Fiber Mapping Software: What Is It?
By Fred Koh - May 13, 2020Here at Graphical Networks, we often say that our fiber mapping software solution (netTerrain OSP) helps fiber technicians and managers get their jobs done faster, easier, and more successfully. What, exactly, is it? Fiber Mapping Software: What Is It? Fiber mapping software, such as netTerrain OSP, gives those managing or working on fiber the visibility…
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Need to Replace NetDoc for Cable Management?
By Fred Koh - May 11, 2020The other day, I was in a demo meeting with a prospective customer who informed me they had reached out because their cable software’s vendor,Brady, stopped supporting its NetDoc Cable Management software and is reaching end-of-life by the end of December 2021. I recalled hearing the name ‘NetDoc’ from exhibiting at BICSI events last year…
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Choosing a DCIM Vendor: 4 Key Considerations
By Fred Koh - April 30, 2020For increasingly complex data centers, data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is no longer optional. Without it, how can you best allocate your resources (space, assets, power, etc.) and keep costs right-sized? That being said, DCIM is still, in the grand scheme of things, relatively new. Choosing a DCIM vendor from a list created by…
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Business Optimization Through Data Visualization
By Fred Koh - April 16, 2020Many of my recent articles explore netTerrain’s various use cases — with respect to network documentation, data center infrastructure management (DCIM), and managing fiber plant (outside plant). In this article, I am going to take a step back to talk about how you can optimize your business with the power of data visualization. Typically, IT…
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7 Ways DCIM Software Makes Data Center Migration Projects Easier
By Fred Koh - April 10, 2020Regardless of what exactly you need to move — consolidating data center rooms, or moving from a small data center to larger space (or vice versa) — a the process of Data Center migration can be quite stressful for managers! You need to make sure your assets are moved and installed, with correct cabling in…
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Telecommuting’s Toll on the Network: Visualization Helps
By Fred Koh - April 1, 2020Recently, I’ve been working remotely (as have so many of us). As a result, I’ve had some time to reflect on the demands that telecommuting place upon the network. Without the right tools, too much telecommuting can leave IT departments are left scrambling to ensure the infrastructure is up and ready to support internal customers….
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netTerrain Complaint of the Week: the upgrade patch won’t work!
By Jan Durnhofer - March 27, 2020As you may have seen from one of our newsletters or announcements, we just released version 8.5 of netTerrain . Since most of our customers have an on-premise installation, they’re pointed to download the new version of the software (I’m referring to customers that already use netTerrain and therefore have plenty of data related to…
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Need DCIM Software? 3 Questions to Ask First
By Fred Koh - March 25, 2020When we talk to organizations that are looking for a Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution, we always ask this: are the pain and issues big enough to make the move? DCIM software, such as netTerrain DCIM,takes some time to implement and it’s an investment: moving to a DCIM software solution requires a commitment from…
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netTerrain 8.5: Fresh Look, New Features
By Jan Durnhofer - March 23, 2020This is the fourth, and perhaps the last, incarnation of the 8.x series. This time around, our engineering team worked on close to 300 tickets. Yes, 300! There were the usual small fixes and improvements, and also many tickets related to the Collector and the API, but, drum roll please: 8.5 also saw some major…
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Step Up to the Plate: Finally Time to Ditch Spreadsheets & Visio Diagrams?
By Fred Koh - March 20, 2020Step up to the plate and ditch the spreadsheets and Visio diagrams once and for all— no, I am not talking baseball here. So, what do I mean by step up to the plate? Ditching Visio Diagrams & Spreadsheets: Do You Have Pain? When we have initial discovery calls with organizations looking at netTerrain, we…
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netTerrain Settings: Fiber and Outside Plant Diagram Tuning
By Jan Durnhofer - March 17, 2020In our first blog in this series on settings for our outside plant software, we explained the need for settings in the context of fine tuning you Data Center, Network Documentation or Outside Plant project and we looked into a specific repository of parameters called Settings.xml. In our second blog in this series we looked…
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Press Button, Picture Network, Go to Sleep…?
By Jan Durnhofer - March 13, 2020If you work in IT, and you’ve spent more than 5 minutes trying to troubleshoot the network, you probably know the usual deal with network documentation . It’s very important and at the same time… it’s usually the last thing people update. In ‘Steady State’ mode, aka when no alarms are going off, you run…
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