Should a company’s local area network (LAN) experience a fault or outage, the entire business could suddenly grind to a halt. As a growing number of ICT processes depend on this network and its components, effective LAN management has become a business-critical task – safeguarding the stability and performance of all business applications and processes. A high-performance LAN helps ensure everyday operations run smoothly.
At the same time, demand for greater network bandwidth is soaring – driven by the increasing centralization of IT, the cloud computing trend, bandwidth-heavy video applications, M2M communications and big data. Simply put, local networks are being required to deliver greater performance, stability and availability than ever before.
LAN outages impact servers, storage systems and clients. And troubleshooting is significantly more difficult in today’s complex networks, as it involves performing functional checks on diverse components and devices with extensive configuration options, including switches, servers, appliances and NAS systems. For example, since switches are responsible for routing data; they are key network hubs that need to function reliably around the clock.
Against this background, IT departments again have to focus much of their attention on managing LANs. But does it make sense to continue managing a highly complex corporate network in-house? Or would a specialist provider be better placed to operate and proactively maintain the network?
Managed network services offer a number of important benefits. For example, businesses with a large number of LAN ports and applications find that operating their networks is a growing task that ties up considerable resources. To manage a LAN environment effectively, a team of experienced experts must be on hand 24/7. With this in mind, T-Systems’ Managed LAN Services offering eases the workload of IT departments – enabling them to focus on strategic tasks. What’s more, Managed LAN Services cut both infrastructure and operational costs.
A move towards managed LAN is particularly particularly important for any business looking to implement new technology such as VoIP, or to expand its infrastructure to include WLANs. Enterprises with growing network requirements or an aging infrastructure should also seriously consider this option. Within the scope of Managed LAN Services, T-Systems assumes responsibility for LAN management, deploying the latest solutions from hardware partners. Customers only pay for what they use – eliminating the need to invest in in-house IT infrastructure, and freeing IT teams from their responsibility of managing the corporate network.
T-Systems operate more than half a million LAN ports for its customers around the globe and manage local corporate networks from its own high-security data centers via secure, reliable connections. Managed LAN Services are provided on the basis of certified processes, e.g. in accordance with ITIL.