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Outsourcing
network management
If
Network Management seemed like a headache that never seemed
to go away, outsourcing Management Services may be just
the antidote. Local systems integrators, hosting providers,
and facilities management companies are fast getting into
this area. Here's a sampling of what's available today
‘With
rising costs of maintaining and managing support departments
in-house, there is an increasing openness to the idea of
outsourcing the support function’ -- Ravindra Datar,
Principal Analyst (India)-IT Services, AMCPL, research partner
for Gartner in India.
TAKE a closer look at a recent network layout diagram and
you'll notice the complexity. For various reasons (See 'Management
Services: The next wave in facilities management') today's
networks need to be scalable and upgraded periodically.
Now think about the exponential costs of doing this, every
year, or every six months. And would you leave your complex
network in the hands of inexperienced engineers?
Send for the Piper, enter Management Services Providers
(MSP).
They'll monitor your network, analyze traffic, identify
bottlenecks, alert and protect you from impending dangers,
and, ensure over 99 percent uptime for your network.
Traditionally, we've seen IT monoliths like IBM, NCR, Compaq
and HP offering something similar, albeit to a lesser degree,
under the banner 'Services.' But today, there are players
from another field who are entering the MSP business.
Hosting providers, systems integrators, network consultants,
connectivity service providers, facilities management companies,
and even telecom specialists are all getting into the act.
They're investing heavily in infrastructure, systems, and
connectivity for the control centers they call Network Operations
Centers (NOCs). Some players (like the ISP and Data Center
businesses) are modifying existing infrastructure for management
services.
Take Bangalore Labs, regarded as the first serious local
player in Management Services. The company has invested
close to $1.5 million and 36 man months in setting up an
NOC, which is on par with international standards. Bangalore
Labs now provides network management services to L&T
Information Technology; systems & application management
services to Skumars.com; managed security to Hathway and
Cyquator.
HCL Comnet, traditionally a leading player in VSAT connectivity
solutions, has set up a 10,000 sq. ft. NOC at Noida. It
is providing management services to Philips, Sanmar, Bajaj,
IOCL, SBI, 3M, TVS-Suzuki, HomeTrade, IndiaTimes, CitibankOnline,
HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Fabmart, India Cements and others.
CMS Computers, traditionally a systems integrator, is also
planning to set up an NOC in Mumbai, with support from call
centers.
Datacraft India is gearing up to offer its STARtrac management
services here by the end of this year.
Others like Wipro.Net, Microland-Innerframe, Satyam Infoway,
and Global Telesystems have already added Management Services
to their portfolio of existing services, or are making elaborate
modifications to existing infrastructure in preparation
for the MSP business.
But will Indian corporates, who are known to keep tight
control over their resources, operations, processes and
data, choose to outsource their network management to local
MSPs?
EXTENT
Traditionally, companies had separate EDP (electronic data
processing) departments with teams of IS (Information Systems)
personnel. Today, the number of staff in the Infotech division,
of say, a major financial institution, could exceed the
number of employees in a small to mid-sized company.
"With
rising costs of maintaining and managing such support departments
in-house, there is an increasing openness to the idea of
outsourcing the support functions," says Ravindra Datar,
Principal Analyst (India)-IT Services, AMCPL, research partner
for Gartner in India.
Agrees Joy Nandi, executive VP-Marketing & Alliances,
Bangalore Labs," Customers with fairly large and complex
IT infrastructure have come to terms with the fact that
the effective answer to manage the growing complexities
of IT infrastructure is
Comprehensive Management, which can only be delivered using
world-class processes, tools and technologies."
Broadly, outsourcing management services can take place
in two ways On-site and Remotely. With the former, the MSP
will send their engineers to your company to manage the
network on a day-to-day basis. With Remote Management, the
MSP will monitor your network from their NOC. Typically,
a leased-line link or VPN connects your network to the MSPs
operations center.
Depending on the nature of business, companies choose On-site
or Remote Management Services or both.
Financial institutions for instance, may be interested in
outsourcing facilities management but may be averse to the
idea of outsourcing information security.
"On-site
management may be preferable for large centrally located,
mission critical sites. Off-site (remote) management is
suited to businesses spread over remote locations, with
branch offices etc," says Sharad Heda, President-Strategy
& Projects, Microland. "In India, companies prefer
on-site or a mix of on-site and off-site management, unlike
our international customers who are driving the remote services
model aggressively."
But Indian companies are slow to latch on to the concept
of outsourcing due to key concerns like giving up control,
confidentiality, reliability, technical expertise, etc.
"Though
we are expecting a significant growth in IT management services
here, the size of the market is presently very small. A
lot of psychological, legal/regulatory and managerial barriers
need to be broken down before the industry reaches a respectable
size," says AMCPL's Datar.
In India, Management Services is still an emerging market.
Market researchers and industry bodies like NASSCOM and
Gartner Research are currently in the process of gathering
data and preparing estimates for the local MSP market.
CIOs may be lying low, waiting for the market to develop
rather than rushing in to outsource IT infrastructure management.
But proven expertise in management services and Service
Level Agreements may change the mindset
of the skeptical CIO, and when that happens, watch how management
services take off in the
country.
Brian Pereira can be reached at brianp@rediffmail.com
