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Better 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 demand, survey respondents are showing a fiber investments over the next 12 to 24
connectivity as strategic or transfor- clear preference for Ethernet/fiber network months. These investment dollars appear to
mational—not simply a tactical asset, solutions over T1, T3, frame relay and other be coming, at least partially, at the expense
according to the 2012 CIO/Computerworld/ networking technologies. of T1 technology: 72 percent of the respon-
Comcast Business Class survey. dents said their T1 usage will decline or
» Investing in Network remain flat.
Increasingly, organizations see employing Infrastructure
high-performance network connectivity Technology budgets have been tight over Several trends and technologies are
solutions as not just a way to cut expenses the past few years. Network connectivity contributing to the demand for high-perfor-
or reduce TCO, but also as a critical enabler investments, however, appear to be some- mance network connectivity. These drivers
of competitive advantage in the global what insulated from recent economic include bandwidth-intensive applications
economy. pressures. In the survey, 41 percent of (74 percent), business continuity/disaster
the respondents said current economic recovery (56 percent) and virtualized
The timing is right for this shift. Demand for conditions have had no effect on their resources (51 percent).
high-speed, high-performance connectivity investments in cost-effective network
solutions is increasing, fueled by growth in connectivity, and 26 percent said they Among the survey respondents, line-of-
mobility (requiring more bandwidth-inten- have actually increased investments in business professionals show a significantly
sive, always-on applications) and emerging connectivity solutions. Larger organizations higher tendency than respondents in the
technologies such as virtualization and (with six or more interconnected locations) aggregate (56 percent versus 39 percent)
cloud services. Remote workers expect the are even more likely to be spending on to cite cloud computing initiatives as
same functionality and performance on network connectivity, with 31 percent citing a driver of high-performance network
their mobile devices that they do on their increased investments. connectivity. This could be indicative of IT
desktop systems.
Investments in Ethernet/fiber solutions in
These trends are driving new demand particular are expected to increase in the
for scalable, reliable and secure network near term. Most of the survey respondents
connectivity solutions. To meet this said they plan to make additional Ethernet/
n white paper
Better Network Connectivity Drives Business Transformation

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Better Network Connectivity Drives Business Transformation
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“ etwork connectivity has evolved from an operational
N as drivers of networking demand. Clearly,
the former see network connectivity as an
necessity into something that actually enables business asset that can transform the enterprise by
improvements. IT and non-IT executives are now enabling key business initiatives.
embracing the infrastructure as a strategic asset.”
— Kevin O’Toole At Eastern Bank, a Boston-based bank with
senior vice president of product management and strategy 123 locations throughout New England,
Comcast Business Services
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
professionals’ relatively cautious approach the growth of private and public clouds, service and enabled new-product roll-
to utilizing the cloud for critical company organizations need to make smart invest- outs across its contact center, ATMs and
processes and data. It may also signal a ments in their infrastructure, including branches. Robert Primavera, the bank’s
growing tendency among lines of business advanced network connectivity. This is a vice president of network engineering, esti-
to circumvent IT and purchase cloud-based major shift,” says Kevin O’Toole, senior mates that the Ethernet network provides
products and services directly. vice president of product management nine times the SONET network’s bandwidth
and strategy, Comcast Business Services. at a lower price, saving the bank more than
In some instances, investing in network “Network connectivity has evolved from an $75,000 annually.
connectivity is actually a way to save operational necessity into something that
money by improving operational efficiency. actually enables business improvements. IT “We’re providing a lot of non-traditional
The Washington Post, for example, is and non-IT executives are now embracing services at traditional locations,” says
upgrading legacy networking hardware to the infrastructure as a strategic asset.” Primavera. The Ethernet network “is laying
1- and 10-gigabit Ethernet switches as part the foundation for that,” he adds.
of its ongoing virtualization and data center Respondents who see network connectivity
consolidation efforts. “It’s more about as a transformational or strategic asset » Realizing Business and
upgrading than expanding,” says Roger are more likely than those who view it as Technology Benefits
Crawford, lead engineer for The Washington a tactical asset to emphasize bandwidth- The Eastern Bank example shows that IT
Post. “We are reviewing older hardware to intensive applications (83 percent versus professionals can make a business case for
see what can be virtualized. When it’s all 56 percent ), business continuity/disaster high-performance connectivity that extends
done, it will be much less expensive.” recovery (62 percent versus 41 percent) and beyond reducing costs or improving TCO. It
virtualization (58 percent versus 35 percent) stands to reason that increased bandwidth
» Transforming the Enterprise
Although cost management is still an
important part of any IT department’s
mindset, we’re also seeing signs that IT Previous/Current View of Network
exhibit 1:
and business professionals are beginning
to realize how technology can drive busi-
Connectivity as an Asset
ness performance. Seventy percent of the View of Network Connectivity as an Asset Two Years ago
respondents view network connectivity as
a strategic asset (38 percent) or a transfor-
mational asset (32 percent)—a 67 percent 18% 24% 51% 6%
increase over their view just two years
n Transformational n Strategic n Tactical n None of
ago. The respondents who said they view Asset Asset Asset the Above
network connectivity as a tactical compo-
nent has dropped 47 percent over the
same period (see Exhibit 1). 32% 38% 27% 3%
Current View of Network Connectivity as an Asset
“With greater reliance on complex applica-
tions, the continued data explosion, and base: 234 qualified respondents

