Operational efficiencies

Transcription

1 Operational efficiencies Improving efficiency is a top 10 priority for CIOs per a Gartner 2013 study. 1 Tellabs LAN Solutions and Tellabs Panorama PON Manager have many quantifiable methods of gaining positive impact on operational efficiencies for enterprises. That is, LAN and Tellabs PON Manager can improve IT efficiencies by increasing the speed of LAN configurations, monitoring, troubleshooting and MACs while decreasing human error, lowering operational costs and reducing security risks. By accomplishing all of that, Tellabs actually satisfies three more top 10 CIO priorities security, reducing enterprise costs and improving IT applications and infrastructure. Introduction Tellabs LAN is a simple, smart, stable, secure and scalable means of achieving operational efficiencies for modern highperformance LANs [Figure 1]. To illustrate how businesses can gain the benefits of these operational efficiencies, this paper will provide greater detail on the following topics: Operational Efficiencies Impact on Employees and Businesses Legacy copper-based LAN compared to Passive LAN Element Management Operational Efficiencies Operational Efficiencies across LAN systemwide New (cabling infrastructure) Operational Efficiencies Network (ONT) Operational Efficiencies How IT workforce stability impacts Operational Efficiencies Operational efficiencies for employees and businesses Operational efficiencies are an important contemporary CIO/IT topic that is directly connected to element management, network management and Machine-to-Machine (M2M). These can be implemented in the cloud, WAN, LAN, buildings and across a campus. They are a critical part of the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, software-defined networks and big data initiatives. They touch wireline, wireless and most information & communications technology (ICT) services and applications. They impact a wide range of services and applications ranging from: Telemetry, automation, monitoring, control and logistics Smart grid, smart cities and smart/intelligent buildings Highlights Best to promote Machine-to-Machine actions and limit Human-to-Machine actions M2M technology can help CIOs and IT pros do more with less Tellabs LAN & Tellabs PON Manager can improve IT productivity and, ultimately, business productivity With centralized intelligence and management, LAN drives automation thru M2M actions M2M reduces mission-critical repetitive operational tasks effectively to zero dollars Quick views, fast isolation and easy drill-down uncover root causes and speed resolution All the above topics evaluated together will involve not only operational efficiencies but also high availability and then advanced securities. So how are operational efficiencies impacted by employees, business and LANs? Gartner did a study that found that 80% of mission-critical network outages are caused by people and process issues, and more than 50% of those outages are caused by change and configuration management issues. 2 Infonetics Research published a paper that stated that human error is the main cause of network downtime. The paper went on to say that large businesses lose ~3.6% of annual revenue due to LAN downtime and that the human factor is the biggest contributor responsible for 50% to 1 Gartner Gartner See Tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions 1

2 Line Passive Network Figure 1: Tellabs LAN a simple, smart, stable, secure and scalable means of achieving operational efficiencies 80% network outages. 3 Then Ponemon Institute found that the root cause of data breaches was 42% malicious/criminal attacks, 30% human error and 29% system glitch. 4 These facts illustrate that in order to improve operational efficiencies it is safer to automate policies, procedures and overarching processes. This can be done by promoting Machine-to-Machine actions and limiting Human-to-Machine actions whenever possible. The trend toward promoting M2M actions is confirmed by ZDNet, which found that CIOs, other IT leaders and management are beginning to wake up to the potential of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications to deliver real business benefits. 5 AT&T research concluded that M2M offers an unprecedented opportunity to improve society s resource and time efficiency. ICT can improve the efficiency with which society undertakes tasks large and small in ways that were, until recently, entirely impossible. 6 And improving efficiency is a money-making endeavor. ZDNet went on to state that M2M can be tied to a hard return on ROI as well as helping deliver stronger business intelligence, driving customer engagement, cost saving, business process efficiencies, innovation, and potential new revenue streams. 