March 29, 1999, Issue: 758
Section: News & Analysis
MCI To Give ATM Users More Control
Chuck Moozakis
MCI WorldCom is readying service management features that free IT
managers from the design, configuration and monitoring hassles of ATM links.
The managed ATM service will mirror the carrier's existing managed frame
relay package, giving customers remote oversight, device-monitoring and
configuration capabilities.
MCI WorldCom has quietly offered its largest ATM customers these kinds of
features on a custom basis for the past three years, said Chris VanLuling,
MCI WorldCom's director of advanced network services. But it's become a
requirement for users of all sizes, he added, given the proliferation of
high-bandwidth applications and the difficulty of managing them.
"We have been trying to solicit carriers to build an ATM infrastructure that
would assure us that we are getting what we are paying for," said Steven
Shim, director of network services and telecommunications for health-care
provider HealthFirst Inc. "We need some type of ATM service that we could
control." HealthFirst is not testing or using the managed ATM service.
VanLuling declined to specify when the service would be rolled out or what
type of customer premises equipment would be required to provide
performance data.
But sources said it will be announced at May's NetWorld+Interop, and that
the service will be based on Visual Networks Inc.'s Visual UpTime service
level management package, which already supports MCI WorldCom's frame
relay service.
One MCI WorldCom customer, application vendor J.D. Edwards & Co., has
had conversations with the carrier regarding managed ATM services, said
Dan Lacinski, director of network services.
"We looked at MCI's ATM service for a site in Dublin, [Ireland]," he said.
"We're looking at all of our bandwidth requirements to determine our next
step. We're leaning toward ATM. What we would like to do is use ATM as a
transport mechanism."
Lacinski said he would be interested in MCI WorldCom's managed ATM
service. "In the past, some services have been all or nothing," he said. "I would
like something more flexible that would permit me to work with MCI, where I
could get some performance SLAs. If Visual Networks' equipment is placed
at the circuit level, where it would almost be 'sniffer-like,' that would be a
powerful managed service."
Visual Networks is in a good position to offer ATM network performance
monitoring. The vendor late last year added ATM support to its Analysis
Service Element (ASE), an enterprise-level, intelligent access device that lets
IT managers gauge the performance of their DS-3 (45-Mbps) ATM links.
Visual Networks' package provides reports on service availability, delay and
throughput across access lines, ports and virtual circuits. It also lets IT
managers monitor use of ATM DS-3 channels and virtual circuits.
Visual Networks' ASE is currently being used by AT&T, which last week
said that it will launch its managed ATM service in more than 40 cities by the
end of this year.
MCI WorldCom's current ATM offering provides only basic information
about customer access devices from Cisco and Fore Systems Inc., such as
whether they're active or receiving data. The new ATM service would provide
standardized monitoring of a variety of network operations metrics, including
device performance, configuration and repair. In addition, the new service
would provide a standardized, single-user interface through which customers
could obtain data across their mixed ATM and frame relay networks,
VanLuling said.
"We see significant growth in managed services," MCI WorldCom vice
chairman John Sidgmore told InternetWeek.
The advent of managed ATM services comes as customers are beginning to
deploy ATM for applications that hog bandwidth, said Joseph Skorupa, an
analyst with Ryan Hankin Kent Inc. "Up until recently, anything up to a T1
was considered a fat pipe," he said. "Now, IT managers are pushing the
envelope and they want to have integrated voice and data through a single
pipe, and a T1 connection isn't enough. ATM is finally doing what it was
designed to do"-namely, combine different traffic types and at very high
speeds.
"IT managers want to be sure it is behaving as it should," Skorupa said.
At the same time, IT managers are demanding increased
switched-virtual-circuit support from their service providers. With SVCs, a
network connection can only be established at the time the transmission is
required, thus making the need for service level management even more
critical.
"The impact on network design from these services is amazing," said Ron
Jeffries, principal of Jeffries Research.
"Having a backbone accommodate these various unpredictable surges in
demand is hairy."
The ATM Forum is in the process of writing new specs for traffic
management. Last month it approved the Guaranteed Frame Rate spec which,
in part, will enable service providers to offer guaranteed minimum bandwidth
for ATM traffic over the Internet. GFR, which is part of the group's Traffic
Management 4.1 guideline, is slated for final approval sometime in April.
"It's a way to offer users and providers a parameter or characteristic from
which they can determine SLAs," said Mary Petrosky, principal of analyst firm
Petrosky.com, in describing one possible use of GFRs. "Providers can use this
as a benchmark."
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc. |
