Managing Physical Layer Intelligently

The issue of managing physical layer is an important aspect
from the networking point of view; yet it does not list among the top five
concerns of a CIO, as per the latest Gartner survey. The Top View series is an
initiative by VOICE&DATA to bring together industry players to discuss this
issue.

The structured cabling market in India is about 8% of the
total enterprise networking market. In this 8%, 70% of the problems of networks
going down is due to the physical layer. Thus, the issue of managing it
efficiently and intelligently becomes an important concern for any enterprise.
To deliberate on this, CIOs of leading enterprises came together and shared
their knowledge.

Delhi

The first chapter: Jan 31, 2006, Hotel Intercontinental Eros

Challenges Related to Physical Layer Management

Manoj Gupta, CTO, Convergys began by
talking about the challenges of managing physical layer. He stated that BPOs
have a very large infrastructure and the business loss can be massive. He said
the challenge is to make the infrastructure cost effective and secure along with
maintaining business continuity: “We need to find intelligent solutions to
achieve all this and intelligent cabling management solution is the right
solution to begin with.”

Anil Porter,
head-IT and Infrastructure, Calleo Distribution Technologies said that building
a strong backbone is important. The issue of security, manageability, and
business continuity boils down to a company's IO patch cord and internal
cabling; as it's a one-time activity, more budget could be allocated to it.

Raman Bansal,
chief business manager, CRIS emphasized that in an organization, which has to
maintain a vast geographical network, managing them is a mammoth task: “A
centralized physical layer central management system is the need of the hour.”

Deepak Maheshwari,
GM-corporate affairs, Sify stated that physical layer is important for a network
to exist and it should not be limited to LAN. “It's very important for an
ISP to maintain continuous lines to customers, which can be maintained by
intelligent network management,” he added.

Prof Subrat Kar,
professor, Dept of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi said that solutions which
can avoid truck rolls, are definitely required.

Ashish Chand,
country manager, Belden CDT pointed out that structured cabling should be an
important aspect for any organization. He stated that the thought process should
be flexible, which would help deal with all the issues related to network.

David Shalts,
regional sales director—(APac), RiT Technologies stated that structured
cabling solutions can make an organization's IT life easier; the solution
being real-time management of the physical layer.

Manoj Gupta said,
“BPOs package our networks with our services and so we spend a lot of time on
networks as any downtime can put us out of business. We have a team of
specialists and we have a scientific system to go about it, he added.

Prof Kar said
they have very specialized systems to address network related issues.

Raman Bansal
said what has been lacking is the appropriate correlation engines: “The system
to manage physical layer should be such that it can be integrated with the
overall enterprise management time so that the end-to-end user response time,
which is achievable across the network, could be related to the physical layer
anomalies also.” He also pointed out that along with proactive performance
management, features should be incorporated into the physical layer management
system.

Anil Porter
said availability is a very high criterion for businesses such as BPO. So these
solutions are best for operation centric businesses where business continuity
gets affected.

Deepak Maheshwari
stressed that appropriate investments need to be made in order to have strong
and flexible infrastructures.

David Shalts
added that intelligent solutions are in demand around the world for-security
reasons, saving time, managing branches remotely, asset management, etc, which
help in improving efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Ashish Chand added
that India is at the forefront of adopting new cable technologies and the sale
of high-end solutions in India is more than that in America and China. “It is
important that any solution that is deployed has a headroom for future
upgradation, and a core group should exist within the organization to evaluate
the networks internally,” he said.

Expectations from the Vendors

Raman Bansal added, on the issue of
expectations from vendors, that the reason for not giving due attention to
structured cabling is that the higher management does not understand the
concept: “The relationship between the manufacturers and system integrators
need to improve as they are not interested in getting into the physical
layer.”

Anil Porter was
of the view that most problems arise due to improper termination: “Skilled
personnel are required to carry out structured cabling work for better results,
a scenario which seems a long shot in India.”

Prof Kar
insisted on the need to monitor any kind of breach in a network.

