Enterprises are increasingly looking to service providers for managed connectivity, voice, security and other Internet protocol (IP) services. In fact, the managed-services market is expected to reach $41.5 billion per year by 2009, according to a study from Ovum, an analyst and consulting company.

The study, commissioned by Cisco, features data collected from more than 2,500 end-users from companies using managed services in 20 countries.

“More and more business customers want service providers to deploy and manage their network solutions to reduce costs and improve reliability,” says Peter Hall, research director at Ovum. “Significant opportunities exist for service providers, especially in the areas of multiservice IP VPN, IP communications, security and metro Ethernet.”

The Southern California Poway Unified School District, for example, is using services from Farm9, a managed security service provider, to help ensure a secure computer and Internet environment for use by the district’s students, parents, teachers and employees. Farm9 is providing Poway USD with protection against computer hackers and malware by installing, maintaining and providing security analysis of server and network intrusion-detection systems throughout the district’s schools and central data center.

Nebraska Banker’s Bank (NBB), which provides a wide array of correspondent banking services to more than 100 financial institutions in the state of Nebraska, is using Perimeter Internetworking’s hosted security-in-the-cloud service offerings. In Columbia, S.C., Providence Hospitals is using Time Warner Telecom’s metro Ethernet-based switched native LAN (SNLAN) service to provide connectivity between its downtown and northeast hospital locations.

Farm9’s managed service provides continuous monitoring of the Poway universal synchronous data servers, and counters any attacks by sequestering the malicious code and making it available for analysis by Poway’s network administrators. “One of the most effective ways we can avoid a serious security breach is to know what type of traffic is actually on our networks,” says Robert Gravina, chief technology officer at Poway. “Our managed service enables us to continuously gather information regarding suspicious activity and actual attacks on our sites.”

At Nebraska Bankers’ Bank, CEO Bill Voss decided to use Perimeter’s Gateway 4.0, which combines dozens of technologies to create its perimeter security service. The service replaces traditional firewall and intrusion-detection monitoring services with a hosted, network-based service. The service provides more than 60 pre-integrated network security services, including intrusion defense, malicious code defense, secure e-mail services, secure access and automated compliance.

At Providence Hospitals, Mark Dowell, director of telecommunications, chose Time Warner Telecom services because “They could provide and guarantee the service within our technical specifications and pricing. The 1-Gbps capacity meets our data movement needs and supports crucial backups in the event of a system failure at either campus.”

The installation of the switched native LAN enables synchronous mirroring of medical, enterprise and billing data at both locations in support of data protection and disaster-recovery initiatives. The low latency of the SNLAN service met the hospitals’ private HP storage area network solution’s specific technical requirements.

Other key findings from the Ovum/Cisco study include:

• Network security is the most commonly adopted IP service.

• By 2009, managed IP VPN will remain the largest portion of the market (53%), but managed voice over IP will grow the fastest (65% compound annual growth rate).

• The manufacturing industry is the broadest adopter of managed services, followed by government and finance.

Short Takes Maximum security OfficeMax, a leader in both business-to-business and retail office products distribution, has deployed Lancope’s StealthWatch system for identification and remediation of worms, viruses, spyware and other malicious activity. “The clear advantage of this integration is that it provides us with a greater contextual view of a malicious system,” says Diane Brown, IT security manager with OfficeMax. “The security team is now much better positioned to deal with active threats.” Check it out Banta Corp., which provides a combination of printing and digital imaging solutions to publishers and direct marketers, has deployed Netcordia’s NetMRI for analysis of its entire distributed network, assisting Banta in identifying, preventing and solving network problems. “This product cuts a couple hours out of our day,” says Derek Dolan, network engineer for Banta. “It’s always finding new problems.”

A good return for IRS

This time, the government maybe got it right. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has completed the deployment of an extensive connectivity platform for remote IRS workers–a full nine months ahead of schedule. Better yet, the IRS says the new system, with more than 28,000 installed users, will save $10 million a year.

The agency’s enterprise remote access project (ERAP) is a secure enterprise network solution that consists of a virtual private network (VPN), an Internet connection, and a centrally controlled, policy-based personal firewall. These components allow off-site IRS employees to generate a secure and encrypted connection to the IRS computer network and access applications and documents quickly and easily.

Prior to ERAP, the IRS connected remote users and those working from taxpayer locations through four different types of access networks. Each of these individual systems required support and none provided service at the high speeds that were needed.

ERAP brings the IRS into full compliance with the congressional mandate to support flexi-place workers. The system works almost anywhere there is broadband or dial-up connectivity.

Additionally, ERAP provides business continuity that is especially helpful to displaced workers who are in disaster situations, as recently seen in hurricane scenarios.

New users can easily install ERAP on their own, decreasing their dependency on IRS technical support–the first time the IRS has had a self-installable application. Each installation takes between 15 to 20 minutes.

According to the IRS, the program costs nearly 250% less than the previous systems on an annual basis.

Remote users are able to remain current with software upgrades, such as antivirus programs, Windows hot fixes, VPN, dialer and personal firewall policy updates automatically via ERAP. Additionally, to avoid waste, fraud or abuse of the program, ERAP allows the IRS to monitor user accounts.

