The original standard for 10G Ethernet was approved in June 2002 providing for high speed Ethernet connections over fiber optic cable. Additional specifications have added capabilities to the standard, including support for wide area networking and short range copper cabling. With a full set of standards ratified and products available, 10G Ethernet is now a real option in data center and...

Ethernet network access services offer enhanced flexibility and quantifiable savings for small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs). IT decision makers should understand the benefits of Ethernet for broadband network connectivity and plan to leverage emerging services.

Enterprise LAN infrastructure is virtually everywhere, and at some point every enterprise must refresh the LAN infrastructure to meet the demands of the business. There are several business and technology drivers that can mandate a LAN refresh. Enterprises must understand these drivers in order to identify when a LAN refresh is necessary.

At some point, every enterprise must refresh the LAN infrastructure to meet the demands of the business. There are several business and technology drivers that can incite a LAN refresh. Use this tool to help assess how soon the enterprise will need to consider a LAN refresh.

An increasingly mobile workforce, partners, and contractors require remote connectivity to files and applications that reside behind the corporate firewall. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) VPN solutions provide enterprises with flexible, easy to manage, secure access to corporate resources, and should be on the network manager’s radar today.

Multi-site enterprises can significantly improve WAN performance, reduce connectivity costs, and centralize server management by implementing WAN optimization technology. Enterprises challenged with maintaining WAN performance and keeping connectivity costs under control should evaluate WAN optimization technology today.

Cable operators are continuing their quest to attract more enterprise business – especially at the expense of DSL networks that support small and mid-sized enterprise (SME) customers. The new Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0 increases cable bandwidth and improves security to better compete against DSL and provide high-speed connectivity. Enterprises should re-evaluate...

Virtualized I/O, like OS and application virtualization, is a requirement for a truly agile data center. In light of that requirement, the major blade server vendors have begun to implement I/O virtualization for their systems. While a good start, these implementations are still immature. Understanding I/O virtualization options will allow IT staff to move forward with this technology.

Increasing costs for global connectivity are certainly not overlooked by IT executives. However, the ability to obtain the requisite service levels at all locations can be more difficult than anticipated and may be worth a premium price. Companies should keep this point in mind as they strategize on how to consolidate services and negotiate with global service providers.

Providing remote access to corporate resources for business continuity and disaster recovery scenarios has evolved in the past few years. For many enterprises, SSL VPNs are the ideal technology platform for remote access. However, SSL VPNs alone do have some limitations, and desktop virtualization options are available that warrant attention.

Changing or adding new telecom services is commonplace for most enterprises. Still, unless best practices are followed, unexpected installation problems can arise and business unit service levels can be adversely impacted. IT executives should employ best practices to avoid installation problems and unnecessary user dissatisfaction.

At the mere mention of satellite communication, the inherent propagation delay issue rears its ugly head. However, vendors continue to tackle this problem using various software and hardware techniques. Consequently, enterprises with disaster back-up, remote connectivity, or international coverage requirements should take a fresh look at satellite technology.

Planning for a LAN refresh requires careful consideration of financial, technical, and business implications. While a comprehensive financial breakdown and business case is often not necessary to justify a LAN refresh, proper business analysis and technical preparation should always be a prerequisite. In this case, planning is essential to ensure maximum value is derived from the updated LAN...

Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system has been available for just over a year. Info-Tech advised corporations to wait until Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released before adopting. On the cusp of SP1’s release, early adopters were surveyed to best understand the Vista experience in the enterprise. Learn the challenges faced by early adopters before planning a Vista migration.

Most mid-sized enterprises select or trial at least one new network technology annually. However, unless short and long-term technology benefits are compatible with tangible enterprise requirements, selection problems can occur. To prevent this trouble, C-levels must become active in the selection process for critical technology and verify that it supports internal and external business...

Developing a network management competency center for those enterprises that are not required to support high-value, business critical applications makes little sense. However, for those enterprise networks that must continuously deliver high performance service levels to their business users, it may be another story altogether.

While large companies enjoy a distinct advantage when it comes to telecom vendor negotiations, there are a number of important tactics that all companies can employ. One of the initial tactics to consider, whenever possible, is to negotiate vendor pricing based upon a positive growth projection, whether that is an assumption or a reality.

Based on a recent survey, mid-sized enterprises spend, and in numerous cases waste, hundreds of thousands of dollars on Network Management System (NMS) fault and performance management. Although squandering valuable IT dollars on a lackluster NMS is inappropriate, the resulting user dissatisfaction levels represent a far greater threat to the enterprise.

When making network infrastructure plans for a new remote office, enterprises are faced with a variety of technology options. Carefully evaluating enterprise requirements against the available LAN, WAN, and telephony options will help the enterprise deploy the appropriate technology now and ensure flexibility for the future.

