NetEqualizer News Blog

Next month, we’ll introduce our newest standard NetEqualizer feature – the NetEqualizer Speed Test Utility.After years of witnessing administrators of corporate networks struggle with diagnosing bandwidth speed issues, we’ve designed the Speed Test Utility with exactly those users in mind. It provides corporate network administrators with a bandwidth-monitoring tool that overcomes many of the problems generally encountered with online speed testing sites.

How It Works

The Speed Test Utility is an intelligent tool embedded in your NetEqualizer that can be activated from your GUI. On high-traffic networks, there is always a busy hour background load on the link – a baseline, if you will. When you set up the speed test tool, you simply tell the NetEqualizer some basics about your network, including:

• Link Speed
• Number of Users
• Busy Hours

After turning the tool on, it will keep track of your network’s bandwidth usage. If your usage drops below expected levels, it will present a mild warning on the GUI screen that your bandwidth may be compromised and give an explanation of the deviation. The operator can also be notified by e-mail.

This set up allows bandwidth to be monitored without having to depend on unreliable speed tests or run time-consuming reports, allowing the problem to be more quickly identified and addressed.

For more information about the NetEqualizer Speed Test Utility, e-mail us at sales@apconnections.net. The final release is expected to ship in November with all new units, however, contact us if you wish to beta test a pre-release copy.

Aside from our customers’ comments about the overall improvement in their network performance, one of the most common remarks we hear from NetEqualizer users concerns the technology’s positive return on investment (ROI).However, it’s also one of the most common questions we get from potential customers – How will the NetEqualizer benefit my bottom line?

To better answer this question, we recently interviewed NetEqualizer customers from across several verticals to get their best estimates of the cost savings and value associated with their NetEqualizer. We compiled their answers into a knowledge base that we now use to estimate reasonable ROI calculations.

Our calculations are based on real data and were done conservatively as not to create false promises. There are plenty of congested Internet links suffering out there every day, and hence there is more than enough value with the NetEqualizer. So, we did not need to exaggerate.

ROI calculations were based on the following:

1. Savings in Bandwidth Costs – Stay at your current bandwidth level or delay future upgrades.
2. Reduced Labor and Support Costs – Avoid Internet congestion issues that lead to support calls during peak usage times.
3. Retention of Customers – Stop losing customers, clients, and guests because of unreliable or unresponsive Internet service (applies to ISPs and operators such as hotels and executive suites).
4. Addition of New Customers – Put more users on your link than before while keeping them all happy (For more information, see APconnections’ Field Guide To Contention Ratios).

To see what the NetEqualizer can do for you, check out the ROI calculator at http://www.netequalizer.com/ROI.php.

Hidden Nodes Explained

In wireless networks, administrators are commonly faced with the problem of a “communication breakdown” between individual computers, or nodes. For example, although two nodes may be able to communicate with the access point (AP), the distance between the individual nodes and their inability to communicate hide the nodes from each other.

This prevents one of the nodes from courteously “backing off” if they were to send data at the same time. Instead, the two nodes are forced to compete for access to the AP, often leading to the node with the stronger overall signal strength monopolizing the available bandwidth and preventing the second node from connecting to the network (For more information on the hidden node problem, see APconnections’ Hidden Node White Paper).

The Findings

According to the report, without the use of the APconnections Equalizing technology, the dominant node monopolized the available bandwidth while the hidden node was “locked out” and could not access the network, creating an “unacceptable” end-user experience.

However, the study showed this problem could be effectively solved through the use of our Equalizing technology. The technology ensured that even users of hidden nodes maintained reliable network access by adding latency to the flow of the dominant nodes. This forced the dominant nodes “to back off and allow potentially hidden nodes to establish communications, thus reducing network disruption.”

The full University of Limerick report can be found here on our website. For a detailed explanation of APconnections Equalizing technology, click here.

We are currently recommending our NetEqualizer Lite to solve hidden node problems.

And the winner is…Scott Shinn of Carolina’s Lending Source, Inc.

Congratulations, Scott! Please contact us within 30 days at admin@apconnections.net or 303-997-1300 to claim your prize.

In the hospitality industry, expenses are watched closely. All expenditures must be balanced with customer satisfaction, and reality dictates that some customer complaints cannot immediately be remedied. With the reduced revenue that’s come with the current economic climate, difficult decisions must be made about what issues to address and when.While the quality of basic hotel services and comforts may still serve as the baseline for guests’ satisfaction, high-speed Internet service is quickly becoming a factor when choosing where to stay. This is especially true for business travelers.

In this article, we use interviews with NetEqualizer customers in the hospitality industry and our own experience to define the cost of a congested Internet pipe in terms of dollar impact on a hotel business. The conclusions below are based on a business-class, three-star travel hotel with 200 rooms. These same metrics can be scaled up to larger conference centers or smaller travel hotels.

We start with the online behavior that’s behind bandwidth congestion and then discuss the financial repercussions.

Causes of Bandwidth Congestion and Slow Internet Speeds

A hotel of this size typically has two to 10 megabits of shared bandwidth available to guests. We assume 30 percent of the guests (roughly 60 people) are using the Internet for business purposes (e-mail, browsing, Skype, etc.) in the early to late evening hours. We also assume that 10 percent of the guests (20 people) will use the Internet for more intense recreational purposes such as Youtube or Hulu.