 |
Effective network quarantine moves beyond simple perimeter security to dynamically restrict client systems' access to networks based on their compliance with policy. But a proper solution requires the complex integration of security software, networking hardware, and policy servers. Allow 18 months to permit:
 |
Three months to create network quarantine policies
|
|
|
A year to deploy an interim overlay solution while upgrading network hardware
|
|
|
Three months to test interoperability |
|
Call volumes continue to grow, but overall net growth in contact centers (percentage of firms increasing investment compared with those decreasing) is 5% for North American enterprises and 10% for European ones. Enterprises are considering increased investment in self-service solutions such as voice response rather than sustained investment in contact center infrastructure. IVRs are found in at least 79% of North American enterprises and in at least 50% of European ones, but fully speech-enabled IVRs are found in only 7% and 6%, respectively.
Think the changes in the global telecommunications services landscape are over? Think again. A new breed of networkless managed networking services vendors -- global virtual network operators (VNOs) -- is emerging and will be an important catalyst in transforming the global telecommunications outsourcing landscape. They're already putting innovation and competition pressures on the large operators. But VNOs like ETT, NextiraOne, Sirocom, Vanco, and Virtela Communications will face major challenges: gradual rather than rapid adoption of MPLS, reticence of large firms to rely on specialists, and megacarriers' emulation of VNO differentiators. Success in the long term will depend on their ability to continue leading the market with innovation in expense management, application performance management, and contractor management.
What effect will the post-megamerger carrier strategies and challenges have on enterprises? What's next for wireless email and unified messaging? How do you choose an SSL VPN in three steps? What are the greatest international mobile roaming challenges for enterprises today? Vote on this month's Client Choice ballot, and we'll publish on two of the topics in early February 2006. Or tell us what's missing: Write in the topic of your choice and help drive future telecommunications and networking research with a click of the button! Vote here for Client Choice.
Results from Forrester's Business Technographics® May 2005 North American And European Network And Telecommunications Benchmark Study survey of 652 US enterprises shows that early telecom adopters that have fully deployed new telecom technologies like MPLS, IP telephony, and site-to-site VoIP report that cost, scalability, availability, and manageability presented greater-than-anticipated obstacles to implementation. Moreover, these factors rise in importance with actual use. Network vendors and carriers must tackle these obstacles -- on multiple fronts. Suppliers must make adoption considerably easier and less risky than it is today. In part, this means
improving the quality and flexibility of managed offers.
|
|
|
IMS Will Transform Telecom -- By 2009
Forrester continues to focus on the ongoing transformation of the communications space. One of many potential drivers of this change is the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network architecture, an exciting new opportunity comprised of standards for network-controlled multimedia services across fixed and mobile networks, using technologies rooted in IT and the Internet.
The reality? IMS is overhyped today. Standards are nascent, and the technology is not yet proven -- most equipment has not yet been tested in a real-world setting. Few products are ready for prime time. Interoperability is a distant promise: IMS only defines a reference architecture -- vendors decide how to implement IMS components. While the architecture lets the operator control applications and content initially, the open technologies used by IMS will ultimately enable application providers to bypass carrier controls and exploit the underlying network. When SIP hits full maturity, enterprises and Internet brands like Yahoo! will implement their own SIP control functions in their data centers, limiting providers' differentiation to just fixed-mobile convergence.
To be successful in this environment, carriers must exploit their large customer base to attract and retain application providers that commit to share revenue and use the carriers' network-based capabilities. At the same time, carriers must improve their network and business economics to serve do-it-yourself application providers with an efficient pipe -- which IMS helps with. It will be years before we see this come to fruition.
|
It's no surprise that vendors and carriers herald IMS as the trigger for the next telecom boom. They see its ability to deliver new applications that entwine voice and data, such as transmitting a voiceover on a video clip; enable fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) so that a user might have only one phone number on a single device that works across cellular, Wi-Fi, and landline; and reduce carrier operating and capital expense.
Remote Access: IPsec VPNs Dominate, But SSL VPN Adoption Grows
Mobile employees need remote access to applications in a corporate environment facing tighter fiscal and regulatory compliance constraints. Fully 59% of respondents to Forrester's Business Technographics® May 2005 North American And European Network And Telecommunications Benchmark Survey are rolling out an IPsec VPN, have fully deployed one, or are upgrading their current remote access solutions. SSL VPN adoption is also growing at a healthy pace. Considering that SSL VPNs have only been available for a few years, its 38% uptake by large European companies is impressive.
North American results were similar in a separate survey: IPsec VPNs are currently more widely adopted than MPLS and SSL, but enterprises are using SSL VPNs for next-generation remote access. We also expect growth in today's subdued MPLS VPN market; more than a quarter of enterprises surveyed are currently in the early adoption stages with that technology.
Firms exhibit a preference to build these solutions rather than contract with a managed service provider. This do-it-yourself attitude, combined with the rapid adoption of SSL VPNs, indicates that companies are planning new infrastructure investments to mitigate security vulnerabilities that could be construed as compliance risks. Firms will use the increased budgets to augment authentication and authorization, centralize security policy configuration and management, and integrate faster with future Web applications. SSL VPN technology integrates very well with Web single sign-on infrastructure via enterprise directories and uses firewall infrastructure better than IPsec technology, which requires more open firewall ports to support IPsec VPN sessions. Opening these ports compromises network security. These capabilities will accelerate the adoption of SSL VPNs.
From The Editor
This has been an exciting year for the Telecom and Networking team: We completed our first dedicated Business Technographics® survey, published a series of Forrester Wave™ reports on key topics, and watched the turmoil in the market drive interest and readership up. The year ahead promises to be even more eventful. I'm pleased to announce that in 2006, Ellen Daley will take over as editor of the First Look for the team, and I know you will find her work, and that of the team, to be of high value as you make your plans. As always, please keep in touch and let us know how we can be as helpful as possible with your challenges.
Merv Adrian
Senior Vice President
mervadrian@forrester.com
Upcoming Forrester Teleconferences
Forrester Teleconferences are live, interactive, hourlong teleconferences incorporating a simultaneous WebEx slide presentation by a Forrester analyst, followed by an open forum for questions and discussion.
The Reemergence Of The Storage Service Provider Market
Stephanie Balaouras
December 9, 2005, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Eastern time
Protecting Your Brand: Best Practices For Guarding Your Data
David Friedlander
December 12, 2005, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Eastern time
Trends In Government IT: A Look At 2006
Gene Leganza
December 12, 2005, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Eastern time
The Forrester Wave™ On Offshore Infrastructure Management -- Clear Leaders Emerge
Robert McNeill
December 13, 2005, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Eastern time
What To Look For In A Contact Center Outsourcer
Elizabeth Herrell
December 13, 2005, 1 p.m.-2 p.m. Eastern time
EMAIL: Email this issue to a colleague.
PRINT: View a printer-friendly version of this issue.
VIEW ARCHIVE: View past issues of First Look.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT: Call the Client Resource Center
1 866/FORRESTER (1 866/367-7378) or +1 617/613-5730.
EMAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: If you'd like to subscribe or unsubscribe to First Look, please go to your Email Subscriptions page.
|
|
|
Entire contents 1997-2005, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
Forrester, Forrester Oval Program, Forrester Wave, Forrester's
Ultimate Consumer Panel, WholeView 2, Technographics, TechRankings, and
Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective companies. Forrester
clients may make one attributed copy or slide of each figure contained
herein. Additional reproduction is strictly prohibited. For additional
reproduction rights and usage information, go to www.forrester.com.
Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment
at the time and are subject to change.
Forrester Research, Inc., 400 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139
|
