July 2008 Archives

London put sustainability at the heart of its bid for the 2012 Games, framed by the concept of 'Towards a One Planet Olympics'.

This was derived from the World Wildlife Federation BioRegional concept of 'One Planet Living®' , which is based on the fact that globally mankind are consuming resources at a faster
rate than the planet can replenish them. If everyone lived as most Europeans do, we would
need three planets; if as most North Americans do, then five!

In announcing Nortel as its Official Network Infrastructure Partner for the 2012 Games, the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games also declared Nortel as its Official Sustainability Partner.

There are a number of ways that Nortel helps the environment.

REDUCE with up to 40% lower energy consumption: Nortel products are proven by third-party, independent experts to use significantly less power than the primary competitor while delivering robust performance and reliability.

RE-USE In The Form Of Evolvable Products: Nortel calls this our 'evergreen' philosophy; our customers call it investment protection; and the green community calls it re-use.

RE-CYCLE through Product life cycle management: Last year, our three Investment Recovery Centers (the first of which opened in 1939!) handled 6.2 million pounds of material and separated over 96% into 34 commodity recycling classes.

But it goes beyond this. The Nortel Supplier Code of Conduct incorporates criteria to help identify where risk lies in our supply chain with regard to workplace social, labour, environmental, health, and safety conditions.

Outside recognition and verification of Nortel commitment to and successes in sustainability include the Dow Jones North America Sustainability Index and the Jantzi Social Index.

Who's championing sustainability in your enterprise?

Paul Deighton used to be European Chief Operating Officer for Goldman Sachs. So he's well aware of the challenges of running a big business.

Now he's taken on a big job as the CEO of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), responsible to deliver all operational plans for the 2012 Games.

Andy Platten also used to work in IT for a very large bank. He is now vice president of technical infrastructure of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). He observed that "The infrastructure that we're building for the Games is roughly the same complexity and size as what we had deployed there (in the bank). But what we're doing here for the Games is like opening all the branches on the same day, with all the systems working. And it has to run perfectly. Customer transactions can't go wrong, and we have to balance every night."

Both these professional have another thing in common. In both cases, they have turned to Nortel. LOCOG has partnered with Nortel as its Official Network Infrastructure and Sustainability Partner, while Nortel is the Official Converged Network Equipment Supplier for the 2010 Winter Games.

The Olympic Games, like running a financial institution, are among the most demanding communications environments in the world. The big difference is that the deadline to go live is absolutely fixed and un-negotiable, and transactions cannot be re-entered under any circumstance (you can't ask a sprinter to break the world record again, because we missed the first time!)

Think about it. Nortel is one of the few companies (I would say only) with deep expertise in more areas (wired/wireless, enterprise/service provider and infrastructure/applications), needed to flawlessly deliver reliable mission critical networks Olympians can rely on. Olympics are banking on it.

The first "speedcabling" competition recently took place in Los Angeles. This new geek game is based on unraveling the rat's nest of wires found beneath most computer desks, as people connect an assortment of storage, scanner, printer, camera etc to their PCs.

But this may be a short-lived "sport" as Wireless USB, complemented by WiFi and Bluetooth, emerges as a solution to everyone's below-the-desk Hyperconnectivity challenges.

Briefly Wireless USB (technically USB3.0) is a hub and spoke technology, creating a cluster of up to 127 devices. To achieve up to 480Mbps (equivalent to USB 2.0) at distances up to 3 meters, Wireless USB uses low power ultra-wideband (UWB) transmission over an extremely wide spectrum (technically from 3.1 to 10.5 GHz), and will coexist peacefully with other wireless technologies such as WiFi and Bluetooth.

I don't know about you, but this would definitely eliminate a major headache for me.

For data centers, virtualization of network services over an IP fabric, simplifies data center design and management of networks to lower operational expenses, while also capping the cost of expanding available services and dramatically reducing energy consumption. In addition, optical SANs between data centers provide a very high level of disaster recovery and business continuity.

Although Fibre Channel (FC) is predominant in the data center today, the trend towards compute virtualization and 10GigE servers will drive the move to Ethernet as the preferred interconnect for storage. In fact, "2008 and 2009 will be the peak years for FC switch sales thanks to server virtualization and blade servers," according to Richard Villars, vice president, Storage Systems, at IDC.

Brocade's acquisition seems to be confirming these market trends.