Manoj Gupta
said vendors should partner with each other and provide end-solution for the
user. Training should be given to semi-skilled workers, and users should be
educated and trained.

Deepak Maheshwari said
a certification process for skilled workers would help solve the issue.

Mumbai

The second chapter: Feb
1, 2006, Hotel Hyatt Regency

Importance of Physical Layer

Rajiv Garela, CIO, Wipro BPO said if a
physical layer fails in a call center with around two thousand systems, the
result could be disastrous. Even minor failures can get escalated to a serious
problem in a BPO. “We service our clients online,” he said, “so the
criticality of a transaction may vary from a call being dropped to a very big
one, so it becomes one of the key areas to deal with.

Sunil Kankal,
director-IT, Silgate Solutions added that the most important aspect for the BPO
industry is the downtime related to physical layer: “If the network goes down,
the effect is always multiplied in dollars and it creates a huge impact.”

Ashish Dandekar,
senior manager-Enterprise Management, NSeIT highlighted that the physical layer
is important for the financial sector as well: “There is also the emotional
stress. It happens because the problem might not be corrected in the shortest
possible time.” A number of factors depend upon the manageability of the
physical layer, security of internal environment, and manageability of resources
in the internal environment. He added that automation was the key to making the
situation better.

Prakash Pawar
CIO, Intrex India stated that in a broader perspective physical layer means IT
infrastructure: “IT infrastructure needs to be proper and in line with the
requirement of an enterprise; some initial efforts in the direction of network
management can enable clockwork operation of a network.” 

Ashish Chand,
country manager, Belden CDT said, “A lot of people look upon the physical
layer as their last priority as its invisible, low cost, and can be outsourced.
CIOs want to avoid any transactional losses, and also want to maintain business
continuity for which a strong network is important.

David Shalts,
regional sales director—(APac), RiT Technologies said, “if we look at a
physical layer it is similar to the foundation of a house, which is connected to
each part of the house. But, in the IT sector, we have the foundation but it's
not connected to each part of the network. The enterprise needs to be educated
about that.”

Challenges Related to Physical Layer Management

Prakash Pawar said, on the issue of
challenges related to physical layer that the industry is facing, when
everything is done a network should be deployed without any disturbance, which
is a very difficult task.

Ashish Chand
said that the aspect that needs to be ensured is that if cables are the utility
for managing business then the downtime of that utility will play a key role in
a business operation and needs to be taken care of: “Most problems come due to
component and cable failures, so great amount of vigilance and supervision is
required.”

Rajiv Gerela
emphasized that in the BPO industry the dream, with respect to the physical
layer, has to be taken beyond the foundation level. He added that security is
another key area where all need to have a holistic view.

Sunil Kankal
was of the view that we should have responsible personnel to be answerable to
any of the problem related to the network, to reduce any kind of downtime.

David Shalts
added that if we have the knowledge and information we have the power to start.
Integration of the intelligent physical layer to other networks can be our first
step. With correct database and information all the challenges related to
network would be addressed.

Ashish Chand
emphasized: “The enterprise needs to get involved at a higher level to make
decisions related to physical layer instead of outsourcing it. Imagine the
future and look for head rooms in products, insist that vendors comply to
industry standards, use products that are installer proof, use qualified
installers, test and document installation and, lastly, send internal staff for
training to vendors so the installer cannot pull a fast one on them.”He said
there are various categories of cabling which address the demands of each
segment. Structured cabling is a structured industry and the key is to stick to
standards.

Introduction of New Technology

Rajiv Gerela, on the question of
upgrading with the introduction of new technology, said it's just a matter of
looking into the future and taking a decision in a balanced manner: “The
technology should be stable, proven, and should not be subject to too much
change in the short run. In terms of usage, high bandwidth usage needs better
cables so decision on cables should be taken in accordance with the needs.
Somewhere the security angle needs to be taken care of.”

