Network and Telecom

Published Content List

• Switching and Routing
• Network Management Instrumentation
• Resiliency
• Building Wiring
• Optical Network Technologies
• Fixed Mobile Convergence
• Policy Management
• Telecom Public Policy

Umbrella Technology Focus:

Use of wired and wireless network technologies, products, and services to deliver enterprise data, voice, and video communications.

Primary Areas of Focus for 2010

• Wireless and Mobility: Wireless local area networks (LANs), including security, quality of service for voice over IP (VoIP), and new standards (e.g., 802.11n); Wireless wide-area networks (WANs), including mobile cellular data, 3G, 4G, and service offerings; roaming, including wireless LANs and wireless WANs; mesh networks; and wireless backhaul, including 802.16

• WANs and Provider Network Services: WAN services and providers; VPNs, including IP Security (IPsec); multi-protocol label switching (MPLS)/private networks, including routing protocols; global coverage; and concatenating services

• Real-Time Voice and Video Comm unications: Many enterprises are still in the process of migrating from PBXs to IP telephony, but are now being pressured by their vendors to consider Unified Communications (UC) systems the evolution of voice over IP (VoiP) to multiple communications and collaboration applications centered on a presence engine. Vendors such as Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco are competing against traditional telephony vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Mitel, and Siemens to provide converged telephony and collaboration solutions. It remains to be seen if the vendor's view of UC becomes a mandate or is simply a mirage.
  
  Enterprises continue to search for business drivers that will provide a quantifiable return on their "phone system" investments. With a proliferation of service provider offerings now available in the "cloud," enterprises are now considering new service provider offerings as an alternative to traditional premises-based systems.
  
  With most business phone calls now made via mobile cellular phones, enterprises are investigating ways to integrate such calling into their premises-based systems, sometimes referred to as "fixed mobile convergence."
  
  Renewed interest in video conferencing has fueled interest in high-end telepresence systems that create the illusion of "being there" through the use of highdefinition television, a spatially driven audio system, and high-performance WA Ns. However, there are significant cost and network issues involved. Enterprises are also upgrading traditional room-based systems and installing desktop applications. The proliferation of these visual collaboration tools can be a key ingredient to an enterprise's UC strategy, though the related costs and impact to the network are major considerations.

• Site and Data Center Networks: Next-generation Ethernet switches, including 10 gigabit, power-over Ethernet, and VoIP support; network architecture, including virtual LANs, component distribution, and wiring.

• Network Operations and Performance Management: Bandwidth monitoring and optimization, including compression, window manipulation, and metadata; performance metrics and service level agreements; Network management tools and systems; Organizational issues and processes, including ITIL

Additional Areas of Focus for 2010

• Network security
• Vendor/service provider strategies for saving money
• Consumerization" of IT and impact on mobile devices

Published Content List