Our dependence on a reliable networked infrastructure is no more likely to go away in a bad economy than would our dependence on electricity or telephones. While we've learned some hard lessons about e-commerce, the network has become even more tightly woven into the fabric of our economy. And though we continue to speculate about when the data network will be robust enough to absorb applications like voice services completely, the fact is many rely on data applications even more than they rely on voice.
E-commerce, ERP (enterprise resource planning), database, file sharing and similar applications are mission-critical. When the infrastructure breaks, these applications stop working -- and the losses, both in revenue and productivity, start accruing. Unfortunately, most people ignore the infrastructure until it breaks. Sometimes that means the better you care for your infrastructure, the less your efforts get noticed. A well-managed organization appreciates a stable infrastructure, of course, but economic realities have many vying for a slice of a smaller pie -- and you may need some visibility to get your share.
One way to deal with fewer resources is to be more selective in infrastructure purchases. Consider equipment and service costs, and take into account how purchases affect staffing resources, which may have taken a hit too. Of course, if there's a business driver that can generate more revenue, the infrastructure on which that application is built must be present.
Redundancy is becoming more common, and that's usually a good thing. But redundant equipment also means redundant costs, and for vendors, it means redundant sales. Also, redundancy adds complexity, which can work against reliability. Finally, don't underestimate the importance of having spares -- better yet, hot spares. The greater goal is supplying a stable, reliable and scalable infrastructure.
WAN Infrastructure
Although corporate growth will be slower in 2002, the need for organizations to open new markets will be paramount and will push WANs into larger, more complicated data networks in faraway places. Most of the technologies we'll see in the coming year aren't all that new. Although it is losing ground to Internet-based VPNs, frame relay continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate, and is still going strong for enterprise customers looking for private networks. Don't be afraid to rely on proven, cost-effective solutions when they make sense.
VPNs will continue offering enterprise customers an economical way to get data from one site to another with reasonable security. By employing DSL as the last-mile connection, corporations requiring inexpensive branch-office or remote-office network access can use VPNs over the Internet.
One alternative to standard VPNs is MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching). Although most customers won't deploy MPLS networks, carriers are rolling out MPLS-enabled networks that offer the best of two worlds: ATM and IP-based VPN. With MPLS, customers can enjoy the QoS (quality of service) of an ATM network with the security of a VPN, all over an open, IP-based network.
On the metro side, corporations in need of interoffice connectivity are moving away from private-line connections to metro Ethernet connections. MAN (metropolitan area network) services offer more bandwidth with provisioning on demand. As database access or videoconferencing needs increase, enterprises can no longer get by with a single DS-1 connection between offices. Ask your provider when it will replace its legacy leased-line services with these more cost-effective, Ethernet-based technologies.
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