7 All of this supports the conclusion that M2M technology can not only help CIOs and IT pros save money but also do more with less, as they are constantly expected to do these days. Another example of how operational efficiencies impact employees and businesses is by acknowledging that CIO/IT staff performance reviews and compensation are often tied directly to Key Performance Indicators, 8,9 such as: IT Savings (IT work, which positively impacts the bottom line) Dollars saved due to productivity improvement initiatives Percent of IT cost versus total revenue of the organization Percent of IT cost versus total employees Average time to resolution for service tickets M2M technology can not only help CIOs and IT pros save money but also do more with less, as they are constantly expected to do these days. The goal of Tellabs LAN Solutions and Tellabs Panorama PON Manager is to improve IT efficiencies by increasing the speed of LAN installations, configurations, monitoring, troubleshooting and MACs while reducing human error and security risks. This can be done by automation and M2M action using Tellabs Panorama PON Manager and by inherent functions built into Tellabs LAN Solutions. 3 Infonetics 4 Ponemon 5 ZDNet 6 AT&T 7 ZDNet 8 Future CIO 9 A CIO s See Tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions 2

3 Passive LAN compared to legacy copper-based active LANs Much is changing across the LAN. From the applications and services that are delivered across the LAN, to how employees access corporate resources and then to the performance, bandwidth, security and reliability that are expected from a modern LAN. What has not changed is the architecture, cabling and equipment used by these predominantly copper-based Active Ethernet LANs. Passive LANs are poised as a viable new contender to meet the needs of the modern high-performance LAN while enabling additional operational efficiencies. Legacy copper-based LAN Legacy copper-based LAN and its racks and stacks of workgroup switches in communication rooms are a distributed architecture that pushes complexity and intelligence to the farthest reaches of the LAN. This complex distributed network architecture negatively impacts the control of policies and process consistency. They require local management and more human touches at all the disparate "end-points" which waste time and resources. These legacy copper-based LANs are inherently less reliable and their high network downtime negatively impacts operational efficiencies, all of which make for a more stressful and less productive work environment for the IT staff. And these deeply distributed network devices add vulnerable access points for malicious activities, which in turn hurt security. LAN Passive LANs are characterized by centralized intelligence and management, which help control processes and ensure policy consistency. The centralized intelligences, management and automation with more M2M actions speed MACs while reducing human errors. And its higher LAN availability improves operational efficiencies with industryleading high network uptime. All of the above improve process and policy consistency, and help remediate IT skill set and IT head-count reductions. An example of how LAN centralized intelligence, management and automation with more M2M actions speed MACs while reducing human errors is illustrated by Deltek. Based in suburban Herndon, Virginia, Deltek provides Enterprise software and information solutions. Clients include professional services firms and government contractors around the world. In late 2011, the company consolidated five separate facilities in a new six-story corporate headquarters building consolidating their 700 employees. At the time, they chose Tellabs LAN system to handle their voice, video, data and other IT corporate resources network infrastructure needs. The Deltek IT staff came to the conclusion that they saved 50 hours per week as a result of achieving faster MACs with Tellabs LAN and Tellabs PON Manager. If we multiply 50 hours by the Dun & Bradstreet average employee cost ($56), the total annual savings for Deltek because of faster MACs is $145,600 per year (50 hours saved x $56 employee cost x 52 weeks = $145,600). Element management operational efficiencies Tellabs Panorama PON Manager is a major contributor to how LAN centralized intelligence, management and automation with more M2M actions speed MACs while reducing human errors. To showcase how this is possible, we can look at the following ways in which the IT staff can improve operational efficiencies with Tellabs PON Manager [Figure: 2]: Installing your LAN Managing your LAN Automating your LAN Installing your LAN The process of installing LANs starts with the creation, logging and editing of IT staff user information, and the assignment of secure passwords. This also includes setting a hierarchy of roles and responsibilities for the IT staff so that senior staff are only allowed to implement the most critical of LAN configuration changes. User management is VERY important for achieving the highest levels of security, stability and operational efficiencies. Line Passive Network Figure 2: Tellabs Panorama PON Manager is at the heart of improving operational efficiencies. See Tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions 3

