WHAT 3 THINGS DOES YOUR NETWORK NEED TO KEEP YOUR BUSINESS WORKING?

Transcription

1 WHAT 3 THINGS DOES YOUR NETWORK NEED TO KEEP YOUR BUSINESS WORKING? Performance. Reliability. Manageability. Performance: A great performing network doesn t happen by accident. Understand how performance can make a good network great. Reliability: An unreliable network can compromise business. But do you know how to get it and what it looks like? Manageability: How to get that crucial view on what s working and what needs to change.

2 THE POWER OF THE MODERN NETWORK. PART 1: PERFORMANCE. A high-performing network can make a good business great by giving workers fast access to the information they rely on every working day. With more organisations taking advantage of collaboration tools, IP Voice and the Cloud, it s never been more important to get the right network performance in place. However, it doesn t happen by accident. Business leaders face the challenge of keeping a careful eye on user experience and ensuring they can deliver the responsiveness that workers need. Jan Hein Bakkers and Greg Duffy debate how IT managers can make that happen. IN THIS GUIDE: Cloud computing, remote working and new applications like IP Voice are helping to transform business. But they bring challenges too: A greater reliance on the business network to keep it all working When networks connect to new sites, applications and people. What s emerging is that performance, reliability and manageability are key to the success of a network. That s why we ve made them the focus of our three debates. We sought the opinion of industry experts Jan Hein Bakkers, Research Manager in IDC s European Telecommunications and Networking team, and Greg Duffy, Head of Networked IT Propositions at BT Business. They put forward their expert opinions on how you can: Help your network deliver the speed needed for communications and applications The availability to keep the business running How to get that crucial view on what s working and what needs to change. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: GREG DUFFY CONTENTS. Part 1: Performance. 3-5 Part 2: Reliability. 6-8 Part 3: Manageability JAN HEIN BAKKERS GREAT PERFORMANCE IS ALL ABOUT THE END-USER EXPERIENCE. Let s talk about performance. What is it and how do businesses perceive it? Greg Duffy [GD] Great performance is all about the end-user experience. For example, how long does it take for customer information to pop up on a call centre agent s screen, a card payment to be authorised, or a screen share to start? You re relying on the network to support these activities, and small delays can have a huge impact on the productivity of your people and the experience of their customers. Jan Hein Bakkers [JHB] I agree that end-user experience is important to understanding performance. But there are many different ways of defining user experience, and differences in terms of your business requirements also matter. If your users are happy, then your network is probably doing a good job. However, if you find a user is unable to complete specific tasks due to performance issues, then your network isn t up to scratch. GD That s true. Another complication is that it s not always easy to know when performance is faltering. It can be tough for IT leaders as some businesses still rely on employee feedback, because the right mechanisms to monitor performance aren t in place. Issues only get brought up when someone starts complaining. Sometimes there are indirect indicators that something s wrong. For instance, excessive call waiting times might in part be driven by customer service applications running slowly over the network. Even so, it can take a long time, maybe too long, for concerns about performance to be addressed. JHB When you look closely at how network concerns are addressed, I would agree it s clear plenty of businesses still take a reactive approach to network performance. However it s important to recognise that taking a reactive approach is not in itself a bad thing, as otherwise you might be dedicating resource to finding problems that aren t there. GD The downside to a reactive approach is that users may have a long wait while IT identifies where the issue is and how to address it. The answer to that is to have tools in place to monitor and manage the network proactively, so that IT can quickly pinpoint a problem when users complain, perhaps before they need to do so. Greg Duffy is the Head of Networked IT Propositions at BT Business, heading up the data networking team responsible for BT s IP VPN, Ethernet, Internet and International Services. He is currently overseeing the roll out of new BT Managed WAN Services. Greg has previously worked in IT services, mobile and ebusiness and brings with him vast experience gained from these business markets. Jan Hein Bakkers is a research manager in IDC s European Telecommunications and Networking team. He has been analysing telecoms and networking markets since 2001, and is currently responsible for IDC s coverage of fixed data services in Western Europe, including broadband and Internet access, as well as business network services like IP VPN and Ethernet services. 2 The power of the modern network. Part 1: Performance. 3

