n white paperBetter Network CoNNeCtivity Drives BusiNess traNsformatioN

Cios are DisCoveriNg that high-performaNCe CoNNeCtivity is more thaN just plumBiNg — it also proviDes Competitive aDvaNtage.

Seven in 10 IT professionals view network connectivity as strategic or transfor-mational—not simply a tactical asset, according to the 2012 CIO/Computerworld/Comcast Business Class survey.

Increasingly, organizations see employing high-performance network connectivity solutions as not just a way to cut expenses or reduce TCO, but also as a critical enabler of competitive advantage in the global economy.

The timing is right for this shift. Demand for high-speed, high-performance connectivity solutions is increasing, fueled by growth in mobility (requiring more bandwidth-inten-sive, always-on applications) and emerging technologies such as virtualization and cloud services. Remote workers expect the same functionality and performance on their mobile devices that they do on their desktop systems.

These trends are driving new demand for scalable, reliable and secure network connectivity solutions. To meet this

demand, survey respondents are showing a clear preference for Ethernet/fiber network solutions over T1, T3, frame relay and other networking technologies.

»investing in Network infrastructureTechnology budgets have been tight over the past few years. Network connectivity investments, however, appear to be some-what insulated from recent economic pressures. In the survey, 41 percent of the respondents said current economic conditions have had no effect on their investments in cost-effective network connectivity, and 26 percent said they have actually increased investments in connectivity solutions. Larger organizations (with six or more interconnected locations) are even more likely to be spending on network connectivity, with 31 percent citing increased investments.

Investments in Ethernet/fiber solutions in particular are expected to increase in the near term. Most of the survey respondents said they plan to make additional Ethernet/

fiber investments over the next 12 to 24 months. These investment dollars appear to be coming, at least partially, at the expense of T1 technology: 72 percent of the respon-dents said their T1 usage will decline or remain flat.

Several trends and technologies are contributing to the demand for high-perfor-mance network connectivity. These drivers include bandwidth-intensive applications (74 percent), business continuity/disaster recovery (56 percent) and virtualized resources (51 percent).

Among the survey respondents, line-of- business professionals show a significantly higher tendency than respondents in the aggregate (56 percent versus 39 percent) to cite cloud computing initiatives as a driver of high-performance network connectivity. This could be indicative of IT

Better Network Connectivity Drives Business transformation

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professionals’ relatively cautious approach to utilizing the cloud for critical company processes and data. It may also signal a growing tendency among lines of business to circumvent IT and purchase cloud-based products and services directly.

In some instances, investing in network connectivity is actually a way to save money by improving operational efficiency. The Washington Post, for example, is upgrading legacy networking hardware to 1- and 10-gigabit Ethernet switches as part of its ongoing virtualization and data center consolidation efforts. “It’s more about upgrading than expanding,” says Roger Crawford, lead engineer for The Washington Post. “We are reviewing older hardware to see what can be virtualized. When it’s all done, it will be much less expensive.”

»transforming the enterpriseAlthough cost management is still an important part of any IT department’s mindset, we’re also seeing signs that IT and business professionals are beginning to realize how technology can drive busi-ness performance. Seventy percent of the respondents view network connectivity as a strategic asset (38 percent) or a transfor-mational asset (32 percent)—a 67 percent increase over their view just two years ago. The respondents who said they view network connectivity as a tactical compo-nent has dropped 47 percent over the same period (see Exhibit 1).

“With greater reliance on complex applica-tions, the continued data explosion, and

the growth of private and public clouds, organizations need to make smart invest-ments in their infrastructure, including advanced network connectivity. This is a major shift,” says Kevin O’Toole, senior vice president of product management and strategy, Comcast Business Services. “Network connectivity has evolved from an operational necessity into something that actually enables business improvements. IT and non-IT executives are now embracing the infrastructure as a strategic asset.”

