By investing in a wired network assessment, enterprises can ensure they’re getting the most out of their wired IT infrastructure while pinpointing assets and issues that are holding them back.
Wireless networks may be an important part of the IT paradigm, but that doesn’t mean that wired networks are obsolete. Wired networks remain the backbone of the modern business, thanks in large part to their reliability, security, and high level of performance.
Although many enterprises are likely considering what they can do to get the best bang for their buck out of their WiFi networks, no amount of investment in the wireless network will be able to overcome poorly-performing wired infrastructure. By making sure connected assets are performing as intended, enterprises can take advantage of wired technology’s key benefits from low latency to faster speeds.
Periodic wired network assessments can help enterprise IT teams determine the strengths and weaknesses of their networks, prepare for planned changes to their digital environments, and better understand what they can do to improve performance. If you’re considering whether now is the right time to conduct a wired network assessment, ask yourself and your team these four questions.
1. What is a Wired Network Assessment?
Wired network assessments will inevitably look different from one enterprise to the next, depending on the nature of their digital environment and the specific purpose of the assessment. For example, key decision-makers may commission an assessment to identify potential security vulnerabilities or locate persistent bottlenecks.
Whatever the motivation behind your own wired network assessment, however, it’ll be conducted by a team of trained network specialists with both manufacturer-specific and manufacturer-agnostic certifications. In order to assess the state of your network, these professionals examine a wide range of variables such as switching security practices and quality of service practices.
Additionally, they’ll review VLAN and routing architecture, analyze traffic for excessive bandwidth logs, and inventory copper cable and fiber types and speeds. By doing so, network specialists can begin to provide enterprise IT teams with the information they need to improve network performance.
2. What Does the Process Involve?
During a wired network assessment, professionals will evaluate your digital environment with the goal of creating a report summarizing the current health of your network. This will require a full inventory of network assets and performance, including single points of failure, end of life components, potential bottlenecks, and best practice variances.
Once network specialists have a handle on the state of your network architecture and asset performance, they’ll also include specific advice for your team. This guidance will provide a roadmap that, if implemented, can boost the performance and security of your network by resolving chokepoints, re-establishing best practice compliance, and more.
3. What are the Benefits of a Wired Network Assessment?
Wired network assessments are an essential way for enterprises to proactively manage growing IT infrastructure. Whether your wired networks have expanded faster than your ability to organize them, you’re preparing to implement new technology that requires end-to-end visibility over existing assets, or you’re concerned about security vulnerabilities, a wired network assessment can help.
In the final report of your network assessment, you’ll receive an analysis of current network infrastructure, including fiber connectivity, copper wiring, equipment, and physical installations; the logic behind the current network, including routing, services, and VLANs; best practices that should be employed to improve the network (either vendor specific or vendor agnostic); and set objectives regarding redundancy, gigabit to 10/40-GB migration, stacking solutions, end of life issues, and adding new equipment versus rip and replace.
Armed with these insights, enterprise IT teams will have the information necessary to make specific improvements where possible and overhauls where necessary. Rather than shooting from the hip, you’ll be able to boost performance knowing what needs attention.
4. How Can I Get a Wired Network Assessment?
Investing in a wired network assessment is a wise choice for any data-driven enterprise, but you want to be sure that you can rely on the insight you’re getting. With a network assessment from Turn-key Technologies (TTI), you’ll be able to depend on industry-leading specialists trained in both manufacturer-specific and manufacturer-agnostic equipment and designs.
With three decades of experience in the networking space, TTI is strategically positioned to help enterprises analyze their networks, recommend improvements, and implement game-changing upgrades. Whether you’re looking to make a few targeted changes or you’re in the market for a complete redesign, consider scheduling a wired network assessment from the networking professionals at TTI.
