NETWORK INTEGRATION : Ready for New Technologies

As telecom, BFSI, IT/ITeS, and manufacturing gear up to deploy new
technologies, these verticals will continue to contribute to the growth of the
network integration business. The government could be another vertical to
sustain growth levels. And retail is another. Across all these verticals, SMB
will be a huge focus area.

As technology develops rapidly, regulation and regulatory methods need
constant updating. This is known to become an issue several times-take the
instance of the ongoing obscurity over VoIP. If clarity is generated on such
issues, the industry will grow much faster. However, it is not always easy to
adjudicate on regulatory issues, as consensus needs to be developed.

Increasing compliance requirements and voluntary corporate governance norms
can see increasing alignment of IT investments to business objectives. This can
have a positive effect on the network integration business in 2008.

Performance management focusing on efficient IT service delivery for
increasing the competitive abilities of the organization and increasing focus on
corporate governance is one of the main areas that can direct IT investment
decisions.

Emerging Areas

IP networks are now being increasingly used to drive a large number of
varied industry-specific solutions. The versatility of an IP medium, combined
with the routing and security features of MPLS, makes them high potential
solutions.

MPLS VPNs, which were hardcore leased circuit inclinations till now, are now
also considered for voice carriage solutions. The demand for international MPLS
is also growing on account of the class of service and flexibility it offers.

Unified Communication (UC) and mobility will strengthen as the new wave, just
like the Internet, or email rocked the world. The UC is driven by a combination
of factors, including reduced communication media cost, stability in WAN
networks, focus of organizations on robust and available LAN infrastructure,
acceptance of IP telephony, and SIP-based communication. The other big trend is
mobility with content and capacity which is revolutionizing the way business is
done, powering users with the freedom to work from anywhere.

Wireless is a low-cost investment with high RoI. It's better to migrate
high-speed links to metro ethernet and go for WAN optimizers after understanding
traffic applications of the network.

The primary challenges are to do with network coverage and capacity planning.
These can be tackled by deploying multiple base station sites in each city and
advanced modulation techniques.

Among many solutions, the proven ones are building enterprise Intranets over
the public Internet using secure technologies. Also, while planning network
infrastructure, there are some important things that should be taken into
consideration: detailed planning for network migration or expansion since
networks is now the lifeline of the company; utilize consulting services to get
quality advice from people who have relevant experience and expertise; and no
revamp unless there is a clear RoI for network enhancement.

Challenges Ahead

Security and manageability have been two major problem areas in regard to
network integration. The enterprise faces numerous challenges including managing
and controlling communication costs, building technical domain expertise along
with retaining them and managing technological changes while protecting
investments, and providing continuum to the existing infrastructure. As new
technologies emerge and branches are added, the task of maintaining the networks
becomes challenging.

Shortage of staff in this also becomes a concern. The other big concern is
how to keep pace with changing technology, and going for the right
solution/architecture that allows organizations to seemingly accommodate new
technologies to meet future business requirements and also safeguards the
investments already made.

Enterprises are looking at minimizing capital expenditure and prefer to work
with solution providers on an SLA-based service model.

Additionally, the benefits derived out of outsourcing processes to a service
provider on a remote infrastructure management model are gaining strength.
Enterprises today wish to focus more on their core business, resulting in better
efficiencies and infrastructure management.

For a geographically vast country like India, the penetration of broadband
connectivity is still a major challenge. Poor IP infrastructure setup in rural
areas makes it difficult for various stakeholders to reach out to each and every
individual.

Wireless broadband has the power to reduce this digital divide in a much
faster time than anticipated. The incurred cost and installation times are much
lower than that of wireline options. The state needs to recognize the strengths
of this particular medium and support service providers in expanding their rural
presence.

Reducing costs associated with managing and maintaining separate voice and
data networks and equipment, and increasing customer satisfaction through more
flexible communications and faster response times are some key demands among
enterprises.

Developing a clear strategy to facilitate the move from disconnected silos of
voice, video and data capability to the delivery of new collaborative
applications based on converged communications networks are some of the options
that enterprises are looking for. Shorter project implementation time,
increasing alignment of IT investments to business objectives are some of the
other demands of enterprises.

Implementation Costs to Rise

Budgetary constraints and competitive pressures have forced the industry to
drive down costs. Enterprises are asking for lower levels of integration
pricing. The concept of end-to-end solutions or one-stop solutions has gained
momentum. Enterprises do not have to spend money on different vendors. Also,
electronic infrastructure prices have come down considerably, and device
functionalities are increasing disproportionately to price. However, the cost of
resources and expertise is rapidly rising, as is the trend in other related
industries too.

Project implementation costs are set to rise, mainly due to increasing
manpower costs and shortages. Overall project implementation costs have
increased over the past year because of a large number of deployments in
semi-urban and rural areas, as well as because of higher manpower costs across
the country.

In the global market for outsourcing, the industry quickly needs to move up
the value chain and quality levels if we have to grow our market share at
previous levels. Other countries may soon begin to match our cost levels and,
frankly, it may be difficult to reduce costs beyond a certain limit.

Driven by Technologies

The IT era will be driven not by what the enterprise can provide, but by
what customers, communities, and employees want. The key factor to drive growth
will be the change in enhanced user experience in terms of mobility, points of
access, universal identity, and availability. The trend right now is to drift
from box integration to process excellence and convergence. Organizations are
now looking at IT as a service, and not as an internal support function.
Customers have reworked their IT strategy by investigating changes in their
business requirements, selecting the right technology and implementing changes
in a planned/controlled manner.

The growth will be supplemented by technologies. The industry has seen
migration from TDM to IP. With technologies like MPLS maturing, many enterprises
have migrated from Leased Lines to MPLS VPNs as they offer a far more
cost-effective and manageable connectivity media. Enterprises are increasingly
focusing on outsourcing the network management in totality.

Among the new key technologies now getting popular in the market are unified
communication solutions, tele-presence, digital video security surveillance, and
WiMax. MPLS, server consolidation, and data centers are some of the new growth
areas.

Other emerging areas are going to be around connecting people not just
through computers, but also through connectivity devices like mobiles, TV and
high definition screens. TV like experience in high definition is going to
extend to not just video conferencing, but also user interfaces.

The devices would be interconnected through rich services from providing the
latest applications to rich media. User interfaces will become more natural and
touch-based. Email archival, enterprise dashboards with integrated network and
security monitoring along with event correlation, workforce optimization, etc
will also gain momentum.

From a technology perspective, a majority of businesses have moved toward
converged IP network. This puts a good foundation in place for unified
communications and collaboration technologies.

The growth in the NI market has primarily been driven by factors such as
increased deployments of enterprise applications like ERP, SCM, CRM and core
banking; further extension of existing deployments to connect all business
stakeholders; immense e-governance; and automation initiatives undertaken by all
government organizations.

Baburajan K

baburajank@cybermedia.co.in