Refresh your aging network!

Four reasons to refresh your aging network

Innovation in business requires innovation in the IT network and this makes your network more relevant than ever before. The growing number of devices and traffic need to be managed in a cost-effective and secure way to help you focus less on keeping the lights on and more on business innovation.

Many of the switches and Access Points (APs) used by businesses today were not designed for capabilities like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), pervasive mobility, advanced security and Software Defined Networking (SDN). The IT network has to evolve to better handle these major technology transitions.

If your IT network is aging then here are four reasons why you might consider upgrading your network infrastructure now:

1. Your Access Control is outdated
   Traditional Access Control technology and practices have been made obsolete over last few years with the emergence of BYOD and the need to support a mobile workforce. Many businesses have separate, inconsistent security policies for wired, wireless and remote access and also lack context-based security.Not long ago, employees were the only users on corporate networks. They used corporate-issued devices and these devices ran corporate applications and spent most of their life inside the office. Today employees, partners and customers share corporate networks and they connect their own mobile devices running non-approved, untested applications. And to further complicate matters these users now run both their corporate and personal devices across a mix of corporate, public, and home networks.Enterprises need to define, deploy and enforce context based security policies for differentiated access. The ‘context’ needs to be multidimensional: who (type of user), what (device and application), when (time-of-day), where (location), and how (network type). IT departments also need deeper application visibility and control to detect and protect against network abuse. Finally, IT teams also need to simplify security deployment, for example, transition from device based security to role-based security.
2. Your network is too complex
   Every IT department is being asked to do more with less and as described above, complexity is multiplying with more devices, more applications and more traffic on the network. New technology is available to help simplify matters and IT teams are now looking to network automation and Software defined Networks for simplicity (SDN), business agility and lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).New switches are available to help simplify the infrastructure with capabilities like:
   • Programmability & SDN, to simplify the programming of the network
   • Unified Access, to simplify policy enforcement, and
   • Instant Access, to streamline deployment, on-boarding and wired-wireless convergence
3. Security is now more important than ever
   Security is top of mind for enterprises due to the increase in employees bringing their own devices (BYOD), regulatory compliance and increased network attacks. IT Directors often have dedicated budgets to address security and compliance challenges.The transition from device-based security to context-based security requires upgrades to switches with advanced security features.
   Consider the newer switches that support advanced security features required for industry-specific compliance standards.
4. Your network can’t scale to meet growing demands
   An average user now has three times more devices due to BYOD and mobility. A company of 1,000 users seems like a company of 3,000 users. Devices like sensors, CCTVs, and building automation are being connected to the network.802.11ac mobile devices create three times more bandwidth demand than 802.11n on campus & branch infrastructure across access and backbone. Similarly, high-density 802.11n devices create more bandwidth demand than 802.11a/b/g. And, an average mobile device creates 500 Mb to 1Gb background traffic per month due to operating system and app updates and backups. Growth in video traffic is also driving bandwidth growth.
   Current networks cannot sustainably handle the exponential growth of devices and applications without upgrading to newer higher performing switches.

What next?
Give us a call on 02 9386 2900 to discuss how to refresh your aging network infrastructure!