Emerging Network Technologies - Essay Example

Implementation: BPCL evaluated various options before selecting Cisco's VPN solution. They had to basically decide between two options, a software-based, and an appliance-based VPN solution. Software-based VPNs are offered by Computer Associates and CheckPoint and appliance-based solutions are offered by Nortel and Cisco. BPCL implemented Cisco's VPN 3030 Concentrator. It's a VPN platform for medium and large enterprises with bandwidth requirements from T1/E1 through fractional T3. The concentrator supports up to 1500 simultaneous sessions.

It offers hardware acceleration and is field-upgradeable to 3060.Benefits: BPCL has achieved faster deployment, lower cost of operations, and a scalable solution that supports up to 1500 concurrent VPN users and can be integrated with future security initiatives like digital signatures and secure ID cards. BPCL would have had to spend a substantially higher amount on VSAT links or leased lines at remote locations if it had not deployed a VPN solution.Business Case Analysis - IICompany: University of Minnesota (UMINN), http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/index.

phpThe University of Minnesota is one of the premier universities in America offering a wide range of courses. The University of Minnesota is one of the most comprehensive public universities in the United States and ranks among the most prestigious. Product: the University of Minnesota, which serves 60,000 students on five campuses, selected Cisco MDS 9509 Multilayer directors from Cisco to consolidate its widely dispersed storage resources onto a single, highly reliable, high-performance storage area network, or SAN.

Implementation: For its first SAN effort UMINN chose the Cisco MDS 9216 Fabric switches in a dual-fabric configuration, spanning two data centers on the campus. The IT team moved rapidly to place the university's key business functions on the SAN and then began to look at using the two data center SANs for disaster recovery capabilities. Further improvements were made when they expanded the SAN to a core-to-edge design to accommodate even more applications and data.Benefits: Previously, the university had a lot of little islands of storage, perfectly reliable, but not scalable.

With the implementation of SAN, the university brought in scalability to its data centers. Any upgradations were made possible without affecting the network of attached computers. The implementation of SAN also took care of the easy information sharing between connected systems. The SANs also made the backbone more robust by adding disaster recovery capabilities. Analysis and ConclusionThe advantages offered by emerging network technologies are far superior. Although the end-users will have to invest large amounts of money in implementing and deploying the technologies, the benefits offered by these are far more superior when compared to the investments.

These technologies help a company achieve ROI and achieve their bottom lines. Therefore, I feel, any company that decided to invest in technologies such as VPN and SANs are making the right decision in doing so. The above statement can be clearly evidenced by the results as seen in the above two business case analyses.