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Better Network Connectivity Drives Business Transformation 3» next page
and more reliable network connections
can improve the ability of employees to do
their job. In the survey, nearly three-quarters
Business Benefits of High-Performance
exhibit 2:
(73 percent) of the respondents said high- Network Connectivity
performance network connectivity increases
productivity and more than two-thirds said it Increases productivity 73%
increases efficiency (see Exhibit 2).
Increases efficiency 67%
These benefits extend outside the
Improves ability to meet
organization as well: 54 percent said high-
customer needs 54%
performance connectivity improves their
ability to meet customer needs. Reduces operational expenses 35%
“The biggest thing we measure is user Lowers total cost of ownership 22%
experience, which includes internal
employees and visitors to our public Other 2%
website,” says The Washington Post’s
Crawford. Network upgrades, virtualization base: 234 qualified respondents
and code improvements have all contributed
to network performance improvements—
cutting response times in half in some
increased bandwidth (64 percent) are the out of five respondents in the survey rated
cases, Crawford says.
most commonly anticipated benefits of reliability, security, high availability and cost-
high-performance connectivity. Respon- effectiveness as critical or highly important
Organizations that view high-performance
dents from large organizations (500+ evaluation criteria for network connectivity
network connectivity as a transformational
employees) are much more likely than technologies.
or strategic asset more frequently associate
smaller organizations to cite reduced
business benefits with high-performance
security risks as a key technology benefit Ethernet/fiber is establishing itself as a
connectivity, as opposed to organizations
(30 percent versus 17 percent). best-of-breed solution that meets all of
that view the network as a tactical asset.
these criteria—in some cases by a wide
These benefits include increased produc-
margin. When the survey participants
tivity (78 percent versus 63 percent), » Ethernet/Fiber: Emerging
were asked to rate connectivity tech-
increased efficiency (72 percent versus Best-of-Breed
nology across nine criteria on a scale of 1
56 percent) and improvements in their As organizations embrace the potential
to 5, Ethernet/fiber was the clear choice,
ability to meet customer needs (59 percent strategic benefits of network connectivity,
compared to multiprotocol label switching
versus 41 percent). choosing the right high-speed solution
(MPLS) technology, for its ability to increase
becomes increasingly important. IT profes-
efficiency (67 percent rated it a 4 or a 5,
From a pure technology standpoint, sionals use several criteria to evaluate
compared to 45 percent for MPLS), its
application performance (77 percent) and connectivity technologies. More than four
ability to meet customer needs (66 percent
versus 44 percent), its scalability (65
“ echnology and business benefits have led to the
T percent versus 46 percent) and its ability to
increase productivity (65 percent versus 47
increased adoption of Ethernet solutions. As businesses
percent). T1, T3, HFC/cable and ATM/frame
increasingly operate within virtualized IT environments, relay technologies lagged even further in
their demand for high-performance connectivity will these categories.
continue to grow.” These results should help explain why
— Kevin O’Toole
senior vice president of product management and strategy Ethernet/fiber connectivity solutions are
Comcast Business Services the most common technology choice
among the respondents for data center

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Better Network Connectivity Drives Business Transformation 4» page 1
connections today (62 percent) and in the
future (64 percent).
Current and Expected Data Center Connectivity
exhibit 3:
An increase of Ethernet/fiber in the data Technology Implementations
center will come at the expense of T1, T3
and ATM/frame relay technologies, all of
Ethernet/Fiber 62%
which are expected to decline over the 64%
next 24 months (see Exhibit 3).
T1
34%
20%
“Technology and business benefits have led
to the increased adoption of Ethernet solu- MPLS 30%
32%
tions,” says O’Toole. “As businesses increas-
ingly operate within virtualized IT environ- T3 14%
ments, their demand for high-performance 12%
connectivity will continue to grow. These 9%
HFC or cable
businesses require high-bandwidth con- 11%
nections across multiple sites and value Current connection
ATM/Frame Relay 6%
the lower cost of ownership and scalable 5% Future connection expected
capacity of Ethernet solutions.”
Don’t know 3%
7%
» Conclusion
High-performance connectivity solutions Other 3%
4%
are essential in today’s enterprise. As the
base: 234 qualified respondents
CIO/Computerworld/Comcast Business
Class survey shows, business and IT profes-
sionals increasingly view high-performance
ease of use/support, scalability and security. improve workforce productivity and
connectivity as a strategic or transforma-
improve connections to customers,
tional asset for their business—a significant
Lowering TCO remains an important suppliers and remote sites. Building a
change over two years ago.
piece of network connectivity investment, strong business case for high-performance
but IT professionals are now finding an network connectivity can help CIOs in their
Part of the reason for this shift in percep-
even more powerful story to tell: how high- ongoing quest to reposition IT as a strategic
tion is that organizations are developing a
performance Ethernet solutions can enabler of sustainable business growth. n
better understanding of the business and
technology benefits of high-performance
computing. Beyond just lowering connec-
tivity costs—which remains an impor-
Sponsored by
tant consideration—high-performance
networking can improve productivity,
increase efficiency and enable new applica-
tions that improve customer service and
help grow the business.
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.
Bandwidth-intensive applications and Through a modern, company-owned fiber network that is backed by 24/7 technical support, Comcast
emerging technologies such as virtualization delivers Business Class Internet, TV and Voice services for cost-effective, simplified communications
management.
are driving the need for high-performance
network connectivity solutions, such as 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-
Ethernet/fiber, to address these needs. service, business continuity/disaster recovery and other bandwidth-intensive applications. Comcast
Respondents rated Ethernet/fiber as the top- Metro Ethernet services are significantly faster than T1 lines and other legacy technologies, providing
performing connectivity technology across scalable bandwidth from 1 Mbps up to 10 Gbps in more than 20 major U.S. markets.
all evaluation criteria, including reliability, For more information, call 1-866-429-2241 or visit business.comcast.com/enterprise