August 2012
In this issue

Network refresh. . .I€ll give you a moment to stop cringing.

Better? Ok.

It€s something that most business leaders don€t want to think about, but needs to be considered when your network reaches the three year mark. A network refresh is an investment, there€s no doubt about that, but the cost of doing nothing and continuing to work on an aging network most likely has greater costs that you may not even realize.

Consider the fact that network components begin to deteriorate after 3 years. That means they require more maintenance than new equipment. Add in that the demands on today€s networks are much higher than ever (stop and think about how much more work do you do using technology than you did a few years ago!) and will only continue to go up, and that you€re asking equipment designed for a previous age to deliver on these increased demands, and you have a recipe for a network break down.

Let€s take a look at some of the underlying costs associated with an aging network:

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Sure, it's enticing. You€ll save money right now if you run out to your local big box store or hop online and purchase that computer or that combo firewall/wireless router that's on sale. But is that money saved really worthwhile for your business in the long run?

They say that a penny saved is a penny earned, but when it comes to your business technology, that penny saved may cost you a lot more later on down the road.

The main reason is that the majority of equipment sold at the big box stores is for home users and aren't made for the higher demands of a small business. Think about it€is that combo firewall/wireless router really going to stop a professional hacker from accessing your critical business or customer data, or provide the security to protect your network? It's not.

Let's start by taking a look at the most widespread piece of technology throughout any business in the country€the computer.

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Recently, there has been a lot of talk about virtualization. It's definitely one of the rising trends in the business world. Premise virtualization is a more efficient way to manage the resources you have in motion and uses the traditional data center approach, where the virtualized servers are hosted on-site at your own data center, and you own and maintain your own servers. Lower cost of ownership and more control are just a couple perks from going the virtualization route.

Lower Costs

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As business becomes more mobile, tablets and smartphones are taking an active role in the technology shift. BYOD (bring your own device), where employees use their personal devices to complete work tasks, is becoming common practice€sometimes sanctioned and sometimes under-the-radar. It's inevitable that people will want to consolidate devices and make work as easy as possible, but can a tablet or smartphone really be used as your primary computing tool?

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