4 Tellabs Panorama PON Manager simplifies the installation process further by using Commission Wizard, which configures ONTs, sets network policy, manages end-points and creates ACL filtering. The Commission Wizard speeds this process by walking the IT staff through series of template/profiles. Tellabs PON Manager provides default templates/profiles. These default templates/profiles are meant to satisfy 80% of customers' configurations based on Tellabs engineering experience from many years of successful deployments. After tasks are completed in the Commission Wizard, Tellabs PON Manager will then make available the Add OLT Wizard for the IT staff. Once again, the IT staff is led through a series of windows that load ONT templates, Alarms, Uplinks, VLAN, Service profile, NAC profile and Port template that are associated with the OLT. Again, default templates/profiles are already preloaded, and if changes are made, these changes can be saved as new defaults for the future. The key benefit of the Add OLT Wizard is that it allows the IT staff to scale the initial commissioning of OLT across 100s of VLANs and 1000s of ONTs and subtended powered devices (PDs), such as phones, s and IP cameras. As stated above, Tellabs PON Manager has Profiles and Templates that are preloaded with high runner criteria already configured. Profiles cover PON, DSCP, PoE, RSTP, PAE (802.1x), NAC, LLDP and ACL information. Profiles can be associated with Service, Connection and/or Port. Once Profiles are saved, you can assign the settings to an ONT or port with one click. Templates are similar to Profiles, and they can include Profiles. Templates can be designated as default or golden, and they can be assigned at Ethernet ports, ONTs and other network elements. Templates ensure that ONTs are created with the services that you most commonly use, therefore eliminating most data entry. Both Profiles and Templates ensure consistency with IT policies and procedures across buildings, campuses and all business locations. Managing your LAN Managing your LAN begins with proactive performance monitoring, such as real-time views of optical power levels, PON thresholds alarms and CIR thresholds alarms. Next is Tellabs PON Manager 4-color Alarms and Events View. This is a real-time one-screen view of alarms and events for total visibility across the entire end-to-end system. Finally, Tellabs PON Manager supports Syslog, which is another good place to capture the logging of events. Troubleshooting is a reality of managing any LAN. Tellabs PON Manager troubleshooting capabilities include quick access to the alarms and events and fast drill-down from the equipment view, which we will discuss in more detail later. The Tellabs PON Manager Web-based interface is a great tool for troubleshooting as it provides fast navigation for quick views, fast isolation and easy drill-down to uncover root causes and speed resolution. A big part of managing an LAN is the Moves, Adds and Changes (MAC). For moves, users and devices can move freely throughout the LAN and will be authenticated, authorized and configured automatically. With adds, auto-configuration is a reality once profiles/templates are established. Profiles/templates allow for new users, services and devices to be added to the network with one click. Changes are made easily with profiles/ templates too because they can be modified, and global changes can flow across the LAN with one click. These profiles/templates can be changed in bulk or to a select defined group. and applications are managed at the network level, at the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) level and at the security level. When we say that services and applications are managed by the network, we are referring to Layer-2 VLAN provisioning. When talking about management by SLAs, this includes setting QoS, bandwidth, filtering and bridging types for the services and applications. And when we manage services and applications security, we are speaking about the Tellabs PON Manager walking the IT staff through the settings of ACLs, security policy and port state. Figure 3: With LAN the end-points don t change same connections, same services and same applications. Finally, Tellabs LAN and Tellabs PON Manager provide automation down to the powered devices (PDs), such as phones, s and IP cameras. This is accomplished because Network Access Control (NAC), IEEE 802.1x, DHCP (with option 82), RADIUS and Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) can extend controlled access to LAN users and to PDs. These protocols allow for consistent policies to be managed through Tellabs PON Manager profiles/templates and the automated PD configuration, monitoring and power management [Figure 3]. See Tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions 4

