Destination: Advanced IP paradise

 

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For IT directors, the new data center road map is clear: Head toward an all-IP network, complete with advanced IP applications such as real-time collaboration.

Already, companies are moving along the steppingstones to this all-IP place. Many have implemented voice and video over IP, and are turning out frame relay networks and other private links in favor of pure IP connections, such as provided via MPLS-based networks.

Two network leaders plotting their courses to the advanced IP paradise are Erik Durand, IT director for Costa Mesa, Calif., civil engineering firm Psomas, and Jim Klein, director of Information Services and Technology at Saugus Union School District in Saugus, Calif. Both were finalists in the Network World Renovator Awards earlier this year.

For Durand and Klein, the goal is to achieve real-time collaboration with advanced IP applications and an all-IP network.

Engineered for advanced IP

In a perfect world, Durand says, the CAD/CAM drawings his users rely upon would be available from anywhere at anytime. "Our engineers would be able to collaborate on construction projects using whiteboard applications and videoconferencing over wireless LAN, cellular or satellite connections from a remote office, an on-site trailer or even a dirt mound," he says.

Today, he is laying the groundwork that will help him attain this network nirvana.

"As an engineering company, we work with large CAD files - 300M bytes to 500M bytes on average for each one," he says. "This wasn't a problem when we were a smaller company and everyone worked in the same office, but as we've grown - 20% per year over the last two years - we find we really need to share work across offices."

Durand already has swapped out his frame relay network in favor of an MPLS-based, fully meshed, pure-IP topography.

"The advantage is that we can have every-office-to-every-office connections, where before we had to pass through a main hub. We've lessened the number of hops, which will speed access to data," he says.

He also has consolidated file servers at the company's locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada and Utah to a handful of data centers equipped with Riverbed Technology's Steelhead file services appliances. These appliances allow real-time access and sharing of centralized data over the wide area.

"We used to do offline file synchronizations overnight, but they were a day behind and were a nightmare to manage. Users would ask if they could share work across offices and we'd have to say 'no.' Now we can do it," he says. Another benefit has been the ease of file restores, which are frequently required because of human error, he explains.

The move to a consolidated all-IP network also has enabled Psomas to open new offices quickly, without a lot of gear and staff. In fact, Durand's 14-person staff has not increased even though the company has grown rapidly over the past two years to support 620 users.