increase performance or capacity, or increase reliability. Let's explore the three goals. Lower Costs once worked for a large telecom company that had DS3s crisscrossing the globe. The network was perfection in terms of design. Every node had multiple network entry points, latency was acceptable, resiliency was excellent, and downtime was extremely rare. The network was as close to perfect as we could make it, and my team and I were very proud of the work we had done. One day, word got to me that the network needed to be changed. More specifically, was told we needed to cut $1 million from the budget. The choices were telecom or personnel. Welcome to the world of business-I was told to either destroy my perfect network or choose who should be let go. My team and I went to work, and we managed to redesign a network with a $12 million annual cost into one that was almost as good, but cost only $10 million annually. We were never as proud of this network, because it involved a lot of compromises that we didn't believe in, but the company saw this as a victory. The point of this story is that the changes we made did not benefit the company in terms of resiliency or performance. Instead, the changes were approved because they saved the company money. In the company's eyes good enough was better than per- fect because it saved $2 million a year. If you have an idea for a network change, one of the best ways to get it approved is to show how it can save money-especially recurring expenses, such as telecom costs, maintenance contract costs, and consulting fees. While my example was one of a forced change rather than a desired change, the point is that cost is a high priority for a business. If you have an idea that will save the company money, chances are management will listen. From most managers' point of view, all engineers want to do is spend money. Producing an idea that will actually save money will make you stand out from the crowd. Remember that there are different types of costs that a business must deal with. E