3 How is performance measured? GD We all know the impact that performance has on us. Every minute we wait for an application to respond is a minute wasted. When it happens regularly across the organisation it might mean more dissatisfied customers and more people needed to fix the problem. Clearly, you need methods to measure performance so that you know what good looks like and whether you re achieving it, and so that you can make informed decisions about network suppliers. A useful measure is bandwidth the quantity of data than can be sent and received in a given time frame such as 100 Megabits per second. If your users aren t getting the information they need quickly enough, your bandwidth may be too low. Another measure is known as Packet Delivery ; how many of your data packets are delivered first time. When networks are congested they drop packets and re-transmit them later, which cause delays to your information. For good performance it s important to deliver packets first time, even when the network is busy. We target a 99.9% package delivery rate, for example. Another useful measure is Jitter, which is relevant when voice and video are transmitted on your network. If successive packets of voice data take different times to get across the network then you can get gaps in your speech, which isn t great when you re talking to customers! To keep voice quality high, we normally look for less than three and a half milliseconds of variation (or Jitter) in the transmission time. Finally, Latency is a measure of how long it takes to get a packet of data across the network and back. If this time increases when the network gets busy then we can start experiencing problems. For voice and time critical applications we look for latency to be no more than 20 milliseconds. JHB A good example of where latency really matters is for some financial companies who rely on the highly advanced algorithmic trading to carry out thousands of transactions a second. Here even a millisecond delay can have major financial implications. However, network latency is not such a big issue in all industries. If you work in a company where real-time data transfer is not essential, then your definition of performance will be very different. GD But with network performance, there s no room for complacency. When thinking about a new or upgraded network, it is useful to compare the performance measures that suppliers quote, and to check how much they will guarantee them. Day to day, it s helpful to have your managed network supplier monitor your networks to determine when - and where - problems arise. How can a business ensure network performance? GD There are some things that a business can do to drive performance. Demand can vary across the business, so it s worth looking at what demand is needed at each business site. Once you ve done this, you can consider how much bandwidth is required for each user based on their role and what they need to do. For example, a warehouse might not need as much as a head office where there are lots of people generating network traffic. Then, scope the right type of circuits for the job, on a site by site basis (i.e. choosing between Ethernet Fibre, DSL or another technology). My advice to customers is not to just look at price and bandwidth, but to think about the characteristics of the circuit types too. For example, DSL is known as rate adaptive meaning its performance changes and as it re-trains itself, there are short outages that can interfere with your traffic. Think about the repair times. Talk to your suppliers about what you need. In summary, try to be clear on the demands that will be placed on your network and ask your suppliers for help in meeting them. JHB I d agree with Greg s point that getting an idea of demand is crucial. It s also thinking about the type of organisation your IT department serves. If you have dedicated in-house people for network operations, keeping management in-house can be a good choice. For other companies with limited IT resources, staying out of the day-to-day hassle of network operation can really make sense. GD Also, think about the network that you re buying into. Bear in mind that a network is more than just the circuits that connect to your buildings. It s also the core network that links them all together. This core network is built by your supplier and has a major bearing on the performance you get. To get the best performance we ve built ours with the highest performance carrier grade infrastructure, using highly scalable bandwidth. We ve provided the ability to prioritise critical data (such as voice) using a technique called Class of Service, that runs right from one end of our network to the other, not just at the edge. And we ve had to build a single, purpose-built network, rather than one made up of numerous separate networks with lots of extra hops, routers and support systems that might otherwise slow you down. JHB Going back to the point made at the start of this debate, performance is definitely crucial because businesses are continuing to connect more sites and are running more applications. For many organisations, the network is mission-critical to the business. And a failure in performance has a direct impact on the bottom line. Individual business requirements define the user experience of the network. GD And network demands change over time and this can impact on performance. It s worth planning ahead to cover organic growth in network usage. We re often asked for help with long term trends and to assess the impact of rolling out a new application. If you have a managed service provider who can provide long term trend information, then it makes sense to use it. How can a managed service provider help you ensure performance? JHB The simple answer is that your managed service provider should take the effort and stress out of running your network. If the provider is managing the network to keep the business working on a day-to-day basis, CIOs can focus their resources