WAN (Wide Area Network) connectivity is an issue for every law firm, whether a firm has multiple offices or just wants to provide remote access to its systems.  The process of determining the best connectivity options for your firm is rarely simple.  With the expanding array of options available, the choices may seem overwhelming.  Although budget constraints usually help narrow the candidates quickly, there are several other criteria that must not be overlooked.

When considering different connectivity options, it helps to explore and then compare the fundamental aspects of each.  The technical aspects, including bandwidth, quality, reliability and redundancy, are fairly straightforward.  Issues such as user tolerance to connectivity issues, the needs of applications in use, hardware capability and availability of support make the decision much more complex.

Bandwidth
Bandwidth is always the first aspect that concerns people when researching WAN connectivity options.  If cost were not an issue, this would be the only topic to consider.  Since cost is always an issue, however, buying more bandwidth than one needs is wasteful and typically not feasible.  In other words, it wouldn't make sense to rent the entire Autobahn just to take a leisurely bicycle ride on a Sunday afternoon.  Buying the appropriate amount of bandwidth saves both wasted dollars and productivity.  Although important, bandwidth is not the only thing to consider.

Quality
Once the appropriate amount of bandwidth is determined, there is nothing more important than matching the quality of the service to your needs.  The fastest connection available may not offer the required level of service if it does not provide for the implementation of quality controls such as Quality of Service (QoS) or Class of Service (CoS).  Additionally, quality in the "last mile" is critically important, since this is the final portion that directly connects users to the WAN.  Any portion of this that doesn't meet your required standards will make an otherwise high-quality system ineffective.

Reliability
Reliability would not be an issue if WAN connections always worked perfectly.  The reality is they don't.  Therefore, it is important to identify the costs and procedures for handling "downtime."  Downtime is usually due to one of two situations:  disconnection of service or partial service degradation.  Knowing who is responsible for monitoring downtime and recovering the service from either situation is critical.  A provider may offer exceptional service guarantees; but in the case of a network interruption, if manual processes are required to fully re-establish all services and there is little or no monitoring, 99.9999% uptime is relatively meaningless.

Redundancy
After choosing the appropriate WAN connection, redundancy, or securing a backup connection, must be addressed.  This is very closely related to reliability since it is often the key to making a network completely reliable.  The cost of this method of "total reliability" can be double that of the initial connection.  Care must be taken when choosing a backup WAN since you may be buying the same connection that is simply branded by another provider.  This would ultimately provide little or no redundancy if the problem is with the main provider's network.  Also, take into consideration the reliability of the main WAN connection.  If you have a lot of confidence in your main system, you may be able to purchase a less expensive backup system to provide emergency service.  This could help offset the high cost of a more reliable main WAN connection. 

User Tolerance
A very important consideration of WAN selection is user tolerance to downtime and degraded service.  The ability of users to maintain productivity during service disruptions directly correlates to your ability to lower WAN costs.  This carefully crafted balance of "acceptable downtime" is highly dependent upon a firm's level of planning for this situation.  Although downtime is never welcome, setting appropriate user expectations is also critical.  Making sure everyone in the firm understands that there occasionally may be periods of downtime can help prevent total panic when outages occur.

Application Requirements
The most difficult network problem to diagnose and resolve often has to do with a relationship between software applications that suddenly goes awry.  The first step of proper capacity planning is to know the needs of the applications that will be running on the WAN.  This becomes more challenging when additional applications are added.   Even when these applications run properly by themselves, a seemingly innocuous combination of software vying for resources on the WAN can bring everything to a standstill or at least cause irritation.  Ongoing testing is important.  Additionally, a realistic understanding of how the applications are actually being used is exceptionally important.  E-mail- or database-driven applications, for example, are notorious for causing lockups when the Reply All button is used inappropriately or a query with no constraints is performed.

Hardware Capability
The WAN is only as strong as its weakest link.  Every effort should be made to have reliable, capable network hardware in place and to plan for expansion.  As bandwidth gets less expensive and applications more needy, your firm's network use will grow.  Having network hardware that is capable of supporting such growth is necessary.  Since most network hardware can last far longer than other types of hardware and software, it is important to buy the highest quality network hardware possible with future growth in mind. 
 
Availability of Support
The final, but sometimes overlooked, component of a successful WAN selection is determining the availability and level of support available from both internal and external sources.  Consider the types of resources you have internally to handle WAN emergencies and troubleshooting since this will be the most efficient resource for achieving maximum uptime.  Next, it is important to determine who will be providing support on behalf of the network provider and to get written SLAs (Service Level Agreements).  Finally, a very useful and important source of support to consider is the overall user base in your area and industry.  Peer support can be invaluable, not only in cases of a network emergency, but also in sharing insights to help avoid such situations altogether.

Proper Evaluations Provide the Best Connectivity
Wading through the sea of WAN connectivity options can be daunting, but properly evaluating all aspects involved with this critical decision will provide the best results.  Considering the technical aspects of each option, properly assessing the environment at your firm and determining the external resources available will prove to be invaluable.  By following a comprehensive approach to WAN selection, any firm can remain competitive, provide better client service and meet the demands of an increasingly connected world.

About our author . . .

Aaron Franko is the IT Manager at Bakke Norman, S.C., supporting seven locations in Western Wisconsin that are serviced by its 17 attorneys.  Aaron has successfully implemented an IP telephony and remote computing environment that allow attorneys and staff to work from anywhere at any time.  Aaron can be reached at afranko@bakke-norman.com.