What's hot and what's not in 2002

The current economic and cultural climate brings a new-found need to look beyond technology for technology?s sake. As we move into 2002, the savvy network manager is looking at ?sweating? existing assets, understanding the business need better and then finding the technology to meet that requirement.

For many, this process of discovery leads to technology they already have. Now is not the time to dump perfectly workable systems, as long as they function correctly and feed the business need.

"The time to remove a technology is when it stops giving a benefit," says Jonathan Lewis of Molex Premise Networks. "Co-axial-based 10Base2 could be thought of as old technology but if the user requires nothing more and is never likely to, why change it?"

It?s a philosophy endorsed by Niall McGrane, Emea sales director at Digital Networks. "Network managers constantly face having to justify IT budgets against performance. If existing technology can be redeployed rather than abandoned, it makes a lot more commercial sense, particularly in today?s environment," he says.

So what are the technological trends to watch out for in 2002? Here?s our A-Z guide of what?s hot.

Convergence

Network managers need to recognise that to gain maximum benefit from CRM and VoIP applications, a converged infrastructure is essential. But converged network management has long been overlooked, says Mike Regan, business development manager at Alcatel.

"In 2002 the network manager must look to introduce not only a converged voice and data network but also a single management platform. A converged network doesn?t necessarily mean converged management and could in fact increase maintenance and cost as more apps are added to the network," he says.

A single management platform will permit you to identify any problems on the network, assess their impact on user experience, manage the delivery of voice and maintain its quality. This cannot be achieved by treating voice as just another application on the network.

Documentation

Often overlooked, especially by the overworked network manager, network documentation is vital to smooth-running operations in medium and large organisations.

"It is imperative to have the plumbing in order before imposing any new technologies on your network infrastructure," advises Cristy Neale, product manager with Brand-Rex. "This seemingly trivial but fundamental exercise will save untold amounts in terms of speed of response and time to complete tasks such as maintenance, trouble-shooting and the auditing of assets."

Home Working

Could 2002 be the year of the teleworker? Mabel Brooks, senior product manager of data services for Telewest, thinks so.

"Working from home will be more and more important, so companies should look to roll out high-bandwidth access to homes. Cable modems or ADSL should ideally be connected into a VPN which links directly to the corporate Lan without going over the internet," she says.

Mobile Data Services

Maria Lorenz, business development manager at ICL, assures us that mobile data services will finally arrive and be taken up in 2002, initially offering Exchange/Notes-type capabilities to telephones and Pocket PCs.

"New devices will emerge that combine the functionality of iPaq and mobile phones," she says. "ICL believes primarily Vodafone and other wireless and landline carriers will drive this. Speech-driven systems with voice response will be readily available and in use within 12 months. This will be a key driver in the uptake of mobile apps as it makes them much easier to use."

But support for mobile devices is a key issue and rolling out the solution is only half the picture. The other is support for remote users through data synchronisation and mobile management software.

"Use of mobile technology will continue to grow, but won?t necessarily give the best return on investment for businesses looking to mobilise and empower workers," says Martin Allen, managing director Emea at Synchrologic.

Experience has shown that network managers are invariably expected to support these new devices entering the enterprise, but the lack of control in management of these private users can prove an expensive and fragmented burden. According to Giga, a business with a 40 per cent mobile workforce will spend 15 per cent of its IT budget on mobile support - £6,250 a year for a mobile worker compared with £2,400 for a desktop user.

Network Management

Network managers will be looking to get maximum return on investment from current resources rather than spending the scarce IT budget. With increasing numbers of applications being run over the internet, enterprise networks are becoming congested, degrading the performance of business-critical applications.

"Instead of investing in additional bandwidth or application upgrades," says Arnold Pijpers, vice-president Emea at Packeteer, "they will need to look at how they can monitor, analyse and control network traffic to guarantee application performance and reduce bandwidth consumption. Companies that do this will see immediate cost savings from increased productivity, efficiency and reduced bandwidth expenditure."

UK network management specialist Chevin, whose customers include BT, ICL and Reuters, recently published the results of user research into Lan downtime and inefficiency.

