We said last week we would get into more detail about all the LOTUs elements. It makes the most sense to start with L. Latency. Unless you’re in the network business, you might not be familiar with the term, or know how it impacts network performance.

In a nutshell, latency is the delay between the time you request the download or upload of data and the time you actually receive or send the data. Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms). The lower the number the better.

Internet Service Providers sell you on their services based on how much bandwidth they can provide. Everybody identifies bandwidth with speed. We’ll get more into bandwidth in future blogs. It is very important. But when you are considering network and Internet speed, what you should be more concerned with is latency.

While bandwidth is the star of the show, latency is the part of the supporting cast that drives the scene. A consistent, productive Internet experience relies on both high bandwidth and low latency for optimum performance. But it’s latency that provides the speed.

Let’s trot out the old race car analogy. 

The cars on top are all driving on a single lane. Low bandwidth. The cars on the bottom are six lanes wide. More bandwidth. But it’s your network’s latency that determines how fast the cars can get to the finish line. Your data’s destination. The lead car on top will finish at the same time the cars on the bottom will finish. With high latency, none of these cars are going to break any track records.

With a device like the JitterWorks Network Performance Monitor, you’ll be able to see the average latency of your network and determine whether it’s acceptable or not. You’ll also see the deviation in that average that occurs when you are transmitting data across your network. This deviation is called jitter. See, we told you we’d explain jitter!

A certain amount of jitter is expected and tolerated by applications such as VoIP (Internet phone service) but will have an impact on maintaining quality of service (QoS). Knowing what your latency numbers, and your jitter numbers are will help you determine if your network is functioning as it should or if it is impacting your production and ultimately, your bottom line.

Our next blog will continue to explain the importance of Tracking and Trending your network’s latency and jitter as well as dig into the subject of packet loss due to high latency.