Turbo-charging your network

If information is the lifeblood of the organisation, networking is its circulatory system. After all, without the ability to connect computers in a corporate network together, and to the Internet for that matter, information could not flow freely to employees and customers; and companies would not be able to achieve the agility, flexibility and efficiency they so dearly need to compete in today`s business environment.

Just like the human body starts underperforming later in life, so the network can become a hampering factor on a business`s performance.

"If it is regularly updated, maintained and managed, however, the company network can even begin presenting new areas that the business can use to `up the ante` in terms of its overall performance," says Traci Maynard, business unit manager at Tarsus Technologies.

Maynard says for all organisations, a couple of common sense rules apply.

"For starters, they should constantly be on the lookout for technologies that not only simplify the management of their network, but also ensure that the interconnectivity between employees` computers is speedy and reliable.

"Many customers are still using the networking equipment they deployed prior to Y2K," Maynard says, "and while the reliability of these infrastructural components has no doubt become an issue for their owners, the overall performance of networking equipment has grown in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years.

"Hand in hand with this, prices have fallen sharply, and additional capabilities have come to the fore, making networking hardware occupy a much smaller footprint and be able to handle multiple tasks simultaneously," says Maynard.

"Customers with legacy equipment may will find that a single, relatively inexpensive device can do the work of the two or more older devices in their network, not only making management that much simpler, but in turn speeding up their entire network."

Here Maynard says an excellent example is Cisco`s range of ISR (Integrated Services Router) solutions, which are available for even the most conservative of budgets, allowing small and medium-sized organisations to easily upgrade their network performance, begin taking advantage of wireless technology, the benefits VOIP (voice over IP) brings and most importantly, in-built security and routing.

"Cisco`s ISRs are veritable `do all` devices," she enthuses.

Besides the networking hardware in their organisation, Maynard says companies must also evaluate the methodology they`re using for Internet connectivity. "A quick look at the South African market reveals that many organisations are still using a traditional dial-up connection or a 64-kilobit leased line.

"In comparison to the performance and ease-of-use associated with ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line) connectivity, these solutions are nothing short of archaic. In a nutshell, most organisations would derive far better value from an ADSL connection, experience massive savings and get improved quality of service," she opines.

"And since most all-in-ones such as Cisco`s ISRs support these solutions natively, there is little need for additional hardware cost," she adds.

As a last point of interest, Maynard says organisations should also look at the benefits that networked-storage brings.

"Storage needs are increasing exponentially year-on-year and for small companies this generally has an impact on their server infrastructure. This is, after all, where the majority of the company data is stored.

"With the improved simplicity, scalability and dramatically sliding prices in the networked storage market there are some serious bargains to be had. And the best part is, it`s directly to the benefit of the SME," she concludes.