“Just like the telecoms market, it will become fragmented and this is clearly visible even today. So how does the everyday reseller know they are getting the best bang for their buck and know all avenues have been exhausted for best price, availability and lead-times for a particular requirement and more importantly for each and every subsequent requirement?
Well they could go to every single provider and get a quote (that’s if they know all the providers in the UK of course) and continue using this process for every requirement. Bit messy and resource intensive and if you are a small / medium player in Ethernet buying and are using large providers then you are not going to get the TLC you want or need. Bit crap really if I may say so!!!
So what do you do? You could go to your ‘local’ or ‘regular ISP, but what you find is the majority of ISP’s are just dabbling in Ethernet because it is an easy addition to their portfolio, especially if the ISP is already selling something like broadband for example.
Or you can go to an ISP which specialises in Ethernet, more in particular Aggregated Ethernet. What does this mean then? This is where things get very interesting.
Take Vaioni as an example. We interconnect and buy in bulk Ethernet from all the major UK carriers, making us the largest UK Aggregated Ethernet Provider. We also have created a Next Generation Carrier Ethernet platform, just like BT and Virgin have, but obviously on a smaller scale. We have already spent the time and money on creating a transparent network of suppliers, taking out all the legwork for the reseller.
So with an Ethernet Aggregator, you are getting one network, one SLA, one bill and one account manager, to deal with all your Ethernet requirements and it remains the most consistent way of procuring Ethernet services, because you will always have access to all the major Telco networks for each requirement every time without having to think about it.
The problem you have with a single network provider is they are fixed on selling their own network, so the interest in ‘am I filling the requirement adequately and doing the best by the customer’ sort of goes out of the window or putting it more politically correct, cannot always be considered.
So the next time you think about procuring Ethernet or are looking to get into the area of Ethernet, consider an Ethernet aggregator.