How Network Diagrams & Documentation Overhaul Your Workflow
By Fred Koh - October 28, 2020Over the years on this blog, we’ve often discussed the merits of network diagrams and documentation. We say it again and again, and use different examples to prove it: good network documentation and automated network diagrams save you time, stress, and money. Yeah, yeah…saving money, stress, and time all sounds great on paper, but what…
Learn More
No Network Diagrams? You’re Starring in a Psychological Thriller Movie
By Fred Koh - October 26, 2020Do you manage an IT network? You might just be trapped in a psychological thriller movie…. and you’re the star! What am I talking about? Ever watched “Memento”? In that movie, the star suffers from short-term memory loss. He’s on a mission, though, so he has to rely on makeshift reminders such as polaroid photos…
Learn More
DCIM Software: Marketing Fluff You Should Avoid
By Fred Koh - October 23, 2020Since Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software first hit the market over a decade ago, there has been a lot of hype and discussion around it. At first, the promise was that DCIM software was going to boil the ocean. When that didn’t happen, a slew of negative press followed suggesting that the software was…
Learn More
Where DCIM Wins, Where DCIM Fails
By Fred Koh - October 19, 2020Since it started really generating buzz about a decade ago, DCIM has developed two distinct reputations: the first is that DCIM is poised to completely revolutionize your data center and the way in which you work. The second reputation DCIM has? It’s an expensive piece of shelfware. Clearly, there’s a Grand Canyon-sized gap between the…
Learn More
Good DCIM Software is Constantly Evolving
By Fred Koh - October 16, 2020Our company, Graphical Networks, has been in the data center sphere for many years and there’s one constant: technology, and how we manage it, is constantly evolving. To keep up, IT and network engineers need to be able to get information, and visualize, the different environments they manage. Good DCIM software needs to evolve alongside…
Learn More
Need Outside Plant Software? 3 Hacks You Should Avoid
By Fred Koh - October 14, 2020Do you manage a large network of outside plant IT infrastructure? Have an effective way to keep track of what you’ve got, where it is, and what’s connected to what? Can you use it when something happens, and someone needs to go out into the field? How can you plan your fiber infrastructure capacity to…
Learn More
IT Asset Management and DCIM
By Fred Koh - October 13, 2020In my previous article, If Your Data Center Swings Between Availability & Efficiency, You May Need DCIM, I briefly discussed IT Asset Management (ITAM). I’d like to explore this feature in a DCIM solution a bit more, as this is one of the most important features in a Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM). What is…
Learn More
Data Center Swinging Between Availability & Efficiency? You May Need DCIM
By Fred Koh - October 7, 2020If traditional cars need gas and oil, millennials need avocado and toast, and Teslas need electricity and a battery, it follows that data centers need the following to run: availability and efficiency. The problem? Have too much availability and efficiency is going to suffer and visa versa. The modern data center swings on something a…
Learn More
How Does Network Discovery Help Prevent Cyberattacks?
By Fred Koh - September 30, 2020Over the years, we’ve written extensively about zombie servers, cables that aren’t fully decommissioned, and much more. If we had to sum all that up into just one sentence, it would probably be something like this: IT documentation helps you find resources that are drawing power but not performing any functions. Just as technology and…
Learn More
OSP Fiber Management: Save Time, Money, and Stress
By Fred Koh - September 25, 2020If you’re in charge of managing an Outside Plant (OSP) fiber network, you already know there’s nothing like the threat of backhoes and hurricanes to make you lose sleep. What will get damaged…and what else will be impacted? Are you going to have to send someone out in the field on a wild goose chase?…
Learn More
IT Audit? Software Helps
By Fred Koh - September 22, 2020From time to time, when I ask a company why they are looking for network diagram and documentation software such as netTerrain, they say it’s because they just acquired another company and have no idea what’s on their network and what assets the other company has. If you are considering acquiring a company, ask the…
Learn More
How Network Diagram Software Helps You Go Home Early
By Fred Koh - September 15, 2020Whether you love Jimmy Buffet or hate him, everyone knows, and probably can relate, to his famous tune, “it’s five o’clock somewhere’ about a worker who’s frustrated with his job and wants it to be five o’clock. What happens, however, when it’s actually five o’clock and you can’t go home?. When people call us in…
Learn More