Thinning the Branches

June 22nd, 2006:Nortel Networks claims it can reduce computing and network infrastructure TCO by as much as 55%. Its latest product seeks to bring the branch office closer.

Nortel Networks is announcing that it's, "Business Continuity System (BCS) 3000 system is designed to enable enterprise customers to migrate to an 'IT-Thin' branch office architecture that reduces computing and network infrastructure total cost of ownership by as much as 55%, based on internal studies conducted on customer data.

Despite still being in the throes of a multi-billion-dollar law suit (the Canadian element of which was settled just hours ago), Nortel is still forging ahead with BCM 3000, which includes WAN optimization, network management and data security. The Wide Area File Serving (WAFS) element of BCS probably carries the widest appeal in our region, where vast distances and 'adequate' infrastructure mean that the branch office is often the least well served, and therefore, least utilised potential profit centre.

Says, Nortel, "Internal deployment within Nortel of the wide area file sharing (WAFS) capabilities on the BCS 3000 has been shown to reduce WAN file sharing traffic by up to 90%, with typical WAN bandwidth savings of 20%. WAN acceleration features for opening and writing remote files anywhere in the network were shown to improve end user responsiveness from 68% to 99%, based on estimates provided by Brocade Communications". Brocade's Tapestry and NuView products are already being seen as leading the WAFS' wave, at least in our region.

The Nortel BCS 3000 Branch Office configuration embeds Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 and takes advantage of the security, networking and directory technologies in the Windows Server platform.

The BCS 3000 is targeted at reducing total branch office computing costs by:
Enabling an "IT-Thin" branch office architecture with no impact to end-user productivity - reducing the amount of IT technology and skilled resources required at each remote location.
Reducing communication costs by increasing existing WAN link efficiency between the branch office and main enterprise locations.
Enhancing monitoring and management features to provide global visibility and control of the entire network from a single centralized location.

Comment on this story.