Today, many large enterprises find themselves attempting to meet what appear to be two diametrically opposed objectives. On the one hand, these enterprises are looking for ways to utilize IT as a competitive advantage, using it to enhance the flow of information and improve the access to applications across the entire enterprise, ultimately increasing employee productivity. On the other hand, enterprises must manage costs—in particular, the total cost of IT. The management teams at these large enterprises recognize that storage and server consolidation/centralization provides the most effective means to leverage and share their information assets so that employees can collaborate effectively and content can be delivered efficiently. Management also recognizes, however, that centralization of computing resources will not deliver the desired employee productivity improvements unless it is accompanied by a significant increase in bandwidth to insure that network users are able to quickly access these centralized resources. Of course, significantly increasing available bandwidth using traditional access solutions results in a dramatic increase in the total cost of IT, moving the enterprise further from its second objective of managing costs [1].

These same large enterprises frequently utilize an ATM, frame relay, or leased-line infrastructure to connect their metro sites. Enterprises are finding, however, that using circuit-oriented protocols (such as ATM, frame relay, or point-to-point) to transport data traffic through the metro network creates inefficiencies and network complexities. Many of the network inefficiencies and complexities experienced by the enterprises are directly related to the need for protocol conversions in transitioning traffic from the Ethernet-based LAN to, for example, an ATM-based MAN. Furthermore, the enterprises are also finding that these complexities are outpacing the available IT talent, with it becoming increasingly difficult to hire, train, and retain the staff to run multiprotocol networks. This leads to increased costs, delays in the provisioning of new services, and complications in the operation and management of the network [1].

How can an enterprise leverage its IT network for a competitive advantage while still reducing overall metro IT costs? The answer is a managed optical Ethernet service provided by a service provider. A managed optical Ethernet service delivers the cost-effective, scalable bandwidth with low latency and jitter necessary to support consolidation and centralization of servers and data storage resources. With a managed optical Ethernet service, a desktop in Boston can be connected with a server in Dallas without the need for protocol changes as the traffic traverses the LAN, MAN, and WAN. The benefits of this end-to-end solution include application transparency across the network, consistent operational practices, common network management, and fewer network elements to provision, resulting in lower operations costs and capital expenditures. For the enterprise, the net result is the ability to meet its objectives of consolidation and centralization of its computing resources while reducing its overall metro IT budget [1].

For the Fortune 1000 enterprise modeled in this case study, a managed optical Ethernet service solution offers significant financial and operational advantages over the traditional ATM-based solution, including:

• The 33% reduction in operations costs
• The 5–7% reduction in the entire metro IT budget (the metro IT budget includes the computing hardware, software, network hardware, and services costs associated with providing IT service in the metro area)
• Reduction in the cost per bit by a factor of 4.2
• Reduction in the number of storage and server assets through consolidation and centralization
• Significant reduction in operations costs [1]
• As previously mentioned, this case study provides an overview of a typical large enterprise, its challenges and opportunities, the present mode of operation, and an evaluation of a managed optical Ethernet service as an alternative to the current managed ATM service solution [1].

As previously mentioned, this case study provides an overview of a typical large enterprise, its challenges and opportunities, the present mode of operation, and an evaluation of a managed optical Ethernet service as an alternative to the current managed ATM service solution [1].

References

[1] Optical Ethernet Enterprise Business Case. Copyright © 2002 Nortel Networks. All rights reserved. Nortel Networks, 35 Davis Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA, 2002.