Financial Implications of Network Outage Can be Huge

Banks and financial institutions and retail industry worst affected

It is indeed strange that in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while it is apparent that organizations are all eager to deploy the very best technologies to streamline business processes, increase agility, create new revenue streams and deliver new services, many are overlooking the most basic and fundamental element of their IT infrastructures in doing so. In a world where commercial viability equals reliable connectivity, some people still don’t seem to understand why the network matters.

Sufian Dweik – Regional Manager, MEMA, Brocade Communications says that the financial implications of network outage can be monumental, especially for organizations where the 24/7 availability of online services is essential to conducting business – such as in the country’s booming banking and financial industry. Such organizations should be well aware of the consequences of network failure. A prime example of this was the RBS/Natwest technical outage that blighted the bank and its customers and cost the firm £125mn (UAE Dirhams 750mn) according to the company’s financial reports.

Furthermore 61 percent of data center personnel confided that their corporate networks are not fit for the intended purpose, with almost half (41 percent) admitting that network downtime has caused their business financial hardship. 91 percent of IT decision-makers stated that their current IT infrastructures still require substantial upgrades to meet the networking requirements created by virtualization and cloud computing.

Many of the data centers that exist today are based on 20-year old technologies, and the simple fact is that they can no longer keep up with demand. Businesses may be concerned that they ‘can’t afford’ the necessary investment into the network, but they can’t afford not to respond to the changes that are impacting their data centers. Virtualization and cloud models can provide much better utilization of current assets, and more cost effective connection to services and applications.