Responding to demand from a market dissatisfied with having its choices limited, Unihold has announced its Managed Private Network (MPN) product - a range of infrastructure-related services extending from simple WAN network monitoring to complex hardware performance analysis.
Marc Bills, product manager: infrastructure at Unihold, believes most IT managers are faced with one of only two choices when it comes to a corporate network infrastructure - setting up a private WAN; or outsourcing the task.
"The first alternative is expensive, often costing several millions for the necessary equipment, infrastructure and support skills, while the second option hands control of sensitive corporate assets - an organisation`s information and systems - to a third-party organisation. Unihold`s MPN service sits somewhere in the middle, taking the day-to-day grind out of managing an IT shop without taking strategic decision-making control away from customers," he explains.
According to Bills, the service offered by Unihold could be as basic as offered by a typical Internet service provider, or as complex as remote monitoring to assure network and application availability and optimising network performance.
The MPN offering comprises:
Network availability - basic WAN network monitoring of all links and routers;
Services availability - monitoring of additional services such as e-mail, Web connectivity and applications;
Network performance - basic network performance monitoring aimed at ensuring optimal network design and functionality; and
Hardware monitoring - physical hardware component monitoring aimed at improving the overall availability of LAN and WAN devices and applications.
"What we`re offering is really networking for non-network managers. We have the expertise and tools to keep a constant eye on the network and alert management when problems occur or are anticipated," he comments. As part of its service, Unihold offers monthly reports on network and systems availability taken from analysis of actual events. "We can tell you how many times a specific server or line was down, for how long and why. This provides valuable input for long-term problem resolution and capacity planning."
Importantly, Bills says Unihold possesses skills in a wide variety of technology disciplines and areas. "We are technology-agnostic in the sense that we are not married to a particular vendor`s products or technology. We merely try to ensure that the solution chosen is the most appropriate one for the business concerned."
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