Computers Today, October 16-31, 1998 Telecom

Why spend money and manpower on setting up a country- or world-wide WAN? Managed Data Network Services from IBM, BT, AT&T or Satyam infoway offer a secure and seamless communications network, allowing you to concentrate on your core business.

Considering the improvements in fibre optics and digital compression technologies for supporting high-speed transmission of data, individual 64 Kbps leased lines might soon become passe. The need for reliable data communications for information gathering, has resulted in managed data networks (MDNS) which take up the routine task of data communications between various sites of a customer's organisation in an error free and seamless manner.

Traditionally, organisations set up private networks, either by leasing or setting up their own links to connect to various locations. For companies that have a transnational presence, a considerable amount of resources goes into managing the network. "Moreover, there is a radical shift from the organisation's core area of competence to managing its datacom network," says Arun Seth, managing director, British Telecom India.

Bringing Managed Data Network Services to the multinationals operating in the Indian subcontinent as well to Indian organisations with a transnational presence, is India's international carrier Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

The service portfolio (see box) offered by VSNL includes those from Concert, a joint venture of British Telecom and MCI, AT&T-led World Partners Association (WPA), Cable & Wireless (C&W), Global One, a joint venture of Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and Sprint, and IBM Global Network from IBM Global Services.

According to Ravindra Sharma, general manager, SAARC operations, BT, "Success in today's electronic business environment means staying connected so that firms can streamline business processes, reach new markets and grow revenues. With geographically dispersed customers and partners, and an ever expanding remote workforce, businesses must implement fast, reliable and security-enhanced networks." This is where managed data network services helps organisations, he points out. Managed data network services, apart from the usual X.25 packet switched links, also provide dedicated IP, ATM, frame relay, and private-line services. Advanced packaged offerings include managed IP, Internet service, dial-up, Web hosting and Web content service.

In fact, Concert Frame Relay Services, a joint venture of BT and MCI, offers flexibility to its customers in terms of network configuration, billing and technologies associated with the network.

Delegating network services, while cutting the huge costs of maintaining a private data network, also makes communications more effective. With an investment of over Rs 27 lakh in Concert Packet Services (CPS), Ciba Specialty Chemicals (India) Ltd has gained that advantage, claims Anand Saxena, Ciba Geigy's network manager.

Headquartered in Basle, Switzerland, the specialty chemicals major has production sites in 29 countries and research and development facilities in 12 countries. Initially, the company relied entirely on fax and phone facilities, channels which lack secrecy and speed.

Ciba Geigy India's being a Concert Packet Services (CPS) client, its operations are now part of a worldwide project team. It has access to more than 1,300 cities in over 115 countries; end-to-end services in over 40 countries; and gateway accesses to 171 networks through Concert. Atul Samalia, general manager, IT, Ciba Geigy India, explains, "Over 90 percent of the management staff uses networking technology to communicate."

Frame Relay Service (FRS) offer efficiency in handling of large amounts of high density and "bursty" traffic delays, explains BT's Ravindra Sharma. This consists of Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) that link routers at customer offices to operator's nodes. Each customer is allocated a permanent virtual circuit with a unique address for a point-to-point connection. The PVS is run over dedicated access lines to the MDNS' nearest node. From this point the traffic is shunted over to the MDNS' global backbone.

India has just moved from the staple X.25 to FRS which supports high-speed data applications such as document imaging, transfer of CAD/CAM and large data files. It is particularly suitable for LAN-based data applications as it supports sporadic outbursts of data at high speed without requiring large bandwidth reserves. Users have to pay only for the capacity they use. For instance, Concert recently bagged a $1.6 million contract from British Airways to link its sites in India to those in UK. BT's customers in India like Johnson & Johnson, Ciba Geigy, Sandvik, Exxon, Eastman Chemicals and Credit Lyonnaise are also planning to shift from their present CPS to Frame Relay services.

Software exporters are presently coping with the high costs and low effectiveness of the X.25 service. Earlier, they had to set up a 64 Kbps leased line for a Rs 30 lakh project, even if the project was small. Now, with frame relay, they can bid for smaller projects with its bandwidth usage divided into smaller platforms. The FRS works at speeds of 128-256 Kbps, and for a connection to USA, at 128 Kbps, the average cost would be about 40 percent less than the leased line route, claims Sharma.

Similar to GMDNS providers that have a transnational presence, Indian organisations like Satyam Infoway Ltd and Global Telecom Services Ltd (GTSL) are also offering local customers the ability to transact business with speed, efficiency, reliability and security. Global Telecom Services' clientele includes Reliance, Tisco, Telco, Citibank, ITC Group, Air India, Bajaj Auto, Escorts, and L&T. Its business-to-business E-commerce applications like EDI, electronic catalogues, Logistic Tracking System, are also part of the service.

In a tie-up with General Electric Information Services, Global Telecom is also planning to expand its services to include virtual private network services as well as building, managing and maintaining corporate intranets. Organisations using the Satyam.Net of Satyam Infoway are using Lotus Notes services, managed E-mail services, and managed Internet Commerce services (see box).

IBM's Global Network service, that serves roughly 35,000 corporate customers in 900 cities in more than 100 countries spread across the globe, is up for sale at an asking price of between $3 billion and $4 billion. Since its inception, the IBM Global Network has been a historical curiosity--developed in 1981 by the world's largest computer maker to provide multinational companies with global data links in an age when most of the telephone company's services stopped at national borders. Much has changed since then. Yet only the data networks run by US carrier and WorldCom, Inc. and Dutch network operator, Equant NV had as wide a reach as IBM.

Meanwhile, rumbles are being heard of AT&T's announcement of a $10 billion link-up with British Telecom, last year. In Europe, worries have been expressed about the impact on Unisource--the alliance between AT&T, Swisscom, PTT Telecom of the Netherlands and Telia of Sweden--while AT&T's WorldPartners operation in Asia was the subject of constant debate. Industry sources suggest that BT will almost certainly spin off all or part of its Concert operation to a third party and take the opportunity of beefing up the Concert operation with the addition of AT&T's WorldPartners operations. AT&T has a 36 percent stake in WorldPartners, which numbers Telstra of Australia, UniSource, Japan's KDD and New Zealand's Telecom Corp., in its membership.

WorldPartners offers a portfolio of services including frame relay, virtual networking, private line service, and call centres for multinational corporate customers, under the WorldSource brand. The managed network business is no doubt profitable, but from the user's point of view, it is possibly even more profitable to piggyback on a reliable, vast network, managed by telecom giants of the likes of AT&T, IBM or British Telecom.

Grey Cells Abound on Satyam.Net

Pager and cellular users can now receive stock updates on their pagers and cellular phones through a unique service launched by Grey Cell, which enables exchange of Web and E-mail messages between the Internet and pager and cellular phone users. All this has been made possible by the connectivity offered by Satyam Infoway. Satyam data transfer services enable users to transport data securely and reliably across the network. Users can avail of these services through dial-up and dedicated access using IP/PPP and X.25/ X.28 protocols. In other words, corporates can outsource their complete WAN requirements.

Satyam.Net covers 12 cities across the country. It is claimed to be the first secure public TCP/IP network in India. This service can be used to run ERP applications, remote access, intranets, E-mail, workflow applications like Notes or any proprietary applications of the customer.