You know the old adage, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” This means that a chain can be as powerful as it wants, but if too much stress is placed on a weak point, it will snap and become useless. The same goes for your network switches. Businesses are growing more reliant on wireless technology, and as such, you’re going to want to upgrade your network switches, or risk your “chain breaking,” so to speak.
One of the biggest new developments that can affect your network switches is the trend known as Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD. This trend, in which employees bring their own devices to the workplace for work-related purposes, is growing at an astronomical rate. Due to this increase in BYOD activity, many offices have networks that are being flooded by activity, and network switches that are incapable of handling this increased traffic become overwhelmed. Consider these common examples from NetworkComputing of how mobile devices connected to your network can increase the strain placed your switches:
More devices mean more bandwidth requirements, and it’s hard to figure out what the BYOD devices are going to be doing, whether it’s just plain download bandwidth, something time critical like VoIP, or a sudden surge like Apple iOS version updates. And once end users are tied to a new way of using devices, network teams are often forced to adapt. BYOD not only means bring your own devices, but “because you’re overly demanding”
You need to keep in mind that these BYOD devices that are being brought to your office are wireless and that a single employee could be using multiple devices. For example, the average employee could be using a laptop, a smartphone, and possibly even their workstation, all of which have wireless capabilities. In a 2015 survey by ESG, it was shown that “more wireless endpoints is the foremost driver for network switch upgrades, with 44 percent of respondents rating the wireless deluge as a top factor.”
The same ESG survey reported that 33 percent of respondents claim that speed is the second-most important reason to upgrade their network switches. Modern businesses that want to rattle the cages in their industry need to achieve the highest speed possible with their WiFi, and they’re turning to 802.11ac (gigabit wireless) in order to achieve it. Using gigabit wireless technology demands that your network switches can handle the increased speed, so it’s likely that you’ll need to upgrade in order to accommodate it.
One of Bardissi Enterprises’s top priorities is helping local businesses get the most out of their wireless technology. Therefore, it’s also a top priority of ours to make sure that your network can handle the increased traffic that comes from BYOD and high-speed WiFi. If your network switches aren’t optimized for this task, your network will bottleneck, effectively terminating your business’s productivity.
One of the most valuable services we can provide for your organization is a network assessment, which includes an in-depth analysis of your network’s current resources and demands. We’ll make sure that your switches and other network devices are performing to their designated specifications. We can even outfit your business with the latest wireless technology, including 802.11ac routers. In today’s business world, you want to guarantee that your networks are competitive. To make this happen, contact Bardissi Enterprises at (215) 853-2266.
