Having a wide area network (WAN) is necessary for many different types of organizations. For example, many large businesses need such a network in order to provide the bandwidth that is necessary for all of their employees. Additionally, many large government offices also need to have a network installed which is able to accommodate all of the bandwidth that is necessary as well. There are some problems which may be inherent with this type of system, however, so you would want to consider the amount of bandwidth that you have available as well as the reliability of your network. What are some of the main things that you need to consider?
One of the more common questions that is asked about a large network such as a WAN has to do with network outages. These must be scheduled from time to time, as it will be necessary in order for you to add hardware or perhaps to upgrade your equipment. You can look at it as you would a smaller network, such as what you may be running in your home. It may be necessary for you to reboot that software from time to time in order to remove an error or perhaps to upgrade the firmware that is associated with the network. When you have a larger network, you will need to schedule the outages so that it will have the least amount of impact on your overall business.
Another very important thing for you to consider is the fact that the amount of bandwidth that you have available may, at times be inadequate for the jobs that need to be done. This is especially true if the available bandwidth remains the same but your need increases. You need to take these things into consideration, although it is not always necessary for you to upgrade the entire network in order to increase your bandwidth. There are some virtual applications that are available that may be able to increase the bandwidth that you have by as much as 10 or 20 times. This bandwidth will be available across the board, for all of your networking needs. Be cautious about any applications that will increase bandwidth for only certain types of network traffic, such as compressed data. You would want to make sure that it was available for every type of data that was being processed.
One other very important thing for you to consider is the reliability of the network. After all, you're going to need to rely on the service provider in order to get you connected and at the same time, you're going to need to rely on your immediate network in order to make sure that you're up and running at all times. You want to make sure that you have a team available which will work quickly to correct any problems that may occur. At the same time, you would want to have a close look at any equipment that is available for the network to make sure that you are going to have the least amount of problems that are possible.
Stephan Walter Poole is the author of this article about bandwidth management and network reliability.
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