Why We Won’t Waste Your Time with a DCIM Competitive Analysis (Part One)
By Jan Durnhofer - February 27, 2018Sometimes a prospect asks us if we can give them a competitive analysis: you know, how we stack up against some other DCIM competitor. I totally get why we’re asked for these; it is part of the usual song and dance and many organizations want them. We’re not immune: in fact, we have something like…
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What’s New in netTerrain 7.1?
By Jan Durnhofer - February 8, 20181.1 What’s new in 7.1 We like to stay on the move here at Graphical Networks and keep improving netTerrain. 7.1 is the second incarnation of the 7.x series (also called “Southwest”, as you may have seen from the pretty guide covers featuring beautiful landscape from the breathtaking American Southwest). The main theme of 7.1…
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Intro: netTerrain’s API for DCIM, Network Documentation, and Outside Plant
By Jan Durnhofer - January 26, 2018Despite all the recent hoopla, API’s have been around for a long time. Without realizing it, we use API’s all the time: we use them when we make an airline reservation…we use them when we check the weather on our phones. API’s bridge together several moving parts to serve up a desired result to the…
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Connect & Automate Your Data Imports in Under 2 Minutes
By Jan Durnhofer - January 24, 2018Most DCIM or Network Mapping software gives users some discovery features — which we also do. That’s all nice and dandy…but it’s very limited: every time you want to ensure your data is up-to-date, you have to manually schedule a discovery. When you have data that’s frequently changing, this becomes a hassle. What if you…
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Dear Prospect: If You Want Everything, You Need Nothing
By Jan Durnhofer - January 17, 2018“The demo with Jan was incredibly unprofessional. It seemed like he refused to go into any detail about the product. He wanted me to narrow down the focus of what he demo’ed to only what I immediately was interested in.” — Feedback from a Recent Prospect Ouch…that was a first. Apparently, I am unprofessional. Ok,…
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DCIM Hierarchies & Layers: Just Double-Click & Drag-and-Drop
By Jan Durnhofer - December 18, 2017In this blog (and video), we’ll explore how you can easily create hierarchies and navigate in and out of them using netTerrain (our network documentation network mapping tool and data center infrastructure management tool). Many DCIM solutions offer users just two or three predefined layers; with netTerrain, you can create an unlimited number of your…
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3D Views in DCIM – Still Just Pretty Pictures
By Jan Durnhofer - December 5, 2017DCIM: hype or substance? There’s been a healthy amount of debate in recent years about whether DCIM is more hype than substance and reports of failed DCIM installations have only sparked the debate further. The resounding consensus on the question of hype — from both analysts and the users themselves — is that DCIM can…
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DCIM Vendor Taking Too Long to Model a Device? Read This.
By Jan Durnhofer - October 12, 2017Rod Stewart once famously penned, “time is a thief”; Tom Petty (RIP) proclaimed, “the waiting is the hardest part.” If you’re a DCIM user who’s been kept on hold by your DCIM vendor when you just need a new device type modeled (a new make/model that isn’t already in your catalog), you can probably relate…
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Security & DCIM: Your Questions Answered by DCIM Experts
By Jan Durnhofer - May 23, 2017Reports of cyber attacks are widespread today: data shows that both the size and frequency of these attacks are on the rise. For those who use or are considering using DCIM software, these attacks beg the question, “Is DCIM susceptible? What kind of attacks can be waged against a DCIM solution?” All software, online or…
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netTerrain 7.0: Network Documentation & DCIM with a Usability-centric Approach
By Jan Durnhofer - May 8, 2017It’s been another busy yet productive year for the Graphical Networks team; we’re pleased to announce the release of netTerrain 7.0. With netTerrain 7.0 comes enhanced usability, work order management and valuable new time savers for the netTerrain suite (including network documentation, DCIM and outside plant). To help get current netTerrain users up to speed,…
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Buying DCIM? If You Overlook This, You’ll End Up Stuck
By Jan Durnhofer - March 15, 2016In this 3rd part of our 8 part blog series, we’ll explore the process of creating an entire Data Center hierarchy – everything from a world level map down to sites, Data Center buildings, floors, racks, devices and ports. Though you may not pay much attention to hierarchies when you’re first on the market for…
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Define a DCIM Custom Object…in 60 Seconds
By Jan Durnhofer - November 19, 2015Almost every DCIM solution comes with standard objects such as model floors, racks, devices or power & cooling elements; many solutions will probably offer some virtual equipment, circuits and cables. There are even some vendors who may model less common things – such as panels or doors – but inevitably, you will need something modeled…
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