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Convergence: Ready or Not
IP-enabled equipment and applications have become a dominant force on the Internet and in Web services. IP provides an adequate transport over Layer 2 network protocols, such as ATM, Ethernet, frame relay and ISDN, as well as in Layer 1 networks using ADSL and cable. IP's supremacy is rooted in the simplicity of its best-effort attempt to deliver a packet to its destination. A best-effort protocol, however, may not be adequate to deliver real-time voice and multimedia packets.
Before you consider convergence, you need to evaluate your network's service levels. We recommend using four indicators: bandwidth, delay, jitter and packet loss. If your network is barely meeting its service levels, you'll need to provision more bandwidth and consider distributing the available bandwidth using subnets, VLANs (virtual LANs), traffic-prioritization equipment and content-delivery technologies to help you meet service levels and keep voice and data traffic flowing. In general, bandwidth should be as large as possible while minimizing delay, jitter and packet loss.
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