Digital Transformation of LAN Infrastructure

Editor's Notes

• #6: Matt Douglass and Alex Broome shout out Set the framework for today’s conversation… Sexy back to IT My role – Internal & External Realized our world is going through a massive Digital transformation ATC has coined the phrase digital transformation as our go to market strategy going into 2021 and beyond Check out this quote…. That was before Covid hit. Modernization of IT infrastructure
• #7: Single pane of glass – I know we all hear that…and I’m guilty too - routers, switches, firewall, control plane…. Even down to WAPs, Cameras, SSIDs and beyond. Ease of management is key for single site out to multi site or even enterprise environments. This one is for you true IT guys and gals in the trenches – be honest, console cable and the awkward silence Forget about the complexities of licensing, renewals, etc. This will be a fixed, predictable monthly expense.
• #8: Network complexity is one of the biggest IT challenges facing organizations today. With wide adoption of streaming applications and cloud-based services, businesses can’t keep up with the changing business needs and drivers using MPLS. IT leaders face a variety of complex challenges when it comes to their legacy network solutions. This compounded by the fact that today’s workforce has very dynamic, evolving technology needs. Furthermore, the more complex your infrastructure, the more likely it is to be vulnerable to attack. Avoids much of the capital investment expense for network hardware. Provides layer 7 device and application visibility, real-time, web-based diagnostics, and monitoring and reporting. Midsize businesses are the classic NaaS buyers, especially those without substantial investments in a WAN. With the adoption of as-a-service models, larger organizations have become more interested. Cloud-based applications help your organizations improve communication, collaboration, customer service, and more. They can unlock limitless growth—but you’re going to need the network to back it up. Increasing demands on bandwidth, especially from applications that require high-quality voice and video, can put a serious strain on the WAN. Networks need to support the programs and applications that keep organizations running. Networks can hold organizations back rather propel them forward. NaaS also reduces the amount of staff time required to maintain the network and reduces the level of training and skill required of the IT staff. With NaaS, the network essentially becomes another utility you pay for, like the electricity, water or heat. The functionality of the infrastructure may be included in a single NaaS flat fee, or the business may individually subscribe to each service, which can include optimization, firewall -- or other security -- and SD-WAN, depending on the service provider.
• #9: We started the conversation talking about Digital Transformation. This really creates a digital ready network. What that means is we are now ready to load in those “as a Service” applications. Optimization and visibility of those applications across the network is enabled by the combination of NaaS and SD-WAN being purpose built together. For the financial purchaser, this is where the industry is heading… Everything As A Service. Predictable monthly pricing delivers enterprise-grade software and hardware in a logical tech refresh cycle. Eliminating technology obsolescence. It also eliminates those pesky licensing spreadsheets we all used to keep… I for one never liked tracking them or the unpredictability of that next smartnet renewal. Ultimately, NaaS is the next generation of Digital Transformation of your LAN/WAN environment. I am going to hand the baton over to Matt Douglass so he can show off just how sexy NaaS really is….
• #22: Client environments are evolving… Years ago, clients purchased servers, storage, software, phone systems, and networking hardware to run their own email environment, run employee records applications, store their customer data, run their voice environment, and provide specific applications to each line of business. Typically all of this hardware and software resided in a client’s own data center, and was monitored and managed by their own IT staff. The hardware typically had to be refreshed every 3-4 years, which was capital intensive. To provide access to branch locations, client’s purchased expensive dedicated private networks called MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) from a telco like Cincinnati Bell. NOTE that we’ll drill in and define what MPLS and many of these other technologies are later in the presentation. Then along came “the cloud”. No longer did a business have to host their own applications in their own environment. Application Providers started to host their applications in their own data centers and allow clients to access them via the internet. CLICK 1 – For example, Microsoft began offering Office 365, which is your Outlook email and Office productivity apps in the cloud. CLICK 2 – Employee Records could be hosted in a 3rd-party provider’s data center, such as CBTS’ Virtual Data Center, much less expensive than a client could host themselves. CLICK 3 – Customer Relationship Data moved to SalesForce CRM CLICK 4 – Phone Systems could now be outsourced as a service from companies like CBTS. This allowed companies to purchase their phone system in a per-handset operational expense model instead of a capital expense. CLICK 5 – Line of Business applications could now be hosted on public clouds such as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure To support this migration to the cloud, networks evolved as well. CLICK 6 Expensive private MPLS networks could be replaced with less expensive flexible cloud-ready software defined networks, or SDWAN. SDWAN technology allows a client’s data traffic to ride over the internet instead of a dedicated private network, all while providing the same security as a private network. All of this movement to the cloud left client environments drastically reduced. No longer do they need the massive server/storage/compute farms that were required to support the old environment. Thus, hardware resellers like CBTS have seen a drastic reduction in client purchases of infrastructure hardware over the last few years. The last remaining hardware components included the routers, switches, and access points in each physical location. These were needed to provide network connectivity and internet to employees. These components can now be purchased as a service as well. CLICK 7 CBTS’ Network as a Service, or NaaS, allows customers to purchase their internal route/switch network environment as a monthly utility operational expense. They no longer have to worry about supporting this hardware, and refreshing it every 3-4 years. CBTS owns all of the hardware and provides all support, break/fix, and upgrades. CLICK 8 Lastly, CBTS can provide all of the Consulting, and back-end Monitoring and Management to support this entire environment. This enables the client to essentially get out of the business of day-to-day IT support, and focus on more strategic technology initiatives. It also elevates CBTS to a position as more of a trusted advisor, instead of just a hardware provider. Because all of these solutions are sold as a monthly utility with a long-term contract, our relationship with the client is much “stickier”.