Next Generation Networks are no more in the embryonic state. Are enterprises
ready to adopt them?
The
networks of the 1990s were designed primarily to carry data across the
enterprise. However, the information exchange requirements of enterprises have
evolved over the years. Now they feel a pressing need to share other forms of
information such as voice or multimedia along with conventional data on their
digital networks. And the Next Generation Networks (NGNs) have emerged to
satisfy this need.
A common market
perception is that NGNs cater to voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications. That's
true to an extent. However, they offer more comprehensive connectivity options
covering more information types besides conventional data -and voice. Driven by
Internet Protocol (IP), an NGN offers a packet-based network with packets
identified by their types-data, voice, or video. These NGN characteristics
perfectly fill the bill for enterprises that are eyeing future technologies for
their centrally controlled and geographically dispersed networks. “Large
enterprises and SMBs are now investing or looking to invest in NGN architecture
particularly IP based NGNs-that will drive convergence resulting in lower
total cost of ownership and reduced network complexity for them,” says Sudhir
Narang, Sr. vice president, SP and Government, Cisco Systems.
NGN Use: For Business
Transformation
Today, most enterprises are striving to have consolidated infrastructure
for all their IT needs. This is mainly because they want to simplify
infrastructure management at reduced costs. As networks form part of the overall
IT infrastructure, CIOs prefer to deploy a common network for their diverse
information distribution needs. “Enterprises want all their applications to
converge on a single infrastructure and distribute them across geographically
distributed locations and even to the mobile workers,” agrees A Prasad Babu,
systems engineering manager, Juniper Networks.
However, now these
applications are not restricted to only traditional data distribution, but
corporates want to introduce voice and video applications also on their
networks. For example, VoIP is among the most crucial enterprise requirements
today. Using converged networking offered by NGNs, companies could aim to
transform their businesses by offering voice- and video-based value-added
services to their customers. While offering Internet banking, for example, banks
can even provide the facility of voice communication to their customers to
interact with the bank staff over the same network. “Such a facility will help
enterprises attract more new customers and retain the existing ones,” says
Prasad Babu.
Similarly, using
video-conferencing facility offered by NGNs, corporates can achieve more
business agility by conserving time and cost, which they would normally spend on
travel. But for all this, communication quality has to be exceptionally good.
“As companies can't afford to compromise with the quality of service (QoS)
in today's competitive business environment, NGNs can equip them to deliver
relevant quality for all their communication needs,” says Prasad Babu. In the
process, enterprises can also target higher productivity levels. As IP-based
NGNs make a service available to end-users across any access network, a service
available in the office can be made available seamlessly over a wireless LAN, a
broadband connection, or a cellular network to even a roaming user. “This
service agility drives greater productivity for enterprises,” says Narang.
Further, NGNs can give
comfortable experience to the customers for interacting with the organization
offering multiple communication channels. And, thus, more satisfied customers
will translate into more business for the organization. “Enterprises can
integrate new IP data, voice, and video applications over a single IP-based
network infrastructure for increased profitability,” suggests Narang.
NGN Deployment: For
Competitive Gains
While NGNs promise hefty returns to enterprises in terms of reduced costs
and easy manageability, CIOs need to follow the right deployment strategies. For
example, while selecting the networking platforms, they need to plan for the
future-say, up to five years down the road. “With the security and efficient
operation of an enterprise network at stake and with typical service-level
agreements (SLAs) lasting for two to five years, selecting the right provider
for the job is crucial,” suggests Narang.
For this, the entire
onus will be on CIOs to aptly estimate their information requirements separately
for data, voice, and video communications. While the conventional selection
parameters such as scalability, availability, resilience, and QoS will hold true
for NGNs. Enterprise tech chiefs are required to gain sufficient knowledge about
the NGN options before zeroing in on a particular technology. “For this, CIOs
can hold frequent discussions with the vendors even before floating their
requests for proposals,” suggests Prasad Babu. Depending on their application
environment, enterprises can even follow the managed services model. “Managed
services or out-tasking to service providers can help businesses reduce overall
network costs by 15-25%,” estimates Narang.
NGNs for the Enterprises: Factors that will... |
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With an objective to
offer an assured experience to the end-users, CIOs need to select only an
application-aware network that could deliver right QoS. While security will hold
paramount importance on converged NGNs, CIOs will be required to ensure security
even for voice applications-along with data-to prevent unauthorized access
to the network. As the basic objective of enterprise will be to run the new
network operations smoothly, service providers will also have to contribute
significantly. “Making the difference between 99% and 99.999% availability
requires a significant effort by service providers,” says Narang.
There could be more
transition challenges. As CIOs are supposed to handle migration issues while
moving from their existing networks to NGNs, they need to carry out a definite
analysis covering cost-benefit taking into account capex and opex factors,
regulatory guidelines, and management requirements including manpower training.
Since NGNs will result in total revamp of enterprise networks, there will not be
any significant investment protection for the user organizations. However, they
can achieve cost-reduction targets by deploying NGN-based converged networks.
NGN Flavors: Technologies
and Applications
As NGNs are making steady inroads into the enterprise information
environment, there are a few technology options that CIOs can consider. Since IP
offers tremendous advantages to corporates, clearly IP-based NGNs will be the
immediate choice. However, keeping an eye on their future demand, enterprises
need to closely evaluate technologies based on multiprotocol label switching (MPLS),
which primarily use IP backbone for information delivery. “MPLS-based NGNs
will be highly suitable for enterprises planning to integrate data, voice, and
video on a single infrastructure,” says Prasad Babu.
There are some
advantages of MPLS for managing multiple forms of information. Since using MPLS
technique, every IP packet is assigned a label to identify the user and
information type, the router can ignore the IP address. As a result, enterprise
users with overlapping IP addresses can communicate on the same provider
network. It helps reduce cost of operations and simplify connectivity. Also
using labeling techniques that define label switch path (LSP) and identifier for
the IP address, MPLS ensures information security that can be matched with that
of frame relay or ATM networks. The MPLS technology will be particularly useful
for NGNs because it will help segregate data, voice, and video transmission. And
if there's a link failure, while transmitting one form of data, the dynamic
routing protocols reroute the information flow to reach the destination almost
instantly.
Thus, enterprises can
expect exceptional reliability from the NGN infrastructure, which can create the
platform for plenty of new-generation applications. “Application convergence
opens the doors to all-media services such as videoconferencing, which is
effectively a new service being neither voice, nor video, nor data, but an
integration of all the three,” says Narang. “Applications such as IP
telephony and videoconferencing drive down communication costs.” So, the NGN
applications are particularly relevant for enterprises in the BPO, telecom, and
BFSI markets that deal with large number of consumers. While NGNs can help
enterprises leverage voice and video applications, their success will largely
depend on regulatory guidelines.
But all these could
just be some teething troubles. They shouldn't discourage the enterprise CIOs
looking for innovative technologies to strengthen their information
infrastructure. It'll be hard for them to ignore the benefits promised by NGNs.
Right deployment approach will, of course, determine the success for new
platforms.