Today's typical law firm network has been built piecemeal over
several years, resulting in a lack of an overarching architecture
plan. This makes it extremely difficult and time consuming to
manage.
As law firms in Massachusetts look to move more of their
applications to the cloud, they're finding that their networks
simply aren't prepared to handle the increase in network traffic.
And not just in terms of bandwidth, but also in their ability to
prioritize the heavier volume and different types of traffic.
So how did it come to this? One reason is firms' reliance on
traditional telecom carriers and their service delivery. Often,
carriers will make the initial sale by promising law firms a
managed router -- where the carriers control and remotely make
adjustments to the router as they see fit.
But in today's world of MPLS (multiprotocol label switching)
networks, designed to transport both voice and data with variable
Quality of Service (QoS), just having the router being managed
isn't enough. Law firms not only give up a lot of control, but they
also lose the ability to customize their networks to fit their
needs. That's why, in order to ensure top performance of enterprise
voice, video, data and cloud applications, firms need a managed
network.
Managed network, managed router … what's the
difference?
Today, carriers simply provide a network service, and very
little else. For instance, they do not provide the proactive
monitoring and support services -- including security
monitoring -- that many enterprises seek today for their
networks. Carriers will mostly wait until circuits are down to
start any measures to remedy service issues -- meaning law
firms run the risk of losing significant network availability while
circuits are being repaired.
In addition, carriers only provide a router with inflexible single
IOS (Internetwork Operating System) standards that allow little
custom configuration -- something that is crucial for keeping
up with the dynamic evolution of today's cloud-based business
applications. And since much of the equipment is on-premise, the
firm is responsible for the cost of hardware upgrades and
replacements.
On the other hand, with a cloud-based managed network approach,
law firms can prioritize and manage the performance of critical
business applications from the router. This can enhance a firm's
efficiency, execution and agility by allowing it to be much more
involved in the overall network strategy -- including how to
design, manage and monitor the network, as opposed to just focusing
on pushing packets through the pipe.
Let's look at some of the top benefits that a cloud-based managed
network approach provides to customers today:
Fully customizable QoS. With the emergence of
MPLS, law firms can now easily incorporate voice, video and data
onto a converged network. This makes it more important than ever to
prioritize the QoS for each application to meet their specific
business needs. This way, last night's ESPN highlights aren't
interrupting voice traffic or Salesforce.com access, for
example.
Personalized customer approach from certified
engineers. Law firms are relying on cloud-based managed
service providers today because they have the certified network
design engineers answering their calls that can minimize the
technical, implementation and investment risks -- risks that
they would face if they tried to design the network themselves, or
if they tried to get a carrier to adapt their services to the
company's network design. This managed service approach also
includes constant proactive monitoring, so problems are often
identified and fixed before companies even know they happened,
rather than enduring multiple calls and playing the escalation game
that carriers can put customers through.
Remote router monitoring and activity logging
(TACACS). Just because a managed network is fully managed
by the service provider doesn't mean a law firm has to give up
control over its routers. Under a managed network framework, firms
can feel free to make any changes they feel are necessary without
fear. The service provider's Terminal Access Controller
Access-Control System (TACACS) keeps logs of any router activity
and they can easily revert routers back to a previous setting in
case a mistake is made.
A cohesive network approach. A managed network
provider will leverage the power of multiple Tier 1 providers under
one cohesive network, but to the customer it functions as one
network, significantly reducing the time and cost of managing
multiple vendors. In addition, to address business continuity
concerns, multiple networks are used with multiple failover
options, providing greater redundancy and survivability. A cohesive
network approach enables a managed network service provider to
leverage the power of the underlying infrastructures to ensure the
best delivery of service to the customer.
Automatic QoS tagging. Managed network providers
first consult with the customer on how its data needs to be tagged
and which applications need to be prioritized - all based on
business needs. In most cases, law firms are running applications
over their networks that aren't prioritized or tagged at all. By
setting up an automatic QoS configuration based on business rules,
firms take the guesswork out of prioritizing traffic.
A managed network provider will also tag global domestic Internet
and general Internet traffic differently as it comes into the
network. Rules can also be set up on routers and switches that only
allow certain types of traffic to flow through those devices. For
instance, international traffic most likely doesn't need to be on
the routers, so it can be blocked, providing a huge security
benefit against unwanted intrusions from spammers and malware
originating from sources overseas.
Multiple direct peering. A managed network
provider uses multiple direct peering arrangements to identify the
optimal Internet connection available across all of its Tier 1
providers at that time. They can also provide QoS through an MPLS
network directly into cloud-based apps such as SalesForce.com and NetSuite via private
peering connections for better performance.
Network monitoring and support. The protection provided
through network monitoring and support services is crucial in
today's legal world. Managed network providers give law firms
unprecedented visibility into their network all the way to the
application level, where they benefit from historic trending
analysis relative to network performance through enterprise-class
monitoring tools. In addition, application QoS tagging is shown on
the network layer to confirm that traffic is being properly marked,
prioritized and delivered across the network for the highest
performance levels.
The continued emergence of a cloud-based approach to doing
business can provide significant benefits, but it also creates
significant challenges for law firms today. Firms looking to gain
an edge in a competitive landscape are finding they can get rid of
ad hoc, carrier-based networks and routers, and instead turn to a
cloud-based, fully managed network that will save them time and
money, and result in better overall performance.
James Whitemore is executive vice president of Smoothstone
IP Communications, a provider of cloud-based communications for
enterprise-level companies.