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Make your next network decision your last

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The butterfly effectAn IT network decision made today could affect your company for the rest of the decade.

Your company’s performance for the rest of the decade will affect it forever.

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The pace has been setThe technological revolution continues to accelerate. We will see more change in the next three years than we’ve seen in ten. Consider the year 2000, a world of dial-up internet and huge laptops with less memory and features than a mobile phone today.

But most business network users have been stuck with the same ‘legacy’ technology for 20 years. Something has to give, so don’t wait until it does.

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Next Generation NetworksLegacy networks are designed to carry telephone calls and contain components that date back 100 years. They are becoming obsolete but there is another way.

Forward-thinking businesses have reduced their IT running costs and increased efficiency with a Next Generation Network (NGN).

“ Legacy networks are based historically on carrying telephone calls; some parts date back 100 years.”

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Why change?With fibre optics at their core, NGNs deliver ultra-high capacity and seamless high quality for data, voice or video.

Based in Internet Protocol (IP) standards, the NGN is fully compatible across the world – increasingly important as the business globe shrinks. Multiple services can be run on the same network and an NGN is application neutral.

This means numerous providers can deliver services across a single network, opening a whole market of choice to your company.

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Total controlPhone lines and internet bandwidth can be instantly adjusted or rerouted to meet demand. Don’t pay for too much or have too little.

Unlock the ‘Cloud’

NGNs make cloud services affordable and effective. Guaranteed reliability takes away fear of losing connections or data. This unlocks off-site solutions for your company.

“ ...phone lines and internet bandwidth can be increased or rerouted immediately to meet demand in sales, then scaled down just as rapidly when demand slackens.”

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Three evolutionary stepsStep 1 – Migration

To immediately improve uptime and reduce your costs, migrate from your legacy network to an NGN. Speeds can be tailored to your company size, from 1Mbps for lone workers to gigabit connections for large sites. Managing and monitoring your network can start straight away, working closely with your supplier so they understand your unique deployment needs.

“ Your new supplier must fully understand the issues unique to your business and work closely with you.”

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Three evolutionary stepsStep 2 – Convergence

With all your communications and data networks running independently over your NGN, you have a single management point for capacity, security and allocation of resources. This streamlines business, and allows things like real-time, life-size HD video conferencing between multiple sites, reducing unnecessary travel time and costs.

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Three evolutionary stepsStep 3 – Transformation

With an NGN you will be agile and ready for the one thing that is constant in business – change. Customer centred ways of contact like SMS, Facebook and iPhone apps will improve communication and sales. There will also be the opportunity to learn more about your customers as Web 2.0 technologies gather information, interacting with clients at a myriad of touch-points. As new business opportunities develop alongside technology, an NGN will make sure you keep up.

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Making the right moveChoosing an NGN provider is an important step that you should only have to do once. Here are some important questions to ask before making your decision.

• Whatisthenetworkprovider’strackrecord,historyand how is it backed?

• Whoisonitsnetworkandwhataretheirexperiences?

• Whatisthenetworkcapacity,speedandgeographical coverage?

• Whatservices/supportdoestheprovideroffer and what is their vision for the future?

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Access the benefitsWe’ve highlighted some advantages of an NGN, but there are many more and they differ for each company. You need to look at your business strategy and assess how it could be affected by your information strategy. If you find the future is less exciting with your current network, it’s time to start making moves. For independent information, check out the following organisations.

NGNUK – www.ngnuk.org.uk

Ofcom – www.ofcom.org.uk

NICC – www.niccstandards.org.uk

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OpalOpal is the Talk Talk Group’s business to business division. We are the UK’s leading provider of next generation communications technology for business. 200,000 business and public sector customers depend on our 15 years experience and extensive infrastructure. We have the largest and most connected NGN in the UK, and our corenetworkoffers800GB/scapacitywithmorethan1GB/sacrossitsexchanges.

We are proud to hold major industry awards including Network Operator of the year 2009 and the Cisco Customer Service Excellence Awards 2007 and 2009.