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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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www.broadbandcommunities.com
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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015
BROADBAND APPS
ISPs Can Prosper
With Data Centers
Cloud services add revenue and reliability to builders of high-speed, symmetrical
fber networks.
By Steven S. Ross / Broadband Communities
D
ata center technology ofers even small
deployers of all-fber networks the
ability to deliver gigabit service at low
cost. Data centers also allow deployers to ofer
on-demand video, Web hosting, emergency
backup and many other cloud-based services.
However, talks with staf members at numerous
small Internet service providers (ISPs) suggest
that the potential for cloud services could far
exceed what providers are doing – or even
planning – today.
Tis is true although most providers have
already entered the data center business, at
least in a small way. ISPs use geographically
convenient data centers as on-ramps to the
Internet. Many ISPs also operate servers at their
own or third-party data centers to accommodate
Netfix, Google and other content providers; to
serve their own video programming; to monitor
their networks; and to provide such services to
local businesses as hosted VoIP and data backup.
Te technology and the needs are changing
fast – and changing in directions that are
making data centers more useful to even the
smallest ISPs. Te rewards to ISPs are many:
• Tird-party data centers can take over
network administration tasks. From
Madison, Wis., INOC manages networks
worldwide.
• ISPs can sell new products – everything
from remote backup to video to medical and
educational services.
• Small communities gain access to services
that once were available only in major cities
and through major carriers.
• Small ISPs in remote locations can ofer
gigabit services at ever-declining prices
because more of their trafc stays on-net and
their transport costs decline as a result.
CONSTRUCTION IS
GETTING EASIER
Data centers require a lot less power for cooling
and for running computers than they did a few
decades ago. Tus, locating them near cheap
coal and hydropower suppliers is no longer so
important. In addition, construction is much
easier than it was just a few years ago. Many
vendors now ofer prefabricated "package" or
"modular" data centers any way customers want
– from bare boxes the size of shipping containers
into which others will insert equipment to full,
Can a data center help fnance
your FTTH network? Find out
at the
BroadBand Communities
s
ummit in Austin, April 14–16.