Return to the Communications Week International WWW page From CommunicationsWeek International . CWI is part of Emap Media, a subsidiary of Emap Business Communications, one of the United Kingdom's leading publishers. By Camille Mendler New switches announced on 2 June by Cisco Systems Inc. could make it easier for corporate users to order services and give them greater control over service levels from their carriers.
Carriers can also retrofit existing switches with the same capabilities.
These features, combined with service management software, encourage more intimate links between private and public networks, and allow carriers to develop on-line provisioning services to tightly defined customer application and bandwidth needs. Organizations could also expect the emergence of customer network management services, which allow users to monitor carrier network traffic flows. Interoperability between IP and ATM networks addresses the entire networking community. He said such services were prevalent in Europe, but were growing in the United States and elsewhere. Under pressure from new entrants, such functionality is gaining attraction.