PDF of this tutorialHistorically, network equipment providers have relied on custom-built, in-memory data management schemes to realize the real-time performance required for voice and data networks. Traditionally, these in-house systems have delivered the focused functionality and responsiveness that were required for these demanding, real-time network applications.
Several key industry trends are driving service providers to more open, more adaptable infrastructures. In addition to taking advantage of rapid technological advances, service providers are increasingly pressured to get products to market quickly and more cost-competitively. Within this environment, many organizations that have developed proprietary data management systems have encountered a few key limitations:
- difficulty integrating with prevalent applications and tools—In-house data management systems typically do not support packaged, commercial, off-the-shelf applications that use industry-standard interfaces; thus, network equipment providers must provide their own proprietary interfaces and applications.
- focused capabilities—Typically, proprietary data management systems are built with a specific set of functionality in mind; adding to or enhancing that functionality can be difficult and time consuming, and making changes to these systems will often risk the stability of the application. Furthermore, custom data management systems are rarely equipped with supplementary capabilities, such as advanced connectivity options and data replication. In addition, creating development teams to create and support these in-house solutions requires a great deal of in-house training, a costly and time-consuming process. Based on proprietary languages, these systems typically make it difficult to bring in outside resources to assist on large projects.
- lack of commercial testing—Built in house, custom data management systems are rarely subjected to the rigorous testing of commercial off-the-shelf software and may be more vulnerable to failure. If they are subjected to extensive testing, however, the process takes a great deal of time and slows the time to market.
Building these proprietary data management systems in house is a massive and extremely costly effort. To develop and enhance these applications, companies have devoted a great deal of management and planning cycles, development and programming efforts, end-user testing, and more—all of which can ultimately distract a company and its people from focusing on core objectives. Among these is the delivery of key applications that meet their customers' needs.
