Network managers should reinvent themselves as strategists to
promote the network as a vital business resource, says Piers
Ford
In an ideal world, network management would be an exact science.
Applications would consume standard rates of bandwidth, managers
would be able to apply policies that suited every kind of user, a
service level would be agreed for every eventuality and the
exponential rise in network traffic caused by e-business would
cause a mere blip in an otherwise serene, smooth-running
activity.
But as even the most laid-back network manager will testify,
there's nothing exact about it. Analysts like Forrester claim that
network management is the single biggest operational problem for as
much as 38% of businesses worldwide.
Multimedia data, the flood of traffic generated by increasingly
complex e-business relationships, and user expectations of instant
response and round-the-clock availability, regardless of location
or access device, all contrive to make managing a network a
reactive activity.
As if that wasn't enough, the lure of increased automation and
outsourcing as possible solutions must leave many network managers
wondering if they have a role beyond that of basic fire-fighting
any more. So is the future a choice between no job at all (if the
company is chucking enough resources at the network) and the
constant war of attrition that managers fight in more financially
hard-pressed IT environments? Not necessarily. There could be an
opportunity for traditional network managers to reinvent themselves
as strategists in an ideal position to promote the network as a
vital business resource.
That can't happen quickly enough for one network professional in
the health sector who speaks enviously of sites with entire teams
dedicated to network monitoring. "For someone like me, network
management depends on a lot of luck," he says. "You only need one
rogue piece of kit that's difficult to track, and the effect on
network performance means the network's reputation (and your own)
suffers."
In such environments, committing to policy-based networks and
quality of service as a business issue, rather than a purely
technical one, would make a tremendous difference. It would
certainly help alleviate some of the concerns raised by the rise of
e-business and its impact on application performance.
"Dependency on the Internet introduces a level of performance
uncertainty not experienced before," says Dave Inman,
vice-president at e-business infrastructure specialist supplier
System Management Arts. He adds that even over Virtual Private
Networks, the flood of e-mail, customer enquiries and user
exploitation of fast Internet connections can put unexpected
pressures on the network infrastructure.
"In a Web environment, IT executives can't control the level of
user demand, which can lead to major disruptions," says Tony
Cooper, network marketing manager at systems integrator
Computacenter. "A classic example was Cahoot.com, Abbey National's
e-venture. It experienced technical difficulties on its first day,
the site collapsing at 10am and not returning for 24 hours. The
cold fact today is that organisations developing e-business are far
more accountable."
The volume and variety of multimedia applications, suggests
Inman, present an ever-increasing headache to the network planner
and manager. Even with the widespread acceptance of IP as the
standard network protocol, engineering challenges mount as each
higher layer protocol demands its own quality of service.
"All of this presents a significant network management
challenge," says Inman. "The biggest challenge is to determine what
is the priority for managing the network. One view is that network
management should be application-driven - that is, top-down, based
on application needs. However, network problems often occur way
below the application layer, but directly affect application
performance and availability."
The traditional solution has been to throw bandwidth at the
problem in the hope it will go away. It never does, lurking beneath
the surface for a while before breaking out again, often worse than
before. "With problem determination and historical reporting
capabilities, network managers can discover whether problems are
network- or application-related, and track down the source," says
Inman.
Too many companies make the mistake of treating network
management as a low-level engineering function. "This is a
mistake," says John Livingstone, portfolio strategy manager at BT.
"Those aiming to implement e-commerce and CRM systems must include
the management function as a primary requirement - not a 'nice to
have' afterthought."
According to Livingstone, five main management areas need to be
considered at the specification stage: fault, configuration,
accounting, performance and security. "A system penetrated by
hackers or brought down by denial-of-service attacks will do little
for customer confidence, so security must have a high profile. A
system that responds slowly or suffers visible overload will
likewise damage competitive advantage."
Policy-based network management has been hailed as the solution
to everything from the basic plumbing of the network to quality of
service and application availability. But while suppliers chirrup
about its importance, their customers will have to invest in a new
generation of Lan switches before they can appreciate the real
benefits of simplified traffic prioritisation.
Automated software tools could offer a more instant solution.
"As online audiences become more demanding, meeting service level
agreements will be major differentiators for UK e-businesses," says
Jeff Cottrell, enterprise business manager at testing solutions
specialist Wavetek Wandel Goltermann.
Cottrell predicts a future of greater automation but says
network managers should embrace this rather than fear it as a
threat to their livelihood. "In the future, network management
tools will be so automated and interactive they will be able to
pinpoint errors and kick off analysis sessions automatically,
essentially finding the network problem, diagnosing it and fixing
it before anyone knows it has happened. Routers and switches will
also become more intelligent and have that type of function
built-in."
Happy days may soon be here again, then. "As network managers
become more automated, network managers may feel as if their jobs
are disappearing," Cottrell acknowledges. "This isn't the case.
Automated products will give them more time to plan and be
proactive, offer consultation to their businesses and develop
better customer care and quality of performance. The IT network is
no longer a separate beast from the rest of the company, it's
integral to the survival of the whole business."
Paradise regained
It isn't always hell to be a network manager. Property and
casualty insurance company, ACE Group, has spent the last couple of
years resolving the problem of exploding network traffic and its
effect on application availability.
"Our problems were the high costs involved in managing the
network and the growth in usage, which was proving almost
impossible to control," says Julian Knott, network services manager
at ACE's international data centre in Crawley. "We were advised to
throw more bandwidth at the problem, but it was quickly swallowed
up. We needed a solution to give us control of the network, allow
us to visualise problems and enable us to analyse and come up with
answers."
The solution was CompuWare's EcoScope network testing and
management solution. "We saved over $200,000," says Knott. "Our
customers benefit from a more efficient network, higher reliability
and better response times and cost-cutting. We deliver a better
quality of service and are more proactive in dealing with customer
requirements."
The solution is now being rolled out globally to 2,500 users in
34 countries.