT for 100 Metres. Most commonly used cabling in businesses today, but is being phased out in favour of Cat6.
Cat6
10 / 100 / 1000 BaseT for 100 Metres with 10G BaseT for up to 55 Metres. Most new installations will be done using Cat6. The price jump between Cat5e and Cat6 is acceptable for the performance gain and future proofing.
Cat6a
10 / 100 / 1000 BaseT and 10G BaseT for 100 Metres. Installed only on request as the price jump between Cat5e and Cat6a is significant.
Cat8
10 / 100 / 1000 / 10G / 40G BaseT 100 Metres. Installed for specific reasons, links between servers within comms rooms.
Fibre Optic
Depending on type, 100G+ over far greater distances, kilometres. Used by telecom providers and for linking comms cabinets within premises.
Seperate Data From Voice
Separating Data from Voice can lessen the impact on your voice network. For lower throughput internet connections, we recommend keeping the two separate and for higher throughput connections, such as leased lines, we recommend VLAN and QoS implementation.
Switch Capabilities:
Gigabit ethernet switches are now becoming the norm for businesses. With the advent of modern cabling technologies, Gigabit switches can help to remove bottlenecks in the network and will match higher end cable specification, such as fibre and Cat6.
Routing,
Firewalls & Switches
Your network configuration needs to reflect the applications that you want to run and the internet access that you want to allow.
Network Technologies
We consider which technologies are appropriate for your business.
VLAN (Virtual local area network)
This is a separation within your internal network and can add department security, broadcast storm mitigation and is isolation for crucial services.
VPN (Virtual private network)
Whether it be remote workers needing access to the corporate network, two or more branches needing linked together – different styles of VPN are available.
Equipment and line redundancy
Providing an instant backup when a primary connection fails, we can implement First Hop Redundancy Protocols to ensure your staff are not left disconnected.
Traffic Management
We can help manage what devices can connect to your network and the resources they are allowed to access
Performance Measurement
We measure the way simulated voice performs to mathematically score your networks performance. Voice is one of the most sensitive applications to run and is one of the tools we use to assess the overall health of the network.
Mesuring the health of your network
We have developed a range of tests to give you a good insight on how voice and data will work on the same network:
and speed tests
Simply plug in a Voxbox into the edge of your network segment and measure the performance. This can be compared with the performance directly from your router.
voice quality
We play a file up to our servers and return the sound file comparing the differences to enable us to score the call quality.
Long call test
We run a scheduled call for an hour to see how the network segment performs over time.
Stress the Network
The previous tests are repeated once we have injected additional traffic onto the network segment to stress its performance.
Call us today for your free consultation!
UK: 0800 912 1000 | ROI: 1800 855 111
