Why telcos should set their sights on grid networking, Part 2

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JIM METZLER ON WIDE
AREA NETWORKING
09/15/05
Today's focus: Why telcos should set their sights on grid
networking, Part 2

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Why are telcos not investigating grid-networking
opportunities?
* Links related to Wide Area Networking
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Why telcos should set their sights on grid
networking, Part 2

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

In the last newsletter, we discussed how networking support for
grid computing could be a great new market for telcos - and one
that should be of great interest to them as they are squeezed
further to find profitable services in a commodity world.

In particular, we shared some comments from our colleague Alan
Weissberger's recent article at Webtorials
<http://www.webtorials.com/main/newsletters/dcti/index.htm>.
Weissberger's comments match very closely with the thoughts we
recently shared concerning how Metro Ethernet access services
are redefining the entire set of assumptions by which we design
and manage WANs <http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6808>. To wrap
up this discussion, we're sharing some more of Weissberger's
thoughts.

In particular, Weissberger opined, "I wonder when grids move
from regional to national to global, how they will be
interconnected? When a single organization grid is opened up to
collaborators, partner companies, and customers, how will
network access be achieved? Where will the enterprise grid
networking specifications and best practices recommendations be
developed? What type of network topology and connectivity
arrangement works best for the majority of industry grids? Will
that network technology adequately scale to accommodate more
sites, more users, or more servers at any one site? What about
disaster recovery? Finally, who will be the primary grid network
provider - the user (or community of users), the grid hardware
vendor (IBM, HP, Sun), or the network facility vendor (BT)?

"Unless some answers emerge soon, grids are likely to be
confined to a single campus network with 1/10G bit/sec Ethernet
links used for interconnection. This limits the size of the grid
market, because it excludes interconnection of multiple,
geographically dispersed grid sites.

"I am astonished that the telcos (with the exception of BT) are
not more inquisitive and proactive in the emerging grid
networking market and I wonder if they are not missing out on a
significant new source of revenue."

Thanks to Weissberger for bringing this question to light, and
we share the same concern. Our guess? Some networking
provider(s) will see the proverbial light and provide
appropriate services. However, just as it took upstarts like
CompuServe and WilTel to get the ball rolling almost 20 years
ago for frame relay, the innovative service offerings here will
come from a non-traditional source. Only then will the
traditional players once again fall into line in order to avoid
losing market share.

As a footnote, this is all-too-indicative of the current
environment in telecommunications where short-term profits and
immediate payback are overwhelming the basic research for new
services - such as the research that was historically within the
purview of organizations like Bell Labs. We hope that those of
you with the real power - the enterprise users - will help us
start a revitalization of basic research and user involvement
that will support the exploration of truly next generation
services.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. McAfee, Omniquad top anti-spyware test
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6977>

2. Google hacking <http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6696>

3. Supermarket chain freezes Internet access
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6658>

4. Cisco tackles RFID in the network
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan7106>

5. What's the best way to protect against spyware?
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6978>

_______________________________________________________________
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 HP
FROM THE NETWORK CORE TO THE NETWORK EDGE

Traffic management becomes critical as your network
infrastructure expands to support different types of traffic and
users. Most traffic management solutions have serious
limitations: too expensive, difficult to use, and overly taxing
on bandwidth. However ProCurve Networking by HP addresses these
requirements, overcomes the limitations of other solutions, and
gives you valuable insight into LAN performance.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=114167
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

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FEATURED READER RESOURCE

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storage-related problem occurs on a fiber network? For more,
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<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan7089>
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