Data Center Best Practices Guide
By Fred Koh - July 23, 2026Practical guidance for managing power, cooling, racks, cabling, capacity, and infrastructure documentation Data centers rarely become difficult to manage because of one major mistake. Usually, complexity builds gradually. More equipment gets added. Rack densities increase. Power and cooling requirements change. Cable pathways fill up. Temporary fixes become permanent. Documentation falls behind, and important information ends…
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netTerrain 10.2: More Control, Smarter Modeling, Easier Updates
By Jan Durnhofer - July 22, 2026netTerrain 10.2 is live. 10.2 introduces depth-aware rack and cabinet modeling, Butterfly Layout automation for manhole diagrams, easier circuit editing, direct strand-to-strand fusing, and improvements to IPAM, imports, link editing, device identification, table navigation, security, and PDF export. These updates help you document physical infrastructure, connectivity, fiber, and IP resources more accurately as your environment…
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Graphical Networks to Exhibit at DCF Trends 2026
By Fred Koh - July 21, 2026Graphical Networks will exhibit at DCF Trends 2026, taking place August 4–6, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Virginia. Stop by Booth #14 to see how netTerrain DCIM software helps data center teams document infrastructure, manage capacity, track assets and connectivity, and maintain a dependable system of record. As data centers grow in size,…
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The Hidden Cost of Undocumented Network Knowledge
By Fred Koh - June 12, 2026Most network teams don’t say: “We have an undocumented network knowledge problem.” They say: “Ask the person who installed it.” “It should be in the old Visio diagram.” “There’s a spreadsheet somewhere.” “Someone on the fiber team knows.” This “system” may work for a while—until that person is unavailable, retires, or leaves the organization. Then…
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How One Texas City Turned Fiber Guesswork into Street-to-Strand Clarity
By Fred Koh - May 8, 2026It’s Tuesday afternoon and an email from the city manager lands in your inbox: “We’re finalizing the new fire station’s backbone connection. Can you send over the strand map and available fiber paths by Thursday?” You open the shared drive. There’s a Visio from 2018, a spreadsheet that hasn’t been touched since the last contractor…
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Your Campus Network Documentation Shouldn’t Depend on Someone’s Memory
By Fred Koh - May 6, 2026The call rarely comes with complete information. A classroom wing is down. A residence hall is dealing with spotty Wi-Fi again. The gym has an event tonight, and someone needs to figure out which closet, switch, fiber path, port, and IP range are involved before troubleshooting can even begin. So the search starts. One person…
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How to Choose the Right DCIM Vendor (Go Beyond Large Vendors & Feature Checklists)
By Fred Koh - May 5, 2026Unpopular opinion: a DCIM software search should not start out with a giant feature checklist. I have to be honest: almost anything can become a “feature” if you stick a label on something the software does. The problem is that a feature checklist tells you what the software can do inside a controlled demo, not whether it will actually hold up when things get real.
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netTerrain 10.1: Air-Blown Fiber, Expanded Access, Enhancements
By Jan Durnhofer - March 3, 2026The eagle lands again — this time bringing Air-Blown Fiber (ABF) modeling, dedicated workflows, and expanded visualization capabilities, along with support for Common Access Card (CAC) login and client certificate (SSL) authentication. Version 10.1 builds directly on 10.0 with focused enhancements across modeling, circuits, usability, IPAM, and authentication handling. Click here to check out the…
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DCIM vs. Spreadsheets vs. CMDBs: Which One Should You Choose in 2026?
By Fred Koh - January 7, 2026The tool you use to track your network and IT infrastructure can make all the difference between smooth changes and daily firefighting. Many of the folks I talk to end up in one of three camps: spreadsheets, a Configuration Management Database (CMDB), or Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software. Yes…they do overlap a bit…but they’re…
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Why Financial Institutions Can’t Afford Outdated Network and Data Center Management
By Fred Koh - December 18, 2025In financial services IT, small documentation gaps can slow incident response and increase operational risk. If you work in financial IT, you already know (all too well) how small gaps turn into big problems…fast: A missed dependency An undocumented port An outdated rack diagram Any one of these can mean longer outages, slower audits, and…
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How to Document Fiber Networks: Practical Guide for Cities, Campuses, & Utilities
By Fred Koh - December 11, 2025Fiber networks are critical to the foundation of communities today — in city backbones, across smart campuses, in utility grids, and powering public safety services. They’re growing fast…can your documentation keep up? If you’re like so many of the teams I speak with, you’re stuck dealing with “documentation” scattered in outdated spreadsheets, CAD files on…
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The Changing DCIM and OSP Landscape: Why a Niche Vendor Like netTerrain Makes Sense
By Fred Koh - December 1, 2025DCIM and OSP tools have changed in more recent years. Many of the well-known platforms reached end-of-life, merged into larger hardware ecosystems, or slowed down their development. More and more teams have started looking at DCIM alternatives, vendor-neutral options, and OSPInsight replacements because they need software that will stay consistent over time. When, to use…
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