Users deploy ultra-reliable rings for high-speed data access

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JIM METZLER ON WIDE
AREA NETWORKING
09/29/05
Today's focus: Users deploy ultra-reliable rings for high-speed
data access

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Vendors describe how their customers provide high-speed access
to data centers
* 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=116015
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IS IT THE NETWORK OR THE STORAGE THAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Midsize and larger businesses often find their IT topology has
become a complex mix of servers, networks and storage systems.
Many of these companies also route long-haul traffic over
fiber-based networks - metropolitan-area networks, WANs and
private optical networks. Who's responsible when a
storage-related problem occurs on a fiber network? For more,
click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=115702
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: Users deploy ultra-reliable rings for high-speed
data access

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

In our last newsletter, we discussed the plans that user
organizations have for providing high-speed access into their
data centers. That newsletter was based on discussions we had
with Michael Howard of Infonetics. In today's newsletter, we
will examine the same topic, but this time based on
conversations we had with Rich Klapman, group manager of
converged packet access services at AT&T, and John Labourdette,
regional solutions architect manager at Verizon.

Klapman commented that since Sept. 11 companies have been
aggressively examining their disaster recovery options. In many
cases, he sees the requirement to ensure business continuity is
as much a driver of the need for reliable high-speed access as
is server consolidation. In either case, Klapman sees that
companies are often deploying ultra-reliable rings between their
data centers that are located in the same general area. Many
companies have also deployed a "bar-bell configuration" in which
they have high-speed rings in two cities and connect these rings
with a high-speed Ethernet link.

Labourdette expressed a similar view and said that Verizon's
customers are implementing high bandwidth links between their
data centers based on a variety of technologies such as Dense
Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) or SONET rings, with customers
requiring higher speeds tending to use DWDM based rings.

Kaplan noted a method of supporting high-speed access by adding
Resilient Packet Ring to the mix and said that he is seeing a
large and growing interest in Ethernet private line. He also
commented that there are a variety of ways that carriers price
their high-speed services. He noted that carriers incur a fixed
cost to light up a building and that some carriers recover that
cost by charging a large up-front fee, while others price the
first circuit as a loss-leader in the hopes of recouping their
investment by selling additional circuits to the customer.

Labourdette stated that he too was seeing companies using
Ethernet for high-speed access, and using it in part to support
storage networking. He stated that the pricing structure for
Verizon's DWDM and SONET services are typically distance
sensitive. In the cases in which the rings are devoted to a
single customer, there is also a cost for various components
such as multiplexers.

Our next two newsletters will discuss data center access from
the perspective of the user organization.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. How to solve Windows system crashes in minutes
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan7765>
2. IPTV will trip up Bells, analysts say
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan7889>
3. McAfee, Omniquad top anti-spyware test
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6977>
4. Skype: Hazardous to network health?
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan7846>
5. The rise of the IT architect
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan7088>

_______________________________________________________________
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=116014
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the WAN newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/frame/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE

The Trend Micro Threat Map

The Trend Micro Threat Map dynamically displays real-time data
to show worldwide trends in virus and content security threats
as they happen. Collected from actual computer infections, the
Threat Map can be used to help determine appropriate security
policies, based on the prevalence of threats that can adversely
affect your business.

<http://www.networkworld.com/go/trendmicro/trend_frr>
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