OSP Network: 3 Ways Software Improves Efficiency
By Fred Koh - May 21, 2021Your fiber plant and OSP networks can be incredibly complex. If there is a problem with a connection, how do you know what you’ll need to fix it, where exactly it is, and so on without an up-to-date map/diagram? How can you plan for, and manage, fiber capacity? Outside Plant Software (OSP) software can help…
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So, What is an Automated Network Diagram, Anyways?
By Fred Koh - May 18, 2021A network diagram can be anything that visually depicts the network. A basic diagram could show a router or switch, and its connections to other networking equipment. Diagrams can be as simple or complex as you need them to be, and they come in many different shapes, sizes, and flavors. Some network diagrams may be…
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How to Define DCIM in 2021?
By Fred Koh - May 14, 2021From its inception about 20 years ago to now, Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) has evolved a great deal. The earliest definition of DCIM was that it was a part of building information software (BIM) intended to assist facility managers in creating digital, schematic diagrams. Today, DCIM is described as a solution that helps IT…
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No Network Diagrams? Signs You’re at Your Breaking Point
By Fred Koh - May 10, 2021As a software vendor that makes network documentation software (netTerrain), I spend a good deal of time discussing the many merits of automatic network diagrams. For many organizations, these diagrams have become essential to daily work. For many others, however, IT teams simply don’t have any network diagrams or have outdated and impossible-to-keep-updated network diagrams….
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Graphical Networks: Bronze Sponsor for Upcoming BICSI Fall Conference 2021
By Fred Koh - April 21, 2021Graphical Networks, makers of netTerrain — IT visualization software used by many organizations today to help document and manage the fiber plant — will be virtually attending the upcoming BICSI Fall Conference in Las Vegas. Graphical Networks is proud to be a bronze sponsor of this conference. The exhibit hall opens on August 23-25th at…
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Automatic Network Diagram Software: What Is It? What Does it Solve? What to Ask?
By Fred Koh - April 19, 2021If you’re reading this, chances are you want to know exactly what automatic network diagram software is…or maybe you’re thinking you need it…or maybe both? If so, you’re in the right place! This article will cover both what automatic network diagram software is, how you can auto generage network diagrams with a automatic network diagram…
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IT Channel Partner, Value-Added Reseller, or Consultant? Read This
By Fred Koh - April 14, 2021Partners, value-added resellers (VARs) and consultants in the technology sphere: do your Clients need to document their IT infrastructures such as the data center, outside plant and fiber, or the Network? If your clients manage IT infrastructures, such as data centers, the Network, and/or fiber and outside plant, chances are that, at some point, they’ve…
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Stuck in a Visio Rut? Replace Your Outdated Diagrams
By Fred Koh - April 5, 2021When we first talk to a new organization that’s looking to document its network, create network maps, data center diagrams, and cable infrastructure, we often hear something like this: “Oh, we document everything in Visio and spreadsheets.” So…we ask “how that’s working out?” “It could be better. It is difficult at times to use them,…
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Crash Course: Manage Your Power with DCIM
By Fred Koh - April 2, 2021Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM): how do you, and your team, define DCIM? I ask because DCIM isn’t defined by a rigid list of capabilities; what DCIM means depends on who needs it (to read more about “defining DCIM”, click here). If I had to summarize what DCIM is, however, I would define it by…
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Need DCIM? Keep it Simple
By Fred Koh - March 30, 2021What makes a data center infrastructure management solution (DCIM) vendor rank highly in those various top ten lists out there? Well, as I’ve discussed previously, there are numerous factors, such as how scalable or supported a solution is. Ultimately, though, and coming from my perspective as co-founder of a company that makes and sells the…
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There’s No Magic 8 Ball for the Network…but there are Network Diagrams
By Fred Koh - March 23, 2021Your network is ever changing/growing. How do you gain insights on what is running on your network? What about a Magic 8 ball for the network that works like this: just give it a shake and find out if a device is up and down? No such thing exists, right? You can’t just shake the…
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What is “Easy DCIM”?
By Fred Koh - March 22, 2021‘Usability’: it’s one word that means a whole lot, right? Before you purchase any new enterprise-grade software, your IT team probably wants to know: how’s the usability, or, in other words, how easy is it for your organization’s users to use a new application to create and foster adopt-ability for a new software program such…
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