2. The butterfly effect
An IT network decision made today could affect
your company for the rest of the decade.
Your company’s performance for the rest of the
decade will affect it forever.
Part of the
3. The pace has been set
The technological revolution continues
to accelerate. We will see more change
in the next three years than we’ve seen
in ten. Consider the year 2000, a world
of dial-up internet and huge laptops
with less memory and features than
a mobile phone today.
But most business network users have
been stuck with the same ‘legacy’
technology for 20 years. Something
has to give, so don’t wait until it does.
Part of the
4. Next Generation Networks
Legacy networks are designed to carry telephone calls
and contain components that date back 100 years.
They are becoming obsolete but there is another way.
Forward-thinking businesses have
“Legacy networks are
reduced their IT running costs and
based historically on
increased efficiency with a Next carrying telephone
Generation Network (NGN). calls; some parts date
back 100 years.”
Part of the
5. Why change?
With fibre optics at their core, NGNs
deliver ultra-high capacity and seamless
high quality for data, voice or video.
Based in Internet Protocol (IP) standards,
the NGN is fully compatible across the
world – increasingly important as the
business globe shrinks. Multiple services
can be run on the same network and an
NGN is application neutral.
This means numerous providers can deliver services
across a single network, opening a whole market of
choice to your company.
Part of the
6. Total control
Phone lines and internet bandwidth
“...phone lines and
can be instantly adjusted or rerouted internet bandwidth
to meet demand. Don’t pay for too can be increased or
much or have too little. rerouted immediately
to meet demand in
Unlock the ‘Cloud’ sales, then scaled
NGNs make cloud services affordable down just as rapidly
when demand
and effective. Guaranteed reliability
slackens.”
takes away fear of losing connections
or data. This unlocks off-site
solutions for your company.
Part of the
7. Three evolutionary steps
Step 1 – Migration
To immediately improve uptime and
“Your new supplier must
reduce your costs, migrate from fully understand the
your legacy network to an NGN. issues unique to your
Speeds can be tailored to your business and work
company size, from 1Mbps for lone closely with you.”
workers to gigabit connections for
large sites. Managing and monitoring your
network can start straight away, working
closely with your supplier so they understand
your unique deployment needs.
Part of the
8. Three evolutionary steps
Step 2 – Convergence
With all your communications and
data networks running independently
over your NGN, you have a single
management point for capacity,
security and allocation of resources.
This streamlines business, and allows
things like real-time, life-size HD
video conferencing between multiple sites,
reducing unnecessary travel time and costs.
Part of the
9. Three evolutionary steps
Step 3 – Transformation
With an NGN you will be agile and ready for the one
thing that is constant in business – change. Customer
centred ways of contact like SMS, Facebook and
iPhone apps will improve communication and sales.
There will also be the opportunity to learn more about
your customers as Web 2.0 technologies gather
information, interacting with clients at a myriad of
touch-points. As new business opportunities develop
alongside technology, an NGN will make sure you
keep up.
Part of the
10. Making the right move
Choosing an NGN provider is an important step
that you should only have to do once. Here are some
important questions to ask before making your decision.
• hat is the network provider’s track record, history
W
and how is it backed?
• ho is on its network and what are their
W
experiences?
• hat is the network capacity, speed and
W
geographical coverage?
• hat services/support does the provider offer
W
and what is their vision for the future?
Part of the
11. Access the benefits
We’ve highlighted some advantages of an NGN, but
there are many more and they differ for each company.
You need to look at your business strategy and
assess how it could be affected by your information
strategy. If you find the future is less exciting with
your current network, it’s time to start making moves.
For independent information, check out the following
organisations.
NGNUK – www.ngnuk.org.uk
Ofcom – www.ofcom.org.uk
NICC – www.niccstandards.org.uk
Part of the
12. Opal
Opal is the Talk Talk Group’s business
to business division. We are the UK’s leading
provider of next generation communications
technology for business. 200,000 business and
public sector customers depend on our 15 years
experience and extensive infrastructure. We have the
largest and most connected NGN in the UK, and our
core network offers 800 GB/s capacity with more than
1GB/s across its exchanges.
We are proud to hold major industry awards including
Network Operator of the year 2009 and the Cisco
Customer Service Excellence Awards 2007 and 2009.
Part of the
