Optical Networking Best Practices Handbook

Appendix A. Optical Ethernet Enterprise Case Study

Today, many large enterprises find themselves attempting to meet what appear to be two diametrically opposed objectives. On the one hand, these enterprises are looking for ways to utilize IT as a competitive advantage, using it to enhance the flow of information and improve the access to applications across the entire enterprise, ultimately increasing employee productivity. On the other hand, enterprises must manage costs—in particular, the total cost of IT. The management teams at these large enterprises recognize that storage and server consolidation/centralization provides the most effective means to leverage and share their information assets so that employees can collaborate effectively and content can be delivered efficiently. Management also recognizes, however, that centralization of computing resources will not deliver the desired employee productivity improvements unless it is accompanied by a significant increase in bandwidth to insure that network users are able to quickly access these centralized resources. Of course, significantly increasing available bandwidth using traditional access solutions results in a dramatic increase in the total cost of IT, moving the enterprise further from its second objective of managing costs [1].

These same large enterprises frequently utilize an ATM, frame relay, or leased-line infrastructure to connect their metro sites. Enterprises are finding, however, that using circuit-oriented ...