Respondents who see network connectivity as a transformational or strategic asset are more likely than those who view it as a tactical asset to emphasize bandwidth-intensive applications (83 percent versus 56 percent ), business continuity/disaster recovery (62 percent versus 41 percent) and virtualization (58 percent versus 35 percent)

as drivers of networking demand. Clearly, the former see network connectivity as an asset that can transform the enterprise by enabling key business initiatives.

At Eastern Bank, a Boston-based bank with 123 locations throughout New England, a switch from SONET to metro Ethernet network services in 2010 enabled it to shorten response times and deploy new applications that have improved customer service and enabled new-product roll-outs across its contact center, ATMs and branches. Robert Primavera, the bank’s vice president of network engineering, esti-mates that the Ethernet network provides nine times the SONET network’s bandwidth at a lower price, saving the bank more than $75,000 annually.

“We’re providing a lot of non-traditional services at traditional locations,” says Primavera. The Ethernet network “is laying the foundation for that,” he adds.

»realizing Business and technology BenefitsThe Eastern Bank example shows that IT professionals can make a business case for high-performance connectivity that extends beyond reducing costs or improving TCO. It stands to reason that increased bandwidth

n white paperBetter Network CoNNeCtivity Drives BusiNess traNsformatioN

“ Network connectivity has evolved from an operational necessity into something that actually enables business improvements. IT and non-IT executives are now embracing the infrastructure as a strategic asset.”

— keviN o’tooleseNior viCe presiDeNt of proDuCt maNagemeNt aND strategy

ComCast BusiNess serviCes

exhiBit 1: Previous/Current View of Network Connectivity as an Asset

view of Network Connectivity as an asset two years ago

Current view of Network Connectivity as an asset

base: 234 qualified respondents

n transformational asset

n strategic asset

n tactical asset

n None of the above

18%

32% 38% 27% 3%

24% 51% 6%

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and more reliable network connections can improve the ability of employees to do their job. In the survey, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the respondents said high-performance network connectivity increases productivity and more than two-thirds said it increases efficiency (see Exhibit 2).

These benefits extend outside the organization as well: 54 percent said high-performance connectivity improves their ability to meet customer needs.

“The biggest thing we measure is user experience, which includes internal employees and visitors to our public website,” says The Washington Post’s Crawford. Network upgrades, virtualization and code improvements have all contributed to network performance improvements—cutting response times in half in some cases, Crawford says.

Organizations that view high-performance network connectivity as a transformational or strategic asset more frequently associate business benefits with high-performance connectivity, as opposed to organizations that view the network as a tactical asset. These benefits include increased produc-tivity (78 percent versus 63 percent), increased efficiency (72 percent versus 56 percent) and improvements in their ability to meet customer needs (59 percent versus 41 percent).

From a pure technology standpoint, application performance (77 percent) and

increased bandwidth (64 percent) are the most commonly anticipated benefits of high-performance connectivity. Respon-dents from large organizations (500+ employees) are much more likely than smaller organizations to cite reduced security risks as a key technology benefit (30 percent versus 17 percent).

»ethernet/fiber: emerging Best-of-BreedAs organizations embrace the potential strategic benefits of network connectivity, choosing the right high-speed solution becomes increasingly important. IT profes-sionals use several criteria to evaluate connectivity technologies. More than four

out of five respondents in the survey rated reliability, security, high availability and cost-effectiveness as critical or highly important evaluation criteria for network connectivity technologies.

Ethernet/fiber is establishing itself as a best-of-breed solution that meets all of these criteria—in some cases by a wide margin. When the survey participants were asked to rate connectivity tech-nology across nine criteria on a scale of 1 to 5, Ethernet/fiber was the clear choice, compared to multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) technology, for its ability to increase efficiency (67 percent rated it a 4 or a 5, compared to 45 percent for MPLS), its ability to meet customer needs (66 percent versus 44 percent), its scalability (65 percent versus 46 percent) and its ability to increase productivity (65 percent versus 47 percent). T1, T3, HFC/cable and ATM/frame relay technologies lagged even further in these categories.

