Network Computing

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RFP: Detailed Solutns for WAN Tehnology

By David Wills Glossy brochures. Glitzy Web pages. Glamorous TV commercials. Global networks. Glorious services. To hear wide-area networking vendors talk, you'd think they had every problem licked. But what do they really offer? And how do they address your particular problems?

We wanted to put the nationwide carriers to the test by defining a wide spectrum of networking challenges--from remote access to SNA network consolidation, from Internet service to branch office networking. By creating an enterprise with typical yet difficult problems, we aimed to show specifically how they tackle the hard issues in the real world.

In this RFP (Request for Proposal), we created a fictitious company with WAN problems that were anything but fictitious. Using examples from our experience with a variety of companies, we constructed Consolidated Amalgamated Inc. (CAI). CAI is a nationwide organization, running out of two OHQs (operations headquarters) and 16 branch offices, each connected to its OHQ through a combination of leased lines, X.25 and PSTN (public switched telephone network) connections. CAI also has 12 satellite offices, which require only occasional connectivity for e-mail delivery (see "Consolidated Amalgamated, OHQ/Branch Office WAN Detail," on page 62).

Like many companies, CAI has a WAN infrastructure in place, built to meet immediate project requirements, with little overall architectural vision.

Separate teams installed and maintained voice, IBM host, LAN internetwork and remote-access systems. The result: a WAN that is costly to maintain--more than $420,000 annually--even with its comparatively li mited services. The WAN also is prone to unacceptable outages and delays.

In addition, CAI needs to expand its netwo rk span and capabilities. About 1,000 of its 2,500 employees have to have secured access to internal networks, and 300 desire Internet access; several key business partners require secure, uncomplicated electronic communications for purchasing. CAI is looking for a strategic business partner with a range of solutions for both current and future wide area networking needs. (See the complete description of CAI's requirements at www.NetworkComputing.com/ 822/822f2.html).

To meet its own internal SLAs (service-level agreements), CAI identified the following primary goals for the new WAN: improve reliability; reduce overall networking costs; enhance LAN performance during busy hours; boost WAN performance between data centers; increase WAN manageability; expand private remote access; leverage electronic commerce opportunities over the Internet; provide access to the Internet; eliminate duplicated or outmoded equipment; and build CAI's public presence on the Internet.

We asked vendors to directly address t hese requirements, and we've provided our analysis of their proposals. We didn't expect the impossible. Because we correctly anticipated that no vendor would tackle every issue raised, we required them to provide the most complete solution of which they were capable. We also required vendors to submit full pricing details on all elements--capital and installation costs, as well as ongoing fees for both dedicated and switched services. This step weeded out vendors that were not willing to put everything on the table. Out of a pool of the top WAN vendors, two were willing to provide the full details of their solutions: LCI International and CompuServe Network Services.

To download an Adobe Acrobat .pdf format version of our original RFP document, click here.