The research revealed that the good old basic mistake was the biggest culprit. Errors include misconfigured routers, unwanted protocols left on the network when no longer in use, server overload caused by poor file server maintenance, connection of unauthorised equipment and broadcast storms created by legacy apps on legacy servers causing downtime, and ineffective Lans requiring urgent maintenance.

The role of network management software will rise in importance as your networks and the traffic they carry become more complex. With proper network maintenance and management, most problems can be anticipated and avoided, downtime prevented, and network capacity scaled to meet demand.

Outsourcing

Never forget that deciding which technologies to roll out isn?t the only issue. A major problem for network managers will be resourcing.

Tony Kingston, marketing manager of Deverill, says that with the current lack of skilled resources in IT set to continue, organisations will need to use their IT professionals in a forward-facing rather than a reactive, problem-solving role. "By outsourcing network monitoring and management functions, network managers can reassign staff to more proactive and productive tasks," he says.

Indeed, the outsourcing of non-core activity to complement in-house skills is particularly relevant as the need to support always-available e-services increases.

"It is often not economic to run a round-the-clock services department for such mundane activities as monitoring, diagnosing and fixing problems," says Colin Sinclair, technical director at Total Network Solutions. "It makes economic sense to focus highly skilled in-house staff on business benefits through IT rather than administer the more mundane activities which can be done for a fixed cost against a fixed service level through an external trusted partner."

Security

Seeing as most of the major network virus problems of this year have been directed at Microsoft products, we spoke to Jeremy Gittins, head of server marketing for Microsoft, and Ita McAndrew, marketing manager of Microsoft Enterprise Services, to see what was happening for 2002. They say network managers need to view security as an ongoing priority not a one-off project.

"Microsoft has just launched its strategic technical protection programme to help customers secure networks and ensure they remain secure through initiatives like a comprehensive security roll-up through Windows Update," they say. "We?re also in the process of setting up free virus-related support in the form of toll-free numbers, email and product support assistance for network administrators and managers."

VoIP

It is inevitable that voice over data networks will become a standard application in enterprise network environments, thanks to Cisco and Microsoft pushing VoIP as a default feature of their product lines. Sanjay Maraj, director of communication services with pan-European telco Interoute, agrees. "VoIP will grow in popularity in 2002. It will be more cost-effective in the long run, more flexible and easier to deploy from scratch than traditional telephony," he says.

However, the main challenge facing VoIP operators is to make it as reliable as traditional telephony, so that users get a dial tone on picking up the phone every time. Remember, VoIP only needs to be deployed for a compelling business event such as a move to a new site, opening a new branch office, or if the existing PBX is at the end of its useful life.

"If your company needs to buy a new PBX-type system, then make it one that supports VoIP and provides a migration path in the future," says Neil Dipple, IP development manager with Alcatel eBusiness Solutions.

Webcasting

We think webcasting, and not video-conferencing, will rise to the challenge of reducing travel costs and pandering to the needs of staff wary of international flights. A solution that is simple to roll out and use, cost-effective and readily available exists in NetMeeting, which we think will see a significant increase in use during the year.

Kevin Dowd, CEO of Convergent Network Solutions, agrees. "After 11 September, more webcasts and streaming video presentations will replace conferences. There will be more remote digital collaboration such as blasting bigger video files around rather than travelling or sending tape," he says.

Wireless

Employees are currently bound to their desks within most office environments, making it easy to miss calls and adding latency to email communication. But the age of ubiquitous connectivity is upon us thanks to wireless networking, more contactability, productivity and efficiency - and, if implemented properly, cost reductions as well.

Of course, there are variables that make wireless a non-starter for some organisations, and security issues need to be addressed to ensure that Harry Hacker on his bicycle in the street outside can?t join in the data sharing party.

Dipple is not so sure 2002 is the year to go wireless, though. "Today it has limited bandwidth which is shared, so real throughput will be in the 2 to 3Mbps range," he says. "We may see commercially stable offerings next year of 54Mbps wireless, which will help to address the bandwidth issue. Paddy McManus, general manager at Radware UK and Ireland, puts it more forcefully. "Wireless will be important as network managers find there are huge security breaches associated with uncontrollable deployment, he says.