India Inc. prefers leased lines

India Inc. continues to rely on leased lines, with dial-up or DSL being used only for vanilla Internet access at best, says Abhinav Singh

No company can do without a proper Internet connection. Companies in India are using different modes of Internet connectivity, including dial-up, DSL and leased lines. Many companies have also taken connections from different vendors in order to maintain round-the-clock uptime and to prevent any business losses due to even a few minutes of downtime.

Few takers for dial-up

Chandra Mouleshwaran says that Polaris runs mission-critical applications on the Internet and a short period of downtime would mean a heavy loss for the company

Very few companies in India are using dial-up connectivity these days due to its highly unreliable nature and slow speed. However, some companies are still using dial-up connectivity mainly for Internet and e-mailing purposes. Many of them started off with it when they had less staff and limited areas of operation. vMoksha Technologies started off with dial-up connectivity when it had limited people and limited business. Abnash Singh, executive, vice-president, vMoksha Technologies says, “When we began our operations and the team was very small we were using ISDN dial-up. But when we expanded our business and a large number of people came on board and we wanted VPN, VoIP and intranet we migrated to a leased line connection, which facilitates all these functions.”

But some companies like the Bank of Muscat are still on dial-up. N Ravishanker, head IT, Bank of Muscat says, “We use Internet primarily for browsing and accessing e-mail by our employees, hence we didn’t feel the need to go for a DSL or a leased line.”

DSL

Although a DSL connection is faster than dial-up large enterprises do not prefer it. But it is a preferred mode of connectivity for some companies who have found it reliable and economical. Teevra Bose, business head-NBU, Apara Enterprise solutions says, “We found DSL to be the fastest and the most economical option. Leased lines are not very economical. We use DSL for VPN and for the purposes of browsing and e-mail. We have been able to get 90-95 percent uptime from the DSL connection.”

Leased line connectivity

Leased line connectivity is the most preferred mode of Internet connectivity used by Indian companies. Many have found it to be very reliable and fast.

Leased lines are reliable

Abhay Goyal says MindTree has chosen leased lines since there is permanent demand for Internet usage and the leased line is always available and provides the required throughput

A majority of companies having vast operations and a large workforce have gone in for a leased line due to its high reliability. Jayanth Samprathi, head-Network Design, Wipro Technologies says, “A leased line has a better response time and is always available to users.” Similarly, it is also being used by many banks that have a core banking solution. S R Vijaykumar deputy general manager IT, Syndicate Bank says, “A core banking transaction can come only through a reliable leased line and we have been using it for more than year now.”

Can facilitate unlimited access

Many felt that leased line connectivity could facilitate unlimited access by a large workforce, which they feel is not possible through other modes of connectivity. Polaris Software Labs uses 10-12 leased line links, including a terrestrial link from VSNL and a back-up radio link from Primus India. Chandra Mouleshwaran, chief technology officer at Polaris Software Labs says, “We run mission-critical applications on the Internet. A short period of downtime would mean a heavy loss for the company. Hence, we went in for a leased line.” Similarly, companies like MindTree Consulting, where 90 percent of business is done through the Internet, have also gone in for a leased line. Abhay Goyal, head of Information Systems at MindTree Consulting says, “There is a permanent demand for Internet usage and the leased line is always available and gives us the required throughput.”

Smoothly facilitates VPN, VoIP and intranet

Many companies are using Virtual Private Networks, IP telephony and running their intranets over a leased line. Others use a leased line to effectively connect remote offices. Abnash of vMoksha says, “High volume data transfer is possible over a leased line, which in turn helps in cutting down on bandwidth costs.” Besides this, many companies are using VoIP using a leased line within a legal framework. An intranet, which helps a company in maintaining connectivity with its mobile workforce, is also being used widely by companies through a leased line.

Multiple vendors for uptime

In order to maintain continuous uptime so that their businesses are not affected by any technical glitches, many companies are going in for links from multiple vendors. Delhi-based Infogain India has gone in for connectivity from different Internet bandwidth vendors, including STPI, VSNL and BSNL to maintain continuous uptime. STPI and VSNL have provided Infogain with a leased circuit. STPI has provided fibre as well as satellite connectivity to Infogain, whereas VSNL has provided end-to-end fibre connectivity to the company. BSNL provides connectivity for the local loop, which links Infogain’s Noida facility to the STPI facility both on fibre as well as radio, just in case the fibre line fails. Sanjoo Sharma, network administrator, Infogain says, “Keeping multiple links from different vendors through different means helps as we are able to maintain 100 percent uptime just in case a link from a particular vendor fails. We have a call centre operation where we cannot even think of a minute’s downtime.” Similarly, Wipro Technologies has also taken leased line connectivity from VSNL, STPI and Bharti to maintain continuous uptime.

To date, leased lines remain the most popular option among Indian enterprises. While other modes of connectivity such as DSL or dial-up remain, mission-critical applications require a leased line with its reliability and throughput.

abhinav@expresscomputeronline.com