Network Foundation Solutions 

Back during the year 2000 many organizations were prompted to upgrade their aging IT infrastructures. Now those networks are past their fifth birthday and starting to struggle to support the wide array of more intelligent and integrated technologies for voice, video, wireless, security and other network operations required for high-intensity firms.

The network is an integral part to the business. ‘Just good enough’ networks put firms at a competitive disadvantage. To leverage all the new capabilities of today’s networking technologies, firms need to upgrade and implement the proper infrastructure.

The network is an integral part to the business. ‘Just good enough’ networks put firms at a competitive disadvantage. To leverage all the new capabilities of today’s networking technologies, firms need to upgrade and implement the proper infrastructure.

Without updated networking infrastructures, businesses and other organizations cannot effectively take advantage of ongoing innovations, a lot has happened in five years.

The first step is to find out what needs to be changed within your organization.  A network assessment allows you to make well informed decisions about upgrades. It is a great idea to know what areas on your network will need replacement if you want to expand your network to support more advanced technologies, such as voice-over-IP, integrated security and integrated wireless.

Traditionally, companies refer to their data networks as the "plumbing," infrastructure, or core. Often they refer simply to the component products that make up this infrastructure, such as routers and switches. In the market today there are integrated network infrastructure product suites, delivering much higher value than basic "plumbing" or standalone products. It is important to recognize the value in this more clearly.

Of course, viewing the core network infrastructure as the foundation for advanced business solutions is not a new message. By emphasizing the concept of the full service "network foundation", the goal is to reinforce  the strengths of core offerings to your business and to prepare you for future deployment of growth technology solutions.

A high value infrastructure is comprised of routers, switches, security solutions, and wireless LAN (WLAN) devices—that enable the intelligent, end-to-end movement of data, voice, and video across networks (between branch offices, over the Internet, and so on). The concept that intelligent services bring unique differentiation with end-to-end security, availability, and quality of service enhancements is central to a full service network foundation.

By adopting networked business applications which run on a solid network foundation, your organization can work more productively with customers, suppliers and employees, launch new e-commerce initiatives, leverage a more mobile workforce, consolidate infrastructure costs and reduce total cost of ownership, reduce exposure to downtime and security breaches, and expand operations more easily and cost-effectively.

The Gartner Group identified the top three networking initiatives for midsize businesses as 1) increased network security, 2) increased availability or reliability, and 3) operating cost reduction.  In a challenging economy, you should increase spending on strategic investments to make a positive, near-term impact on these challenges. In fact, business decision makers are under pressure to increase employee productivity, customer loyalty, and profitability, while the technical decision makers are focused on improving network security, availability, and operating costs.

A full service network foundation enables you to receive maximum efficiency and return from applications and technologies. A network foundation also provides you with sustained growth and competitive initiatives by maximizing bandwidth and application performance. This foundation helps prevent security breaches that destroy valuable data, damage partner, customer, and shareholder confidence, and require substantial repair and recovery costs.  In the case of IP Communications , successful implementation depends on network foundation functionality such as QoS (Quality of Service) and high availability.  Similarly, wireless deployment is greatly enhanced and secured through integrated network foundation components such as virtual LANs (VLANs) and virtual private networks (VPNs).

By deploying a full service network foundation delivering intelligent services, your organization can greatly simplify deployment, reduce cost of ownership, and ease management with converged networks, as well as take advantage of wireless mobility.

For more information about the state of your network's foundation, please ask your EveryNetwork On-site Consultant or contact us by calling 877-647-2262 or via email sales@everynetwork.com.