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As TMCnet has reported, mobility and telepresence appear to be emerging in this slower economy as attractive cost-savers for businesses.

 

They’re related, of course: So-called “teleworking” saves money by reducing office space requirements, and video-based communications can cut down on travel costs. Though that may not be welcome news for airlines, the trend toward cost-saving communications apparently is presenting new opportunities for one Andover, Massachusetts-based company that delivers secure networks.

 

Officials at Enterasys – a company that’s part of a joint venture with Siemens Enterprise Communications, led by The Gores Group, LLC – say they’re seeing more and more businesses willing to look beyond current suppliers to find more cost-effective networking solutions.

 

In an interview with Trent Waterhouse (News - Alert), printed in full below, we at TMCnet also got an inside look at how President Barack Obama’s widely discussed stimulus package – including a plan for wide broadband deployment – is expected to impact companies that focus on networking.

 

That stimulus package is making headlines, as Obama reportedly is facing opposition in his economic stimulus plan. Specifically, many Republicans say it isn’t clear how initiatives therein, such as the Illinois Democrat’s national broadband deployment plan, will create jobs and shore this economy.

 

Yet, as Waterhouse told us, Enterasys (News - Alert) sees increased opportunities to upgrade networking in the nation’s schools, to protect utilities and communications infrastructure from foreign electronic warfare, and to secure the video surveillance infrastructures in airports, shipyards, rail and roadway systems.

 

Our exchange follows.

 

 

Trent Waterhouse (pictured left): Enterasys remains cautiously optimistic about the current economic climate as we anticipate large enterprises still having to complete networking projects in 2009 – albeit with reduced staffing and budgets. We are seeing an increase in the willingness of organizations to look beyond current suppliers to evaluate more cost-effective options to address their networking requirements.

 

In business today, nothing works without the network. As business processes continue to migrate toward online automation, the network infrastructure interconnects all of the mobile users, applications, databases, storage and computing platforms. As organizations continue to make mobile workers more productive outside the office, Enterasys sees an opportunity to address the connectivity, convergence and compliance needs through our wired/wireless switching and routing coupled with our advanced security software and centralized visibility and control management software. Teleworking for knowledge workers will reduce office space requirements, yet drive demand for conferencing and collaboration technologies over remote networks.

 

As the U.S. government embarks on further economic stimulus packages under the Obama administration, we envision increased opportunities to upgrade networking in our nation’s schools, protect our nation’s utilities and communications infrastructure from foreign electronic warfare, and secure the video surveillance infrastructures in our nation’s airports, shipyards, rail and roadway systems. Even as a variety of industry analysts and publications are predicting a spending downturn across a wide range of IT spending categories – Enterasys remains focused on the opportunity to shift market share. As IT organizations explore more cost-effective networking alternatives, Enterasys sees the opportunity to gain market share in this down economy.

 

TMCnet: We hear more and more about the mobile workforce, and how demand for wireless services is rising. What do officials at Enterasys and Siemens see in the future for wireless unified communications?

TW: We believe unified communications should be open, mobile and secure. There is a clear need to ensure only the right users have access to the right information from the right place at the right time. Yet, professionals are attracted to the convenience of reading, watching or listening to content on their computer or mobile device. Remember the 1980s acronym WYSIWYG? We’ve adapted that to WYNIWYG – what you need is what you’ll get through anywhere, anytime access to your information over wired, wireless and cellular networks governed by identity-based policies associated with your job role. Our open communications approach means that customers can leverage existing investments and avoid forklift upgrades – making wireless mobility more practical, achievable and cost-effective.

 

 

TW: Who you are determines what you can or cannot do on the networked infrastructure. We leverage network access control authentication and authorization techniques to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information – without sacrificing performance. As employees migrate towards software-as-a-service and cloud computing services, our technology is designed to look deeper and discover, locate and contain worms, viruses and other malicious threats. As IT departments struggle to keep up with newly announced vulnerabilities and ensure interoperability with mission critical desktop applications, Enterasys Dragon IPS bridges the gap between a vulnerability announcement and the installation of the security patch.

 

As a partner in the Microsoft (News - Alert) Active Protection Program, Enterasys receives detailed vulnerability information in advance of any public disclosure. Aided by this information, the Dragon research team releases IPS signatures for new vulnerabilities the same day they are publicly disclosed. This allows our customers to minimize the impact of the worm via their networks until the proper security patch can be applied to all of the vulnerable PCs and servers.

 

 

TW: Through communications-enabled business processes, we can accelerate responsiveness of employees while improving overall productivity. With mobile access to your information inside or outside the office, business can move faster. Our technology works with what you already own to optimize, enhance and/or transform communications and collaboration while making sure everything is secure. You can get started now and we’ll share our best practices to make sure you lower operational costs, grow revenues and demonstrate corporate excellence.