How to Keep the Network Compliant with Security Standards
By Jason Sherman - March 26, 2018Is your network in compliance with industry security standards such as the PCI Data Security Standard? These standards exist to safeguard sensitive information from vulnerabilities. The PCI Data Security Standard exists to ensure that organizations handling credit cards keep information secure in the following ways: Ensure Secure Networks and Systems Secure/Protect Cardholder Data Manage Vulnerability…
Learn MoreWhy My Uber Driver Quit Working as a Network Engineer
By Hannah Ash - March 19, 2018So…I had an interesting ride this morning: my car is in the shop and I used Uber. I had a great ride and my driver got five stars and a tip from me — but that’s besides the point. Over the course of our conversation, he shared that he was a relatively new driver for…
Learn MoreManage Your Outside Plant with Dynamic Maps (Intro)
By Jan Durnhofer - March 15, 2018Need an easier way to document and map your fiber backbone? netTerrain OSP*, our outside plant management platform, is used by our customers to manage their inside and outside plants — from fiber splices to manholes to GIS-enabled street views (with 6-decimal precision) all the way to fiber patch panels inside buildings. This blog series…
Learn MoreDoes This Make My Server Look Fat?
By Jason Sherman - March 13, 2018Does this make my server look fat? Is my floor starting to bulge? Yeah, we have all been there. The server room is starting to look a little heavy…or is it? Hey, we’ve all told ourselves a few little white lies from time to time, ‘maybe it’s just the way the light is hitting this…
Learn MoreThe DCIM Competitive Analysis Gone Wrong (Part Two)
By Jan Durnhofer - February 27, 2018This article continues our previous blog on why we don’t engage in competitive analyses; it is designed to give you an example of why an ‘us vs. them’ DCIM vendor comparison fails. Let’s break it down. First, here’s a link to a competitive analysis on netTerrain from another vendor (who’s never used netTerrain). Now, let’s…
Learn MoreWhy We Won’t Waste Your Time with a DCIM Competitive Analysis (Part One)
By Jan Durnhofer -Sometimes 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…
Learn MoreFrom Hieroglyphics to NASA, Data Visualization Isn’t Anything New
By Jason Sherman - February 26, 2018I was spending some time (or wasting….you decide) on Reddit last week when I came across this article on how NASA uses IT visualization to tell visual stories from technical details. While we’re not a BI tool, what NASA is doing — and why they’re doing it — is at the very heart of the…
Learn MoreWhy Do You Need Flexible DCIM & Network Mapping Software?
By Jason Sherman - February 14, 2018netTerrain, an automated DCIM and network mapping software suite, adapts to your project…and its unique needs. Let me be clear: netTerrain adapts to your needs — without consultants, months of waiting time, an onboarding process that feels more like training for Mount Everest, and a bunch of extra expenditures you (and your boss) didn’t see…
Learn MoreHow Does Automatic Network Mapping Work?
By Jason Sherman - February 8, 2018SNMP is an old time workhorse of information. If you’ve been a network engineer for a while, the ability to automatically discover objects when you’re documenting the network can’t be overhyped. Automatic network mapping, on this level, significantly reduces your manual workload and ensures that your documentation is accurate and up-to-date. If you’re looking at…
Learn MoreWhat’s New in netTerrain 7.1?
By Jan Durnhofer -1.1 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…
Learn MoreFun Network Diagrams? Use Visual Overrides
By Jason Sherman - February 5, 2018Network documentation can be fun and fulfilling…never thought I’d say that. Truth is…maybe it’s not exactly the same fun as, say, Superbowl Sunday (depending on which team you’re rooting for, of course)… but it can be a little more fun when you have the right tools for the job at hand. Using netTerrain, our network…
Learn MoreIf You Need to Replace netViz, Read This
By Jason Sherman - February 2, 2018Since the beginning of time…or, ok, since the 90’s (more or less), network administrators have created a demand for network diagramming software. netViz, a (now discontinued) product of CA Technologies, was introduced to meet network diagramming needs of IT teams. The software offered users hierarchies, (limited) automatic discovery with a graphical interface — with thousands…
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