on supporting strategic business transformation. GD That s right. We manage networks so that our customers can focus on managing their businesses. JHB Remember though that managed service provision is not a template that can be applied to all companies. Demands differ between different companies. GD We see that, too. The larger networks that we manage for customers invariably have a bespoke design and management service. Even the smallest networks have variations from standard designs. For example, customers might want an alerting them to problems on their smaller sites but proactive calls for larger sites. One customer may want traffic analysis on key sites. Another might want us to monitor toner cartridge levels or fish tank temperatures over the network (which we can do!). JHB Interesting example Greg! For me the point is that no matter what your needs, network providers can help businesses in two key ways. From the beginning of the relationship, service providers can help the CIO understand what processes are being run and design a network that accommodates such demands. In an established network, providers can help with maintenance and management. In that management stage, monitoring the network will show you where bottlenecks are occurring. Being proactive allows you to predict where bottlenecks might happen in the future, helping you to solve concerns in a timely manner. GD To help manage the network, a good managed network provider will provide a toolset, typically in the form of a portal. Such portals might show the status of the network and other IP devices, as well as showing traffic levels, highlighting issues and allowing you to drill-down to explore and address them. This can help the business and the network provider to work together to fix performance issues as they arise, and to plan to keep them at bay. JHB Fault identification is great but CIOs are starting to recognise that not all networking monitoring tools are the same. They ll usually come in the form of a portal, but different providers will offer toolsets of variable quality, offering differing depths of analysis. It s crucial to remember the amount of insight you receive can vary from a monthly performance report to a real-time portal that gives you a view of what is currently happening on your network. The key is to recognise that not all network performance tools and forms of managed service provision are equal....a WAREHOUSE MIGHT NOT NEED AS MUCH AS A HEAD OFFICE WHERE THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE GENERATING NETWORK TRAFFIC. WE MANAGE NETWORKS SO THAT OUR CUSTOMERS CAN FOCUS ON MANAGING THEIR BUSINESSES.. 4 5

4 PART 2: RELIABILITY. The rise of technologies such as IP Voice, collaboration tools and Cloud are undoubtedly changing the way we work. The network is key to delivering this information, but when it s unreliable, the whole business can be compromised. In the second part of our head-to-head on networking, we hear again from Jan Hein Bakkers, Research Manager in IDC s European telecommunications and networking team, and Greg Duffy, Head of Networked IT Services at BT Business. The industry experts debate what reliability is, why it s important and how to get it. IT S ABOUT RECOGNISING THAT IF CONNECTIONS TO BUILDINGS, SERVERS OR DATA CENTRES STOP, THEN THE BUSINESS STOPS WORKING. How can we best define reliability and why is it important? Greg Duffy [GD] When we talk about reliability, we re really talking about availability. That s the uptime, the amount of time your network is available to your users. It can be useful to think of it as the complete opposite of downtime which is, in essence, bad time. People talk about availability as a percentage. Five nines means % availability equivalent to just 5 minutes downtime in a year, whereas Three nines (99.9%) means up to 9 hours down time in a year. Reliability will matter more in some sites than others. As an example, we recently talked with a business whose manufacturing site did laser cutting of metal parts for its customers. They recognised that if the link to that site went down they would start losing money fast - 60k a day. Jan Hein Bakkers [JHB] Those kinds of measures are important, but I don t think reliability is just about high availability. It s the most commonly used measure, but not all organisations have the same requirements of a network. High availability might be the key for some firms, like the manufacturing company mentioned above. For others, like a finance firm involved in online trading, time delays in transactions would be a real problem, so latency is likely to be key. GD - I guess the truth of the matter is several elements drive reliability. You can best understand the impact by thinking in terms of the affect a drop in availability would have on your business. And you need to select the amount of resilience depending on the uptime the business requires. JHB - You also need to work out what availability means to your business. For example, is it important to have constant uptime? Or is high broadband speed more important? There s always a trade off between quality and price when it comes to availability. GD - And as you think about your definition of availability, you should consider the business not as a whole but site by site. High levels of availability are likely to be required in your head office or in a major manufacturing centre, but they might be less important at isolated sites or for individual home workers. It s the difference between downtime for one user or loss of availability for a thousand. In short, it s about working out the amount of downtime