In the old days of AT&T, and I mean 30 years ago old days (no, I don’t remember, but I used to work for AT&T). Many of the customers actually rented their phones with their phone service. Similar to the way we pay for cable TV remotes today. It was just something you needed with the service and you became accustomed to the few bucks a month for the hardware.
Back then, the technology rarely ever changed, people just bought it because that’s what they knew. You received the phone and the phone service, if anything went wrong, AT&T would fix it.
In today’s fast moving world we’re returning to the managed services discussion around networking and technology. But it’s interesting, because we’re doing it for very different reasons than we did in the past.
Today managed service providers have a different pitch on managed networking. It’s much more than the having “one throat to choke” than the old days. For example, at SecurEdge, we’re in the business of secure wireless networking and I think there is a growing case for managed services in our business.
Here are 5 reasons to consider managed wireless networking:
1) 36 Month Hardware Cycle
Todays wireless standard (802.11n) just came to us officially in 2010. Now the talk is of the new stuff (802.11ac) coming in 2013 that’s 3 times faster. Each version requires different wireless planning capabilities because the technology works differently.
2) Upgrade Management
No matter what the wireless network solution is, it requires software and firmware updates. This is something that can bring the system crashing down if not done properly. In order to ensure things go well we recommend getting someone who lives with the equipment day to day. Tough to do as an overworked IT administrator supporting storage, PC’s, and everything under the sun.
3) The Cost of Downtime
Today’s enterprise wireless solutions can’t go down, and if they do, the troubleshooting has to be quick or heads will roll in the IT department. There’s just too much riding on the line. In cases like hospital wireless networks it is literally a matter of life and death to make sure the wireless hospital systems stay online.
4) Security & Compliance
Just keeping up with HIPAA or PCI compliance for wireless is a full time job. You need a wireless consultant who has designed your system to handle compliance and security concerns. Services like automated wireless scanning should be considered and provided to you as a service. That’s the only way to keep up with the day to day changes.
5) Wireless Network Management
The world of wireless is more challenging to troubleshoot without real time visibility into what’s going on. But even if you do have the best in wireless network management software just the understanding of what to look for takes significant time and resources to learn. But a wireless service provider should have the tools you need and the wireless engineering experience to help.
If you’re looking for a secure wireless solution or you need help managing your current system you can connect with one of our mobility specialists here. We’ve also got some free resources you can download like our wireless design kit.
