What's old is new again

Internet data centers are becoming the next generation CO It's a legitimate question: "What could possibly be next generation about the central office?" The concept of the CO is about as new as a mainframe data center. By its very definition, the CO must be as consistent and unwavering as the dial tone it guarantees.

Filled with telco equipment and built to withstand all kinds of disasters, the CO is the physical hub of communications networking. It is run by people with decades of experience in managing mission-critical global networks. It is solid, stable, secure and scalable - designed for guaranteed 24-hour availability.

But don't those same concepts lie at the heart of today's networked economy, where the nonstop flow of information is the lifeblood of successful companies? Both new economy start-ups and traditional bricks-and-mortar businesses are concerned about the availability, scalability and security of the networks that support e-business strategies, back-office systems and applications. Those networks must have dial-tone reliability, and that's what the next generation CO is all about.

Once you take the next generation CO out of the telco metaphor, it's easy to recognize that these new Internet data center facilities are the basis for Web-based business. Just as harbors, railroads and highways were at the center of enterprise in years past, Internet data centers are the hubs of today's business exchanges.

History repeats itself Technologies are invented, reinvented, challenged and repurposed by turns.

For many years, the rallying cry in technology was decentralization. Mainframe data centers were denounced in favor of distributed client/server networks. Full-featured "fat" clients were installed on most desktops, giving end users considerable local computing power.

Now the tables are turning again. The Internet, e-commerce and Web-based applications are forcing companies to rethink the client/server mindset. And as more applications move back to a network-based model, businesses need to know their Web hosting provider has the physical, technological and human resources required to run their mission-critical business applications flawlessly.

The move to more network-based solutions forms the strategic basis for the growth of the next gen CO. At the same time, another trend is affecting the design of networking: the move of more content to the edge of the network.

As customers demand more speed and functionality for their IP applications, networking suppliers are meeting those needs with innovations in intelligent content distribution. The combination of the power and the capabilities of Internet data centers with edge-based network architectures is leading to a new integrated view of enterprise networking. In this environment, secure network solutions for private applications converge with the economic benefits and openness of the Internet and IP technology.

Built to last Businesses hosting mission-critical Web sites and applications need the right technology, facilities and hosting services.

A lot of the attention in the Web hosting arena is focused on square footage. According to some experts, demand for hosting space currently outstrips supply by 2.5-to-1. And the global Web hosting market continues to grow - from $3.8 billion in 2000 to an estimated $16.4 billion by 2004, according to some forecasts.

Several Internet data centers are former CO locations that have transformed to deliver what businesses need to succeed in the networked economy. These CO facilities have distinct advantages over newer data centers, many of which are housed in traditional office buildings.

For example, the building that houses the AT&T Internet Services Data Center in Redwood City, Calif., was completed in 1967 and built to security and structural integrity specifications that would be financially unrealistic today. The core section of the building has solid concrete walls that are 18 inches thick and concrete floors that are 24 inches thick. The building is supported by a foundation built on columns that go 138 feet into the bedrock.

What hosting is - and isn't But physical assets are only part of the story. Customers also should look at the Web hosting strategy of the service provider.

Because this market is growing so rapidly, many providers are jumping on the bandwagon with a business model that focuses on a quick time to market. At first blush, this seems like a sound strategy. Companies worldwide are screaming for more Web hosting facilities to take their businesses online. When demand outstrips supply, quick action is needed to meet customer needs.

But smart companies are learning that developing and hosting business applications and content isn't just about deploying ad hoc or patchwork solutions for online business needs - that's the least of it. Web hosting is about designing business processes for the Web and choosing the right hosting services and applications to support these new business processes.

Customers need access to a broad range of managed hosting services, including monitoring and management functions for servers, operating systems and applications. They need on-demand storage solutions, database management and network and bandwidth management, as well as content distribution and professional services. And they need comprehensive security solutions to protect their businesses from Internet-based threats such as Web site hacks and denial of service attacks.

The bottom line is that customers need the freedom to focus on their core business processes, unhindered by the complex technology and management functions required to run a world-class hosting environment.

Hosting also is about pulling together disparate networks and technologies to create seamless end-to-end business processes and finding the right hosting services to support these new business processes. A key differentiator between hosting providers is the ability to tie customers' existing data networks such as frame relay and ATM, directly into Internet data centers, enabling customers to link their critical back-office operations - such as supply chain management and order fulfillment - to their Web-based applications.

In the not-so-distant future, these next generation COs also will house voice-over-IP gateways, DSL access multiplexers, cable headends, Wireless Application Protocol servers and numerous other technologies critical for deploying highly sophisticated business applications. By integrating and placing these technologies in facilities located right on the IP backbone, they can be integrated, managed, secured and upgraded more easily.

Placing such technology directly onto the backbone is a key differentiator. Too many service providers act as if this connectivity point is trivial or a commodity. However, as a company's Internet presence grows, it needs to sit directly on a powerful IP backbone in a telco-grade data center. This protects applications and content from unpredictable spikes in demand and enables companies to move their applications to the edge of the network - as close to the end user as possible.

Networking on the edge Businesses today also need to realize that the endgame isn't just about having a Web presence. It's about managing, as efficiently as possible, the highly sophisticated content and applications their business partners and customers need. Sophisticated hosting providers are synching their data center strategy with the latest in edge network architecture.

The original concept of the Internet was designed as a distributed system. Each leg of the network operates autonomously. If a link goes down, the network still operates. If the entire network goes down, the other networks that are interconnected to it still operate.

This doesn't work when you try to use the traditional method for distributing content - from a single point of origin. Bottlenecks occur. If everyone from these different networks tries to access the same content, a site can become overloaded easily.

The answer is to push content to the edges of the Internet. That means building the intelligence into the network to expediently move content as close to the user as possible, a concept called content-aware traffic management.

Businesses must not only serve up their applications and content quickly, but they also must ensure those applications run flawlessly so that end users enjoy the rich, useful experience they expect. This is especially true for applications such as streaming media and webcasting. As demand for these capabilities increases, thanks to the growth of broadband access and Net-based applications, businesses also should be confident that they can scale to meet the needs of tens of thousands and, ultimately, millions of end users.

By end of 2000, 5 million homes will have broadband access, according to industry analysts. By 2003, estimates range from 15 million broadband households - by Jupiter Communication's estimates - to 28 million - by Forrester Research's estimates. Whether it's cable modem, DSL or fixed wireless, broadband will forever change Web content and is another reason for edge architecture.

There is no question about the demand broadband users will put on content providers. This past summer, Nielsen NetRatings noted that 60% of broadband customers accessed some form of streaming content. What happens when broadband is much more ubiquitous? Because the underlying architecture of the Internet frequently requires a handoff of network traffic from one carrier to another before it reaches its final destination, transmission delays can wreak havoc on time-sensitive multimedia applications.

Service providers must build networks now to get around the various points of congestion, avoid latency and put in place a system that will engineer all the "points of play." As consumers embrace broadband in force, the dot-com and next generation media companies that serve these users will need a wide array of solutions.

For all these companies whose reputations are tied directly to the quality of their end-user experience, one of the highest priorities is end-to-end performance. To address this concern for performance, next generation media companies will host their content at the edge of the same network infrastructure as their broadband end users. In doing this, companies can increase their control over the end-user experience and are ensured reliable network performance.

Scale is important, whether it involves building out dozens of Internet data centers or committing to build an edge-based infrastructure that will support 10 million simultaneous Web users. The successful implementation and rollout of these two elements - the next generation CO and the next generation edge network - will be critical success factors in deciding the fate of the next generation of the Internet.