IOFLOOD.com – Phoenix, AZ, Dedicated Servers: 2019 Carrier Upgrades and Network Improvements

Updated: You can read about our 2020 network upgrades here: https://ioflood.com/blog/ioflood-com-phoenix-az-dedicated-servers-2020-carrier-upgrades-and-network-improvements/

IOFLOOD.com is proud to announce that we’ve completed a series of upgrades to our network to maximize performance and reliability for our dedicated server customers.

To improve performance and reliability, all top of rack switches have been replaced with upgraded Juniper switches. These new models have 2x10gbps connectivity to redundant aggregation switches. This is a big upgrade from the previous 4x1gbps connectivity each top of rack switch had to our core network. This extra capacity allows for medium-sized ddos attacks to no longer impact neighboring customers sharing a top of rack switch as well as better tolerate other failure scenarios.

To complement the improved top of rack switches, we have finished upgrading to a new network topology with redundant high performance aggregation switches and routers. The new topology with dual redundant Brocade MLX core routers and dual redundant Arista 10g/40g switches, allows for improved expansion capabilities, improved performance, and improved reliability and redundancy.

Last but not least, we’ve made major improvements to our upstream internet provider connectivity. Whereas we most recently had 4 carriers with 31gbps of connectivity, this has now been upgraded to 7 carriers with a total of 140gbps of connectivity. We are now connected to each provider at 10gbps or higher speeds, improving reliability and performance.

Our new network topology now contains a blend of seven carriers:

• Telia Sonera: Connected at 3x10gbps -NEW-
• iCastCenter: connected at 1x10gbps
• CWIE: connected at 1x10gbps
• Cogent: connected at 4x10gbps -Upgraded-
• Hurricane Electric: connected at 1x10gbps -Upgraded-
• TATA: connected at 2x10gbps -NEW-
• GTT: connected at 2x10gbps -NEW-

Every carrier has their strengths, and so having a wider variety of network paths allows us to use each carrier for destinations they perform best to. TATA for example is the dominant internet provider in India, and connecting to them should improve performance in that country and the surrounding region. Telia meanwhile has a strong presence in Europe, Cogent has a large number of U.S. corporate customers as well as excellent datacenter connectivity, and Hurricane Electric is well connected to China Telecom and other Asian ISPs.

As well, the increase from 31gbps of total connectivity to now, 140gbps of total connectivity, we are now able to absorb larger ddos attacks than in the past, improving network reliability. Although we do not provide DDoS protection, in the event that a customer gets attacked, it is now far less likely to impact other customers who are not targeted by the attack.

The ongoing use of Exepereo XCA Edge (formerly named Border 6) in our network allows for using these new carriers in the most efficient way possible. The XCA Edge appliance continually monitors network performance, and updates our core routers to avoid congestion and packet loss. With the addition of more carriers to our mix, the XCA Edge appliance has more paths to choose from to optimize network performance for all destinations.

I want to thank all of our customers for getting us to this point. When we first started IOFLOOD.com we were single homed to HE.net, and through the continued support and growth of our customers, we’ve been able to continue to improve the reliability and performance of our network through upgrading both our carriers and our networking equipment. We believe this will provide a great benefit to customers like you, and we look forward to continuing to serve you for years to come.

If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about IOFLOOD.com’s dedicated servers or network, you can email us at sales [at] ioflood.com