Tag: Network

Categories
Technology

How to Get the Best Wireless Connections in Your Office

wireless_connection_400.jpg

There are plenty of small irritations to be found in the office, from a pot of coffee that someone neglected to refill to the sound of a squeaky chair under the office fidgetier. However, none are quite as infuriating (or as detrimental to productivity) as an inconsistent Wi-Fi signal. What makes the Wi-Fi so spotty, and how do you resolve that?

What Do You Expect from Your Wi-Fi?
Many businesses have a tendency to either deal with their Wi-Fi as-is or will haphazardly add new networking components to their infrastructure as needed. Neither of these approaches is ideal, especially in light of the fact that you’ll need your Internet connections to be reliable as you grow your network.

A much better alternative is to design your Wi-Fi network keeping a few additional factors in mind, including your office’s particular setup and any future growth plans you may have. This way, you will not only create a network that works for your current needs but is also flexible enough to shift and adapt as your business does. Whether you’re first designing your office’s floor plan or taking another look at its setup, the key is to go about it from a strategy-first perspective.

The Process
Your first order of business is to determine where the demand for a signal will be the greatest. After all, if you have a group of employees reliant on their wireless connectivity huddled together in one area of the office, you aren’t going to want to place your equipment in a way that creates a dead zone there. This will help you to identify obstacles and inform you of where you may want to consider placing additional routers to make up for their effects.

Once your Wi-Fi has been set up and your employees are settled, you should still be collecting performance data and listening to the input that employees have about their connections. Remember, wireless is still an evolving technology, so as it develops it is likely that you will need to adjust your strategy to accommodate it.

Long story short, you’ll probably need to make this an ongoing process to ensure that your Internet is as usable as possible for everyone in the office.

The professionals at COMPANYNAME are also here to assist you with any of your technology needs. If you need help with your business’ IT solutions, give us a call at PHONENUMBER.

Categories
Casserly Consulting Blog

Increased Network Complexity Necessitates Shifts in Monitoring Strategies

network_complexity_monitor_400.jpg

Businesses of all sizes have come to depend on their IT for productivity. IT administrators that constantly monitor their network and infrastructure reduce downtime, leading to higher resource availability. With the increasingly complex makeup of an organization’s network this becomes quite the task.

What Makes a Network Complex?
First we should mention that computers are complex machines and if you’ve ever tried to fix one without the specific knowledge it takes to do so, you more than likely ended up like everyone else who has tried, and called a professional. The traditional computing network was made up of centralized servers, end points in the form of workstations, and some networking equipment that allowed these machines to communicate with one another. Adding the availability of the Internet to that equation makes the network much more complex, mostly due to the breadth of the Internet as it exponentially increases your business’ exposure to threats.

Expanding that even further with the growing number of endpoints on a network due to the deployment of wireless networks that connect all the smartphones, laptops, and tablets to the network; and, all the other connected devices that are out there today… there is a lot of ground to cover. That’s not even considering virtualized data, cloud platforms, a website, and other higher-bandwidth applications such as video streaming or communications systems.

Network Monitoring Best Practices
Before we start listing ways you can monitor your network and infrastructure more effectively, we should mention that as trained professionals, we recommend entrusting your network monitoring to people who are versed with the makeup of your business’ network and infrastructure. Our managed IT services platform is a perfect complement to a large complex network filled with potential problems.

5 Monitoring Practices to Consider

  1. Pay Attention – This goes without saying, but by keeping the health of your network at the top of your list of priorities and monitoring components in real-time, you can be more proactive in fixing issues before they become downtime-causing problems.
  2. Find an Overreaching Solution – By integrating an end-to-end monitoring strategy, it gives you the power to coordinate efforts and present technicians with one version that they can act upon. Find a solution that handles both wireless and wired networks, virtual and physical environments, databases, and applications and supports all necessary protocols and languages to be able to monitor any device or program.
  3. Optimize Bandwidth – Data flow bottlenecks can absolutely hinder your business’ ability to utilize all the tools effectively. Monitoring bandwidth levels can bring about favorable results.
  4. Prepare to Scale – For the modern business, scalability is key. To ensure that the staff of your business has access to the productivity systems they require, being able to scale up or back–depending on the situation–is essential.
  5. Ensure Your Solution Is Flexible– When you choose a monitoring platform, be sure to choose one that doesn’t have inflexible licensing models as you need it to be able to work across all types of devices and applications.

