Cost-effective Network Management: The Characteristics And Features

Automation entered our lives with the entry of Information Technology. The ambit of automation was not enclosed to a single entity or realm but encompassed realms outside the immediate vicinity of the base or formulating entity. Networks came to be in this manner. With distanced and disparate networks all in the hierarchy of one single project, managing the network became essential. With cost factor being a key factor for any process worth its mention a Cost-effective Network Management System was the demand for the day.

A network comprises of individual objects, both hardware component and the application or software component. The plethora of objects that make up a network is to be experienced to be believed. A network administrator's job is never a post of envy but one that poses the administrator with problems uncanny. A visual picture of the complete network becomes a necessity for any network manager to be able to work out a solution imposed upon him by some client at a remote site.

Volatile is the market and so is the functioning of a business house to cater for these market changes. The network being used by the business house in turn also faces a rapidly changing scenario. The network map drawn on the hard board one day would turn, out of place, in a few days span. A tool which is capable of providing a continuously updated view of the network and its functioning is the need of the day. This software should also have the capability to permit the network manager remotely manage the various components that make up the network..

Managed Services Provider is one such class of software which gives an integrated view of the complete network and the various programs that is running upon it. The software could be one that needs no user intervention, then there are others which need to be executed by a network manager and there are those which are a mix of both. Depending on availability and competence of the network manager the type of MSP software is to be selected. Cost saving factor of such software requires no amplification. Rather than having individual network manager at each individual physical location trying to talk with each other, one network manager sitting remotely is able to monitor and provide solutions to the individual network system.

How well and detailed does the MSP software report the network statistics and status and how wide and deep can the software report decide the power and strength of the software.

Individual companies creating the MSP however add different features in their advertisement campaigns. The ease with which the software can be deployed across the entire network, how much system resources does the software demand, these and many other similar features are used by individual MSP makers in their marketing strategy.

For increased profit margins a cost-effective network management system is a deciding issue to any business house. This is especially so given the 'e' factor that has attached itself in every facet of a business in today's world. A Managed Service Provider is capable of bringing down price incurred by the business house in network management, in turn assuring increased profit margin to the business house. It could therefore be concluded that MSP is a cost-effective tool.