Should we challenge the concept of hybrid connectivity?
As a result of technical advancements, particularly those that concern the transfer of data across our ether, hybrid connectivity is becoming more and more sought after as a way to enhance communications. It promises enhanced performance, flexibility, and dependability while smoothly integrating any number of network technologies. However, a deeper look reveals that what many people mistakenly believe to be hybrid connectivity isn’t hybrid at all.
In his investigation of this particular problem, Tristan Wood, managing director of Livewire Digital, a company skilled in providing connectivity to a wide range of businesses seeking fail-safe connectivity in various and challenging circumstances, argues that it regularly falls short of its promises.
The capability to make use of more than one network is often referred to as ‘hybrid’ and in a classic networking approach simply means an ability to ‘failover’ to one or more backup services. Despite its obvious benefits, hybrid does not adequately represent what true hybrid networking is capable of.
In a completely hybrid network, sometimes referred to as a “heterogeneous” network, many WAN bearers such as cellular, satellite and Wi-Fi, are combined together into a single “pipe” that provides a faster and, more importantly, more reliable service.
A true hybrid platform should go further and adapt to a range of additional variables, based on the performance of each carrier and other environmental elements affecting it at any given time, in order to improve performance and save costs. But I’ll get to that later.
When optimised in this way, a hybrid system can maintain the performance of TCP connections even in the face of failure and degradation, independent of the availability and characteristics of the underlying networks. Even in the most challenging circumstances, connectivity can be optimised, giving users a seamless and uninterrupted experience. In critical operations, where connectivity may mean the difference between life and death, hybrid and resilience take on a whole new meaning.
Failover, on the other hand, only relies on a backup link to take over in the event of an outage and does not actively employ the strengths and capabilities of both primary and secondary connections at the same time. I’d hazard a guess that the concept of failover is what genuinely challenges the accepted understanding of what hybrid connectivity implies.
Increased reliance on resilience and redundancy
It is more crucial than ever to be able to “connect” wherever you are, regardless of what network services are available. Numerous sectors depend on voice communications, data transport, and live video streaming.
A diversity of communication channels with backup choices are a must for defence. Emergency services need real-time access to ongoing events, such as drone video footage of a forest fire in a remote or rural area without cellular service. Ambulance services rely on dependable connectivity to obtain patient records or a clinician’s advice while stationary or on the move. Rapid technological advancements have been made in telehealth triage, but without reliable, high performance connectivity, none of it will operate.
The marine industry has been an early adopter of hybrid connectivity, using cellular for in-shore operations and satellite for deep ocean. Utilities companies make use of machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities to control and monitor operations on wind farms, oil rigs, and installations that are typically operating in areas that require the use of multiple network technologies.
Similarly, the transmission of live news requires the broadcasters to operate over many different networks. Delivering the highest quality video depends on optimising links, automatically correcting transmission errors, and incorporating all available networks to increase bandwidth and therefore video quality.
Different satellite, Wi-Fi, and cellular communications technologies are used by the things we use every day, including the cars we drive and the appliances we use.
Latency, packet loss, and network congestion are just a few examples of how networks can be difficult to integrate, resulting is low performance and poor user experiences. Therefore, the complexity and trade-offs involved in the conventional approach outweigh the anticipated performance benefits of hybrid connectivity, calling for fresh perspectives.
Cost and Quality of Service
When it comes to cost management, it’s crucial to keep in mind that a true hybrid approach supports parameters that control how different bearers are used, under what circumstances, and by what priority of traffic.
These mechanisms allow capacity on the most cost-effective bearers to be used first and to only use more expensive ones to support them, when defined criteria are met. By way of an example, if a Wi-Fi service drops below 10Mbps, then start supporting it with cellular and if the combined bandwidth of the Wi-Fi and cellular drop below 5Mbps then support this with satellite.
Overlayed on this bearer hierarchy is logic that dictates what traffic priority can make use of which combination of bearers. This means critical traffic will always be sent ahead of lower priority traffic but the associated packets will be delivered over the most cost-effective path available at any point in time.
For Service Providers, being able to offer a ‘faster and more reliable’ Quality of Service (QoS) to their customers is a very important differentiator. However, applying a QoS across managed and un-managed networks is highly complex. Again, a true hybrid approach can address this by applying QoS configurations that can integrate best effort unmanaged services with managed ones and define how and when they are used.
Compliance and Security
New security considerations and challenges occur when incorporating new network technologies. Lack of a consistent security architecture may make the entire network infrastructure more susceptible to cyberattacks. Additionally, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure compliance with business regulations and data protection standards in a fragmented network environment that includes public networks and the Internet.
A true hybrid model considers all wide area network services as ‘untrusted’ whether it is a private or public service. This allows a recognised security policy to be applied to the encryption of data and attack surfaces presented by the technology are minimised.
What makes any of this significant?
There’s an old saying that goes, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.” However, things are different with networking. Doing business as usual will actually produce much worse outcomes in a networking environment supporting rapidly developing more data hungry technology.
Therefore, we must make better use of existing and future networks. A true hybrid approach can achieve this and deliver faster more resilient connectivity, the classic backup or load balancing model cannot. Mobility adds another dimension to the problem space, network coverage and characteristics change rapidly so relying on technology designed to link offices can lead to intermittent connectivity and poor performance.
Driven by the clear demand for a true hybrid technology, Livewire Digital developed RazorLink as part of a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA).
RazorLink is an industry-first Software Defined Networking (SDN) solution that can seamlessly and dynamically bond any number of bearers, including satellite, cellular, Point to Point radio, Wi-Fi, and terrestrial services. The highly efficient RazorLink Smart Networking Protocol offers very low overheads and a wealth of features including, complex support for complex networking structures, security policies, TCP acceleration and data compression.
Uma Rajagopal has been managing the posting of content for multiple platforms since 2021, including Global Banking & Finance Review, Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune. Her role ensures that content is published accurately and efficiently across these diverse publications.