Trend 3: Network and Wireless Build-Out
It?s not hard to imagine what?s driving networkinginstallations, as all of us now access shared resources from more places moreoften, and data streams have become richer and more performance-sensitive.Network managers are responding to the increasing demand?not just in volume,but in the physical reach of the network?by increasing deployments.
That increase is quite striking. Network infrastructureinvestments in general are going up in 38 percent of midsize and largerorganizations this year, and the deployment of wireless networks in particularhas been steadily accelerating for two years.
But this trend goes beyond just the LAN. Organizations arealso depending more and more on wide-area services and even private cellular intheir efforts to support workforce mobility. In an industry such as insurance,it can be essential to the business for workers to remain productivelyconnected while mobile.
Maiden Global?s experience during Hurricane Irene earlierthis year is a prime example. A Bermuda-based re-insurer that provides servicesto primary insurance organizations, Maiden had to remain online and availablein the wake of the storm, even after its office and servers in Mt. Laurel,N.J., shut down.
Redundant servers around the world picked up the dataworkload, but local Maiden employees, who had to support the insurance carriersresponding to the storm, could not get to the office. Here?s where the WANstepped in: ?Communications were up and available from an infrastructurestandpoint despite power outages and intermittent outages during Irene,? saysJohn Sharp, director of IT.
Maiden?s remote communications solution, Lotus NotesTraveler software from IBM, automatically connected the fail-over servers toremote systems used by employees who were physically isolated by the storm.They could access Notes-based e-mail, calendaring, directories, resourcedatabases and workflow applications via everything from desktop Web browsers tomobile devices. ?We gained business continuity and could continue to serviceour customers without interruption,? says Sharp.
For more, read Baseline’s Top 10 Business Trends of2012.
For more, read Baseline’s Top 10 Business Trends of2012.
