This results in increased transport latency, which leads to unacceptably slow application response times, and bad user experiences.

One key reason providers route Internet traffic inefficiently is that they own limited infrastructure, and rely heavily on interconnectivity through other providers to extend their reach. Many providers use the lowest-cost routes and interconnections, which often leads to high latency. Thus, enterprises should not source Internet services based on cost alone, but on cost and performance.

Because enterprises no longer use Internet services merely to gain Internet access, but also as their company intranet, enterprise network managers must incorporate their specific connectivity requirements into the Internet service provider selection process to include end-to-end connectivity across the Internet for all office locations.

This will encourage enterprises to standardize on a limited set of providers that can reliably supply suitable bandwidth, network latency and packet loss among all enterprise locations.