acceptable for each part of the business. That focus on business demands sounds great for current networking requirements but how will reliability impact the cloud? GD - Cloud working will make its own demands on the network. It s about recognising that if connections to buildings, servers or data centres stop, then the business stops working. Whether applications are hosted on-site or off-site, cloud computing demands high levels of reliability. JHB - I agree the cloud is having a huge effect. It s a very broad concept but it s true that more applications are being run out of data centres, physically separated from the user, yet these apps are still running over the network. That creates a big shift in terms of requiring bandwidth and reductions in latency as people require access to large amounts of information instantly. We re at an early stage, but a shift towards the cloud will only increase. It will create more demands on the network and that s where performance monitoring can really help. GD - Agreed. Performance monitoring helps IT management to deliver acceptable service levels whatever the demands on the network and that includes cloud. But it s what you do with that monitoring that really makes the difference. We have found that to maximise productive uptime, you need a supplier that will be alerting you proactively when problems arise, and will have experts rather than call handlers answering the phone. With our managed services we look to inform customers about 95% of major problems proactively (and deal with them), and when customers do call us, we look to resolve 70% of incidents while on the phone. JHB - As Greg suggests, monitoring is a dynamic process and you must be able to identify potential bottlenecks. Most providers will have tools to help you manage capacity and flag where demands are too high. The step beyond that type of monitoring is where users can actually dynamically change the settings themselves, for example by being able to increase the amount of bandwidth they use for a particular period of time. The cloud means networks themselves will need to be more flexible, with usage-based charging models. We re seeing more examples of these models and the on-demand network is definitely on operator roadmaps. YOU CAN BEST UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT BY THINKING IN TERMS OF THE AFFECT A DROP IN AVAILABILITY WOULD HAVE ON YOUR BUSINESS. 6 7

5 Networks, then, continue to evolve, so how should we use service level agreements (SLAs) to provide peace of mind? GD Actually, I think there are a number of things you could consider before you start to think about SLAs. Decide on a site by site basis what availability you need, according to how much downtime you can afford. Choose circuit types that match those needs (for example, you might want dual fibre connections routed separately into your most critical buildings to ensure continuous uptime). Also, consider appropriate support levels, such as reactive versus proactive monitoring, or proactive repair. There are lots of things driven by your choice of supplier too. As before, a network is more than just the circuits that connect your buildings. It s also the core network that links them all together. This core network is built by your supplier and has a major bearing on reliability. For example, we ve built our core network to support the UK s critical national infrastructure (such as emergency services, government, defence and financial hubs), so we have a very large number of switching points around the country to minimise the impact of losing any one. Each of these has dual connections and dual routers from dual manufacturers. That s what has to be done to offer the best levels of availability and the best guarantees. At the most basic level, SLAs then allow you to get an appreciation for expected availability. But what really matters are the service level guarantees (SLGs) that your provider gives your business. These outline what happens when things go wrong and, critically, whether there are any exclusions such as downtime, that s due to the provider s network maintenance. JHB - Those guarantees matter because a good SLA shows your network provider is confident in their abilities and willing to back up that confidence with compensation payments if things go wrong. Even the most sophisticated network can go down. But with the right type of SLA, you can be sure your business will be compensated. If you look around, most if not all providers will offer some form of SLA. But it s crucial to recognise the huge differences between SLAs. GD - I agree, service providers don t all offer the same guarantees. It makes sense to think about availability and ask to see your provider s network guarantees and exclusions. Undertake this task for each physical site in the business. The more you rely on your network, the more it s worth thinking about how much you are willing to pay for it and that comes down to balancing acceptable downtime with your available budget. JHB - Greg is right to suggest you must get the trade-off right between the service you want and the amount you re prepared to spend. After all, there is a wide variation in the coverage of SLAs and the compensation they provide. Basic SLAs may only cover the average time to repair a problem, while other SLAs stipulate you will be immediately compensated if availability drops below a certain level. Network service provision that offers high service level guarantees will typically not be the cheapest. Make sure you pay close attention to the details and match them to your business requirements. GD - Also analyse