The gap between networks and applications lingers

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JIM METZLER ON WIDE
AREA NETWORKING
08/18/05
Today's focus: The gap between networks and applications
lingers

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Few survey respondents work directly with applications
  providers
* Links related to Wide Area Networking
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110497
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Should companies strictly control employee use of mobile
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Today's focus: The gap between networks and applications
lingers

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

In a recent newsletter <http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5399>,
we talked about how a company's business and functional managers
see the value of IT as coming from applications and not from the
network. We drew the conclusion that network organizations need
to continually find ways to identify how the WAN adds value to
the company's key applications.

In order to better understand how the organizational dynamics
inside IT organizations do or do not enable a linkage between
the network and the applications organizations, Webtorials
recently surveyed 149 IT professionals
<http://www.webtorials.com/main/gold/netscout/index.htm>. One of
the questions that we asked the survey respondents was to
identify the technologies that are included in their group's
scope of work. We defined "group" as referring to their manager
and all the people that report to him or her.

The vast majority of respondents (92%) indicated that their
group is responsible for WANs, LANs, and metropolitan-area
networks. However, when we added applications to the definition
of group, the percentage of respondents who work in such a group
plummeted to 27%. As a result, we concluded that in the great
majority of instances, the task of planning and managing both
networks and applications requires cooperation across multiple
organizations.

We also asked the survey respondents to indicate their agreement
or disagreement with a dozen statements about organizational
dynamics. In the next two WAN newsletters, we will use those
survey results to discuss the degree to which the IT
organization is aligned with the company's business units, as
well as the degree to which IT organizations plan, fund and
manage IT holistically.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Windows worm beginning to spread
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5422>

2. Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5181>

3. Help Desk: Sniffing on a switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5423>

4. Zotob worm exploits Windows 2000 Plug and Play
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5424>

5. Google goes berserk
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5394>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan5185>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates
and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed
information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter,
connect to Webtorials <http://www.webtorials.com/>, the premier
site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and
market research. Taylor can be reached at
<mailto:taylor@webtorials.com>

Jim Metzler is the Vice President of Ashton, Metzler &
Associates, a consulting organization that focuses on leveraging
technology for business success. Jim assists vendors to refine
product strategies, service providers to deploy technologies and
services, and enterprises evolve their network infrastructure.
He can be reached at <mailto:jim@ashtonmetzler.com>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nokia
Empower Your Mobile Enterprise

Nokia believes that business mobility will fundamentally change
the way work gets done-and for the better. To allow the entire
organization to get the most from this paradigm shift in
productivity, Nokia Enterprise Solutions focuses on delivering
increased efficiency through enhanced mobility. Learn more by
downloading this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110496
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the WAN newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/frame/index.html
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
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information that vendors have provided us. We've got the goods
on 185 products. Click here for more:
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