Stop the pain

As businesses are asked to do more with less, uncovering hidden networking costs becomes crucial to meeting increased expectations.

To develop a network and networking strategy that meets ongoing business needs, it is important to identify the costs associated with proprietary networks and understand how standards-based solutions can alleviate these costs and significantly help the bottom line.

In the past, IT purchasing decisions were based primarily on the initial cost of hardware. Infrastructure and maintenance costs were simple and could easily be accounted for in budgets at the time of purchase. This provided IT managers a clear picture of their total infrastructure costs. Today, networking is more complex with increased amounts of hardware and software needed to run day-to-day business. In order to optimise the network, businesses need additional resources to operate, maintain and evolve their networks, leading to a significant overall increase in cost of ownership.

The standards-based approach allows companies to purchase, maintain and operate their networks without the hidden costs that plague proprietary approaches.

Lorna Hardie is ProCurve Networking Business Unit manager at HP South Africa.

The challenge lies in managing network costs while retaining the ability to monitor network health, ensure security, and manage daily operations. Adding to the complexity, deployment of standalone devices with discrete functionality on the network is rapidly giving way to devices that deliver multiple functions. Initial hardware investments are no longer the only costs incurred. Additional features such as hardware and software updates, maintenance contracts, network management and security all contribute to the business' cost of ownership.

Since additional functionality and requirements have a huge impact on overall network investments, an organisation must understand the capabilities and scalability of the network solution. Proprietary networks in particular provide inflexible and often limited solutions. They lack the freedom needed to achieve the goal of an optimised and centrally managed network, and create a network that comes with a hefty price. Uncovering the hidden network costs is critical to remaining competitive in the current economic environment.

* Annual maintenance contracts
Typically added to the initial purchase price of hardware and software, these contracts include warranties, firmware upgrades, software updates and maintenance. It can be difficult to ascertain how much maintenance contracts cost through the life of the product, due to upgrades and requirement changes. Even with maintenance contracts in place, there are often additional charges for software updates.

* Proprietary pricing
The vendor lock-in model uses strategic pricing of intellectual property. Complex hardware and software licensing is designed to maintain a competitive advantage and drive higher vendor revenue. Perceived as easy to adopt and often including comprehensive professional services, this dominant model has a downside. Proprietary networks offer limited hardware and software options. They tend to be expensive to implement and maintain and they require specialised expertise to make work effective.

* Operational support
Technical, phone and helpdesk support are required to maintain network efficiency. However, these costs are often the most difficult to account for since they are not always set, or even fully negotiated, with initial contracts. These third-party support contracts add significantly to the cost of network management.

* Training and certification
Certification is extremely important to the IT industry, as customers increasingly demand knowledgeable service to help them grow their business. Simplified certification programs offer optimal value, allowing effective programs and hands-on learning. Unlike rigid proprietary programs, a standards-based approach enables interoperable troubleshooting and certifications that give businesses expansive expertise, flexibility and investment protection in existing certifications.

* Downtime
Software updates and regular maintenance can cause downtime, disrupting workers and slowing productivity during prime business hours. A streamlined, standards-based approach and industry-leading warranty enable integrated network management and support for these particular situations.

Today, organisations cannot afford to manage networks independent of the rest of their IT infrastructures or separate from business priorities. Business must align with the demand of a challenging economic climate to build a competitive advantage and meet their evolving business needs. Uncovering these hidden costs is crucial to meeting the increased expectations placed on the network as businesses are asked to do more with less.

Networking vendors are driving towards a new era of networking, one that transforms industry expectations and redefines the way businesses evaluate, deploy and manage their network infrastructure. With an expansive portfolio of networking solutions to choose from, organisations free themselves from the restrictive and proprietary technologies of the past.

Through modular, open standards-based solutions, organisations have the ability to reduce costs while deploying the latest generation networking capabilities. These capabilities provide more choice and flexibility to leverage the industry's best networking solutions and reduce network complexity to simplify operations. This standards-based approach allows companies to purchase, maintain and operate their networks without the hidden costs that plague proprietary approaches.

Networking vendors must strive to offer a unique and extensive combination of products, solutions, services and people to address core IT and business problems while continually evolving to meet these needs.

This standards-based approach to networking allows organisations to execute strategic imperatives and achieve operational efficiency. This allows them to respond to new business opportunities and competitive pressures.