5 Figure 4: Tellabs PON Manager Performance Monitoring, Alarms and Events, and Equipment Views To round out the discussion on managing your LAN, we will cover equipment view, inventory and downloads. The Equipment View function of Tellabs PON Manager provides a four-color graphical view of systems, including OLTs, ONTs, ports and links, just to name a few [Figure 4]. Views can be obtained at the ONT, PON card, Ethernet card, port, link and connection level. From the equipment view, the IT staff can orchestrate speedy drill-down analysis for proactive performance monitoring or troubleshooting resolution. Inventory functions provide easy life-cycle management of the equipment and end-to-end system. Inventory View shows a list of all cards and ONTs by serial numbers and by software releases. The IT staff can sort any column and access advanced search functions. Downloads View allows the control of downloads consistent with the system upgrade process, which reduces the chance of human error. This is where new features and functions associated with new software releases can be implemented. At any moment, the IT staff always has the option to roll back to prior software releases during the upgrade process. The Tellabs PON Manager Web browser user interface is a fabulous tool for the IT staff. Web browser management is a subset of Tellabs PON Manager features and functions, and is meant to streamline daily operations of performance monitoring, diagnostics and MACs. The Tellabs PON Manager Web client supports advance search, service management and troubleshooting. Whether working from Tellabs PON Manager desktop client or laptop/tablet client, both junior and senior-level staff are provided with great benefits from "online help." Online help is where IT staff can gain hot link access to technical documentation. It is an effective training tool for junior level staff. For both junior and senior IT staff, it is a means to manage the LAN in a simple, smart, stable, secure and scalable manner. Automating your LAN The first topic relative to automating your LAN is LAN backup and restoration. The Backup and Restore View function captures configurations and data base info. It can provide full systemwide backup and archive, and can be scheduled to run during off-hours. The next opportunity or automation can be achieved with Reports and Analytics View functions. This is where the IT staff can create and edit reports. One can open, export, delete or refresh reports. For automation, these reports can be scheduled to run during off-hours. The biggest topic of automation revolves around higher-level network management. This includes the ability to integrate OLT/ONT features/functions into higher-level network management or back-office software with SNMP and MIBs. By automating backup/restoration, reports/ analytics and leveraging higher-level network management, CIOs and IT pros can effectively reduce mission-critical repetitive tasks to zero dollars! Operational efficiencies across LAN systemwide Because LAN s intelligence, control and management are centralized, the Tellabs PON manager does most of the heavy lifting. However, there are some underlying inherent qualities of the LAN technology that positively impact operational efficiencies, which deserve mentioning [Figure 5]. At its core, LAN enables software-defined resources to be dynamically allocated, based on real-time needs. When services and applications (e.g., data, voice, video,, IP cameras, building automation, environments, security) traverse the LAN, bandwidth, QoS, authentication/authorization and PD management happen automatically. Bandwidth is assigned on a per service, per port, per end-device and per user basis as part of the provisioned SLA attributes. Also, LAN supports dynamic bandwidth allocation in an upstream direction because centralized intelligence allows for the ability to see all super users and where extra bandwidth is needed. Strict QoS provides for proper service segmentation, rate limiting/shaping, queue management/buffering, scheduling/policing and is provisioned as part of the SLA attributes. Authentication and authorization provide controlled access on a per user and per device basis. LANs can accomplish this See Tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions 5

