Q&A: Qwest ramps up federal sales effort, Part 1

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: CAROLYN DUFFY MARSAN'S ISP NEWS REPORT
07/27/05
Today's focus: Q&A: Qwest ramps up federal sales effort, Part 1

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* What Qwest is doing to win some of the $20 billion Networx
  program
* Links related to ISP News Report
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Q&A: Qwest ramps up federal sales effort, Part 1

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan

Qwest is stepping up its efforts to win federal government
business with a new leader and a bold plan to bid on both the
universal and enterprise parts of the 10-year, $20 billion
Networx program.

Networx, the largest telecom services bid in the world, will
provide legacy and leading-edge voice, data and video services
to all U.S. federal agencies. You can read more about Networx
here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/032805-contract.html?rl>

Every major U.S. telecom carrier - AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Qwest and
Verizon - is planning to bid on it. Networx is split into two
parts: Networx Universal, which encompasses a full suite of 37
telecom services ranging from older frame-relay to cutting-edge
IP VPNs; and Networx Enterprise, which is geared toward niche IP
and wireless services.

Qwest announced in May that it had hired veteran federal telecom
executive Diana Gowen to be its new senior vice president of
government services sales. Gowen previously led defense and
civilian agency sales efforts for Broadwing, MCI and AT&T. Gowen
replaces Jim Payne, another longtime federal telecom executive
who joined Qwest in 1999 after holding similar sales and
marketing posts at Sprint and GTE.

I recently interviewed Gowen about Qwest's strategy for the
Networx procurement, its plans in the federal market and why the
federal market is key to the ISP's overall success. In the next
two issues of the ISP News Report, I'll provide excerpts from
our conversation:

Q. What is Qwest's plan regarding Networx?

A. We're bidding both Universal and Enterprise. There was a
debate within the company about whether we really had to do
both. I felt that we absolutely had to at least attempt to be a
Universal player. The reason I believe that is I think that most
of the legacy networks that will be up for grabs initially are
networks that span the entire scope of Universal. I think if you
are an enterprise player with a smaller geographic scope, you're
going to be hard-pressed to compete for that business.

Q. How big is Qwest's Government Services Division?

A. We're just under $500 million a year. Our strategy and our
hope within Qwest Government Services Division is that we grow
considerably from where we are today over the next five years.
We are not an insignificant player today. We're 55 out of the
list of the federal government's top 100 suppliers.

Qwest is in a good position to grow because we don't have a lot
of legacy or incumbent business. If you look at where we have
been successful over the past five years, it started with the
military. The military expanded and grew and that is a
significant business for Qwest. Then there was a new emphasis to
bring in the right players and try to penetrate civilian
agencies. We have contracts with the departments of Treasury,
Energy and Justice. But if you look at the Social Security
Administration, Health and Human Services, the Environmental
Protection Agency, the Department of Education, you can go down
the list and we have local service business because we are U.S.
West. Do we have big network business with these agencies? No.
AT&T, Sprint and MCI do. So that's the business that we want to
go after. I think you have to be a Universal player on Networx
to be able to compete in that space for that business. We have a
nationwide network, so why shouldn't we go after that business?

Q. What's your view of the enterprise portion of Networx?

A. On the Networx enterprise side of the house, it's all about
unique solutions. Can we do that? Yes. We're going to find
partners that will allow us to do exactly that. If you look at
Qwest, we have one of the last networks that was built. So it
has the latest and the greatest features. We were the first to
get out there with a nationwide IP network and sell it that way.
So I think we're well positioned for Networx Enterprise. A lot
of folks say that Enterprise is a booby prize, but I don't look
at it that way. I think you want to be playing on both sides of
the house, Universal and Enterprise.

Q. What can you tell me about your strategy for winning Networx
Universal?

A. On Universal, I think it's all about being compliant and
having a low, low price. Have you looked at the evaluation
criteria? It's price. So if you're talking about strategy, it's
figure out how you can be compliant and have a lower cost
structure than the other guys. It's an interesting proposition
because the government has government-unique, non-commercial
requirements. So part of your strategy is to make those costs
lower than the other guys, too. So that's our strategy.

Q. Does Qwest have any advantages in getting its cost structure
down on Networx?

A. We have a newer, nationwide network than all of the rest of
them. We have more capacity than all of the rest of them. We do
not have a legacy of many acquisitions, so we don't have dozens
of billing systems and provisioning systems to mesh together.
And I think that Qwest has a good roadmap for doing many of the
things that are required in Networx as part of our standard
commercial offerings, so that's helpful.

Q. Where does Networx sit in terms of your priorities?

A. At the top of the heap. Would that I could just focus on
this one thing! That would be really cool. But we have an
incumbent situation that we are bidding on at the Treasury.
There's a big Defense Department procurement that we want to
play in. The State Department keeps putting out work orders, and
we're one of the suppliers there. NASA just put out a work order
for a network under FTS 2001 [the Networx precursor contract].
Nonetheless, we've built a dedicated team to go attack Networx.

Q. How high of a priority is Networx to Qwest at the corporate
level?

A. [Qwest CEO] Dick Notebeart is well aware of Networx. It's on
his priority list. Barry Allen, who is the head of operations
and engineering, is committed to doing Networx. So is my boss.
Dan Yost, who is the head of product management, is working
hand-and-glove with us in responding to this bid. It's a
priority within the company. But I think Networx is a priority
for most of the companies bidding it. It's a significant
investment, and it requires that. It touches many parts of the
company. If you're going to bid, you have to have backing.

Read more from Diana Gowen about the importance of the federal
market and trends she sees there in next week's issue of the ISP
News Report.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. 2005 Salary Survey
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlisp3854>

2. Cisco to acquire Sheer Networks for $97 million
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlisp3855>

3. Verizon joins managed security game
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlisp3856>

4. Schools battle personal data hacks
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlisp3858>

5. Help Desk: NAT firewall
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlisp3859>

Today's most forwarded story:

Verizon joins managed security game
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlisp3860>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Carolyn Duffy Marsan

Carolyn Duffy Marsan is a senior editor with Network World and
covers emerging Internet technologies and standards. Reach her
at <mailto:cmarsan@nww.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Ciena
NetworkWorld Special Report - The Adaptive WAN: The factors
driving WAN evolution

A combination of business and technology trends are changing the
demands on the enterprise WAN. This NetworkWorld Special Report
explores some of the key business and technology trends that are
driving and enabling the evolution of the enterprise WAN and how
the enterprise WAN can become adaptive to support these trends.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108806
_______________________________________________________________
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What you need to know about maximizing app performance across
the WAN

When deploying and accessing enterprise apps over the WAN
performance can be fickle. IT organizations agree consolidating
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extended enterprise is best.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108766
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offer advice to help you gun for that next promotion and fatten
up your paycheck. Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/you/2005/072505-salary-side2.html>
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