Master of Your Domain Names
Domain names can be a petty pain. Most businesses, large and small, own multiple domains and corporations can own hundreds or thousands of them. Domain name licenses expire over time, of course, and some domain names go in and out of service. Though it's a smaller item, a basic service that automates management of domain names, their status, their expiration dates and who has permission to administer them would provide a common staple in the IP environment. Any enterprise might want to see this as part of an overall offering, as opposed to the alternative of paying someone to manage a system that in turn manages domain names.
Business Applications
One the major reasons enterprises are clamoring for services like MPLS networking is that they want flexible – but QoS manageable – bandwidth to support their applications. Most corporations use any combination of SAP, Peoplesoft, Siebel, Microsoft Exchange, Salesforce.com and a range of other common business systems that provide the basis for their every day operations. Applications are being used increasingly by large and small companies for things like automating international trade functions, managing supply chain logistics, and tracking real-time inventory.
Of the biggest hurdles for enterprises to move from in-house applications to an outsourced model is whether it would have to change the applications it uses, or try to re-make all of it's customizations on a new version of its application. Part of the carrier's service would have to include not just the application, but the customer's migration to it. These applications services do not exist in a vacuum. They will be used side by side with services like voice, messaging and email. They will also drive traffic because they generate support calls, sales, and customer service follow-ups.
Storage Area Networks (SANs)
Data is to enterprise IT managers what nuclear waste is to a power plant – there's too much of it and not enough places to hide it. Massive storage arrays and data warehouses were once thrown at the problem, but solutions have become more sophisticated. SANs are gaining intelligence and the cost of SAN devices has dropped significantly as the quality has improved – as is generally the case with maturing technologies. SANs are being complemented with data and document management applications that incorporate automated workflows. They can make rules-based decisions about where to store documents, where and when to back-up data, how to identify and delete redundant data, and how to optimize storage capacity.
In a reliably connected broadband world, where the SAN physically resides is not an issue, as long as it is secure. SAN is a natural for an outsourced IP service on its own. Enterprises use SANs for everything from internal administrative and insurance data to materials for sales personnel, contracts for leased equipment, manuals for office equipment and software, and telecom agreements. SANs can also provide a data backbone for other applications, and can help enable mobility and presence capabilities. An outsourced SAN can provide all of the same functionality, but none of the hardware, maintenance or system management expenses.
You Must Comply
A major benefit that a well managed SAN can provide is a foundation for what's called strong “information stewardship.” Information stewardship a something corporations must undertake to insure they comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, the Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and other mandates. It means insuring complete, accurate, secure data that is stored appropriately, backed up and ready for auditing. AMR research estimates that corporations will spend roughly $5.5 billion in 2004 to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements alone.
Enterprise managers say they do not have the people, time or resources to manage the sheer volume of data management, processing and auditing involved in compliance. Not surprisingly, a host of software tools designed to manage data and automate compliance reporting have surfaced in the IT world. 46 percent of the 500 IT executives Network World and Research Concepts recently surveyed said they will upgrade or purchase new applications this year for regulatory compliance. This is, once again, a common service that is highly repeatable and adds massive value to any data storage, hosting or management service.
Of the biggest hurdles for enterprises to move from in-house applications to an outsourced model is whether it would have to change the applications it uses, or try to re-make all of it's customizations on a new version of its application. Part of the carrier's service would have to include not just the application, but the customer's migration to it. These applications services do not exist in a vacuum. They will be used side by side with services like voice, messaging and email. They will also drive traffic because they generate support calls, sales, and customer service follow-ups.