The IT professionals at COMPANYNAME are experts and monitoring and managing business networks. Call us today at PHONENUMBER to find out more about how we can help you run a more efficient business with technology.

Categories
Casserly Consulting Blog

The Internet of Things Gives Great Power to Our Phones

iot_power_to_phone_400.jpg

The Internet of Things is a bit of a paradox in and of itself. It has been leveraged to accomplish great things, but at the same time, it can be used in a way that can create considerable problems. However, innovations have proven that the IoT isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon, especially now that it can use the devices that we carry in our pockets.

Taking the IoT to New Heights
Smartphones are notorious for swiftly becoming obsolete, which means that there is a great opportunity to repurpose them and give them new life as a critical component of an IoT device. Just ask NASA.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has long been sending satellites into orbit – despite the intense costs to construct them, let alone get them where they need to go. To help decrease these costs without sacrificing the insight that these satellites provide, NASA started the PhoneSat Project in 2009. Rather than sending a few conventional, expensive satellites into orbit, many nanosatellites can be built from off-the-shelf components and sent into space. These nanosatellites rely on smartphones in order to function.

This initiative has appeared to be very successful, as version 2.4 of PhoneSat, “CubeSat,” reentered the atmosphere on January 31, 2017 after spending more than three years orbiting Earth. These nanosatellites have a relatively tiny price tag of $8000, and have, thus far, proved massively successful.

Bringing the IoT Down to Earth
Of course, the IoT has far more uses that are much more practical to the user who is not affiliated with NASA. Samsung Electronics created a team whose task was to figure out ways of taking older models from the Galaxy line of phones and figuring out how to leverage them as an IoT device. This “Galaxy Upcycling” team created a huge variety of IoT-powered purposes – including a few for the owners of hungry pets. The Smart Fish Tank they developed could feed the fish through a text message, and the Smart Pet Bowl would send the doting pet owner a picture whenever Fido or Fluffy chows down. This project has since been completed, the final product anticipated to be released soon.

Security Concerns
Of course, the same issues plague the IoT powered by a smartphone as have plagued all IoT devices that have come before: namely, security concerns. The IoT is notorious for its devices not having sufficient security installed, and often have no real way to update later. Time will only tell if this will eventually be a fatal flaw for the IoT, or if it will be overcome.

What do you think? Would you consider using an old smartphone to make another object smarter? Tell us why or why not in the comments!

Categories
Casserly Consulting Blog

Tech Term: Modems and Routers Defined

modem_router_wifi_400.jpg

The Internet is an amazing tool, only bolstered by our ability to access it wirelessly – but what do you know about the devices that allow us to access it, namely, modems and routers? Do you know what each does? For today’s tech term, we’ll dive into exactly that.

First, it is important to understand that these devices serve two different purposes, each critical to the end goal. By working together, the modem and the router create a usable network for you to leverage.

What Does a Modem Do?
A modem is what actually connects your local network to your Internet service provider, and therefore, the Internet. It allows information to pass over without any kind of filtering.

What Does a Router Do?
Your router is what bridges the gaps between the devices on your network and the Internet through either a wired or wireless connection. It also features protections like firewalls to thwart potential threats coming in from the Internet.

Despite this, it may not be entirely necessary for you to include a router, especially if you only want a particular device to have Internet access.

Combination Options
There is also the option to consolidate these two devices into a single one, although this doesn’t fit everyone’s needs. Using a modem/router combination limits what you can do with your network, and if your 2-in-1 device dies or is damaged, you lose all of your networking capability. Alternatively, a malfunctioning modem or router can be swapped out and replaced relatively easily, with less of a capital investment.

COMPANYNAME can assist you in setting up a network that meets your business’ needs optimally. Call us at PHONENUMBER for more information.