Managing bluArc's Private Network

In my last missive I mentioned that we are poised for a major growth push in our core markets.  This brings with it a number of challenges, not the least of which is keeping our network up to snuff to handle not only increased traffic, but also improved resiliency and high availability.  As the size, scope and complexity of our network evolves and grows, so too does the probability that somewhere sometime there will be an equipment failure that has potential to impact service.  Our job is to ensure that when such events occur we can manage them such that the impact to customers is as transparent as we can make it, as we work behind the scenes to remedy the situation.

When I look back at our original network, it becomes apparent how far we've come.  Our major concentration points in Ottawa and Toronto were re-architected to support growth over the past few years, and we're no sooner there and we're opening the hood again to boost resiliency and maintainability.  Experience shows that this will be a never ending task as we continue to evolve so that we can grow our services and geographical footprints, and interconnect with other service providers.

When it comes right down to it, I have to admit that this reality is one of the things that makes this job so interesting.  Not many weeks go by that we're not asked to do something we've never done before.  No matter how small or large the task, the learning opportunity it affords brings with it both challenge and reward.  It's not that we're going where no network company has gone before, it's just that we've never gone there before, and each time we build out in a new direction the business is strengthened and new opportunities are enabled.  The richness of this experience is enhanced by the special nature of our managed private network.

Now that our on-net footprint has been extended to include customer sites in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary to the west and Brossard and Laval to the east, our customers enjoy voice and data services between their bluArc sites entirely on the bluArc network.  Even their data does not go out over the internet!  The world of private networking offers a vast array of other business opportunities for both bluArc and our customers and partners through potential for enhanced services offerings including cloud services.

Stay tuned for more exciting developments as we round the curve into the second half of 2011!


Brian Parisien