Need DCIM? Questions Everyone Should Ask in a Demo
By Fred Koh - July 28, 2020Before you decide on DCIM software for your organization, do your homework. Ask well-considered questions and fully evaluate a potential DCIM vendor. Why? Unfortunately, not all DCIM solutions are created equal and some tools that look good in a demo or on paper may just fall short of your requirements. So much about a successful…
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4 Wrong Reasons Not to Buy DCIM Software
By Fred Koh - July 25, 2020As a DCIM vendor…the title seems to contradict what we sell. It’s not that we don’t believe in our product (we do), it’s that we’ve been in the business of DCIM for many years and have seen prospective customers come, go without making a purchase, and eventually come back and buy DCIM so many times…
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3 Reasons You Should Replace Visio Network Diagrams
By Fred Koh - July 23, 2020Change is hard. I get it. I understand why most folks don’t want to make changes: whether it is staying in the same job even if you don’t love it, waking up at the same time, eating at the same restaurants, and for network engineers, hopefully updating their network diagrams using Visio software diagrams and…
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DCIM & Documentation Software: Easily Import Your Data
By Fred Koh - July 22, 2020As I discussed in a recent article about tracking changes in the network, keeping your network diagrams up-to-date is critical to fostering greater adoption and usage of a network documentation and/or Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution. With a proper change management solution in place, you can ensure your documentation will be up-to-date (and, for…
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Need Software for Network Diagrams and Network Mapping?
By Fred Koh - July 14, 2020Recently, I wrote an article (about the three top reasons to replace Visio for network diagrams) which dives into the importance of having an automated solution for network mapping (you can read it by clicking here). So, how do network mapping and network diagrams correlate with each other? According to Wikipedia’s entry on network diagram…
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DCIM Software with Cable Management: Do You Need It?
By Fred Koh - July 13, 2020Do you need Data Center Infrastructure Management software (DCIM)? If so, what are your requirements when looking for a DCIM software? If you’re going through your checklist of features and looking at many DCIM software vendors (you can read more about putting your list of DCIM requirements together by clicking here) —- don’t forget to…
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How to Track Changes with IT Documentation Software: Change Management
By Fred Koh - July 12, 2020So, you’ve stepped up to the IT visualization plate and started to use netTerrain — either on a trial basis or as one of our customers…and now, you’d like to avoid your time investment becoming shelfware. Take note: one of the aspects that leads software straight into the abyss of ‘shelfware’ is a lack of…
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netTerrain Logical vs. netTerrain DCIM
By Fred Koh - June 22, 2020As the executive director of sales at Graphical Networks, I’m often asked about the various differences across our product offerings. This article will highlight the key differences between our network mapping and diagram software (netTerrain Logical) and our data center infrastructure management software (netTerrain DCIM). Graphical Networks has just one IT Visualization platform: netTerrain. What…
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Good DCIM Software: What to Look For
By Fred Koh - June 18, 2020Data Center Infrastructure Management Software (DCIM): how do you define it? Ask what DCIM means to your colleagues and management and I have no doubt that you’ll end up with different responses from each person you ask! Over the many years that we’ve been selling our DCIM tool (netTerrain DCIM), we’ve written numerous articles (and…
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How to Win Friends & Influence Bosses (Using Network Diagrams)
By Fred Koh - June 15, 2020Finally…you’re about to head home. Then…the calls start. Then..the emails. The network is slow…or even worse, it’s down. Troubleshooting takes up so much time compared to actually fixing the underlying network issue. How can managers and IT directors help their staff reduce the time it takes to find and fix an issue? Network diagrams save…
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Network Diagram Software MSPs and Network Consultants Can Use
By Fred Koh - June 9, 2020Need to document your clients’ networks? MSPs and network consultants use netTerrain for just that! Using network discovery and automated network documentation software you can visualize how the devices are all connected — all the way down to the port level. Leverage network diagram software (such as netTerrain Logical) to present your discovered results in…
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Common Questions about Fiber Mapping Software
By Fred Koh - May 21, 2020What’s just as important as keeping network diagrams up-to-date? Your cabling infrastructure (we’ve written about cable management and cable software for many years — click here to explore some of those blogs on cabling). So, what about documenting the fiber plant? Many of our prospective customers ask us how other organizations are managing and mapping…
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