Didn't know that Nortel is a player in this space!?

The NYSE has built its ultra-reliable, ultra-scalable Ethernet network on Nortel, while the Vancouver Olympic Committee for the 2010 Games is 100% reliant on Nortel. One financial institution has three data centers running Nortel, supporting over 35,000 PCs, tellers and ATMs, and hundreds of servers. In addition many of the largest global banks rely on Nortel for their inter data center optical SANs, delivered in partnership with storage leaders such as Brocade, EMC and IBM.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. "Hyperconnectivity is a megatrend whereby everything and everyone that can benefit from being connected will be connected."

The other side of the Hyperconnectivity coin, and to great degree a key enabler, is the megatrend that everything (not yet everyone!) that can benefit from being digitized will be digitized.

I see three reasons why these are two sides to the Hyperconnectivity coin.
1) Once content (music, books, photos/painting, medical records, movies) are digitized, add some headers to this digitized content and you have packetized data ready to go.
2) Once content such as audio and video are streamed over the network, then it is trivial to store them for later retrieval, analysis and replay. Think about it. This has led to the rapid replacement of analog security cameras by digitized and packetized systems running on IP and PCs.
3) The above digitization is focused on audio, image, video and data, but the technology for cost effective digitization now can sense and measure a hundred different physical and environmental conditions including temperature, humidity, pressure, acidity, air quality, movement, radiation level, and so.

Low cost and high capacity storage and processing of digitized content and low cost and high capacity networking of packetized content together make Hyperconnectivity inevitable.

And we're seeing these coming together everyday in our pockets, in our homes and at work. For enterprises, it's all about converting Hyperconnectivity challenges into huge opportunities to make or save money and to make the world a better place.

IBM's Websphere is 10 years old.

Back in 1998, there were 25 developers. Today, there are 6000 across IBM and another 10,000 developer partners (including Nortel), serving some 100,000 WebSphere customers.

The initial focus was on rapid development of web apps supporting HTTP, Servlet and Java environments. WebSphere has since evolved to being a SOA platform, including connectivity to many systems, such as Oracle databases, SAP and Siebel CRM. It now includes a suite of products including the WebSphere Application Server (WAS), which is based on open standards such as J2EE, XML and the new Web Services standards.

And WebSphere continues to evolve with increased scalability, and expanded support for social computing, rich Internet applications, and Web 2.0.

Wintergreen Research reports that WebSphere has a 64% market share, against direct competitors such as Oracle's (BEA's) WebLogic, and open source challengers such as JBoss.

This is all to explain why we have chosen IBM's WAS as the first framework with which to integrate the Nortel Agile Communication Environment (ACE). Integrating with IBM's WAS, and associated WebSphere products such as WebSphere Modeler and Portal, allows Nortel to achieve higher performance, speed and simplicity in accelerating deployment of customer Communications Enabled Application solutions based on ACE.

It's a software world, and ACE will integrate with other environments, such as Microsoft BizTalk and .NET, and SAP's NetWeaver.

Contrast this with Cisco's network-centric SONA approach which many believe will be a bottleneck rather than an accelerator of business accelerating applications.

Olive Riley, an 108 year old with 70 entries on her blog, died recently in Australia. Olive, who started blogging just last year, has seen a century of technology development go by. Just imagine Olive's technology world when she was 15 (in the photo).

When I tried to get on her blog, I got a screen stating 'due to overwhelming demand this page is currently not available". Not that surprising, as her blog was ranked 7000th earlier this year, out of 80 million blogs (or 'blobs' as she called them) worldwide.

Thanks Olive for reminding us all that you're never too old to get hyperconnected.

A recent Goldman Sachs survey of IT executives found that "17% expect to support iPhone 3G in the next year".

How should we interpret this result?

It says that iPhone will join RIM and Windows Mobile for the hearts and wallets of enterprise users. If the latest iPhone meets IT security and management requirements, it surely will.

But there's another message. It has been observed that iPhones generate 20x the traffic of traditional smart phones. Why? Because the iPhone's user interfaces makes it so simple for users.

The corollary is that the simplicity of the iPhone epitomizes the path to what we call the "True" broadband experience, providing seamless low latency access to any business application.

That bodes well for mobile UC, and for 4G wireless whether in the form of LTE or WiMax.

The focus of this blog is hyperconnectivity and the enterprise, and that has to include your customers.

