Strong network infrastructure is essential for the success of your business. As more and more business is done online, your network needs to be able to cope with the demand.
Yet what does successful network infrastructure look like? What does network infrastructure design need to take into account when it comes to doing business in the 2020s?
In this guide, we're going to take a look at key factors that a great network design needs to have. Are you ready to learn more about how great networks should be designed? Then read on!
1. Easy to Understand
Whether you're bringing in the experts to design your network or doing it yourself, you shouldn't have to do battle with complicated concepts. A great company will help you understand what you're dealing with, from the very basics of "what is network infrastructure" all the way up to the minutiae of designing your network.
If you're designing your network yourself and you're an expert, you should still make the difficult concepts behind network infrastructure relatively easy to understand for your employees. We understand that sometimes it's hard to boil down these difficult concepts into ones that a layperson could understand but it's important to try.
When your employees and colleagues understand the technology behind the network, they can more accurately report any errors that occur. This means that you can fix them faster and get your business' network back online.
2. Scalability
As your business grows, and, if the worst happens, shrinks, you want a network that can change with you. If you have a network that's not strong enough, you could deal with outages and lag, whereas if you have one that's too big, you'll be paying a lot of money for something that you don't need.
When your network is being designed, you should consider how your needs may change over time. Will you be adding more nodes and need to improve the network as a result? Will you be able to do this without having to redesign your entire network from the bottom up?
You should make sure that there is room for your network to expand as necessary, without having to redesign your entire network. This will only work up to a certain point but it can save you a great deal of trouble further on down the road.
As IT spending already represents a sizeable chunk of the budgets for many different industries, you should consider how you can reduce costs and change your network as your company reshapes. Why spend more than you need to?
3. Strong Security and Resilient Design
How much private data do you have on your company's network? We're willing to bet that you have a lot of customer data, as well as confidential business data on your network. This means that strong security is a must.
With the cost of the average data breach sitting at $8.19 million, you cannot afford to be sloppy with security.
There are two aspects to network security when it comes to successful network infrastructure. You need to make sure that it's hard for attackers to break into your network. You also need to ensure that if they do get in they can't do as much damage.
You should be able to quarantine bad hosts on your network as soon as you notice something is awry. This addition to your network can stop users from wreaking havoc without inconveniencing the other users on the network.
Resilience is another important part of your network. You need to design your network so that if one part of it goes wrong, the rest of your network can stay online. You should ensure that you have employed strong redundancy measures in the design of your network, such as failover systems, as these can ensure cost-effective resilience.
If your network goes down, you won't be able to get as much business done. This means that while redundancy may increase the amount of cash you spend on your network's design, it will pay off in the long run.
4. Excellent Integration and Adaptability
Your employees and colleagues will probably be doing a wide range of activities on your network. It's up to you to ensure that your network integrates all of these functions well. Storage, individual computers, all of your networking components, all of these need to be able to speak to each other without any issues.
Think about the different options that you will need when designing your network. Will you need a private cloud or would you instead like a private cloud, where you can keep using applications like Dropbox and Google Drive? Do you have servers but want to colocate them in a data center?
No two businesses are entirely alike when it comes to their networking needs. You should ensure that no matter what you do online, your network infrastructure is designed to work around it.
5. Excellent Reach
Today, working from home is of vital importance for many businesses. Your network infrastructure needs to be designed with your employees' needs in mind. Will they be able to access the network from home as well as at the office?
If they are going to use a VPN to connect to your network, will it be able to support the number of concurrent clients? Think about the number of employees you have who will want to work from home and build your network so that they can.
Strong Network Infrastructure Is Vital for Modern Businesses
As we head into the 2020s, the importance of successful network infrastructure design is becoming more and more evident. Consider the points that we've raised when you next need to design your network.
If you're in that process now and would like expert help, our team would be happy to help. Why not get in touch with us for a free technology assessment?
