Trends in WAN outsourcing

Considerations reach beyond the perceived associated cost and risk factors.

The line of demarcation between the LAN and WAN continues to blur, driven by the corporate shift toward “just-in-time business” that requires instant access to critical corporate data anytime, anywhere around the world. Applications are shrinking the gap between the LAN and WAN, from e-mail to collaboration tools that integrate voice and video.

Wireless technologies are also a key enabler. Wireless corporate LANs, for example, enable end-users to go off site and connect back to the LAN remotely through a wireless network connection. This, in effect, creates a wireless WAN.

Applications that used to sit on the corporate LAN can now sit and be administered within the WAN in the data center. Network-based applications–services such as firewalls and storage–are being centralized and available on demand over virtual private networks to the distributed enterprise.

Bandwidth and performance optimization are at the level to easily enable globalization. Look for service providers that have relationships around the world that enable routing traffic over the best path at any given time, and can provide best access from a price/performance basis on a local, regional and global level.

Policy control is becoming the same for the LAN and WAN. For example, policies for denial-of-service and other attacks usually resided on the WAN. Now, attacks are originating from inside the organization out, so those same policies are migrating inside the LAN. Providers can offer advanced tools to deliver benchmarking analyses, examining both the financial side and network traffic patterns, for example, to architect networks that prevent the spread of a virus attack.

Services are becoming available, such as LAN/WAN consulting, design, installation and 24x7 ongoing management. These include rapid network and applications assessments, outsourced policy and security management, and global private networks.

As the network universe expands, the necessary skill set will follow. How do the pieces fit together to enable higher-level applications to optimally perform across the LAN and WAN?

This ecosystem of applications, networks and contracts requires internal staff to take on more global responsibility. Selective outsourcing often comes into play, as maintaining highly specialized knowledge in-house may not be effective.

Today’s specialized managed service providers can accommodate enterprises that prefer to pick and choose from a menu of services customized to their needs, while retaining as much or as little control as desired. The granularity of available services extends from upfront network and security assessment and design services, to implementation services (such as project management, procurement, configuration and installation), to access, to migration, or to ongoing monitoring, management and reporting.

The first step for an enterprise in moving toward this model should be a strategic assessment of current applications and networks, mapping where those systems are now and how to best evolve to a next-generation environment that meets current and future needs. Choose a provider that has expertise across systems and vendors, and practices a methodology that exploits the best technologies and suppliers around the world. Look for strong service-level agreements.

There is more to selecting and evaluating a managed WAN service than just cost and resource allocation. You should also consider: Does the managed service enable faster response times? Does it enable the entire enterprise to focus on business issues, processes and applications to drive revenue? Will managed WAN services help your company adapt to the convergence of the WAN and LAN and position itself to deploy new services that not only meet existing business objectives but also have the flexibility to shift and grow as those objectives change?

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Vab Goel is chairman of Virtela Communications, Denver, Colo. Previously, as vice president of IP network engineering and advanced technology at Qwest, he created and implemented the “Qwest IP network and data center strategy,” and also served as vice president of emerging technologies.