Issues and News

Innovation and Legislation

2006-05-02T22:29:35Z

It often seems as if legislation is written to address technical issues that existed years prior. As noted in a soon-to-be-published e-newsletter for Network World, this has been a chronic problem for many years. With issues from intellectual property rights to the deployment of new telecommunications system capabilities, implementors run the risk of being out of compliance with regulations if they use systems that provide "best practices" for their business.

]]> As soon as it is available, we'll provide the URL for the archived version of the above-mentioned newsletter. In the meantime, we invite your comments and discussion on how you deal with this issue - and how regulatory compliance has (or has not) affected the productivity of your business.

Do Managed Services Make Sense?

2006-04-18T23:42:55Z

Twenty years ago, the essentially the only "services" that were offered by the telcos were transport services. At least in the US, the ability of the telcos to offer services beyond basic transport were severely limited in the immediate post-divestiture era.

However, over the course of the past twenty years, at least two major shifts have occurred. The service providers are now allowed to offer enhanced "managed services," and the extent to which these services offer reasonable value to customers has increased exponentially.

However, by most metrics, these enhanced services have failed to be adopted to any significant extent.

]]> So the question is "why"? Is it a case of companies not trusting the service providers - maybe with good reason? Is there too much BYOB (Be Your Own Bell) attitude in the user community? Is the pricing wrong? Are the service providers ineffective at selling these services?

What is the key missing ingredient in having these services take off?

Open Source Based WAN Equipment

2006-04-06T14:29:25Z

The recent movement to deploy open source based products has now reached out to the WAN equipment market. In particular, there are now open source based PBXs and routers. Is this a cute fad that will soon die or will it take off and be as successful as LINUX? Speaking of LINUX, if there is a problem with LINUX researchers around the globe rush to fix it. That will not be the case with open source PBXs and routers.

Lucent - Alcatel Merger: Impact on Corporate Networks?

2006-04-05T18:23:21Z

In the laterst MegaMerger-of-the-Month, Lucent and Alcatel have announced an intent to merge. While the question of whether this is a good move for the two companies is not a primary concern for corporate users, the impact of this merger indeed does have a potentially profound impact.

]]> So the question whether thsi is a good move or a bad move for the corporate network. Of particular concern, will this trend of megamergers slow innovation in the industry in general? Also, what wil be the impact standards and interoperability if each large company starts to produce its own internal architecture?

NW Wide Area Networking and Convergence e-newsletter

2006-03-10T15:10:06Z

Jim Metzler, Larry Hettick, and I asked for comments on this topic in the electronic newsletters published via Network World.

In case you did not receive the newsletters, click here to view the WAN newsletter archives and here to view the Convergence newsletter archives.

AT&T & BellSouth - Impact on the Enterprise/Corporate Network?

2006-03-07T15:22:55Z

My ultimate concern about the proposed merger, essentially rebuilding a substantial portion of the 'Bell System," is the impact on the enterprise/corporate network. Back in the early 1980s, when data nets were first being built, they were - for the most part - what we would now call "managed services." In the intervening twenty-plus years, however, we moved to an era in which companies began to "BYOB," meaning "Be Your Own Bell." Some of this BYOB attitude was to gain additional features and function, and some of the attitude was necessitated for survival.

]]> Much of the popular press coverage about this merger has focused on "triple play," cellular, and access to residential customers. And while these are extremely important issues, I'm left wondering what the impact is for the members of the Webtorials community who are primarily responsible for corporate networks.

One view is that this should simplify networking by making "one-stop shopping" simpler than ever. Additionally, the creation of even stronger service providers might increase your comfort level with moving to "managed services."

At the same time, one could also argue that this will lead to less competition, thereby slowing innovation and leading to increased prices.

At this point, though, I invite you - the corporate and enterprise planners and management - to share your views. These views will be available in this forum, and we'll also share some of the views with the wider audience of readers of the Network World Fusion WAN and Convergence newsletters.

To add your views, simply click on the "comment" link below.

AT&T and BellSouth Merger - Analysts Speak Out

2006-03-06T22:36:14Z

The proposed merger/acquisition of BellSouth by AT&T essentially rebuilds the old Bell system. My fellow analysts have a lot to say about the proposed merger, and this is the place to find out what everybody thinks.

]]> The purpose of this discussion is both to allow commentary and to raise issues, especially as related to Enterprise networks. I hope you find these observations to be both interesting and providing food for thought.

If you wish to add a new thread, please email Steven Taylor at taylor@webtorials.com