« August 2006 | Main | October 2006 »

September 15, 2006

The Need for Speed

The name of the game when it comes to networking is speed. Increased bandwidth provides the ability to deliver more content and develop better applications. In the wireless world, bandwidth is still an issue. But make no mistake, many wireless carriers are moving full steam ahead to boost bandwidth to deliver more data. Just recently Sprint and Cingular announced the introduction of new high-speed data cards aimed at business users. There are also new phones hitting the market shortly that are aimed at the business user, all geared to getting information to the end-user faster.

September 06, 2006

Telecom Analytics

It is no secret that managing corporate communication networks has become extremely complicated. Gone are the days where a communications network was simply managing a single telephone system from Ma Bell. Now involved in the communications mix is data, video conferencing, IP telephony, and wireless services that make up the “corporate communications network”. Without a proper way to manage all these services, costs can easily spin out of control.

That is where telecom analytics can play a critical role. While it is a widely viewed perception that the cost for telecom services is viewed as decreasing (long distance as a flat fee is just one example), the fact is companies are consuming more of these services - which means companies are spending more. Telecom expense management solutions enable a company to understand what it is spending, analyze where it needs to add bandwidth or remove bandwidth. In addition, it provides insight into how much a company is paying for services such as wireless, which are not a fixed cost.

Even more important is the fact that “dashboards” provide network managers with immediate insight into total spend and spend broken down by vendor. In addition, the types of reports that can be generated are virtually limitless. Finally, having this type of information at your fingertips proves to be a powerful combination when negotiating new contracts and migrating to new network technologies.

Now these are just some quick examples of how companies can cope with the changing communications landscape. With cutting edge corporate communications technologies emerging everyday, the management of these services becomes even more important.

September 05, 2006

U.S. Broadband Usage Increases at Home by 25 Million

According a recent survey conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project, 25 million more Americans signed up for broadband service in the past year. And an estimated 42 percent of America use some form a broadband connection.

Fixing Network Latency Issues

With the prevalence of VoIP and more bandwidth intense applications being used, throwing more bandwidth at the office WAN is one way to increase performance. However, simply adding bandwidth can be uneconomical for companies, especially if a company is using a telecom expense management solution that enables them to weigh the costs of adding additional bandwidth. Additionally, a company might only need slightly more capacity and not need to purchase an additional circuit to handle the capacity.

This has led to an emerging market in WAN optimization technologies that help to alleviate latency issues that exist. In fact, in a recent article in Information Week, analyst groups like Gartner predict that the WAN optimization market will take-off in the coming years, to a $1.5 billion market. Citing the increased demand in these WAN technologies are data and server consolidation, rising remote backup demands, the use of hosted (on-demand) applications, VoIP, and videoconferencing, along with more employees working on the road and from home offices.