Enterprises that need to provide secure network connectivity for remote employees, guests, partners, and contractors should evaluate SSL VPN solutions. For new VPN remote access deployments, or upgrading existing IPSec or PPTP VPN implementations, SSL VPN technology provides the most attractive TCO of all currently available remote access solutions.

Although many enterprises may know what to do, they wait too long to renegotiate their telecom services contracts. In renewal situations, “time is of the essence” and negotiations should commence at least 90 days prior to a contract’s expiration. Enterprises that procrastinate until the last few weeks lose substantial bargaining power.

Mergers and acquisitions are now a part of corporate life. Although due diligence is performed by the acquiring company, it may not include the network infrastructure. In some cases, network infrastructures are undervalued and sometimes they are simply overlooked. This case study reviews the methodology utilized by Company Z to identify the value and disposition of a network infrastructure it...

With an eye on reducing costs and rationalizing resources, many enterprises are consolidating servers in central data centers. In some cases, centralization makes sense, but the additional demand on the WAN is often overlooked. Remember the network implications when considering server consolidation and centralization.

In the vast majority of situations, enterprises rely on Value Added Resellers (VARs) to purchase LAN equipment. Similarly, many organizations use VARs/integrators to assist in the design and implementation of the corporate LAN. Selecting the appropriate VAR/integrator is often a key to the success of a LAN refresh implementation, so choose wisely.

Using home-based or virtual call center agents to augment or replace traditional brick-and-mortar call center agents seems like a great idea. Virtual agents can offer many benefits, including increased scheduling flexibility, reduced infrastructure costs, and a greatly expanded pool of potential candidates to choose from, but IP Telephony (IPT) over the public Internet is not up to the task.

Determining the actual costs and benefits of a WAN optimization implementation requires several quantitative and qualitative factors to be considered. Use this tool to determine the TCO and ROI of a WAN optimization deployment.

The WAN optimization appliance and software market continues to mature, and current product offerings can have an astounding positive impact on WAN performance. Multi-site enterprises experiencing WAN bandwidth demand growth and struggling to maintain acceptable application performance over the WAN should evaluate WAN optimization technology immediately.

Enterprises are increasingly faced with the challenge of connecting multiple locations to provide seamless access to network resources and applications. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet for Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity. Enterprises with multiple sites must assess connectivity requirements, application usage, geographic diversity, and service availability to determine which WAN...

Ethernet technology continues to evolve, supporting higher speeds, reduced latency, and distances ranging from blade server mid-plane connections through world-wide WAN connectivity. 10G Ethernet is the current iteration. The migration to 10G Ethernet in the enterprise data center is underway, driven in part by consolidation, virtualization, and dense installations of servers.

Enterprises continue to seek ways to improve their bottom line by outsourcing IT related services. The network infrastructure represents an area where costs can potentially be reduced along with personnel expenses. Although network outsourcing can exhibit paper benefits, this case study reviews a mid-sized company’s actual experience one year later.

Most network infrastructures do not generate a profit, cannot recover service costs from internal users, and are classified as cost centers. Unfortunately, corporate policy dictates that costs are to be cut and profit’s maximized. Network executives should implement new processes that enhance and demonstrate the network infrastructure’s true value to management and business unit managers or...

Some business applications require stringent service levels on a 24x7 basis. Regrettably, the network management infrastructure required to support them exceeds the capabilities of many network service providers. Consequently, a growing number of companies are forced to develop an internal network management core competency.

Once a major network failure ends, enterprises must still complete several important tasks. This includes identifying the failure’s root-cause and taking steps to prevent a reoccurrence. In addition, impacted lines-of-business (LOB) must be briefed. A post network-failure plan should be prepared in advance to effectively address these items.

Trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific submarine cable traffic continues its rapid growth pattern as North American-based companies expand their business footprints to other continents and countries. Unfortunately, many enterprises fail to consider the pros and cons of using submarine cables as well as the potential business impact if a service disruption occurs.

Keeping the network team's skill levels up to date on changing technology and the vendor environment is an ongoing enterprise challenge. Although IT organizations utilize various combinations of vendor and third-party training courses to accomplish this task, the intrinsic value and importance of industry trade shows should not be overlooked.

Most telecom service contracts are for a multi-year term, but it is not uncommon for enterprise requirements to change during this period. However, modifying or deleting services to an existing contract is not always easy. The following best practices can mitigate this situation and provide benefits for the enterprise and the service provider.

When it comes to purchasing network products and services, there is no shortage of choices. However, some network providers and vendors fail to comprehend the differences between initially obtaining enterprise business and continuing to earn it. As a result, many business opportunities are lost when enterprises seek replacement vendors.

Renegotiating an existing telecom services contract requires careful planning, strong negotiation skills, and the use of best practices. It may also require accepting a short-term economic penalty or risk to achieve long-term benefits. The company profiled in this research note discovered that successful contract modifications must also provide tangible benefits to both parties.

