What Is Redundancy in Networking?

When establishing a digital network for an office or home, everyone’s top priority is network speed and reliability. Yet, encountering network issues or malfunctions is inevitable.

So, what happens when those problems arise? Depending on your digital infrastructure, it can either be chaos or smooth sailing. Prepared professionals (the ones who enjoy smooth sailing) circumvent devasting issues with network redundancy — your digital lifesaver.

What Redundancy in Networking Means

Network redundancy is the strategic implementation of backup systems to ensure uninterrupted connectivity and data flow. Simply put, redundancy in networking provides multiple paths for traffic, so if one device fails, another can instantly take over.

By adding this, you can enhance your network. However, too much redundancy (aka complexity) can lead to network slowdowns, so it’s important to strike a balance with network redundancy.

Why Redundancy Is Important

As mentioned, network redundancy is the safeguard against stopped traffic and data flow. So, as the world continues to rely on digital connectivity, redundancy is becoming increasingly important, namely because it:

• Minimizes downtime: Every business leader wants efficient operations because time is money. A redundant system helps optimize time by reducing the risk of network downtime due to hardware failures, natural disasters, or human error.
• Enhances reliability: Redundancy improves the overall reliability of a network by eliminating single points of failure.
• Boosts performance: By distributing traffic across multiple pathways, your system won’t experience congestion or bottlenecks.
• Supports disaster recovery: If your network experiences a catastrophic event (like a flood or fire), you can ensure critical data and services are accessible.
• Facilitates scalability: Finally, network redundancy allows for seamless scalability because you can add or upgrade components without disrupting the ongoing digital operations.

Types of Redundancy

Whether you’re seriously considering upgrading your system’s redundancy or just learning about it for the first time, there are two different redundancy types to be aware of.

Fault Tolerance

With an identical duplicate of the system hardware operating alongside the primary system, fault tolerance relies on complete hardware redundancy. While expensive to implement, this system ensures near-zero downtime in the event of a failure.

If your business would seriously suffer from even the briefest downtime, this redundancy type is right for you. Common places where you’ll see fault tolerance include financial trading platforms, emergency response systems, and healthcare facilities.

High Availability

On the other hand, high availability redundancy involves clustering multiple servers together. Each server monitors the others and can take over in the event of failure. So, if one server encounters a problem, another can quickly hop in.

Because it doesn’t require a duplicate of the physical hardware, high availability is less expensive (and often the more popular choice). However, when one fails, there is a chance for slightly larger disruption between servers.

Therefore, you’ll notice this redundancy type in small to medium-sized enterprises, where occasional downtime is acceptable but should be minimized. Examples include e-commerce websites, SaaS providers, and telecommunications networks.

Final Thoughts

Network redundancy is one of the best things any business owner can do for their digital infrastructure. It elevates performance, minimizes downtime, and protects your digital assets from mishaps.

Learn More or Implement Redundancy for Your Company in AZ

Every business (and network) is unique. So, every business requires customized solutions for its digital network. Let the professionals at Corporate Technology Solutions handle your network redundancy upgrade so you can have peace of mind with your operations. We can expertly navigate your options from Avondale and Scottsdale to Tucson.

Since 1998, we’ve been helping businesses like yours thrive in the digital age. Contact us online to learn more, or get started today in the Phoenix metro area.