Now here’s a product that we didn’t expect. UK ISP Evolving Networks has deployed its first “bonded” Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP) connection to a business and they claim that part of the reason for this is because the existing network service is limited to an upload speed of 30Mbps.
At first glance this approach might seem a bit wacky because a single FTTP line should be capable of going a lot faster and even some residential ISPs are already offering a symmetric 1Gbps connections. As such we think that the reference to 30Mbps is a reflection of the cap that Openreach (BT) puts on their 330Mbps GPON FTTP tier.
Apparently the business client involved – Event Alchemy (an event and video production company) – needed more speed and so the ISP developed a bonded FTTP service using two fibre optic lines that are then aggregated using the provider’s proprietary network virtualisation software (Intelligent Network Fabric) and a software-defined multi-VNO access network.
The end result was a download bandwidth of 450Mbps, although they don’t mention the exact upload rate. A leased line is still being used alongside this but only until the contract with the carrier expires.
Nick Johnson, CEO, Evolving Networks:
“We’ve been providing aggregated connectivity to the market for the past 10 years. As a result, there isn’t a connectivity challenge we can’t solve. Whether it’s bonded ADSL, FTTC and now FTTP, our experience in the industry, coupled with our intelligent software that makes it all possible, means we’re able to deliver on our customers’ connectivity requirements in a cost-effective and streamlined way.
For this project, while FTTP did provide an increase in both upload and download capacity, a single connection was still not sufficient to meet the needs of the events company. For example, Event Alchemy would only have been getting an upload speed of 30mbps, which just isn’t good enough given the types of video and data they’re sending.
As a result, a bonded FTTP connection was the best solution, providing that added capacity, as well as resilience. Bonded FTTP connections are the natural next step for businesses craving more bandwidth and the resilience that a paper SLA can’t deliver in practice.”
The approach, which took two months to deploy, seems to be popular because the ISP says that they’re already provisioning a number of new bonded FTTP connections for other customers (up to four fibres). But this may also highlight another issue in the market because Openreach has recently launched two new FTTP tiers – 500Mbps (165Mbps upload) and 1Gbps (220Mbps upload).
However we’ve yet to see any ISPs offering those tiers, which is largely because suppliers (e.g. BT Wholesale) have yet to adopt the service and providers need to add a lot of capacity to support them. Not to mention the one-off connection fee being £500 vs only £92 +vat for the 330Mbps option. But if the 500Mbps and 1Gbps tiers were offered then we suspect that the need for a bonded FTTP solution might diminish, at least for now.
On the other hand Evolving Networks states that speed isn’t the only consideration and the extra resilience of two lines is another big selling point, even if the fibres do still go through the same cables / ducts.
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