Networking the New Enterprise: The Proof, Not the Hype - Hardcover

Preface

You need a strong foundation to build anything of lasting value. We wrote Networking The New Enterprise for managers who need to understand both the fundamentals of todays networking technology and how to organize the people who create and maintain the enterprise network effectively. This is an unusual combination for one book. We are accustomed to seeing computer books tackling technology and management books handling people issues. From our perspective, the two have a yin-yang relationshiptechnology issues cant be addressed without organizing human resources properly.

Unless you are working at a startup, your predecessors started building the foundation to your enterprise network when they picked your organizations first mainframe or minicomputer. Not only did they influence the network-related decisions you need to make today and tomorrow, but they also started a culture in your Information Technology (IT) department. Technology issues are easy to understand, but analysis and implementation become difficult thanks to the cultural barriers separating legacy and client/server personnel.

We started this series with Rightsizing the New Enterprise, a practical guide for IT managers taking the plunge into modern client/server computer technology. We offered our real-world experiences in moving Sun Microsystems corporate computing systems from a central mainframe to a distributed client/server environment. Our second book, Managing the New Enterprise, details the infrastructures, including networking, data centers, and system administration, needed to build and manage heterogeneous client/server computing systems. You dont need to read our other books to profit from Networking The New Enterprise. The management themes and approaches to organization we take here are built on lessons and real-world examples found in our earlier books.

Cultural barriers are the No. 1 client/server killer. The problem is to get the IT organization to work together as a team (legacy and client/server), then close the communication gap between IT and its customers. These barriers are permanent fixtures within many IT organizations and between IT and users. Even if you have reorganized and combined old and new IT, the cultural barriers still stand. Meanwhile, the problems between IT and users of IT services represent the years of frustration users endured at the hands of legacy staffers. (We would rather not inherit this foundation, but there it is.) The rest of the book focuses on the worlds No. 2 problem, which is establishing the most critical part of the network infrastructure to support the new enterprise. What we are seeing is that client/server applications are being developed quickly without regard for implementing an infrastructure to support them. Everyone is saying how quickly you can develop an application these days (we dont disagree with that), but then there is this perception that you can just deploy it on a server, throw it on the network and, voila! high availability and reliability. We have a rude awakening for you. That is problem No. 2 in a nutshell!

Who Should Read This Book

Networking The New Enterprise should be read by IT executives, managers, and technicians who are either making a transition to network computing or are thinking about it. We wrote this book for business managers thinking about the issues they face while dealing with IT, and what IT should do to fix the communications gap, as well as for other professionals wondering how the new networked enterprise can improve business productivity while lowering costs. Some suggest network computing is a fad. To the contrary, its the foundation for New IT in the 21st century.

This book will help business people plan, implement and manage networks that truly support the goals of the enterprise.This book covers all the issues managers need to be aware of as they evolve their networks for the 21st century. It helps managers evaluate the true cost of networking, plan network projects, and understand technology trends that will critically impact the business. It helps managers understand the importance of network architecture -- and how to develop a strategy that correlates with your business goals. Understand how to choose and install facilities and cabling; implement network management, design or extend a scaleable backbone network, provide remote and Internet access, integrate multiple platforms, and secure your network.All senior managers, planners and IS professionals involved in planning and managing enterprise networks.