The Network is Your Business

Why the network matters more than ever in today’s real-time
business environment.

The Changing Networking Landscape
New Networking Technologies Take
Center Stage
Virtualization
Web 2.0
Wireless networks
Converging technologies
The Role of the Network Administrator
How the Network Can Build Confi dence
in Your Business
Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold
About Ipswitch, Inc.

The Changing Networking Landscape
From mainframes to thin clients to virtualized environments of servers, VLANs, and network gear, the network has grown both
more complex and more important in recent years. What began as small, departmental networks that supported interoffi ce
email and scheduling have grown exponentially to become today’s multinational networks spanning companies, countries,
and economies. Without the network to connect business processes, doing business as we know it today simply would not be
possible. From e-commerce and email to VoIP, video, and collaboration, a strong, healthy, and well-managed network is vital
to achieving business success.
Just as the technology and importance of the network have evolved, so
too have the responsibilities and roles played by network administrators.
Once associated solely with a support function located deep within the IT
department, network administrators are now being challenged to play a
larger, more visible, and more strategic role — one that leverages the network
to support critical business goals and objectives, from increasing sales and
customer service, to improving responsiveness and market leadership.
New Networking Technologies Take Center Stage
As signifi cantly as the network has evolved over the past 25 years, new networking technologies such as virtualization, Web
2.0, SOA, and wireless are poised to change the network environment even faster and more profoundly than any changes to
date. As these new technologies proliferate and converge, they have the potential to alter the network like never before. Let’s
take a look at some examples:
Virtualization gives businesses the ability to dynamically relocate
information assets like servers and PCs without physically touching
the hardware. It also solves the long-standing challenge of decoupling
hardware and software. Tactical virtualization allows you to move a
backup server from Sacramento to Boston to respond to a server crash.
Strategically, businesses can use virtualization to reposition servers to
respond to business needs. For example, an e-commerce vendor based
in the U.S. could move all database backups to Western European
locations on Sunday morning and early afternoon in response to heavy
sales processing volume from customers in that region. And with
virtualization extending to LANs, Web servers, and e-commerce sites,
businesses will be able to take advantage of enhanced manageability,
speed, and security.
THE NETWORK IS YOUR BUSINESS
1 Abner Germanow, IDC Link, Why Is Networking Growing Faster than the Rest of IT? Doc #1cUS20717207, June 04, 2007
2 IDC Directions 2007, Enterprise Class Virtualization 2.0: Application Mobility, Recovery, and Management, Doc #DR2007_5MEW, Feb 2007
Server virtualization is now considered
a mainstream technology among IT
buyers. Although only an estimated
8% of deployed servers are virtualized
today, most IT professionals surveyed
in August 2006 expect to double the
penetration of virtualized servers in
their organization within 12 months.
With the adoption of virtualization,
core infrastructure strategies are being
turned upside down. 2
“Spending on enterprise LAN
Switch, Router, WLAN, IP telephony
equipment and security appliances
grew 17% to reach $35.4 billion in
2006 spending.”1
www.whatsupgold.com 2
But along with the benefi ts of virtualization come increased challenges related to the reliability of the network. By reducing
the number of servers and devices, virtualization actually increases the risk factor for keeping each device up and running.
The loss of a single physical server running 10 virtualized servers will have a much greater impact on your business. Security
risks also come into play here as a single illegal access to your network or virtualized server could compromise a signifi cant
amount of computing power. Effective network monitoring is critical to the success of virtualization.
Web 2.0 promises to transform websites from isolated information silos to rich, collaborative sources of content and
functionality. As these new computing platforms enable Web applications, they will have an enormous impact on the growth
of IP addressed devices. The increased numbers of mobile and always-on devices, coupled with the rapidly growing number of
Internet users has led to projections that the pool of IP version 4 (IPv4) addresses will be exhausted sometime in 2010.3
In response, IPv6, with its larger address space of 128 bits versus 32 bits in IPv4, is gradually being adopted. The longer IPv6
addresses will increase the number of addresses available for networked devices, allowing for example, each mobile phone
and mobile electronic device to have its own static IP address. But Web 2.0 doesn’t stop with traditional computing devices.
Imagine PCs built into products like kitchen appliances, cars, and other non-traditional devices. Each will require its own IP
address and a way to access the network with reliable 24x7 uptime.
