Monthly Archives: August 2019

Monitor Your Network to Keep it Safe and Thriving

With technology ever changing and progressing, more is demanded from your network than ever before.  Cloud computing, along with multiple applications and huge amounts of data, demand a strong and healthy network. Read on to learn more about how to monitor your network and maximize its flexibility, efficiency and security.

Network Monitoring—The What and the Why

Network monitoring is a proactive part of a managed services plan, alerting a business to hazards both within the network and attacks from outside. First, network monitoring can show where there are poorly functioning circuits leading to disconnections, or bottlenecks in the system. Network outages due to these causes, along with natural disasters and power outages, can cost a business in terms of loss of revenue, downtime, and loss of reputation from data leaks. Second, network monitoring can identify external threats such as denial of service attack and potential ransomware intrusion attempts.

The Where and How of Network Monitoring

If a hazard or intrusion is identified quickly, it can be dealt with quickly, keeping a problem from escalating. For example, it can find potential holes where data can be leaked or lost. Also, excessive bandwidth consumption can be identified, so that computing resources can be directed toward mission-critical applications. Unauthorized users can be detected, to protect the network from those who should access it. Software-defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) is a system in which multiple carriers are used, affording the business additional flexibility; if one part of the network is down, another part can pick up the traffic, allowing for uninterrupted service. Remote network monitoring can save time and money by eliminating the need for an IT professional to come to the office to diagnose a problem. The monitoring is done 24/7 and can be based on a fixed-price service agreement.

It’s never too soon to develop a plan to keep your network healthy and secure. Contact your trusted technology advisor today to get started.

Hybrid Cloud Considerations

Cloud computing, despite varying levels of adoption, has become a common way for a business to avail itself of computing resources without having to maintain expensive infrastructure. Companies can use varying levels of resources, scaling up and down as demand and usage changes. How does a company know which cloud environment is the right one? Read on to learn more about how to make this determination.

What is Hybrid Cloud?

Hybrid cloud is a combination of on premise, third party, private cloud, and public cloud. Some companies have moved all the infrastructure to the Cloud. This could include software as a service (e.g., Customer management system), or also infrastructure as a service for application hosting or Cloud backup. Other companies may choose to keep some services available on premise (at their location) for failover or easy access, while at the same time tapping in to public or private cloud services for off-site redundancy or access to new features that may not be available in legacy systems.

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid Cloud can offer flexibility and agility to a business, allowing you to get the best of both worlds. For example, having files locally can help you backup quickly in the case of ransomware attacks, without having to restore from the cloud. If you are in a disaster recovery scenario when you cannot access your physical location, private or public cloud can give your applications and data from most anywhere.

Hybrid Cloud Considerations

If you are combining on-premise, public cloud and private cloud in your business, it is important to have a solid network infrastructure to avoid bandwidth bottlenecks and loss of employee productivity. Also ensure your applications are compatible with one another. It is common for cloud applications to integrate via an Application Program Interface (API).

Multiple models exist for cloud computing, and hybrid cloud combines the best of both worlds–on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud environment. To learn about this computing model, contact your trusted technology provider today.