| y's business world it is critical for companies to deploy | | | | scalability. The solution must provide the ability to |
| supply-chain management (SCM) systems to enhance | | | | easily provision more WAN bandwidth to meet peak |
| efficiency across the product lifecycle by streamlining | | | | needs, to scale with fluctuating traffic between |
| procurement, production, fulfillment, and distribution | | | | vendors and partners, and to adapt quickly as supply |
| processes. Deploying an SCM solution that provides | | | | chain partners are added or replaced. To accomplish |
| the intended return on investment requires that the | | | | this, the solution should readily accommodate new |
| applications, servers, and enterprise network | | | | server connections, partners, and locations. Network |
| infrastructure work together seamlessly. This is easier | | | | routers should provide enough capacity to easily and |
| said than done and will necessitate a thorough | | | | economically provision additional bandwidth as traffic |
| evaluation of your bandwidth needs to meet the | | | | increases, or to add new locations as the geographic |
| demand. | | | | reach of the supply chain expands. |
| SCM solutions require integration of applications and | | | | Each location involved in your SCM infrastructure will |
| data across multiple geographically dispersed supply | | | | require dedicated bandwidth to meet the functions |
| chain partners, as well as internal integration with | | | | conducted at that location. This likely will involve |
| legacy systems. To ensure success, your organization | | | | some combination of the following choices and is |
| must deploy robust, end-to-end dedicated bandwidth | | | | dependent on the complexity of the deployed SCM |
| that delivers highly reliable and strictly monitored QoS | | | | system and the size of your organization: |
| (Quality of Service). | | | | - DS3 bandwidth, also known as a T3, is the reliable, |
| An SCM solution is only as strong as the weakest link | | | | all-purpose, digital connection for extremely |
| in the chain. Access to SCM applications and data | | | | high-volume requirements. Operating at 45 Mbps |
| must be guaranteed for all of your users, inside and | | | | (equivalent to 28 DS1 circuits, or 672 DS0 channels), |
| outside the enterprise. Your company must provide | | | | DS3 can provide a cost-effective solution for smaller |
| sufficient bandwidth to support constant data flow | | | | locations in the SCM network. With DS3, you can link |
| between desktops and servers at the company | | | | your high-volume host computers for resource |
| headquarters, geographically dispersed suppliers and | | | | sharing and load balancing. |
| partners, manufacturers, distributors, customer | | | | - OC3 bandwidth is a fiber optic line delivering 155 |
| service call centers, and for mobile users and | | | | Mbps (equivalent to 3 DS3 circuits) designed for |
| teleworkers. Connections between servers and | | | | those who expect constant, high bandwidth |
| desktops must provide the necessary bandwidth to | | | | requirements. For a mid to large size business |
| deliver resource-intensive services, real-time | | | | implementing a SCM system....this will likely be your |
| application data to all users, and enable integration of | | | | choice for infrastructure backbone (e.g. headquarters) |
| disparate data sources. | | | | bandwidth. |
| At your headquarters office, where corporate Web, | | | | - Gigabit Ethernet is a version of Ethernet, which |
| application, and database servers reside and WAN | | | | supports data transfer rates of 1 Gigabit (1,000 |
| links converge, availability and security are key. A | | | | megabits) per second. Large scale deployment of |
| redundant backbone switching architecture with | | | | SCM systems and larger organizations will likely |
| Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to servers and access | | | | consider this solution. |
| switches is often indicated, along with a modular, | | | | The process to determine and than find the |
| enterprise-class routing platform that supports | | | | appropriate bandwidth solution for your SCM |
| advanced security features and WAN bandwidth | | | | application can be a daunting task. Use of an unbiased |
| management. | | | | professional bandwidth broker will save your IT staff |
| In order to ensure availability over time, a successful | | | | countless hours of effort and headaches while guiding |
| SCM solution should be built on an application design, | | | | them through the technology minefields towards the |
| server architecture, and network infrastructure that | | | | best choice for system reliability and cost. I strongly |
| can grow easily as your business grows. This is called | | | | suggest you take advantage of their expertise. |