Wireless networks have exploded in recent years, with their convenience and accessibility quickly making them a must-have
for users and businesses alike. WiFi and WiMAX are changing the way users think about their expectations for connectivity.
The increased bandwidth and reach of WiMAX are enabling last mile connectivity for high data rates and providing a diverse
source of Internet connectivity as part of a business continuity plan.
But wireless networks only work when they are supported by a strong wired network infrastructure. A wireless network with
inconsistent performance will fail to support business processes and can lead to a lack of user confi dence in the technology.
As wireless grows in acceptance and becomes the preferred method of business communication, the need for a strong network
backbone will only increase in importance.
Converging technologies like VoIP, video, and collaboration are poised to expand the network further, as users embrace new
methods of communicating and sharing information. Just as email and instant messaging quickly became “killer applications”
for businesses, these new technologies hold the promise of transforming the way businesses operate, but with even higher
stakes. If the network fails during VoIP and collaboration communications, not only will those communications fail, but the
business objectives tied to them may fail as well. Particularly with VoIP, video, and collaboration technologies, the network
needs to have enough pipe to push all of this data back and forth consistently and reliably.
The user experience plays a huge role here as well. As boundaries have dissolved between the home and the offi ce, and
between countries and regions, users have come to depend upon the technology that allows them to speak real-time with
customers, partners, and coworkers all over the world, just as if they were sitting next to one another. With this functionality
now a natural part of modern communications, users won’t be willing to give it up.
The Role of the Network Administrator
Along with changes to the network, the role of the network administrator has evolved. As networks work harder to deliver the
functionality that businesses require, expectations for network administrators have increased, with users and business line
managers seeking greater accountability and responsiveness. Many network administrators have their salaries and bonuses
tied to performance benchmarks. The challenges for network administrators in meeting these expectations include:
3 IPv4 Address report. http://www.potaroo.net/tools/piv4/index.html
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• Prioritizing the must-do list to focus on the critical tasks that impact the network and the business most directly,
to increase revenue and profi tability as well as customer and partner satisfaction. It is very likely that in the near
future network administrators will have portions of their pay calculated on the profi tability (P&L) of the business
they work with.
• Lacking effective tools to monitor and manage the network, network administrators are often the last to know
when a networked device goes down. The notifi cation instead comes from customers or employees — obviously
not an ideal situation.
• Service level agreements (SLAs) are becoming standard practice, with IT agreeing to deliver a specifi ed level of
service to users within the organization.
• Network administrators are typically responsible for an environment that has evolved gradually over several
years, with devices and servers added to and removed from the network with little or no advance planning or
notice. Effectively monitoring this kind of ad hoc networking environment is an enormous challenge and can often
take a back seat to the important day-to-day challenge of keeping the network up and running.
To address these challenges network administrators must stop simply
reacting to the network and start taking a more proactive approach to
maintaining network health and anticipating downstream usage concerns.
The fi rst step in achieving this proactive approach is to establish a complete
understanding of the network through a discovery process. If network
administrators don’t fully understand the network’s scope, it won’t be
possible to manage it effectively — you can’t manage what you don’t see.
Discovery involves identifying all of the devices on the network: routers,
switches, servers, printers, and all other networked devices. Discovered
assets are then mapped to identify connectivity points and locate devices.
Once network devices are discovered and mapped network administrators
will have a better understanding of exactly what devices are on the network,
the services enabled or not on the devices, device locations, and how they
interact with other devices as part of business workfl ow processes.
With this information in hand, network administrators can turn their attention to monitoring the health, performance, and
availability of the network. Anytime, anywhere network monitoring provides notifi cation when problems occur on the network,
and over time gathers network information that can be used for reporting, planning, and budgeting.
Reporting plays an increasingly important role in network management. As more business operations are tied to the network,
business line managers must work closely with the network administrator to ensure that their customers and users have fast,
uninterrupted access to the network. Business line managers require regular communications on the status and performance
of the network and as a result they are building strategic new partnerships with network administrators to ensure they reach
their business objectives.
Compliance
The growth of regulatory compliance requirements has added another layer of complexity to the task of managing the
network. A wide variety of industries now fi nd themselves facing governmental regulations that require auditing capabilities.
