WAN hell of an opportunity

2006 should see the networking resellers broaden their horizons, argues Roberto Bonanzinga

To date, LAN resellers’ only venture into WAN has been to offer internet access. This is because it requires a different set of skills and technology and mainly offers incremental, service-based revenues, rather than project-based, product-oriented ones. However, 2006 will see LAN resellers offer broader services based on a technology that they have expertise in. WAN resellers will also have the opportunity to reach broader audiences.

So why should LAN resellers expand to include WAN services? Primarily, customer demand. New, flexible WAN technology promises to make life easier for customers and is becoming essential.

With the boundaries between LAN and WAN blurring, this is now a realistic proposition. Companies not offering a broad range of products and services risk falling behind. The possibility of involvement with larger customer projects adds another incentive: gearing up to supply WAN solutions enables VARs to be involved in developments such as remote storage and CRM.

However, many resellers will be daunted by this challenge, as supplying WANs requires an entirely different set of technologies and skills to LANs.

The expansion of Ethernet into the WAN offers an easy solution by allowing resellers to continue using a familiar technology on a different scale. Additional services such as remote backup can be bundled and sold on the back of Ethernet, and customer bandwidth requirements can be altered smoothly rather than the expensive and inflexible arrangements under ATM or Frame Relay networks.

Most resellers would glaze over at the mention of the convergence times and bandwidth inefficiencies of spanning tree. Fortunately, the service-oriented reseller and customers don’t need to understand more than they already do as these new services are presented as Ethernet on a standard RJ45 plug.

Moving into a new sector can involve a lot of training and investment so expanding from a current area of LAN expertise into the WAN is a wiser move. With Ethernet in the WAN CRM, remote storage and network performance reporting offer a solid opening for resellers to strengthen their position.

Hesitancy by customers to switch their WAN technologies should be anticipated – upgrading to a different network can be extremely disruptive. In the long term, the options available and the ability to cope with bandwidth-hungry applications such as ERP, or real-time, low-latency, applications such as voice, make Ethernet an attractive proposition.

Roberto Bonanzinga is senior vice-president of business development and marketing at Viatel.