Page 10 - FCW, August 2017

NETWORK MODERNIZATION THE FOUNDATION OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
FOCUS ON IT FUNDAMENTALS
There is widespread recognition throughout government agencies of the need to upgrade outdated systems. Doing so will help accomplish two other longstanding goals— improving cybersecurity and reducing operating and maintenance costs of legacy systems.
The focus should start with the fundamentals. Agencies should consider focusing their near-term efforts on building a reliable and resilient network foundation for delivering applications and services as they begin to execute on their digital transformation strategy. Starting with the network backbone provides a strong network foundation upon which to build.
CONVERGED NETWORKS
A secure, powerful, and reliable network is the backbone for government transformation and
“A secure, powerful, and reliable network
is the backbone
for government transformation and delivering services into the future.”
delivering services into the future. Many agencies are moving toward advanced, converged IP networks. This type of network configuration combines multiple communications technologies—voice,
data, video conferencing, and other collaboration approaches—into a single network. This improves
Migrating to VoIP is as Easy as 1-2-3
Like every other aspect of IT operations, there have been major advances to phone systems with digital technology. You’d be surprised how many organizations have not yet fully transitioned from legacy phone systems to VoIP. Some organizations have simply prioritized other factors, since there is no shortage of technology out there to explore and deploy. In many cases, though, phones have an innate familiarity that makes it easy to ignore them as a source of increased efficiency.
Eventually, though, the phone’s familiarity can’t mask the cost and inefficiency of running two networks.
A single converged network can handle voice and data, as well as unified communications and integrated applications. This is an area where government can quickly migrate to modernized networks with a few simple considerations:
1. Bandwidth planning: You must ensure the network has enough bandwidth to handle your call volume. That means you need to understand not only your typical call volume, but also your spikes. For government agencies, those spikes are often driven by crucial time periods in the calendar—tax season being a great example. Appropriations periods or hurricane season might play the same peak role for other agencies. The potential ramifications of not enough bandwidth include poor voice quality, dropped calls, and a general slowing of network data.
2. On-premises, off-premises: Larger organizations with in-house IT staff might opt to keep their infrastructure on-site. There are many reasons for agencies to go with a hosted solution, though. Secure a provider and agencies can share monitoring and maintenance responsibilities, depending on capabilities and overall IT direction. And this leads to the management question.
3. Who will manage your VoIP system? VoIP and converged networks are becoming part of the foundation of agency operations. Agencies’ management options include managing the system internally, sharing management responsibilities with a provider, or turning over management entirely to a provider.
A number of engagements start with VoIP managed by the customer. When they see its full capabilities, though, they start getting ideas for new things they can do to deliver services to citizens or collaborate with other agencies. They’ll often decide to put their internal resources into other capabilities and opt for managed VoIP, including training so staff can learn about and use the new capabilities.
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