Extreme Low Latency

A guide to locating and resolving sources of latency across the network

In a technology world where every microsecond counts, network delay is the equivalent of a network outage to consumers and enterprises. Tolerance for latency is gone and often leads to lost revenue or potential loss of clients.

 

Measuring Latency

Measuring latency is typically done using one of the following methods:

• Round trip time (RTT) – Calculated using a ping, a command-line tool that bounces a user request off of a server and calculates how long it takes to return to the user device.

• Actual/perceived time to first byte (TTFB) – TTFB is the time taken for a the data to reach the client after the command request is initiated. There are two measures of TTFB:

• • • Actual TTFB – The time it takes to receive the first byte of data from a server. Actual TTFB is mostly impacted by network speed and connectivity.

• • • Perceived TTFB – The time it takes for a user to notice implementation of a command.

 

Ultra-Low Latency Applications

The growing list of Extreme low latency applications include; Data Center Interconnections (DCI), Storage Area Networks (SANs), high-frequency trading networks, telemedicine/tele-health solutions, media streaming and video on demand, education networks / online learning, and cloud computing / SaaS solutions.

 

Sources of Latency:

XKL’s engineers work with clients to identify sources of latency across the whole network, finding ways to mitigate or eliminate latency to build a stronger network foundation. Based on decades of combined networking experience, we have identified three core sources of latency shown below.

Fiber Distance

The actual distance as well as the quality of the Fiber Path

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Optical Network Equipment

The latency introduced by the fiber networking equipment​

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Network Design

The network routing/switching and resilient path design.

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