Ashish Chand
insisted that technology should not be changed just because it's new and
fashionable. A right decision should be taken on what amount of bandwidth is
required, taking into account the futuristic goals of an organization.
“Automation also is an option for a better networking future,” he added

Sunil Kankal
said, “Cost is another factor which makes us ensure that satisfaction is
attained with existing standards.” Proper training is not being given for
managing infrastructure, he added.

Rajiv Gerela
said that a lot of changes are happening in standards so companies should choose
one which is in line with their expectations.

Prakash Pawar
said, “Before going for automation, the basic systems should be in place.
Unless and until people graduate from manual control, optimum utilization will
not be done.”

Ashish Dandekar
said that management of physical layer can be done manually as well as with the
help of tools; adding that management decision to invest is going to be tough as
benefits need to be proven. He said that in physical layer, security is an
important aspect. “Manageability of the instruments can be addressed by
automation,” he added.

David Shalts
added that to move forward as an organization we require proper tools and
technology that will address all your needs.

Bangalore

The Third Chapter: Feb 3, 2006, Hotel Le Meridian

Challenges Related to Physical Layer Management

D Jayaram, DGM & head R&D,
L&T Infotech began by pointing out that the basic problem the IT industry is
facing is the unplanned and unprecedented growth. “We have continuously
neglected the physical layer and take for granted that it will always work.”
he added, “so we add on facilities without analyzing the infrastructure.”

• He said the issues of security and timely delivery are
  important and we should concentrate on the physical layer to solve them. We
  have to address the issue of physical layer to satisfy our customer and cut
  costs.

AK Sharma, CTO,
Cranes Software International was of the view that vendors and the software
community should work together to help the enterprise address the issue of
managing the physical layer intelligently, which should be incorporated right in
the construction phase.

Velayutham, VP,
Motorola added that the challenge is the exponential growth in the IT industry,
which is difficult to keep pace with.

Sridhar, CIO,
Hutchison Essar, South added that the challenge is the consumer support network
in the telecom industry and it gets very minimal investment so any failure leads
to revenue loss. It is very important to foresee and prepare for failures
especially in physical layer.

DM Ezhil Buddhan,
DGM, Datanetworks, BSNL was of the view that networks are expanding but
companies are not planning for that. Also that there is no one to educate the
enterprise about the networks.

Anand Kumar, IT
Head-South Asia , Monsanto was of the view that the biggest issue is to maintain
business continuity and when we plan a backup for our basic network the cost of
operation increases exponentially. The concept of physical layer management is
very important and should be addressed by the enterprise.

Solutions for the CIOs

David Shalts, Regional Sales
Director—(APac), RiT Technologies said that physical layer management is just
a foundation for everything that can be done in an organization: “Everything
is done automatically without having to update the database.” This will lead
to security management and asset management helping the enterprise to save time.

“Our solutions notify the problems and provide
alternative pathways in real time which help maintain business continuity,” he
emphasized. He further added that structured cabling solutions are especially
designed for disaster recovery.

Ashish Chand,
country manager, Belden CDT informed that business continuity means zero
downtime, so a little higher investment at an initial stage can help address all
these issues effectively.

Sridhar pointed
out that there is a need of sensitizing the enterprise towards structured
cabling by informing about consequences.

Velayutham was
of the view that mobile computing is the way but there is no service level
guarantee available. One of the reasons for not taking the issue seriously is
that there is no data available to analyze downtime. “WAN continues to be a
challenge in India and ISPs need to work on them as it is a major challenge,”
he stated. He added that core networks need to be strengthened so that last mile
connectivity is maintained. The panelists were of the view that there was a need
that community networks should be developed and infrastructure costs shared.

Expectations from the Vendors

D Jayaram added that vendors should be
available for the enterprise, and should develop a collaborative model. He
agreed that delivery was still a problem and vendors need to give post purchase
service. He added that vendors need to take a holistic approach towards queries
and demands of the customer.

Buddhan stated
that there should be a sense of ownership supported by the ownership values.

AK Sharma was
of the view that we need that the data should be captured and utilized.

Sonia Sharma

sonias@cybermedia.co.in