Lippis Report Issue 114: RIF + IT = Productivity Gains
November 3rd, 2008
We continue to focus on the impact the macro economic scenario will have on the enterprise networks and communications industry. I was shown the most frightening graph while I was at Morgan Stanley. On one page it compared the economic declines of 1973 and 1929 versus today. It showed the S&P, industrial production, inflation and jobless rate at the precipice described by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Warren Buffet, et al. Many business leaders believe the US government has done all it can and we are left to wait and see if the actions taken in October will help avoid a deep recession or worse. I am probably like you, numb to the talking heads espousing a “chicken little” doctrine; but you can’t ignore reality. The drop in S&P is steeper than in 1973 and 1929 over a 12 month time frame, which spans six months before the beginning of those declines and the first six months into them. This has created a cloud of caution among business leaders and prompted Reduction in Force (RIF) initiatives.
Avaya just hired Kevin Kennedy as its new CEO. Zeus Kerravala of The Yankee Group and I comment on Avaya’s pick and review the recent Avaya analyst conference with an eye toward which Enterprise Communication companies will survive the downturn. Enjoy, Nick
Located just south of Vancouver, Delta School District includes 33 schools spread out over 60 miles. Having initially deployed consumer-grade Wi-Fi technology, Delta quickly realized that it needed industrial strength management and WLAN performance to meet the needs of educators, students and administrators. Its first enterprise WLAN provider offered central management improvements, but Delta was only able to sprinkle single access points (APs) in most of its schools, equipping some with several APs and a centralized controller. Adding more APs meant adding more controllers and backhauling traffic from each AP to a central site over a WAN connection. Then Delta switched to Ruckus Wireless and gained a professional-grade WLAN system that could be centrally managed, was quick to deploy and offered unique design attributes thanks to meshing. Paul Parsons of the Electronic and Computer Services (ECS) Group within Delta School District is my guest as we talk about Delta’s business requirements, motivation and experience with a new WLAN solution by Ruckus Wireless.
Unified Communications (UC) suppliers have been busy extending their software to work on mobile endpoints, such as the Apple Iphone, blackberry, smartphones etc. But there has been little focus on solutions that extend UC to address in-building roaming applications. This is a huge area that has been overlooked with requirements in nearly every industry such as gaming, education, retail, financial services, transportation, etc. Most business and IT leaders look toward a few technologies to solve the in-building UC roaming problem including Voice Over WLAN, IP DECT, Dual Mode endpoints, reliance on the cellular network and, in the extreme, deploying their own cellular antenna to improve coverage. To sort this all out, I invited Shane Yu Director of Unified Communications Consulting at Avaya where we’ll review these options and provide guidance as to which approach may work best for your corporation. If you’re looking to extend UC to in-building nomads, then you need to listen to this podcast
