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Switch Management: Why Your Small Business Needs It, February 1, 2002
Small-business networking environments are more powerful than ever. From e-mail to office
suites and mission-critical applications, networks give employees the tools to do their jobs, while
providing small businesses with the performance and flexibility they need to be agile
competitors in today’s challenging global marketplace.
To remain competitive, small businesses are equipping their employees with desktop personal
computers (PCs), notebook PCs, and an Information Technology (IT) infrastructure in an
effort to maximize productivity while lowering total operating expenses. In reality, most small
businesses with 250 or fewer employees cannot take full advantage of their networked
environment unless it can be managed simply, effectively, and affordably. Otherwise, the total
costs of ownership (TCO) can spiral out of control, preventing small businesses from realizing
the full value of their environment.
Among the hidden costs of a poorly managed small-business network are:
Lost time due to excessive network downtime.
Low productivity due to bottlenecks and poor understanding of network traffic patterns.
Configuration and management tools which are difficult to use.
Adopting a managed solution that forces customers into buying high-priced products from
a single network vendor to ensure interoperability with their existing investment. This
limitation prevents customers from mixing and matching best-of-breed products from
different vendors, which can offer greater capabilities at a lower cost than a solution they are
locked into.
Contrast the points above to a well-managed small-business network that has adopted a
managed-switch solution specifically designed for small businesses. In this environment:
Switch and traffic monitoring help head off problems before they occur, reducing user
downtime.
Management tools offer an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that simplifies
configuration and monitoring tasks.
Management functions can be performed remotely using a web browser or directly via a
console directly connected to the switch.
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