The “cloud” may be the hottest buzzword in the technology world today. The advent of more secure solutions and the insatiable appetite for on-demand content has allowed cloud-based services to take off in both the consumer and the enterprise spaces over the last few years.
ITEXPO (News - Alert) West 2011, set to kick off on September 13 in Austin, Texas, will feature numerous exhibitors and speakers who have helped make the transition to cloud possible for businesses large and small.
One of these behind the scenes players is OneAccess (News - Alert) Networks, a global provider of customer premise equipment solutions – like multi-service routers and carrier Ethernet access devices – that enable converged services for the SMB and the enterprise.
With just more than a month until ITEXPO opens its doors at the Austin Convention Center, TMC CEO Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) reached out to Dennis Gatens, OneAccess Networks' vice president of Business Development for North America, to learn more about the company's upcoming role at the technology and communications conference and to talk in detail about the industry.
Gatens sees the adoption of cloud-based services as a driving force behind today's requirements for the multi-service router when part of a managed converged service offering.
A high-performance, multi-service router engine paired with software-enabled features like WAN optimization, security and session border control will be “critical” to deploy cloud-based services in such a demanding environment, he stressed to Tehrani.
Gatens also touched on the strategy that OneAccess is employing to respond to the ever-expanding mobile, virtual workforce. The company's Integrated Business Communications (IBC) and WAN Optimization solutions can enable service providers to deliver communications and business applications to this growing population through a converged services infrastructure, Gattens added.
The OneAccess exec wrapped up the talk by giving readers a preview of his company's ITEXPO session, titled, “Design to Win: How CSPs Can Achieve a Better Customer Experience and Higher Profitability from Enterprise IP Communications Rollouts.”The event will focus on various strategies and technologies that service providers can embrace to optimize their cloud-based services portfolio.
Check out the complete interview below.
How has your market segment evolved over the past year and what trends have fueled those changes?
OneAccess Networks is a leading global provider of CPE solutions that enable converged services for the SMB and Enterprise. Managed converged services for the SMB and Enterprise have evolved dramatically, driven mostly by the aggressive transition from T1 and NxT1 access technology to higher bandwidth Layer 2 Carrier Ethernet technologies such as bonded Cu and fiber Ethernet. As a result, service providers are demanding integrated Layer 2 and Layer 3 CPE solutions for their managed converged services.
This transition will not only enable service providers to offer competitive high bandwidth services today, but Layer 2 technologies are the underpinning for the service providers' evolving roadmap of cloud-based services.
OneAccess addresses both of these trends with a portfolio of solutions that deliver integrate Layer 2 and Layer 3 functionality with the software flexibility to enable a roadmap of cloud-based services.
What do you see as the next disruptive force in technology and how will it impact your market or business?
From our perspective, a disruptive force that drives technology is the demand for endpoint and infrastructure transparency; that is any endpoint (laptops, Smartphones, iPads etc.) and any infrastructure (e.g. Broadband, WiFi (News 
- Alert), 3G/4g) along with the integration of business process applications with communications. This presents both a challenge and opportunity for solution providers such as OneAccess and our service provider customers to continually provide greater value to the SMB and Enterprise end user.
How has the acceptance and adoption of the cloud model influenced your development cycle and process?
The adoption of cloud-based services will drive the requirements of the multi-service router deployed in the SMB and Enterprise as part of a managed converged service offering. A roadmap of software enabled features such as WAN optimization, security and session border control; along with a high-performance, multi-service router engine will be critical for the service provider to enable their cloud services roadmap and to extend the life cycle of the multi-service router in the customer premise.
What is the most common request you are seeing from your customers? How is your company addressing these demands?
There is a short and long view from service providers that determines how we are addressing our customer requirements, and aligning our product roadmap with their services strategies. For the immediate term, our customers are demanding Layer 2 Ethernet technologies such as bonded copper and fiber; integrated with Layer 3 and above capabilities in order to be competitive and offer higher bandwidth converged services to the SMB and Enterprise. Regarding the long view, our customers are looking to OneAccess for our vision of how cloud services will be enabled and differentiated with our CPE solutions.
How is the continued growth of social media changing service and product development strategies?
Social media is just another example of how tightly integrated applications have become with an SMB and Enterprise’s communications infrastructure. Social media has the potential to enable applications that are customized and optimized to address SMB and Enterprise business objectives, such as improving productivity and delivering high quality customer care. In addition to cloud-based services, social media drives the need for sophisticated application-aware functionality in the multi-service router at the premise.
As businesses continue their move toward virtual workforces, how are you meeting the need for increased mobility? What barriers are keeping others from adopting mobile strategies?
OneAccess has focused on a strategy of hardware scalability and software flexibility to address a virtual, mobile workforce. A virtual, mobile workforce requires a converged services infrastructure that integrates its wireline and mobile communications with their business process applications. With software-enabled features such as our Integrated Business Communications (IBC) and our WAN Optimization solutions, service providers can deliver a highly integrated managed service offering of communications and business applications.
Hardware scalability and software flexibility that is cost-optimized for the SMB and Enterprise removes the cost barrier for the SMB to realize the productivity and customer care advantages of managed converged services that offer highly integrated communications with business applications.
What are you most looking forward to at ITEXPO West in Austin? What do you see as being the biggest trends at the show?
I look forward to seeing a community that remains excited about the ever changing technology landscape that drives managed communications innovation and transparency of infrastructure, location and end point for the SMB and Enterprise.
With regards to trends, I expect to see a continued focus on the evolution of cloud-based services which presents OneAccess the opportunity to showcase our solutions and product strategy that is tightly aligned with the market direction and customer requirements.
What issues will you be addressing during your ITEXPO session and why should attendees be sure to attend?
In our session “Design to Win: How CSPs Can Achieve a Better Customer Experience and Higher Profitability from Enterprise IP Communications Rollouts,” we will be discussing technologies and processes that will enable CSPs to offer an evolving cloud-based services portfolio that drives revenue growth and customer retention. I am confident that service provider attendees will find this session informative and relevant as they continually strive to deliver greater value to the SMB and Enterprise customer.
To find out more about OneAccess Networks, visit the company at ITEXPO West 2011. To be held Sept. 13-15 in Austin, TX, ITEXPO is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit OneAccess Networks in booth #625. Don’t wait. Register now.
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Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