Saving money and improving productivity are no small goals for the IRS, especially when you consider that very few organizations operate at its scale. In 2006, for example, the IRS expects to: answer more than 110 million phone calls; process in excess of 220 million tax returns; collect more than $2 trillion in tax revenue; and process 130 million refunds.

Short Takes Cabling choice Countrywide Financial Corp. has selected ADC’s TrueNet Structured Cabling System to support the opening of financial centers in California, Florida and Texas. “We made a strategic decision as a company to focus on technology which we believe gives us a competitive edge by lowering costs and improving productivity,” says Matt Taylor, vice president of corporate purchasing for Countrywide. “ADC’s TrueNet high-performance structured cabling solutions allow us to push our networks to the performance edge to support our mission-critical applications.” Better training Retail giant JCPenney has selected a satellite- and terrestrial-based network solution from Helios to deliver corporate training to more than 150,000 employees throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Helius’ customizable MediaGate Router 4550 and the Helius MediaClassroom solution package provide JCPenney with the ability to centrally control its training programs and distribute the same message to all 1,019 locations simultaneously via satellite. “We will be able to repurpose our synchronous training and make the same class available to associates when it is most convenient for them, while maintaining the same interactive format,” says Deborah Masten, vice president of associate development for JCPenney.

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New air waves for airport

Major airports are constantly upgrading their networks to accommodate increasing passenger traffic. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HAIA), the world’s busiest passenger airport, is no different. As HAIA has continually enhanced its 5.8-million-square-foot facility, part of that effort involves ensuring clear, reliable communications services for passengers and airport personnel.

In 2000, HAIA management determined that the existing network and telecommunications infrastructure was inadequate to support the airport’s long-term vision. “When we looked at our current infrastructure and considered our customer needs and where we wanted to go with services, we found that there were major gaps,” says Lance Lyttle, HAIA’s chief information officer. “The airport did not have an airport-wide, centrally managed infrastructure, with the required technology and bandwidth to support future required applications.”

In addition, cellular telephone and public safety wireless coverage was spotty. Although some cellular carriers had deployed their own, in-building wireless distribution systems to boost their signals, other carriers relied on nearby outdoor cell towers.

As a result of the analysis, the airport embarked on a three phase, four-year, $11-million telecommunications infrastructure upgrade program that would bring state-of-the-art voice, video and data communications to every part of the airport for passengers, employees and tenants. The program rolled out in three phases, the first two of which involved building new telecommunications rooms, raceways, conduits and cable trays, and then installing a centralized, OC-192 fiber-based backbone for all voice, video and data traffic.

In the third phase, HAIA built value-added services, including Wi-Fi access and pervasive cellular and public safety wireless coverage. As part of its wireless neutral-host strategy, HAIA chose to build its own system. HAIA’s evaluation team worked directly with cellular carriers for more than a year to select, design and implement a system that would meet everyone’s needs.

“We wanted a proven system that would support multiple providers–a system that had the carriers’ confidence,” says Lyttle.

The deployment includes on-site base stations from cellular carriers, located in the airport’s new “telecommunications hotel.” The wireless signals are propagated from them throughout the airport via a distributed antenna system. The HAIA team wanted a system that could distribute wireless coverage evenly, without signal loss, regardless of the distance from the carrier base station. In addition, the team wanted a system that could easily support the airport’s high customer volume and could be cost-effectively deployed and upgraded to support additional capacity and new wireless services.

The evaluation team eventually chose the InterReach Unison system from LGC Wireless. The Unsion system uses a familiar hub-and-spoke architecture, much like that of an Ethernet LAN. At HAIA, the deployment involved eight separate Unison systems that included 36 main hubs, 96 expansion hubs, more than 500 active remote access units, and in excess of 700 ceiling-mounted antennas.

The system now delivers voice and data services to every area of the airport, including ticket lobbies, baggage-handling areas, gates and throughout the underground passenger transportation system. It currently handles traffic for all wireless subscribers, as well as the airport’s public safety workforce.

Short Takes Better traction An optical solution provided by the Southeast operating division of Charter Business–the commercial business unit of Charter Communications, is providing secure network services for enhanced business continuity between the U.S. corporate office of automaker BMW and its new state-of the-art research facilities. Charter is providing BMW with private, redundant connectivity for replicated data storage transport, as well as converging corporate data communications over redundant 10-gigabit connections using Nortel’s optical technology. Secure network A custom-built secure network, built by OnFiber Communications, is now providing the critical disaster-recovery infrastructure needed by Virginia Hospital Center. The converged transport solution will support storage, IP, data, voice and other clinical applications for the Arlington, Va.-based hospital. “Key to our disaster recovery strategy, we need a diverse, multiservice network that supports all our communications needs,” says Mark Rein, director of information technology at the center. “We required the most reliable and secure network that we could find.” This solution consolidates the hospital’s applications onto one platform, and securely transports data between its main facility and a hosting center across a protected OC-48 SONET ring.