As users continue to demand faster and more reliable networks, networks get pushed to their limits. Networks today need to support connectivity to new and evolving services and devices such as internet of things, POE lighting, security systems, IP cameras, gaming, televisions, video and music streaming etc. We are seeing this convergence of services onto a single unified network.  The days of proprietary single service networks are coming to an end.

While a converged network is ideal for managing the cost, maintenance, management, upgradability, etc, it also places more importance on network uptime.  Outages have huge cost implications. A single network switch or a single fibre uplink failure can take down your heating and air conditioning monitoring, lighting, security cameras, computers, printers, servers, wireless, door locks and a host of other services.  In today's environment ensuring that your network can not only support the required bandwidth is not enough.  Network reliability, failover, and redundancy now take centre stage.

"Why certify your network? It is estimated that as much as 50 percent of network failures can be traced back to cabling and connectors."

Certification is less expensive than downtime

What is downtime worth to you?  What is it worth to your users?  If your network goes down, are their indirect costs to your organization on top of the obvious.  For example, do you have to provide discounts to guests because they couldn't watch tv, couldn't connect to the internet or couldn't use the in-room phone?  Do you need to relocate a meeting to another meeting room because you are waiting for a replacement switch in an IDF? Downtime costs money and the closer the problem/outage is to your data centre the higher the cost and impact to your organization.

Certification allows you to stage future upgrades.

Certification of your fibre and structured cabling not only identifies issues in network performance it allows you to prioritize your network upgrades. You can plan your upgrade logically, reducing the cost and time required to complete the upgrade.  Upgrade your network as necessary, don't throw out or abandon your fibre or cabling that you could potentially use for another two to five years.  Certification provides you with a priority list, of what needs to be upgraded today, next quarter, next year and three years from now.

Hidden Bandwidth Issues

With the demand for more speed, bandwidth and reliability you need to be able to ring out every last bit of performance from your existing infrastructure. Parameters such as poor return loss, and crosstalk issues cause re-transmission errors that negatively impact bandwidth. Certification provides you with all the measurements you need to make an informed decision on the state of your network. You can then use those measurements to form a coherent plan to move forward.

Contact us today to provide you with a plan to move your network into the future.