6 Line Passive Network Figure 5: Tellabs LAN centralized intelligence, control and management across an end-to-end system because they support Network Access Control (NAC), IEEE 802.1x and RADIUS protocols. Also of interest is how powered device (PD) management can extend to subtended end-devices for configuration, monitoring and power management. Much of the PD automation is provided through the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) protocol. Thus, not only do LANs improve IT efficiencies by increasing the speed of LAN configurations, monitoring, troubleshooting and MACs while decreasing human error, lowering costs and reducing security risks, but they also lay the foundation for softwaredefined LANs. New (cabling infrastructure) Operational Efficiencies You would not expect cable infrastructure to be included under operational efficiencies, but there have been some major advancements in fiber-based infrastructures for LANs, which warrant discussion [Figure 6]. Single-mode fiber (SMF) now has the option for being bend insensitive, crush resistant and having excellent tensile strength. This new breed of SMF speeds installation and completely eliminates historical durability concerns. Fiber management is now purpose built for enterprise, building, zone and campus deployments. This fiber management provides wide-open flexibility on positioning and breaks down traditional demarcations within an enterprise cable plant. Today, fiber connectors can be preterminated solutions and field crimpable by hand, thus removing the need for fusion splicing. These new connector options help lower the skill set and pay scale of the installer, so result in faster installs and lower costs. There has also been advancement in fiber testing. The minimum test requirements for fiber only require a light source and power meter. Thus, there is less testing required for fiber cabling than copper cabling, which speeds test & turn-up time. Network (ONT) operational efficiencies LAN ONTs are designed with no local management access. This is done because there are few needs for human touches at the ONTs. The ONTs are basically simple optical-to-electrical terminals. They are capable of delivering all the connections, services and applications required for a modern LAN. And they are highly reliable and secure, which ultimately helps improve operational efficiencies [Figure 7]. Because LAN has centralized intelligence and management, no information is stored at the ONTs. That is, user and provisioning information does not reside on the ONT. ONTs are like a thin client themselves user policies are managed solely at the OLT, so control Line Passive Network Figure 6: New (cabling infrastructure) operational efficiencies See Tellabs.com for more information about Tellabs Solutions 6

7 Line Passive Network Figure 7: Inherent Network (ONT) operational efficiencies and automation can be easily implemented at the OLT from the Tellabs PON manager. Whether deploying 100s or 1000s of ONTs, the Tellabs PON manager streamlines the initial installation and ongoing management of ONTs. Manual, Bulk Import and CLI Scripting Unexpected ONT Bulk Assignment (i.e., logic for handling unexpected ONTs) Auto-configuration (i.e., ONT is automatically provisioned) Auto-conversion (i.e., automatically aligns services if ONT types are different) IT Workforce Stability Another top 10 CIO priority is attracting and retaining the workforce. Legacy copper-based LANs have equipment on every floor of every building that requires physical monitoring, provisioning and maintenance. The IT staff requires weeks of training to be comfortable with the programming of moves, adds, changes (MACs) and other network modifications. OLAN simplifies aggregation, distribution and access with less equipment and less cabling, thus requiring fewer IT staff touches. The passive portions of this network require zero attention from the IT staff. Tellabs LAN MACs can be executed at the centrally located Tellabs PON Manager with preexisting global profiles/templates, or the MACs can happen dynamically with the aid of higher-level network access control protocols. With this simplified network architecture, the IT staff needs less training, and no annual certification is required to support Passive OLANs. Training takes five days compared to copperbased LAN training, which can take weeks or even months. Furthermore, expensive and time-consuming formal certification programs that take up IT staff time are unnecessary, keeping the staff on the job instead. In the end, OLANs help CIOs, IT managers and the IT staff compensate for today s lean IT workforce, keep pace with evolutionary innovations, manage regular heavy workloads and assist with the retention of quality IT employees. Summary Tellabs LAN and Tellabs PON Manager can improve IT efficiencies by increasing the speed of LAN configurations, monitoring, troubleshooting and MACs while reducing human error and security risks. This is possible through the centralized intelligence and management that makes automated M2M action possible. All of which can positively impact CIOs' and IT pros' priorities and key performance indicators. Take the next step. Contact Tellabs today West Diehl Road Naperville, IL U.S.A. 2015, Tellabs Access, LLC. All rights reserved. TEL9542 1/15