Previous | Table of Contents | Next |
Prior to the 1990s most persons would associate the term communications services with leased lines, X.25 packet switching, and the PBX connection furnished by the local telephone company. During the 1990s the rapid growth in electronic messaging and the use of the Internet resulted in organizations in effect becoming service providers and offering a variety of communications services to their employees and customers. Two of those services that account for the vast majority of organizational communications services are the creation and operation of virtual private networks and electronic mail facilities, both of which are topics covered by chapters in this section.
The first chapter included in this section, entitled Overview of Virtual Private Networks, introduces us to the VPN concept, explaining the key advantages associated with the construction of a virtual private network designed to provide voice, high speed data, and even cellular services under one service umbrella. This chapter acquaints us with different VPN billing options, network management alternatives, access arrangements, and the different types of data services that can be included under a VPN agreement.
In the second chapter in this section we examine virtual networking with respect to the Internet. In the chapter titled Using the Internet as a Virtual Private Network, we turn our attention to a different type of virtual networking. In this chapter we will examine the economics associated with the use of the Internet as a virtual network in comparison to the use of leased lines to interconnect geographically separated corporate locations. Once this is accomplished we turn our attention to the issues of authentication and encryption and various methods that can be employed to protect organizational data as it flows between corporate locations via the publicly accessible Internet.
In the third, fourth, and fifth chapters in this section we examine electronic mail as an organizational communications service. In the third chapter we focus our attention upon obtaining an overview of the features and services to look for when shopping for a corporate E-mail system. This chapter, which is titled Popular E-mail Systems, provides a list of over 30 features to consider when selecting a corporate E-mail system, and then examines many of those features with respect to several of the leading E-mail systems on the market.
Building upon the information provided in the third chapter, the next two chapters are focused upon specific vendor products. In the fourth chapter, entitled Novell Messaging Products, we turn our attention to Novells GroupWise messaging suite. In the fifth chapter which is titled An Introduction to Microsoft Exchange Server, we examine the electronic messaging features and capabilities from Microsoft Corporation.
The ability to provide an organizational communications services capability depends upon many factors; however, the key factor that cannot be overlooked is the regulatory environment. If government rules and regulations provide competition among telecommunications companies, the number of new offerings and lowering of prices can be expected to increase. This in turn can be expected to provide organizations with the ability to continue to expand their role in acting as a provider of communications services. Due to the importance of the regulatory process, this section concludes with the chapter titled The 1996 U.S. Telecommunications Act and Worldwide Deregulation.
Previous | Table of Contents | Next |