Telecommunications technology just keeps hurtling forward, and while we may love the added conveniences and fresh, new features, staying current requires more time and effort than we’d like. Many companies have decided to skip the headache and work with a trusted adviser: someone who knows the industry and stays up to date with the swiftly evolving world of telecommunications.
“Proven telecom specialists will have knowledge of what’s available from the carriers, including detailed information regarding feature, product and pricing differences,” says Ginger Smith, business market manager with Simplify Inc. “From there, they know what questions to ask the business to determine what their real needs are so that they can make the right match.”
Smart Business spoke with Smith about how companies can sort out the differences between telecom products and services.
What makes it so difficult to assess the differences between the offers from different carriers?
The wonderful and the terrible thing about technology is that it is constantly changing. We all like the improvements, but staying up to date on the differences between the vast array of products offered by telecommunications providers today can be a daunting task. There are so many providers today — global, domestic and regional, and each carrier has multiple products, most that come with their own special marketing name and slew of associated acronyms. Carriers will try to do everything for everyone, but no single carrier can do everything well.
What kinds of products do you see people migrating to for their data networks?
Most companies have abandoned the old private line or frame relay networks for fully meshed data networks using MPLS or some other form of IP VPN. However, even among these products, there is diversity. How do you know which you need? If you need MPLS, do you need Class of Service support and, if so, how much bandwidth per class? If you need IP VPN, should it be IP-Sec based or SSL based? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each technology? What are the security implications? Is one carrier’s MPLS really different from another’s?
The carriers would love to answer these questions for you, but each one has its own obvious bias. While most IT departments have a preference regarding the type of technology they employ, many do not have a full understanding of the difference between, for example, the various flavors of MPLS in the market and the carriers capable of providing it. A knowledgeable, carrier-neutral adviser is invaluable in these situations — someone that can explain that Carrier A charges a hefty fee for Class of Service, while Carrier B includes it for free, or that Carrier X rides the Internet while Carrier Y has a fully private backbone. Understanding the distinctions between each carrier’s approach to WAN products results in an ability to choose the right product fit for your company’s needs by matching the product characteristics to your internal design specifications.
