Specific technologies How respondents are planning for: ATM NT Internet NCs All the above in a single file Complete survey results Additional resources: Dealing with budget cuts Tips for pulling off a network project when its funding gets slashed. Network World, 11/24/97. The squeeze is on Our annual budget survey shows network managers are putting functionality over glitz. Network World, 6/16/97. Network needs assessment pays off Mapping an IT project to required resources greatly increases the likelihood of a successful rollout. Network World, 7/7/97. Emmett is a freelance writer in Wallingford, Pa. She can be contacted at ArielleEm @aol.com.

The age of being reasonable
Survey finds bottom-line concerns win out over hot technologies such as ATM and Gigabit Ethernet.

By Arielle Emmett
Network World, 12/15/97

Network managers have become risk-averse and careful with their cash. Managers aren't willing to invest in bleeding-edge technology or even bandwidth as a glut commodity, especially when the business case can't justify the costs.

That's the gist of the 1997 Network World/Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group Technology Planning Survey, a series of 300 in-depth interviews with strategic network planners in the nation's commercial, government and educational institutions. The annual survey cuts through the hype to take the pulse of Network World readers from organizations such as manufacturers, community colleges, banks, utilities, systems integrators and computer vendors.

The results? ATM growth is circumscribed and modest in LANs and WANs. Current implementations are quite sparse: Only 16% of respondents are using ATM in the local area and only 15% are using it in the wide area.

Network newcomer Gigabit Ethernet has gained even less ground. A mere 10% of respondents have deployed Gigabit Ethernet switches and more than half have no plans to use them in the future.

Present in 75% of the surveyed companies, Windows NT Server is beginning to raid NetWare's installed base. Al-though 51% of managers who run NT said they added it to support new applications, NT has displaced NetWare at 27% of those companies.

Not everyone is sold on Internet-based commerce. Nearly half of the respondents said it's not relevant to their businesses, while security and access issues remain jagged edges for companies that seek the green light.

However, Internet-based services are shaping up to be a viable choice for the corporate data backbone. Almost half of respondents are currently using Internet-based services as part of their backbones, and most of the remainder intend to be within three years.

Thin clients, on the other hand, appear to be dead on arrival. Although folks are almost evenly divided on the merits of network computers (NC) and network PCs, only 26% plan to deploy them. End users are the ones sounding the death knell: 75% of respondents believe they will refuse to give up their Pcs.

Regardless of the technology, the bottom line is respondents see a close tie between prudence and revenue, applications development and planning for next-generation infrastructure. Managers are scoring higher in their organizations by getting more performance out of existing networks than by forklifting to the future.

When administrators make a business case for technology deployment, they address unmet user needs and revenue opportunities instead of perceived bottlenecks.

High-speed backbones, new switches and software, remote access, thin clients and even intranets aren't worth the investment unless real-world applications exist to support them.

"In all, the data corroborates what we're seeing, namely that applications are driving the answers [to infrastructure change],'' says Gerry Cunningham, principal at Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group's networking practice in New York.