Economic and competitive pressures are forcing governments and enterprise businesses to cut costs and maximize resource utilization. With a growing volume of data used to conduct day-to-day operations and an increasingly distributed business environment requiring fast and secure data transfers between operating centers, the economics of data transport are becoming essential to business success. To that end, the smartest options available to governments and enterprise businesses involve investments in new, more efficient data transport systems that can save money and quickly pay for themselves. As a result, technologies that provide efficient, reliable, and high-speed data transport at reduced costs are becoming increasingly popular. However, with the pressure to reduce costs, security is often sacrificed, despite the serious problems that can result from the lack of proper data protection.

This white paper addresses the concerns of chief information officers and network architects worried about how to best utilize new data transport infrastructures from an economic, operational, and security perspective. The purpose of this paper is to assist decision makers selecting new data transport methods and infrastructures. Beginning with an overview of the data transport technology options available today, the paper describes how new public Ethernet carrier services are making it easier and more cost-effective for governments and enterprise businesses to meet high-bandwidth demands and operational performance needs while quickly recouping their investment. Recognizing that these shared transport services may increase threats to data security even as they lower costs, this paper also highlights how encryption and data security can be used as a business and compliance advantage by enabling safe and affordable end-to-end connectivity.