PQ Networks, a subsidiary of PQ Africa, has launched its new network architecture model termed PQ Networks iD. Based on four components - solutions, architecture, professional services, and corporate ID - the architectural model was launched to the industry at a series of roadshows that took place in Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg over the past week.
[VIDEO]PQ Networks iD will be rolled out in stages, with the first available component being the high-availability network infrastructure.
As PQ Networks MD Tim Knowles explains: "From our point of view, PQ Networks iD is a go-to-market strategy. It`s really taking a lot of the existing things that are available, packaging them together and actually delivering them in a way that is easy for the market to understand."
The product set is targeted at businesses aiming to enter the e-business arena. As far as the solutions iD component goes, there are four areas which the company has chosen to focus on.
[VIDEO]Peter Dixon, technical director, elaborates: "The first [solution] is high availability infrastructure, which obviously is the major requirement for running an e-business scenario. Here we`re looking at the whole network in a database environment, creating a solid foundation to put your e-business on.
"The second area, which I think is pertinent to SA, is around bandwidth optimisation, so using different techniques and technologies to try and get more bandwidth for the buck, as it were."
The third focus is what PQ Networks terms OSS - operational support systems. It is described as "an all-encompassing network service management environment". Lastly comes convergence; focusing on the multimedia convergence approach in terms of delivering e-business via a multimedia call centre environment
Achieving a high availability infrastructure depends on getting the combination of products and solutions right, says Dixon.
"There are always point solutions, so you can get a database with 100% reliability, but that doesn`t necessarily mean you`re going to get the same reliability on a particular server, for example, in combination with somebody else`s storage. It`s a question of putting all these components together and getting the best design and architecture and guidelines for the user to be able to set the scene - that`s really what`s critical.
"It`s about designing for redundancy and resiliency, not only from the networking component, but also for access to the Internet, how the databases are mirrored and backed up, and then stored, and the interaction between the storage and the databases. You don`t want any single point of failure across the entire architecture."
As such, PQ Networks will leverage off the products represented throughout the rest of PQ Africa, and use them in combination to provide this type of infrastructure.
Knowles believes there is a strong demand for an offering like iD.
"What we`re finding is that there`s more and more pressure on the enterprises in terms of the skills shortages that they`re facing, it`s becoming very difficult for them to have enough of the right level of skills to cost-effectively be able to look at different technologies themselves, and do a lot of that analysis. More and more, they`re looking towards an integrator to actually do all the homework for them, and come up with solutions for them. So from that point of view, they want us to put those solutions together for them."
What this means for existing PQ Network clients, is a thorough audit of their networks; something which has been offered at the roadshows.
"We`re going to be looking at going to clients and auditing their infrastructure, and then making recommendations. We`ll also cover, importantly, the security and the management side, from a network management and from an application management point of view."
Knowles thinks part of the challenge today is that a lot of enterprises have pockets of different technologies, which result in interoperability and compatibility problems.
"What this first solution is moving toward is more a blueprint, consolidated view of what a high-availability infrastructure should look like, and if you go down that road it should make it a lot easier for you to develop your e-business solutions going forward."
The initial roll-out focus will be on the top 500 corporates in SA, says Knowles, primarily because the ability to integrate fairly complex environments is a strength on which PQ Networks prides itself.
The other solutions in the PQ Networks iD will be released over the next few months, on a six to eight week basis.
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