The early hype around Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Virtual Private Network (VPN) services has subsided. Enterprises have moved past the tentative “wait and see” approach of the past few years and are implementing MPLS networks with rapidly increasing frequency.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a compelling replacement for aging Frame Relay networks. Use this downloadable checklist to help assess and select MPLS service providers.

Info-Tech recently conducted a five-year cost comparison of Nortel Networks and Cisco Systems LAN and WAN equipment. The results are telling, and the premium that enterprises pay for Cisco products can be over 100%. Enterprises that default to Cisco when buying network equipment should expand their shopping choices – the savings can be substantial.

A burgeoning secondary market for networking equipment has emerged in the past few years and many enterprises can realize considerable cost savings by shopping this market. Understand the risks and rewards of acquiring network equipment on the secondary market prior to making a purchase.

As LAN infrastructure features and functionality become largely indistinguishable in an increasingly commoditized market, market presence, price, value, support, and the availability of trained network engineers and administrators become distinguishing selection criteria – consider these criteria when selecting a LAN vendor.

As the enterprise LAN is increasingly considered mission critical IT infrastructure, it is essential to proactively monitor the network for faults and to address performance issues before they arise. A good Network Management System (NMS) is becoming an integral and essential component of the enterprise LAN, and virtually every organization should have one. Consider the available options and...

Selecting the most appropriate WAN/Internet service provider requires the enterprise to provide location information and detailed requirements in order to receive competitive bids. Use this template to solicit responses from service providers and identify the right solution at the best price.

Historically, delivering virtual desktops to remote users required a separate connectivity and virtualization infrastructure, but that is starting to change. VMware recently announced its VMware Desktop Manager (VDM) add-on to its Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) product offering, which will help ease implementation headaches.

Several factors come into play when determining how to make the transition to MPLS seamless. Consider the enterprise requirements, select the appropriate deployment strategy, and work closely with service providers to ensure a smooth migration to an MPLS-based WAN.

Implementing video conferencing over an IP network requires network planning and design changes. Ensure that video-based services perform as advertised by implementing a LAN and WAN infrastructure that supports their bandwidth and real-time performance requirements.

Deployment of WAN optimization technologies at branch sites and data centers can offer enterprises an immediate boost to WAN throughput. Following this step-by-step guide to improve overall WAN performance.

Upgrading or replacing LAN infrastructure is something that enterprises typically go through every four to six years. Deploying the physical equipment is not necessarily a challenging task, but implementing the new infrastructure must be done carefully and thoughtfully in order to avoid service interruptions. LAN design and implementation planning are the keys to a successful LAN implementation.

There are several important aspects to successfully implementing a LAN refresh. LAN design and implementation planning are crucial. Use this implementation checklist to help ensure LAN refresh success.

New types of devices, stricter network performance and security requirements, and the pressures of regulatory compliance are driving the need for a more proactive approach to IP address allocation and administration. IT departments must take action now to improve existing IP address management practices and explore available vendor solutions.

Despite considerable network infrastructure investments, enterprises with centralized IT environments frequently face crippling performance issues due to network latency and application chatter. High-overhead services such as e-mail and file sharing often perform poorly over WAN links, limiting the productivity of branch office users.

Many enterprises simply do not have an option when it comes to WAN redundancy. Inter-site and Internet connectivity are core business requirements, and losing the lines of communication can be very costly. Evaluate the risks, determine the requirements, and design a redundant WAN architecture to ensure the enterprise is not exposed to unnecessary risk.

While the focus on IP address management (IPAM) has grown in recent years with the proliferation of IP devices and stricter network performance and security mandates, there is still a significant cost associated with specialized IPAM solutions. Enterprises must complete a comprehensive assessment of their actual IP address management, DNS, and DHCP limitations before pursuing these solutions.

Maintaining the performance mandated by business applications requires the appropriate network management tools, their proper configuration, and staff technical skills. Many enterprises fail to monitor these basic areas, and as a result, their network management capabilities do not meet expectations and additional products are purchased to solve the problem.

Businesses continue to benefit by offering shared access data centers to partners, suppliers, and clients. The issue in this method of organization is ensuring that each category of user has access only to appropriate and authorized data. Create a tiered data center structure to provide physical and logical layering and to offer efficiencies and security that more distributed structures do not...

WAN redundancy has become critical to many enterprises. Part of the challenge is evaluating how much should be spent, and how complex the solution needs to be to provide the required network availability. Use this tool to assess the enterprise requirements for WAN redundancy.

When a LAN is upgraded or refreshed, there may be new features and functionality that create opportunities to optimize network performance. Often the inclination is just to leave the LAN alone post-implementation if performance is adequate, but many enterprises would be well served by applying optimization techniques that help squeeze more value from the network.