All change

Most businesses today face complexities their predecessors could never have imagined.

Little is the way it was, and tomorrow is anyone's guess. Yesterday's competitor becomes today's partner en route to becoming tomorrow's merger and acquisition target - or buyer.

Whole industries face deregulation, re-regulation, or the corporate equivalent - a competitor suddenly changing all the ground rules at a stroke. Major businesses come and go, expand into new areas, or see their own territory invaded by powerful companies from entirely different sectors, looking for new arenas in which to flex their brand muscle. Competition intensifies and cost-pressures mount, as customers demand more, better, cheaper, now.

Never before has there been such pressure on businesses to coordinate, harness and effectively apply every resource they possess - to deliver more with less.

New demands, new challenges

The more complicated and fast changing the environment, the more businesses must adopt new technologies and applications, making unprecedented demands on the underlying network - for capacity, flexibility, responsiveness, throughput and reliability.

Typically they'll need a central LAN, and others for particular regions or divisions. Which entails a WAN, which may well extend beyond the company boundaries, perhaps allowing electronic funds transfers with customers or suppliers. Sales or technical support people
may need to access or update the central database in real time, from a hotel room, a train or a lay-by. And of course everyone wants access to the internet - with all the security issues that entails.

Complex business drivers; complex network infastructure.

Come together

The technology exists to make the connections. To turn a disparate community of stakeholders into a value adding whole.

But there are two catches: first, the sheer complexity and expense of today's network, and the high level of hard-to-find skills needed to create and maintain one; second, the speed of both business and technological change, which can quickly turn today's state of the art
solution into tomorrow's obsolescent strait-jacket.

It isn't easy to make a coherent, integrated, future-proof business, encompassing everything from mainframes to mobiles, running software from state of the ark to leading edge, with all necessary security safeguards in place. Then to keep it efficient and effective, come what may.

Not easy, just essential

Five elements; one solution

Syncordia Solutions offers five elements to any network infrastructure, covering a range of options in each area, allowing you to choose and combine the capabilities you need.

• network - the underlying infrastructure of lines and wireless links through which data flows
• equipment - anything from routers and hubs through to LAN switches and multiplexers
• support - skills to keep the network running, monitor performance, assure resilience
• fault management - proactive, to pre-empt service-affecting faults, and reactive, to fix anything that does go wrong
• service management - everything from user helpdesks to advisory services necessary to keep the system running at its optimum, and to adapt it to changing demands

All you have to do is pick 'n' mix the options you need in each area, to create the one unique solution that's right for your company. You pay only for the capabilities you need, and your costs are reasonable and predictable, so you know exactly what your solution will cost.

Then all you have to do is use it.

Just add value

We'll help you determine what equipment you need, provide and install it, integrate it if necessary with what you already have, and connect it. You may need 24-hour, 365 day support, in which case choose TotalCare, for a guaranteed 4 hour response. If resilience is particularly crucial, you may want automatic line checking every five minutes. Alternatively, three-monthly network reviews might be fine. Finally, we offer the advice and consultancy on firewalls or other special security services that your business may need.

We can help

With networks built from 'best of breed' components, tailored to your needs, and adaptable as they change over time, BT Syncordia Solutions can offer the support you need to complement your existing in-house resources. Our comprehensive technology capabilities,
covering all protocols from legacy to leading edge, are backed up by partnerships with leading suppliers in the data networking industry. Our service is supported by over 5,000 engineers, more CCIEs than any other UK company, and many other vendor-qualified technical consultants, all underpinned by the leading edge expertise of BT Martlesham.

It sounds complicated but it need not be. We have what it takes to offer the choice, flexibility and resilience to deliver the solution you need - across the company, throughout the country, around the world.

One contract, one contact, one bill and one simple solution - yours.