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In the News | 2007
In The News

Getting to Know Carrier Ethernet
The IT-Finance Connection
by David Strauss
8/04/2008

The current US economic conditions have served as a warning signal for Finance and IT leaders alike. They are facing increased pressure to streamline processes and maximize efficiencies in an effort to lower costs – all without sacrificing overall service and quality.

Accordingly, this has placed heightened scrutiny on today's IT budgets. It is now more critical than ever that there be a clear and consistent line of communication between the Finance and IT departments regarding which technology investments can maximize productivity while providing a lower total cost of ownership (TCO). Finance leaders often turn to IT to generate greater productivity, maximize performance and create cost efficiencies. However, to the extent that companies are making technology investments, it becomes increasingly critical that those investments yield returns now and more importantly over the long term. This puts the onus on IT leaders to clearly illustrate and explain to their counterparts in Finance the future-proof technology investments which can best deliver these benefits – chief among which is the network.

The network has evolved and Finance must have an intimate understanding of both the reach and importance of its expanded role within their organization. It does not simply provide connectivity but has become a business platform integral to application performance and delivery, which translates to improved business processes and workflow. As such, services which enable increased bandwidth and the ability to scale alongside business needs will become even more critical to IT leaders seeking increased productivity and Finance leaders interested in greater efficiency and reduced costs. Both departments are seeking a smart choice for protecting their bottom line while ensuring productivity and efficiency are optimized – Carrier-Class Ethernet represents the best of both worlds for these leaders.

What is "Carrier-Class" Ethernet? Carrier-Class Ethernet is an Ethernet service standard which is a ubiquitous, standardized, carrier-class service defined by five attributes that distinguish it from familiar LAN-based Ethernet. These attributes include standardized services, scalability, reliability, quality of service and service management.

Since its inception in 2005, service providers worldwide have been migrating their legacy networks to deliver Carrier Ethernet services to mid-sized and large businesses. With the U.S. Ethernet services market expected to grow to more than $5 billion in 2012 (Insight Research Corporation), it is important for IT professionals to both understand how Carrier-Class Ethernet can help businesses in today's economy and effectively communicate this to their counterparts in Finance.

Carrier-Class Ethernet combines all the benefits and cost savings of Ethernet services with an infrastructure designed specifically to address the unique demands of today's enterprises.

Enterprises are increasingly relying on bandwidth-hungry applications for their day-to-day operations, and are placing greater importance on network security, speed, and storage. This has created increased pressure for CIOs and IT directors to meet the challenges of growth while attempting to justify the associated costs to Finance. Carrier-Class Ethernet networks help relieve this pressure by bringing innovation, simplicity and predictability to business network solutions and telecommunications – three things that are critically important to both and IT and Finance leaders regardless of external economic pressures. With Carrier-Class Ethernet, businesses can take advantage of simple, cost effective data, Internet and voice solutions which bolster operations and reduce costs.

Furthermore, organizations that operate in information-intensive fields such as financial services and healthcare, can take full advantage of the high bandwidths and innovative capabilities enabled by Carrier-Class Ethernet. It easily accommodates applications requiring the highest levels of bandwidth and is highly scalable – ensuring it will handle whatever level of bandwidth is needed now or in the future. Additionally, the ease of use and ubiquity associated with Ethernet-based solutions contributes to the overall lower TCO.

Ninety-eight percent of all enterprise LAN's are already based on Ethernet technologies. Ethernet is not a new-fangled, risk-prone technology; it's a longstanding, proven technology that is being put to new use in today's Carrier-Class Ethernet networks with great success.

A Carrier-Class Ethernet network simplifies traffic engineering and user network interface provisioning since they are both based on Ethernet technologies; something particularly attractive and beneficial to IT. This also reduces the need for, and costs associated with, additional staff training and/or outside management; a benefit that strongly resonates with Finance. Additionally, to reduce operations costs and improve network performance, an increasing number of companies are outsourcing the day-to-day, tactical activities associated with communications, and turning to outside experts to provide managed and hosted solutions related to their network functions – resulting in a lower TCO than traditional offerings and allowing them to place greater focus and resources on their core business.

IT must clearly articulate these benefits and the importance of future-proofing their technology investments to Finance leaders to ensure everyone understands the mutual benefits both departments, and more importantly the company as a whole, can realize as a result of implementing a Carrier-Class Ethernet network.

As the economic landscape continues to evolve, IT budgets and technology spending will remain under the microscope for the foreseeable future. Today's IT and Finance leaders must work together to ensure the efficiency and longevity of their technology investments. Carrier-Class Ethernet remains the "best of both worlds" solution, whose benefits translate to both IT and Finance leaders seeking to balance optimum performance and their bottom line.

About David Strauss: Strauss is Optimum Lightpath's vice president of marketing. He was worldwide program director of partner marketing for IBM's systems and technology group, and has held senior marketing positions at Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless services and American Express.


 
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