These results should help explain why Ethernet/fiber connectivity solutions are the most common technology choice among the respondents for data center

n white paper Better Network CoNNeCtivity Drives BusiNess traNsformatioN

exhiBit 2: Business Benefits of High-Performance Network Connectivity

Increases productivity

Increases efficiency

Improves ability to meet customer needs

Reduces operational expenses

Lowers total cost of ownership

Other

base: 234 qualified respondents

73%

67%

54%

35%

22%

2%

“ Technology and business benefits have led to the increased adoption of Ethernet solutions. As businesses increasingly operate within virtualized IT environments, their demand for high-performance connectivity will continue to grow.”

— keviN o’tooleseNior viCe presiDeNt of proDuCt maNagemeNt aND strategy

ComCast BusiNess serviCes

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connections today (62 percent) and in the future (64 percent).

An increase of Ethernet/fiber in the data center will come at the expense of T1, T3 and ATM/frame relay technologies, all of which are expected to decline over the next 24 months (see Exhibit 3).

“Technology and business benefits have led to the increased adoption of Ethernet solu-tions,” says O’Toole. “As businesses increas-ingly operate within virtualized IT environ-ments, their demand for high-performance connectivity will continue to grow. These businesses require high-bandwidth con-nections across multiple sites and value the lower cost of ownership and scalable capacity of Ethernet solutions.”

»ConclusionHigh-performance connectivity solutions are essential in today’s enterprise. As the CIO/Computerworld/Comcast Business Class survey shows, business and IT profes-sionals increasingly view high-performance connectivity as a strategic or transforma-tional asset for their business—a significant change over two years ago.

Part of the reason for this shift in percep-tion is that organizations are developing a better understanding of the business and technology benefits of high-performance computing. Beyond just lowering connec-tivity costs—which remains an impor-tant consideration—high-performance networking can improve productivity, increase efficiency and enable new applica-tions that improve customer service and help grow the business.

Bandwidth-intensive applications and emerging technologies such as virtualization are driving the need for high-performance network connectivity solutions, such as Ethernet/fiber, to address these needs. Respondents rated Ethernet/fiber as the top-performing connectivity technology across all evaluation criteria, including reliability,

ease of use/support, scalability and security.

Lowering TCO remains an important piece of network connectivity investment, but IT professionals are now finding an even more powerful story to tell: how high- performance Ethernet solutions can

improve workforce productivity and improve connections to customers, suppliers and remote sites. Building a strong business case for high-performance network connectivity can help CIOs in their ongoing quest to reposition IT as a strategic enabler of sustainable business growth. n

n white paperBetter Network CoNNeCtivity Drives BusiNess traNsformatioN

exhiBit 3: Current and Expected Data Center Connectivity Technology Implementations

Ethernet/Fiber

T1

MPLS

T3

HFC or cable

ATM/Frame Relay

Don’t know

Other

base: 234 qualified respondents

64%

20%

12%

11%

5%

7%

4%

32%

62%

34%

14%

9%

6%

3%

3%

30%

Current connection

Future connection expected

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Comcast Business Services, a unit of Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), provides advanced communication solutions to help organizations of all sizes meet their business objectives. Through a modern, company-owned fiber network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast delivers Business Class Internet, TV and Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications management.

Launched in 2011, the Comcast Business Class Ethernet suite offers high-performance point-to-point and multi-point Metro Ethernet services with the capacity to deliver cloud computing, software-as-a-service, business continuity/disaster recovery and other bandwidth-intensive applications. Comcast Metro Ethernet services are significantly faster than T1 lines and other legacy technologies, providing scalable bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gbps in more than 20 major U.S. markets.

For more information, call 1-866-429-2241 or visit business.comcast.com/enterprise

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