Keeping network latency to a minimum is critical to the bottom line of any IT company. Customers dislike lag and high latency loading times; therefore, if one company does not deliver a latency-free experience, one of its competitors will.
High network latency may significantly increase page load times, disrupt video and audio streams, and render an application inoperable.
Depending on the application, even a minor increase in latency might ruin the user experience.
What Exactly is Network Latency?
The delay in network communication is referred to as “network latency.” It displays the amount of time it takes for data to travel across the network.
High latency networks have a longer delay or lag, whereas low latency networks offer quick reaction times.
Assume that Server A in New York transmits a data packet to Server B in London. The packet was sent by Server A at 04:39:00.000 GMT and received by Server B at 04:39:00.145 GMT.
The difference between these two timings represents the amount of latency on this path: 0.145 seconds is equal to 145 milliseconds.
Businesses seek low latency and quicker network connectivity to increase production and efficiency. To keep up with processing needs, some applications, such as fluid dynamics and other high-performance computing use cases, require minimal network latency.
High network latency decreases application performance and, at high enough levels, causes it to fail.
What Exactly is Network Latency?
A computer network is used to communicate between a client device and a server. The client sends data requests, and the server responds with data.
Data requests and replies are transmitted as little data packets from one device to another across connections until they reach their destination.
1. Medium of transmission
As data moves across it, the transmission medium or connection has the biggest influence on latency.
A fibre-optic network, for example, has low latency than a wireless network. Similarly, each time the network shifts from one medium to another, a few milliseconds are added to the overall transmission time.
2. The distance travelled by network traffic
Long distances between network endpoints cause network latency to increase. For example, if application servers are geographically distant from end users, latency may be increased.
3. Count of network hops
Multiple intermediate routers increase the number of hops required by data packets, increasing network latency.
Network device actions such as website address parsing and routing table lookups contribute to the latency time.
4. The amount of data
Due to the potential processing capacity limitations of network devices, a high concurrent data volume might exacerbate network latency problems.
As a result, shared network infrastructure, such as the internet, might cause increased application latency.
5. Server efficiency
The performance of application servers might cause perceived network latency. The data connection is delayed in this situation, not due to network difficulties, but because the servers answer slowly.
How Can Network Latency Concerns Be Resolved?
Network latency may be reduced by optimizing both the network and the application code.
1. Improve the network infrastructure
Upgrade network devices by utilizing the most recent hardware, software, and network configuration choices available on the market.
Regular network maintenance reduces network latency and improves packet processing time.
2. Keep an eye on network performance.
Mock API testing and end-user experience analysis are two services that network monitoring and management technologies may provide.
They may be used to monitor network latency in real time and resolve network latency issues.
3. Group network endpoints
Subnetting is a means of combining network endpoints that communicate often with one another. A subnet operates as a network within a network, reducing needless router hops and improving network latency.
4. Use traffic-shaping techniques.
Prioritizing data packets according to type helps reduce network latency.
One may, for example, configure the network to prioritize high-priority applications such as VoIP calls and data center traffic while delaying other forms of traffic.
On an otherwise high-latency network, this improves the tolerable latency for important business activities.
5. Shorten network distance
User experience may be improved by hosting servers and databases closer to the end users.
For example, if the target market is China, putting the servers in Singapore or Malaysia rather than America will provide superior performance.
6. Reduce the number of network hops.
Each hop a data packet makes as it traverses from router to router adds to network latency.
To reach the destination, traffic must typically travel many hops across the public internet, over potentially crowded and nonredundant network routes.
Bandwidth vs Latency
Bandwidth is the amount of data the connection can carry, whereas latency is the time it takes for data to reach the devices.
Even though they are extremely different, they have one key thing in common: if one has less bandwidth, one may have higher latency.
This is due to the fact that if the internet connection can only send a specific amount of data per second, such as 5 megabits, larger files will take longer to reach the browser.
While latency impacts bandwidth, bandwidth does not influence latency. Returning to the highway analogy, the width of the road is the bandwidth, and the vehicles represent the data that must flow from one location to another.
It makes no difference how many lanes the highway has if the cops set up a checkpoint. The vehicles will take longer to get to their location.
The same is true for bandwidth and latency on an internet connection. No matter how many megabits per second the ISP permits, if the data needs to wait for a security inspection or travel via many sites, the user will encounter latency.
Conclusion
Sometimes network “latency” is caused by problems on the user’s end rather than because of troubles within a server or any other hardware or software component.
Consumers may always purchase extra bandwidth if slow network performance is a recurring concern, but bandwidth is not a guarantee of a website’s low latency performance.
If you wish to increase bandwidth or purchase high-performance servers for your expanding business, Exabytes can provide you with high-speed NVME servers at an affordable price, as low as S$6.87/mo. For more information, contact us.
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