Planning to procure a Networking Solution? Features you should look for

From managing internal operations to delivering customer services, companies need a variety of IT solutions. Among them, a high-performance network is a basic requirement for any firm with a medium to big IT infrastructure in place. Network outages may result in loss of time and money, ultimately impacting a company’s bottom line and leading to a tarnished brand image. A monitoring solution comes as a savior during network failures. Comprising both software and hardware components, these monitoring tools work as the watchdog for any network infrastructure. Besides facilitating an end-to-end monitoring, they help companies gather data on several performance metrics such as bandwidth, CPU, use of hosts, and many others.

On the basis of this constant tracking of a network’s behavior, these tools report issues as and when they occur and alert the administrators when they detect any performance anomaly (such as a sudden surge or drop in network traffic). Although the significance of investing in a network monitoring solution is beyond any doubt, the confusion begins as soon as you actually start researching the market for a suitable solution. If your business is located in an emerging IT hub like Tampa, it is easy to get overwhelmed by a mind boggling range of tools and solutions that are on offer in the market. Then, the need for a network monitoring also varies from one company to another. Therefore, careful selection is crucial. Here are the key features to consider while choosing a solution for your network infrastructure:

Scalability: As a company grows, its demands for network bandwidth increase by leaps and bounds. A good solution is one that is flexible and can accommodate changes to support this growth. Use a solution that can be upgraded easily with the addition of software licenses.

Reporting capability: Choose a solution with an excellent reporting capability. It should be able to provide detailed information about performance, bandwidth, traffic, and network availability in multiple formats like graphs, charts, lists, or text reports. It should also have an auto-archival capability for an easy storage and retrieval purpose.

Alerts: Alerts are the most critical components of a network monitoring solution as they notify administrators on a variety of network issues. Select a solution that allows for the configuration of suitable methods of notification.

Integration: To be effective, a network monitoring solution needs to be comprehensive. Tied to every part of the network, it should be able to provide a holistic, real-time view of the network, facilitating communication among all its components. Such an expansive reach prevents critical information from going unnoticed if an issue occurs at the other end of the network.

Ease of Handling: The right solution is the one that is easy to install and use. It needs to be user-friendly so that employees responsible for handling them can tackle them without any hassle and can customize the features according to business exigencies.

Productivity Enhancement: Before choosing a solution, make sure that it offers an at-a-glance visibility of the entire network infrastructure. These types of solutions enable administrators to monitor various parts of the system simultaneously. This feature is crucial for streamlining IT operations and reducing the risks of errors and lost information. Select a broad-spectrum product that will keep your network in optimum working condition while streamlining the IT management. It’s easy to find the right IT solution in a thriving tech hub like Tampa. You can choose from a variety of open source and commercial products. Remember, it’s not enough for the solution to meet your needs today; it must be able to provide scalability for future network expansion as well. Therefore, choose your network monitoring solution with an eye on your future growth.