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CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS CAN'T AFFORD NETWORK STRUCTURES

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: To build your organization quickly, effectively and profitably...do it without a net.

CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS CAN'T AFFORD NETWORK STRUCTURES

Network managers who want to survive in today's constantly changing business environment are going to have to control their love affairs with NetWare, Frame Relay and ATM. In addition, since there are no warning labels or disclaimers included with the sales literature from hardware manufacturers and point-to-point RBOCs, they should be taken with a grain of salt.
They all focus on the structure of the network, but the best approach to today's network is to have no structure.
The demise of structured networks is well documented in books like Peter Senge's The Fifth Dimension and Bill Davidow's The Virtual Corporation. Both do an excellent job of helping network managers plan for the communications requirements of organizations that no longer have an authoritarian hierarchy and no longer have individuals sitting in assigned cubicles behind fixed corporate walls.
Downsizing, rightsizing, and the related staff adjustments forced organizations to make changes in staff utilization and communications deployment. At the same time, advancements in technology and the
awareness that we are now competing in a global economy have also had an impact on organizations.

Changes in Staff Utilization, Communications Deployment
Temporary workgroups and project teams are assigned to specific projects, only to disband when their tasks are completed. They communicate from distant parts of the globe and are often composed of suppliers, customers and company personnel. They bridge teamwork into macro-creativity activities as they free themselves from the confines of assumptions, mindsets and corporate structure.
Innocent productivity tools such as e-mail and the Internet have been instrumental in facilitating these changes by creating a level playing field for organizations of all sizes and extending corporate boundaries.

As a result, we can no longer meet the information needs of today's global communicators with a network that is restricted to the use of point-to-point wire and cable solutions (which phone companies still struggle to provide). The integration of voice and data, as well as high-speed file transfers of documents and images, require networking solutions that are flexible, reliable and within the constraints of the organization's budget.

Inter-Enterprise Solutions
Firm's will still rely heavily on Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, Frame Relay or ATM inside their organization, where they have a predictable data/information flow and a relatively stable structure. Fast Ethernet and Frame Relay are excellent for inter-departmental transfers of large files and files with voice/data integration. And ATM is now a reliable, although fairly expensive, big pipeline for corporate document and image exchange.

Remote Access
For low-cost remote access, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) can be a very valuable service--not only for small organizations, but also for large firms with remote offices that require telecommuting capabilities and LAN interconnectivity. With ISDN, firms can take advantage of the digital bandwidth, which ranges from 56Kbps to BRI (Basic Rate Interface) speeds of 128Kbps and higher. The biggest obstacle will be dealing with the RBOCs that still don't fully understand their own digital services and only want to deal with dedicated leased lines.
Organizations that need even greater bandwidth should consider SMDS (Switched Multmegabit Data Services), which is now available at speeds up to 45Mbps. This connectionless, any-to-any service supports the direct attachment of computing devices for distributed client-server applications such as database access, file transfer, high-resolution imaging, multimedia mail and workgroup or collaborative computing.
Both ISDN and SMDS provide the flexibility that organizations need when the only constants they can count on are change and an insatiable demand for bandwidth. The only remaining challenge for network managers will be in making certain that the service provider they work with is willing to address their specific business communications needs and that they have the expertise and backbone to provide these services.
Today, the line connection is probably the least important component of an organization's network. Rather than restricting themselves to filling someone else's pipeline, network managers must be more concerned about choosing flexible solutions that are fast, reliable, and extensible.
The best approach is to focus on the solutions that are needed, not on the technology. Mission-critical requirements will probably always be mission-critical, but the connection points and node locations will never be static again.

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