Integrating network management into a compliance strategy helps businesses comply with regulations like HIPAA, Basel II,
4 Tracy Corbo, IDC, “Worldwide Network Availability 2007-2011 Forecast and Analysis”, IDC, Doc #207662, July 2007.
“Savvy IT shops are driving the shift
toward strategic and proactive
network management practices.
Factors such as video and voice
over IP will force enterprises to
understand their network capacity
better than they do now prior to
deployment. Proof of compliance
will require enterprises to deploy
tools that will provide reports that
show what devices are in and out of
compliance.”4
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and Gramm-Leach-Bliley, with user activity authenticated and archived safely on the network or distributed to a safe archiving
depot. Businesses and network administrators must have processes in place to archive communications like email and
instant messages and identify network access to records containing private individual information. Proactively managing
compliance can help businesses avoid costly, time-consuming audits and remain focused on achieving business goals.
Security
Security is vital to the health and performance of the network with threats coming from denial of service attacks, phishing,
worms, viruses, and Trojan horses, just to name a few. It’s critical that both the security devices at the perimeter of the network
and on the interior are performing as expected. To aid in this process, security devices are increasingly manageable by SNMP
standards that provide remote monitoring and confi guration capabilities and help ensure the availability of authentication
servers and fi rewalls.
How the Network Can Build Confi dence in Your Business
A fully and proactively managed network does more than allow you to operate your business — it builds confi dence in your
organization among customers and users. Email, IM, VoIP, and video are central to the way business communication occurs
today, and the network is the mechanism that allows those communications to happen — naturally, easily, and perhaps most
importantly, uninterrupted.
High expectations have become a marketplace reality. Compare network performance expectations to those of cellular phone
users. Just a few years ago, dropped calls were tolerated because consumers had the expectation that they would happen.
Today, consumers have little tolerance for dropped calls and leading cellular operators are making uninterrupted performance
the principal component of their brands. The same is true for networks and the administrators who manage them — the
tolerance for less than high performance simply doesn’t exist. Network administrators interested in long-term employment
are embracing the high expectations mission tightly.
The health of the network depends on effective performance monitoring, security, and compliance that allows business
line managers to turn network data into actionable business information. These managers are directly accountable for the
performance of the network and need to know how the network is performing today and how it will likely perform in the
future. Is network traffi c and capacity increasing? Is it time to budget for new hardware? Does partitioning the network make
sense?
As network administrators transition from a strictly tactical role in the company toward a more strategic contribution, the
importance of network performance is becoming a leading concern for executives throughout the organization. Effective
network monitoring capabilities will continue to play an important part in the health and success of business. Network
administrators and business line managers must create a new partnership that aligns network performance with business
objectives. This collaboration between network administrators and business line managers will be an essential component
of business success.
www.whatsupgold.com 5
Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold
Ipswitch WhatsUp® Gold delivers comprehensive and easy-to-use application and network monitoring that allows you to
turn network data into actionable business information. By proactively monitoring all critical network devices and services,
WhatsUp Gold reduces costly and frustrating downtime that can impact business. With an all-new Web-based interface,
WhatsUp Gold lets you take control of your network infrastructure and applications for the important strategic work that
drives results. In a marketplace overwhelmed with complexity, WhatsUp Gold provides simple deployment, robust scalability,
groundbreaking usability and fast return on investment.
WhatsUp Gold isolates network problems and provides awareness and understanding of network performance and availability.
WhatsUp Gold:
• Discovers and maps all your network devices
• Notifi es you when problems happen on the network
• Gathers network information over time and generates reports
• Provides anytime, anywhere network monitoring
In addition, WhatsUp Gold delivers all the tools you need to monitor and manage your network, including dynamic network
discovery and mapping, fast problem resolution, and comprehensive SNMP and WMI network monitoring and reporting.
For system and hardware requirements, or to learn more about WhatsUp Gold, visit whatsupgold.com .
About Ipswitch, Inc.
Ipswitch develops and markets innovative IT software that is easy to learn and use. More than 100 million people worldwide
use Ipswitch software to monitor their networks with Ipswitch WhatsUp®, transfer fi les over the Internet using the market
leading Ipswitch WS_FTP® Professional client and Ipswitch WS_FTP Server and communicate via Ipswitch IMail Server. To
view the Daily Network Monitor blog, visit dailynetworkmonitor.com. For product and sales information, visit ipswitch.com.

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