how much you ll get if things go wrong. Some providers might commit to a refund for every minute that your network is down. At the other end of the scale, they might offer you nothing. You need guarantees with teeth. Think about whether your supplier is prepared to put his money where his mouth is....a GOOD SLA SHOWS YOUR NETWORK PROVIDER IS CONFIDENT IN THEIR ABILITIES AND WILLING TO BACK UP THAT CONFIDENCE WITH COMPENSATION... PART 3: MANAGEABILITY. We ve seen from the first two parts of our analysis that a reliable, high-performing network lets the business take advantage of technologies and applications, while ensuring that it stays running. But this infrastructure must also be manageable. Does that mean that the CIO s team should be drilling down into the detail of the network to discover how it s performing and what needs to change, or can they hand that function over to a partner, and spend more time on strategic work? In the final part of our head-to-head on networking, Jan Hein Bakkers, Research Manager in IDC s European telecommunications and networking team, and Greg Duffy, Head of Networked IT services at BT Business, debate the issues involved in network manageability. FINDING A FAULT CAN BE LIKE FINDING A NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK, AND IT EATS UP MANAGEMENT TIME. What is manageability and how can the business be confident the network will work 24/7? Greg Duffy [GD] Today s IP Voice, collaboration and cloud applications involve whole paths of information that pass through multiple devices and network segments. Any of these elements could cause the application they are supporting to fail, or perhaps worse they might compromise it without a clear cause. Manageability is the ability of your network supplier to; monitor, identify, show you, discuss with you, control, fix and plan for the future. It s manageability that keeps your network running, keeps it responsive and takes the worry away from the CIO. Jan Hein Bakkers [JHB] Some sense of manageability is important, but I m not sure it s necessary for every business to understand in minute detail what is happening on the network. If you do want to drill into the details, some organisations will be better placed than others to ensure the network is running smoothly. You might have an internal networking team, but you might not have the skills in-house to address detailed network concerns. That s when you ll need to look outside for help. GD - The call for such expertise comes with the rise in the importance of information and applications, and the increasing reliance that more and more organisations have on their networks. If you have 20 users at each of 10 sites, and they re all running 5 critical apps, then you have 1,000 distinct and unique critical paths of information. Finding a fault can be like finding a needle in a haystack, and it eats up management time. That s why CIOs want the ability to identify and trace problems and why they want to have fact-based conversations with their suppliers. And it s why customers want to have confidence that someone will be there to support them if things go wrong at three o clock in the morning. JHB - If you do look outside for help, your managed service provider can often take care of the whole cycle associated with running a network, including assessment, implementation and maintenance. Good providers will have people who specialise in those three areas. Some organisations may want to keep network management in-house and not be over-reliant on a single provider. But even if you have an in-house networking team, you ll typically need to in-source some expertise. GD That s right. And don t forget that a good provider should be able to show you long term trends in your network information, to drill down to find recurring problems, and to help you to see how current usage trends and new applications will impact your network. 8 9

6 It sounds like some organisations manage elements of the network in-house, while others will lean more heavily on an external partner. How do you choose the right approach and establish a beneficial relationship with a partner? JHB - For me, the concept of hybrid networks is critical. It s increasingly common now that different services are combined to address the needs of the company on a site by site basis. You might, for example, have an Ethernet connection into the data centre and an IP link going out to the smaller sites. You won t be able to provide a blanket connection for the whole business and you will have to address the needs of individual sites. GD - That s a great point. As Jan outlines, today we see our customers blending IP VPN perhaps with Ethernet between two key sites and Internet VPN for remote users. Few businesses want to afford the skills and tools to support all of their infrastructure, across all of their sites, so they rely on suppliers. But you could have ten network and device suppliers, each with different SLAs, each wanting proof that it s their component at fault before they ll help. So businesses really need a single point of support that can genuinely keep their infrastructure running. This is disproportionately beneficial, but not all network providers truly offer it. JHB - Greg is right to highlight that not all managed service providers are the same and they will differ in regards to the ways they can tailor their abilities to your business needs. The managed network is rarely an off-the-shelf solution. There will be subtle differences in terms of provider s network designs. That s why it s about establishing a partnership with your provider. Each one will want