Matt Clark, a Principal with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, had an interesting perspective. What he observes is that consumer experiences with mobile apps "will only increase consumers' expectations to be in control of the decision-making when it comes to the services they want." (Sorry the URL has gone.)

Nothing can be closer to the truth! And the expectations will extend to whatever service delivery channel the consumer prefers: in person, over the phone, through a mobile device or from his/her PC.

Three important requirements need to be considered:
1. Degree of customization: how valued is the relationship with the customer and what is it worth to the business?
2. Degree of personalization: Matt talks about control- so what degree of personalization is offered to the customer to satisfy his needs and preferences?
3. Degree of differentiation: How will your business differentiate itself in the marketplace?

While point solutions are always a possibility, the savvy hyperconnected enterprise looks at technologies as enablers of more engaging and differentiable services. What does this imply in practical terms: agile communication and application environments which are software-centric, multi-vendor and cross-domain, and open.

What to avoid: single vendor, vertically integrated and network-centric technologies that will constrain service innovation.

How are your customer service strategies changing with customer expectations?

Well I have talked about Hyperconnectivity and the fact that everything will get connected, but I hadn't thought of memory cards. Here's a memory card with integrated WiFi for transferring your favorite photos.

Just in from the field: "I had a customer call yesterday and said they wanted to take a closer look at Nortel because they're getting crushed on Cisco maintenance fees for voice. They have about 3,000 IP phones and are paying $400K per year in software maintenance ALONE. They're up to 22 servers supporting 3,000 phones, messaging, and a contact center application."

Looks like the Cisco strategy is to lowball on the hardware (both from a capacity and price perspective) and then hit the customer hard on the back end with more servers, more software maintenance fees and of course the Cisco Energy Tax.

I'm telling customers they need to look at a 5 year TCO with product, maintenance and energy to show the entire picture.

Then there are no surprises and you can apply the savings to business enhancing investments.

Deloitte has chosen Nortel as a global managed services provider for telepresence, video conferencing and associated multimedia services, across 130 sites globally. It's a big deal.

The business value of these capabilities includes lower travel cost, increased productivity and reduced carbon footprint. This value comes as much from the technology as it does from the service dimension.

A Service-powered solution makes meeting with a client remotely as easy as walking into a conference room. You have got to love this if you are Deloitte consultant. The service is supported by eight Nortel Multimedia Network Operations Centers (MNOC's), providing 24x7x365 concierge-level service.

But you're not as big and global as Deloitte? No problem, just enter your typical travel costs for meetings with colleagues and customers, and you'll see your ROI as well as a positive impact on the environment.

I have spoken extensively about the Cisco Energy Tax. It's all part of our commitment to give you the facts on what your Cisco network is really costing you (up to 64% more according to a new Tolly Group report) and how Nortel can lower your recurring monthly energy bill substantially.

Now the Nortel Energy Efficiency Calculator has gone public. You can calculate your savings for yourself, based on your specific environment. Just click here and start calculating.

The NEEC runs on Excel (backed by an extensive database), not on PowerPoint!

And customers like Prairie Cardiovascular Consultants, a nationally-recognized leader in cardiovascular care, have first hand experience with the tool. "We used the Nortel Energy Efficiency Calculator and found we could save thousands of dollars over competing approaches over five years using Nortel's energy efficient products in our data and communications centers... the solution reduces the networking power requirements as well as those associated with cooling and facilities".
With energy costs escalating and increased awareness of environmental concerns, it's no surprise that the sight of the Cisco Energy Tax collector has hit a raw nerve with many enterprises.

This was one result of an independent survey of 800 Nortel customers.

Another interesting point is that 93% wanted Unified Communications (UC) to be closely integrated (not just bolted on) with their desktop environments, meaning predominantly Microsoft Outlook and IBM Lotus Notes.

This confirms our strategy of creating a unique Innovative Communications Alliance with Microsoft (almost 2 years ago and with over a million seat licenses), and integrating the Nortel Agile Communications Environment (ACE), our framework for Communications Enabled Applications, with Sametime and Lotus Notes under the Nortel-IBM alliance.

Another data point was the fact that 38% of respondents considered 'proven interoperability with existing IT investments' as one of their top three challenges. In many cases, this includes non-Nortel PBXs. We already have ACE interoperability with Cisco Call Managers, while Nortel professional services have the prerequisite skills and mandate to help customers meet this challenge.