Network Redundancy vs Diversity: A Closer Look for Enterprise IT

Network redundancy and network diversity are vital to cultivating resiliency for enterprises. Both aim to ensure continuity throughout challenging circumstances, but each serves a distinct role in maintaining connectivity. 

This article denotes their fundamental differences, describes the common types of redundancy and diversity, and discusses why they matter for multi-location enterprises. 

It also outlines three steps to implementing network redundancy and diversity to protect enterprise networks. 

Network Redundancy vs Diversity: Key Differences

Network redundancy duplicates network components, creating multiple backup systems and communication paths. It helps organizations maintain internal continuity by rerouting traffic through alternative routes if hardware or connections fail. 

Network diversity adds variety to those alternative paths by establishing distinctly different technologies, Internet Service Provider (ISP) connections, and software separated across locations. It ensures continuity throughout provider or connection failures via multiple independent, diverse systems and pathways. 

Diversity goes beyond redundancy, making networks heterogeneous, improving performance, and increasing security. It engenders overall resiliency through multiple points of failure and adaptable low-latency systems.

Some organizations prioritize cultivating redundancy, while others focus on implementing network diversity. For example, an insurance company with three offices in a single city needs redundancy to ensure uninterrupted access to internal communication applications. 

However, a global e-commerce business with 20+ data and shipping centers across continents needs diversity to maintain speedy fulfillment and payment processing services. Multi-location enterprises need both.

Common types of network redundancy and their benefits 

Network redundancy offers advantages like:

• Increased uptime/reduced downtime
• Improved application performance
• Optimized customer experience
• Enhanced scalability

It can be implemented through various strategies: 

Device redundancy 

IT teams duplicate devices like routers, servers, firewalls, power equipment, and switches. These backups immediately take over to maintain connectivity if a device or hardware component fails.

Link redundancy 

Enterprises create multiple paths by implementing backup connectivity mechanisms to ensure continuity even when links fail. Solutions include redundant on-site circuits, multi-WAN routers, load balancing, and a range of linking protocols (like Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) and Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)).

Path redundancy 

Businesses also create multiple independent paths to ensure data transfer in the event of path failures. Teams leverage redundancy-friendly network topologies, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) circuits, SD-WAN software, and dynamic routing protocols like Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

Redundant network solutions help organizations augment fault tolerance, availability, and continuity throughout internal connectivity failures.

Common types of network diversity and their benefits 

Network diversity presents countless benefits, such as: 

• Increased resilience/reliability 

• Reduced risk of outages

• Improved disaster recovery capabilities

• Streamlined long-distance connectivity

Here are the most common types:

Geographic diversity

Distributing network infrastructure across geographic locations mitigates risks from local disruptions. If construction projects or natural disasters cause regional outages, infrastructure in other locales takes over to maintain connectivity. 

Innovative companies are leveraging increasingly creative methods—such as creating robust undersea routes to serve overcrowded regions. 

Carrier diversity 

Using a single ISP creates a single point of failure, leaving organizations vulnerable to provider-specific issues. Diversifying ISPs reduces risk by preparing backup options to ensure continuity even when a primary provider experiences outages. 

Technology diversity 

Enterprises prevent failures that lead to downtime with a strategic mix of network technologies—such as fiber, copper, and wireless. Wireless solutions step in if something damages physical connections, and physical tech takes over if cyberattackers target wireless systems.

As Network Computing’s Network Resiliency Checklist highlights, improving network diversity is a key step toward cultivating resiliency—a critical characteristic for global enterprises.

Why network redundancy and diversity matter for multi-location enterprises

Businesses with complex networks need to cultivate redundancy and diversity. 

Why? Because companies with redundant, diverse networks enjoy network resilience, leading to: 

Business continuity 

The stakes for maintaining continuity are high. International enterprise operations have far-reaching impacts, and failures on this scale cause widespread devastation. 

Redundancy and diversity help organizations maintain continuity, ensuring constant connectivity for global teams and nonstop customer support.

Augmented productivity

Global organizations with redundant and diverse IT systems maintain operational efficacy, minimize delays, and prevent outages. In turn, they cultivate seamless workflows and an effortless customer journey, which enhance overall productivity.

Cost savings

Outages are becoming more expensive. According to the Uptime Institute, two-thirds of outages cost more than $100,000 in 2023. 

Downtime and delays cause businesses to lose revenues and spend on recovery. Redundancy and diversity enhance cost savings by preventing those disruptions, reversing their negative impacts, and optimizing productivity. 

Competitive advantage

Developing resiliency builds trust and enables success through digital transformation, giving enterprises a razor-sharp competitive edge over less reliable businesses. This edge continues to sharpen as increasingly extreme weather demands greater resiliency.

How enterprises implement network redundancy and diversity 

Multi-location enterprises go through three stages to cultivate redundancy and diversity:

1. Assessment

IT teams conduct a thorough network assessment to identify vulnerabilities in existing systems, determine network needs, and set goals. 

2. Planning 

Companies develop a comprehensive plan outlining strategies for developing redundancy and diversity. Many companies with complex networks and sites across the globe consult third-party connectivity experts to ensure their plans are practical.

3. Implementing technology solutions

Enterprises carry out that plan by implementing their strategic solutions. Examples of solutions that augment redundancy and diversity are:

• Hybrid networking frameworks

• Traffic engineering protocols

• Dynamic routing protocols

• Cloud connectivity platforms

Implementation support helps businesses through this phase for a seamless and successful addition to their technology infrastructure. 

Conclusion: Don’t navigate network resiliency alone

Redundancy ensures internal systems continuity through backup devices, links, and paths. Diversity prevents service disruptions by leveraging geographically independent infrastructure, diverse systems and pathways, and multiple carriers. Together, they’re the perfect pair for developing network resiliency.

Cultivating resiliency on an enterprise scale is incredibly challenging. Luckily, technology solutions experts like us are here to help. 

We utilize a holistic approach to technology lifecycle optimization that reduces costs and complexity at each phase of the journey with the goal of greater resiliency. 

Don’t navigate this evolution alone. Instead, contact us today for guidance, support, and bespoke solutions for your connectivity needs.

Recommended reading (Helpful links) 

• What is Network Diversity in Multi-Location Enterprise IT?

• Single Source vs Multi-Source IT—What Should Enterprises Do?

• Why IT Agnosticism Is Important for Multi-Location Enterprises