Network Management : Networking All The Way

Every organization that has business-critical IT applications running within
their systems need to invest into network management solutions and devices. It's
not just the network availability, but also extending security, reliability,
optimizing performance, capacity and optimum utilization of the network that is
crucial for the smooth functioning of any business.

Cost is not the only concern

While to an extent cost does play a major role but given the changing work
environment and the fact that everyone is looking at ways to spin their
businesses into a profit making unit, network has become the means to achieve
the desired goals. The framework of network management has five components to
it-fault management, configuration manage­ment, accounting (usage) management,
performance management and security management.

“For any organization, irrespective of its size, if they are running
mission-critical applications then maintaining an uptime is very important
besides ensuring that the network is proactive,” stated Alamuri Sitaramaiah,
GM-Sales, Fluke Networks, India.

Echoing similar sentiments, Raj Jadhav, VP-Pre-sales & Technical Support,
D-Link opined, “For IT managers, it is very important to secure the information
lying over the network. Organizations are keen to understand that only
legitimate information is exchanged on their network. Though networks are for
SMB enterprises is small, yet as per business demand, many business applications
are introduced like triple play for voice, video and data-specific services, and
to keep them secure and running, end point security solutions are embedded in
user gadgets and network devices. SMBs are looking towards monolithic tool to
take care of all their network-related issues.”

Advantage partner

As a solution provider (SP), if you are looking for opportunities to upscale
your business, then you will not only have to look at ways of investing in the
right equipment and ensure robust connectivity for your customers, but also look
at having people round the clock so that you can effectively manage your
customer's network infrastructure.

If SPs can work towards integrating open-source scan/protection/monitoring
tools with free network management solution provided by many vendors, they can
grab major business for themselves. SPs should come out with IT/network
management out of the box concept. Remote network management is a key to manage
the networks with multi-location presence, so partners must direct their efforts
on customized network management tools and educate customers on the tools and
significance of customized network management solution.

Netmagic offers network management as a service and also offers its partners
an opportunity to earn revenue through the service model that the vendor has in
place. “While we monitor and manage our customers IT infrastructure and set-up a
secured network for them, the partners can look at having an annual maintenance
contract with the customers. In addition, we also allow the partners to avail
revenue that we earn as part of monitoring and manging the client's
infrastructure. However, this would differ from contract to contract,” shared
Sharad Sanghi, CEO, Netmagic.

Stating that the small SPs will have to first understand the level of
expansion and the target vertical, Biren Selarka, CEO, ACMA Computers, Mumbai
elaborated, “The SPs can look at range of services which could be procuring and
placing manpower. Lot of government institutes have crores of rupees contract
only for data entry jobs.” ACMA currently has 150 engineers, and by the next two
quarters will be adding another 20-25 engineers.

Prateek Garg, CEO of Noida-based Progressive Infotech stated that in today's
environment, application availability is dependent on network availability, and
in the absence of the same, it has a direct bearing on the business, revenue and
customer experience.

Garg further added, “In a scenario where customers have already deployed
network management tools and solutions, they have no choice but to upgrade it
further. Hence, there is a lot of scope as far as expanding network management
portfolio is concerned. However, there are some customers who had set aside fund
for deploying network management solutions but are holding on to the same in
view of the current economic downturn. In such cases, it is important that as an
SP, we educate them about the total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits they stand
to gain and encourage them to adopt network management as a service.”

Demanding verticals

Network uptime and continuity is something that every organization demands,
hence network management services is something that almost all the organizations
running mission critical applications will demand. However, in view of the
current economic downturn, banking and finance alongside manufacturing and
graphics industry are few areas that are investing heavily into network
management portfolio and services. In addition, manufacturing, media and
entertainment companies are the ones that outsource their network infrastructure
as well.

Any organization that has needs for WAN solutions or is looking at branch to
branch connectivity will need to invest in network management. “In usual
situations, the BFSI and manufacturing segments are the ones that invest in
network management. We are witnessing some amount of reduction in investment
owing to slowdown, but if an SP is able to promise and deliver a better RoI or
saving to his/her customer, then the customer will not mind investing in network
solutions,” mentioned Selarka.

Vendor helping

Customers have always focused on network uptime while managing networks. By
focusing on uptime, IT management is looking at ways to fulfill its role alone,
and not the broader objective of helping achieve business goals through
investment in IT. Uptime management alone is not sufficient to help deliver
business objectives.

User experience of IT helps manage the same more effectively.

TCP-IP Networks are similar irrespective of the verticals they serve, mainly
because the business applications typically tend to be same-ERP, e-mails, etc.
The extent of the network and how well IT is integrated with business defines
how a solution needs to be architected.

Indicating that network management is all about simplifying an organization's
business Prem Nithin, Sr Technical Consultant, Cisco India and SAARC reiterated,
“The partners can look at managing foundation networks to offer customized
solutions and offer network management software; they can gradually have a
common platform to manage multiple customers. They can serve more customers with
the same set of engineers. From a technology standpoint, the partner can look at
having an abstract layer between the network and the management tool that will
hold all the relevant information.”

Scope for small town partners

Partners in small cities should direct their investments towards spreading
awareness and train their sales team to position and win customers for them. As
companies grow, the number of network sites increases, adding to the complexity
of network management. Partners intending to benefit from customer's growing
number of sites and IT infrastructure complexity are sure to find a large
opportunity in network management. The partner should invest in tools to manage
the network, build competencies around the tools to develop processes and
thereby deliver value to customer.

IP surveillance is booming, though security might not be a significant issue
for non-metros or small cities. However, targeting network management tools
towards tracking the data flows, using it for audit and record purpose, modular
network management are some of the opportunities for the partners insmall town.

Pooja Sharma

poojas@cybermedia.co.in