 |
|
FREE ADVISORY REPORT
| November 24, 2008 | Business Network Services - U.S. | Advisory Report | Analyst: Brian Washburn, Research Director, Network Services When managed wide area network (WAN) services first emerged in 1989-1991, they were initially custom-built services for Fortune 100 firms in the form of massive, carrier-administered frame relay networks. The waves of change that followed – the commercial Internet, telecom competition, increasingly sophisticated and then converged services on IP – widely popularized business data services, even as it made data networking more complicated. Enterprise customers that have the budget and in-house talent have been able to adapt and benefit in various ways from the telecom revolution. But for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) without the finances or in-house expertise, managing and maintaining their networks can be a struggle. For telecom service providers, the SMB market looks like a natural selling opportunity for managed WAN services. If SMBs can off-load responsibility for configuring, managing and maintaining the network to their carrier, it would be one less distraction from these companies' core business. But the SMB segment faces a different set of challenges from enterprises, centered around constrained resources, which makes it particularly difficult for carriers to get their foot in the door with standalone managed services. A couple of false starts have shown that what hasn't worked, namely enterprise-level managed WAN services that are repackaged with less functionality and poor customer support to shave down the price. There are, however, ways that carriers have found to build and package their services that address SMB needs, and get around some of the market segment's restrictions. Click here to download report (255KB PDF) | Client access - Full report in Business Network Services - U.S. | More information |
Why Managed WAN Services Current Analysis Offices |
|
