Multinational enterprises face a challenge in keeping up with shrinking budgets and increased demand on their network infrastructure. For chief information officers (CIOs), and others responsible for providing, growing, and maintaining the complex set of voice, data, and multimedia services that rely on the network, this book provides a broad perspective on how to approach a consolidated outsourced network. For those interested in the technology, the bits and pieces, or the applications that the network enables, this book is not for you.
The author takes the reader through some of the motivations that are forcing change at the corporate network infrastructure level, including the trend toward voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), which, in part, is enabling the consolidation of voice and data networks into a single consistent platform for all communications. This trend toward consolidation changes some of the dynamics for the user, as well as those managing the infrastructure.
After a quick run through some target industries, and the role of the CIO in the changing environment, the author gets to the meat of the book. Chapter 4, “New Services,” provides information on some of the driving technologies: virtual private networks (VPNs), VoIP, multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), and mobile communications. This treatment is primarily motivational, with some introductory material about the technology, and a good overview of the terms that are often bandied about in industry. The key take-away is that, while the network is converging, the need for prioritization of network traffic (for example, for voice over Web surfing) is a necessary component of the new network infrastructure.
Who should provide this network infrastructure (the make versus buy decision) is the topic of the next chapter. The author provides a good treatment of the motivations, and of the types of outsourcing that can help meet corporate needs. A fair amount of time is spent on the process of detailing contractual and measurement objectives, such as service level agreements, when dealing with external suppliers of network infrastructure.
Finally, the last two chapters reveal the reasoning behind the treatment of the subject thus far: the concept of communications resourcing (CR), in which communications infrastructure and management are outsourced to a single provider (in idyllic conditions). The premise of such a move includes the need to focus on core competency, and the flexibility that managed services can provide corporations, especially those that span international boundaries and must adjust to global demands. In addition, it is stated that simplified and consolidated networking can provide a substantial savings, with respect to the total cost of ownership (TCO), of 20 to 30 percent over previous mixed and in-house provisioned services.
The final chapter provides cursory looks into several case studies of companies that have implemented the CR concept. This chapter, however, reads more like a marketing brochure than an objective analysis of the cases presented. Each of the case studies mysteriously ended up being solved by the same company, with positive but unmeasured results. The end result is a book that seems to support the particular strategy of a company interested in providing network infrastructure to multinational corporations, rather than an objective practitioner’s playbook for managing the process.
