Leverage savings to re-invest in infrastructure and services

Maria Espinosa-Gobuyan

November 18, 2022

A right-sized network with one vendor + one solution + one management system = significant savings.

Removing the guess work from figuring out how and when to upgrade or expand your network is essential. Luckily today, it’s simple — you just need to do the math.

However, it is crucial to take a holistic look at all the elements that make up your network — beyond just the price of switches and access points. With a typical lifespan of five-to-seven-years for the network equipment, organisations also need to consider hard costs such as hardware, maintenance, licensing and support, and soft costs such as network downtime and operational efficiency. In addition to these top-of-mind costs, there are many others that affect a network’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) including interoperability with existing products and management systems, purchasing models and market instabilities.

Case in point: California State University

California State University (CSU) system is the largest four-year university in the U.S., with more than 20 campuses across the state and approximately 500,000 users. The university knew they needed a network upgrade and so they embarked on a network transformation as part of an eight-year state funded initiative.

After 10 years of using Cisco LAN switches, CSU issued an RFP. Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise responded to the call addressing the strict technical compliance requirements along with a proposed cost savings of $100 million over the incumbent. That’s when CSU took notice. A three-month proof of concept that included testing and validation of the Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch platform sealed the deal.

Phase I enabled better security, accessible Wi-Fi anywhere and open shared services using the cloud to improve the overall campus experience. Phase II has provided additional cost savings and an expansive technology infrastructure enabling even greater success.

CSU standardised on a single vendor and operational infrastructure for its IT at significantly less costs. The upgrade enabled the university to assure connectivity, bandwidth and best practices availability at all times. Since implementation, they have expanded services and considered adding hybrid public/private cloud computing over time, to make operations more efficient and even less costly.

Math doesn’t lie

In the CSU case above, real cost savings were translated into 250 percent more wireless access points across 20+ campuses. That’s real money freed up to further invest in the network, to create services and to do analysis of those services to continue investing. Analysis also enables better decision-making, so organisations only invests in what is needed. In the CSU case, they saved even more by moving applications like disaster recovery and research/science projects, among others, to Software as a Service (SAS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in the cloud.

The whole is greater

The above case is just one example of ALE stepping up with trusted technology to address technical compliance requirements while at the same time delivering significant cost savings. Available on premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment — ALE delivers without compromising on features.

The Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6900, Alcatel-Lucent OmniSwitch® 6860 and Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista® 2500 Network Management System are key to enabling transformation and innovation, economies of scale, as well as organisation-wide communications and effectiveness.

Additionally, enhanced security with features such as ALE’s Universal Network Profile (UNP) provides mobility and security based on the end user role. It simplifies network access control management and it can automate bandwidth management allocation. ALE’s Virtual Chassis technology ensures high-level redundancy designed into the network architecture providing organisations with the peace-of-mind, even for the largest networks.

A reliable, flexible network standardised on one vendor with centalised management and simplified IT can save organisations millions of dollars— and well — who can argue when the math adds up.