to work as a partner, but the level of customisation will affect the price. GD It s definitely true that all providers are not the same. They might just provide the router. Or they might provide the router and a break/ fix engineering service. Or they might keep the configuration of your network so that they can change it remotely. A good management service provider will take more responsibility. When things go wrong, a great provider will carry the can. As an IT leader, it s about getting a specialist provider to do the heavy lifting and worrying. What measurements will help me ensure network management is in hand? GD - Network management is at the heart of a healthy, vibrant network. Great management is much more than simply looking after a router. It should include remote monitoring - not just whether a connection is alive or dead - but the flows and performance of different types of traffic, and if requested, about all the other IP devices on the network. It should include proactive alerting and fault rectification that is configured to the business needs, and calls answered by real experts who can see what s happening. The best management services include a portal that shows the business all of this information preferably in real time with drill down to further detail so that they can talk in facts with their supplier when addressing issues. JHB - The right type of management information portal will allow you to highlight bottlenecks in your network and address those concerns before they become a problem. The ideal scenario would be to act before problems ever occur, but that s not always possible. A well-managed network is one that runs smoothly and allows a company to focus on its core business activities. GD - Such smoothness is all about being proactive and informed. Proactivity could mean an engineer waiting at your gates when you arrive for work rather than several hours after you call in with a problem. Great management information allows your supplier to triage your problem to find where it lies it s often not with the network and either fix it or pass it to the correct resolver team. JHB - That type of good managed service provision will take away the effort involved in running a network, but also the concerns if it s right, you needn t worry about the network. Your business should be able to trust your provider. Once you have that level of confidence, it s a real weight off your shoulders. FEW BUSINESSES WANT TO AFFORD THE SKILLS AND TOOLS TO SUPPORT ALL OF THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE, ACROSS ALL OF THEIR SITES. REMEMBER THAT IT S THE NETWORK THAT PROVIDES THE ROUTE IN, TO ALLOW MONITORING OF ALL OF THIS INFRASTRUCTURE... Could a single managed service provider deal with all my network concerns, including the everincreasing impact of the cloud? JHB - There are benefits to using a single supplier for network and cloud provision, because it will understand all the demands on your infrastructure and provide a single point of contact for support. But some companies still want to maintain a key role in the design of their infrastructure, rather than taking a solution. GD - Yes, that s true. We commonly work with customers to design the network to their exact requirements. But their softer requirements can be equally important to them. We hear similar concerns over and over again: I need to trust that someone is looking after my network so I can look after my business. I have a problem but all my suppliers are telling me that their part is working. I want information presented in a digestible way and to be alerted only to things that are important. I need a new network but I am not sure we could afford the disruption. We have evolved our services to look after these softer needs too, and this is what we often find most resonates with customers. JHB - That broad range of demands can help explain why some firms use more than one network provider. And there are multiple arguments for having more than one supplier. It can be associated to a matter of resiliency if one network breaks down, you have another provider as back up. There is also an economical argument if you re not dependent on one supplier, it means you have a stronger bargaining position when you come to the end of your contract. Finally, the business might have a particular attitude towards having multiple providers and there might be an eagerness to always go with more than a single sourcing one. GD On the other hand, a single supplier can give you more confidence. You may not want those ten suppliers and SLAs, each wanting proof before they ll help. Remember that it s the network that provides the route in, to allow monitoring of all of this infrastructure. That s why I would advocate having a managed network supplier who is prepared to act as the single point of support that will keep the infrastructure going. We would argue that the essence of a well-managed network is getting a grip on performance, reliability and manageability so that the business can focus on the things that are running over it. And the right supplier will help you achieve that. JHB - I agree and I think it s really important the relationship you develop with your provider is an on-going partnership and not just a buy and sell moment every three or five years. You need to constantly review whether the network can cope with your requirements and the implications of the cloud on future demand could be huge. On-going service monitoring will help you establish whether the network provision you have is right for your business demands

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