When demand begins to exceed network capacity, companies must act quickly to support essential services. Network experts provide suggestions on how to increase capacity without interrupting funds.
In rapidly growing network demand, due to the COVID-19’s dispersed workforce and the emergence of new bandwidth-hungry technologies, companies around the world are scrambling to find ways to increase network capacity without running out of budget quickly.
The first step in cost-effectively expanding network capacity is to assess existing bandwidth requirements. Mike Riemer, the global chief security architect at Pulse Secure, a provider of secure access services, suggested: “Identify critical applications and resources that need to increase capacity, whether on-premises or in the cloud.” The capacity transfer option to handle sudden usage.
CIO Craig Williams, a network technology provider Ciena, pointed out that expanding enterprise network capacity requires reimagining the network while ensuring that employees maintain a safe and reliable connection. He explained: “From a strategic and business perspective, this means giving priority to scalability, adopting proactive planning and analyzing the best and worst cases, which will enable IT to design a sufficiently flexible and agile network to adapt In any case.” Williams added that companies planning durable solutions could not consider expanding network capacity through “pandemic lenses.” It is necessary to conduct a thorough long-term analysis. He asked: “Ask yourself, ‘If we start with a company, how will we build our network?'”
David Linthicum, Deloitte’s chief cloud strategy officer, also urged IT leaders to create an overall network capacity blueprint. He pointed out that network engineers tend to respond to challenges by merely putting technology into the problem. He suggested: “But there is a better way.” “Organizations need to perform root cause analysis, create plans and [build] architectures to correct capacity problems, and then implement pragmatically.”
Once properly planned, network capacity can be added quickly and easily. Rick Belsky, vice president, and senior technical director of Liberty Mutual Insurance said that it usually takes only a few minutes to double the existing bandwidth. The prepared engineer will require a specific port and access speed. He explained: “The access speed can be regarded as the maximum size of the loop, and the port speed is the maximum valve usage that limits the access boundary.” “With a circuit with an access speed of 500Mb / s and port speed of 200Mb / s, the cost Maintain the usage level of 200Mb / s and can be expanded to 500Mb / s. “Belsky added that engineers could use the operator’s management tools to adjust the port speed to 400Mb / s in just a few minutes when needed.
Belsky said that when 40,000 employees start working at home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Free Mutual Assistance will use this method to respond to changing traffic patterns immediately.
Optimization techniques
Network optimization can have the effect of increasing capacity without increasing costs. “Many key connection solutions have redundant links,” Belsky observed. He said: “If one link is unavailable due to incorrect network maintenance or backhoe operation, the second link will carry the load of all unavailable circuits.” By using both links as the primary connection for traffic, The capacity can be doubled quickly and effectively. There is no additional cost to use this method until replacement redundancy is added. The disadvantage of this method is that there is no redundant protection before it is replaced, so this technique can only be used as a temporary expedient.
Prioritizing traffic is an efficient way to improve network performance. Quality of service (QoS) management will simplify data flow by marking traffic to inform network components of the priority of the current payload. Belsky said: “For example, when performance-sensitive traffic (such as audio) reaches a router or switch, it will handle this traffic through non-priority traffic.” “This method ensures that the network is most effectively Critical business requirements. “He warned that although QoS priorities are usually free, the technology will reduce the performance of non-critical traffic.
Andy Lipnitski, IT director at software development company ScienceSoft, pointed out that a fast and relatively inexpensive way to increase network capacity is to use NetFlow protocol and next-generation firewall (NGFW) to analyze network traffic. “Then, with the help of traffic shaping, your network administrator can restrict access to non-essential resources, such as YouTube, social media, and news.”
Takeaways
Don’t rush to expand network capacity. Although demand may be critical, rush may lead to costly mistakes. Riemer pointed out: “When expanding network capacity, a serious mistake is to buy duplicate or redundant tools.” “This not only increases the possibility of security risks such as configuration errors or third-party vulnerabilities but also makes it difficult for the security team to manage Security. Because security teams often need to set up separate policies for each new application or platform.
On the bright side, Linthicum pointed out that cost-effective network capacity expansion is not as challenging as many IT leaders think. He explained: “This is actually a way to make a correct diagnosis, make a plan and find the right technical solution to correct any problems.” “Although not as exciting as using new network technologies, this is done The best and most economical way to work. “
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