Metro Ethernet: The 'next big thing' in access services

Wide Area Networking This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Data Protection: Preferred Strategies used by Small and Mid-sized Businesses Data has become the most valuable resource that many companies own. Organizations of all sizes are actively searching for reliable, affordable solutions for data protection to help them with business continuity, disaster recovery, and compliance. The problem is especially acute for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), which typically lack the resources to add new technologies or manage the growing infrastructure required to deal with the problem. Click here to listen to this webcast which reveals the latest findings and trends! Network World's Wide Area Networking Newsletter, 06/05/07 Metro Ethernet: The 'next big thing' in access services By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler In the last newsletter, we began a discussion of the current state-of-the-market for Metro Ethernet. This time we’ll focus on the primary drivers behind Metro Ethernet adoption, and why we see this as the “next big thing” in access services. According to the study, conducted by Kubernan and available at Webtorials, the primary driver is – no surprise here – a desire for lower cost for higher access speeds. Interestingly and somewhat paradoxically, this was seen as being more important by the service providers (80%) than by users (67%). As mentioned in the last newsletter, the users were much more interested in Metro Ethernet for simplified business continuity than the service providers anticipated, with relative percentages of 39% vs. 18%. As a related topic, and further confirming this, the option “Disaster recovery is better/easier” was chosen by 23% of the users vs. 12 % of the service providers. Clearly, the message from these results is that users are willing to pay for the needed capabilities, indicating that this might not be as price-sensitive as one might think. VoIP: Lessons from Early Adopters Experts say VoIP isn't a magic wand that will solve all of an organization's communications challenges right out of the box. Learn why VoIP may not produce expected savings and productivity gains, and other lessons from early adopters. Click Here to Watch There were a couple of other surprises in the drivers. One of the perceived and often-touted advantages of Metro Ethernet is operational simplicity in that the staff can deal with a singular protocol. This was ranked fourth overall by the users at 27%, but the service providers thought it would be much more important, ranked third overall at 35%. Finally, non-drivers are often interesting. One of the possible drivers listed as a choice was to avoid additional protocol conversions. The idea here is that by avoiding a requirement to go from Ethernet to another protocol (such as MPLS or ATM or Frame Relay) for WAN transport and back to Ethernet would provide a benefit. However, only 13% of users and 19% of service providers saw this as an advantage. Next time we’ll look at the flip side – the primary inhibitors.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: 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, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at 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 via e-mail. This newsletter is sponsored by Arsenal Digital Solutions Data Protection: Preferred Strategies used by Small and Mid-sized Businesses Data has become the most valuable resource that many companies own. Organizations of all sizes are actively searching for reliable, affordable solutions for data protection to help them with business continuity, disaster recovery, and compliance. The problem is especially acute for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), which typically lack the resources to add new technologies or manage the growing infrastructure required to deal with the problem. Click here to listen to this webcast which reveals the latest findings and trends! ARCHIVE Archive of the Wide Area Networking Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007