Elby envisions a hybrid security model in which Verizon might provide security for ATM kiosks, for example, or at other locations where it's expensive to install a firewall, while corporate IT handles other locations itself. "You'd have the service provider provide the access link and security for those," Elby says.

Carriers are starting to approach Boeing with data-specific service offerings in areas such as sales or manufacturing. But Hill and other users also worry about vendor lock-in. "Those are highly customized and not easy to go to a different provider for," he notes.

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The Quest for Global QoS

MasterCard is in the process of migrating its global network to MPLS. The company's managed VPN service over MPLS is global, but because no provider has global reach, Jim Hull, vice president of engineering services, uses 70 providers and the public Internet. However, a lack of interoperability between MPLS service providers left MasterCard with two choices: Either manage the network-to-network interfaces and figure out how to achieve end-to-end service-level guarantees itself, or hire a third party to do that. It chose the former.