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Most service providers have suite of data services for the enterprise. Considering the multiple choices of service providers that is now a reality, most of the enterprise users today are evaluating the various pros and cons of the offerings by the service providers.

Earlier, they had no choice but to opt for either BSNL or MTNL. After the competition came in, there has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of services offered by all service providers. Even government owned telcos are now providing service level commitments to their enterprise customers.

While BSNL and Reliance have almost a countrywide network, Tata Indicom offers enterprise services to in 8 cities and MTNL is present in Delhi and Mumbai. AirTel, with primary focus on mobile services, also offer data services to enterprises in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Both Tata and Airtel have dedicated enterprise business units called Tata Indicom Enterprise Business Unit (TIEBU) and Airtel Enterprise Services respectively.

All service providers offer various services ranging from simple connectivity to wireless and wireline voice solutions, leased lines, VPN or Broadband Internet. The trend is to stick to one service provider. The concept of managed service providers is also catching up.

The Quality of Service and security has assumed significance with enterprises asking for stringent SLAs to eliminate the downtime. With competition becoming aggressive, enterprise users are asking for high uptime, and at present a majority of large companies are asking for 99.999 percent uptime. Enterprises are also looking at service providers for network and bandwidth optimization.

Sudesh Prasad