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Is your enterprise prepared for cyberattacks, natural disasters, and infrastructure failures? It only takes one event to weaken or destroy a company’s credibility.
Network redundancy has long been the go-to strategy for establishing continuity, but its fundamental limitations need addressing. Having backups in place isn’t enough. As enterprises expand across multiple locations and continents, the need for network diversity becomes apparent.
This article explores the critical differences between redundancy and diversity and how the latter offers a more comprehensive solution to maintaining business operations.
What is network redundancy?
Network redundancy creates a failover system by duplicating critical network components or pathways. If one component or path fails, the redundant elements automatically reroute traffic.
Compare it to the use of a backup generator. When the power goes out, the generator starts to maintain continuity.
What is network diversity?
Network diversity establishes multiple connections using different carriers, technologies, and geographic routes. Business continuity is at higher risk without it because the entire infrastructure is susceptible to multiple points of failure. The goal is to diversify an enterprise network’s vulnerable points so that no single event causes significant damage.
Consider an employee’s commute to the office. If their car doesn’t start one morning, they turn to a cab or rideshare service. Public transit offers a tertiary option. Network diversity works similarly, creating independent systems that avoid simultaneous and absolute failures.
Why is network diversity important?
Historically, network redundancy was the standard fix for network continuity. Multi-location global enterprises have larger attack surfaces, creating more vulnerabilities for sophisticated bad actors to penetrate.
Heterogenous networks are more resilient, flexible, and efficient, leading to fewer vulnerabilities. They are less susceptible to disruptions from natural disasters, carrier outages, or infrastructure failures. They also provide better bandwidth, lower latency, and more effortless adaptability for new business needs or expansions.
What problems does network diversity fix?
Network diversity addresses a variety of IT challenges that redundancy cannot solve on its own. It is a mitigation level beyond redundancy because there are no common providers, routes, equipment, or entry points.
Let’s look at how heterogeneous networks are superior to redundant systems below.
1. Eliminate single points of failure
Redundancy involves duplicating equipment at the same facility or within the same area. A natural disaster or significant outage still affects these countermeasures due to proximity. Alternatively, diversity distributes an enterprise’s infrastructure across multiple locations, eliminating these proximity risks.
2. Secure networks from targeted attacks
System redundancies are ineffective when cyberattacks target specific carriers or infrastructure. A diverse network makes it harder for bad actors to disrupt entire operations through multiple carriers, technologies, and physical entry points.
3. Make expansion easier
Diversity allows enterprises to add more capacity and bandwidth as needed. Redundant systems bottleneck businesses as they grow. Since physical separation is a strategy for diversity, using different providers across regions aids in multilocation resiliency.
4. Counter cost inefficiencies
Maintaining duplicate hardware and procuring redundant services from the same provider offers no competitive pricing. Therefore, redundant infrastructure costs enterprises more.
Diversity creates the opportunity to utilize multiple vendors and technologies that optimize budgets. Without vendor lock-in, enterprises negotiate better rates based on specific needs and usage.
5. Address performance limitations
Redundancy primarily focuses on uptime, not the optimization of speed or latency. If an enterprise’s primary connection is slower, the backup won’t differ.
Diverse networks provide faster, more reliable connections. Companies choose routers and providers based on specific applications and locations for optimal performance quality.
How do you turn network redundancy into network diversity?
Transforming network redundancy into a diverse architecture requires careful planning and execution. Many enterprises partner with connectivity experts who possess the experience and resources to assess the current infrastructure, identify potential vulnerabilities, and design a customized strategy.
Often, the capabilities to strengthen network infrastructure aren’t available within an internal enterprise IT team. For as challenging as the skills shortage is now, the IDC warns of future troubles. It predicts that 90 percent of global companies will fall victim to the IT skills crisis by 2026, amounting to $5.5 trillion in business losses.
At Advantage, we specialize in helping global enterprises through our comprehensive suite of connectivity solutions. Our team of experts guides you through the entire process to achieve network diversity, from initial assessment to implementation and ongoing technology management.
Conclusion
Network diversity is a critical strategy for modern enterprises operating across multiple locations. While redundancy strategies have long been the standard, they cannot withstand the variety of network challenges plaguing global companies.
Business continuity depends on diverse networks to eliminate total system outages. Network diversity enhances performance, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. By eliminating single points of failure, mitigating the impact of cyberattacks, and providing a more scalable and efficient infrastructure, the enterprise reaches a level of resiliency capable of maintaining global connectivity.
Move beyond network redundancy and embrace the power of diversity. Contact Advantage Communications Group so our team can deliver a connectivity strategy befitting your enterprise's global and regional needs.