Network Infrastructure: Why is it important?
Network infrastructure is the backbone that connects people and businesses. It’s what makes our everyday lives possible, and it’s critical to making sure that we can get the information we need when we need it. It allows us to send emails, stream music, and video, make phone calls, access the internet, and even connect with friends through social media. But what is network infrastructure? And why does it matter? Let’s take a look.
What is Network Infrastructure?
The network infrastructure consists of the hardware and software components of an entire network that enable connectivity, communication, operations, and management. It provides the communication path and services between users, processes, applications, services, external networks, and the Internet. Since connectivity is almost limitless, it is essential to have controls and security to prevent theft, intentional data corruption, and just access by mischievous users.
Why is Network Infrastructure important?
As your company grows and the amount of data traveling across your corporate network increases, the foundational underpinnings of your network get put under stress. Maintaining your network’s reliability – to avoid costly downtime incidents or worse, lost data – becomes more and more important. If a disaster were to strike your company, having a reliable and well-supported network will make recovery much easier.
In an age of remote work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, your company’s network is likely under more strain than ever before. Each hour during which your network suffers issues is an hour where your entire business grinds to a halt, so making forward-looking investments into this critical but often forgotten infrastructure pays dividends in the future.
Types of Network Infrastructure
There are 3 types of network infrastructure commonly used, local area network, metropolitan area network, and wide area network.
A local area network, or LAN for short, connects network devices by a switch or stack of switches. It uses a private addressing scheme defined by the TCP/IP protocol for the group of computers and devices connected. Each device has its unique private address in the network. The local area networks are connected to WAN with routers. LANs are privately owned and cover a small area, such as an office building, home, hospital, etc.
Metropolitan Area Network
Metropolitan area networks, or MAN, cover a larger area than LANs. MAN can connect devices in a large geographical area and serves as an internet service provider. It is designed for users who need high speeds but it is also hard to design and maintain, and it is also a costly solution. MAN can be owned by a single organization.
A wide area network, or WAN, covers a large geographical area. WANs are mostly established by internet service providers. Without a WAN, organizations can’t access the internet and they could only use their own LAN infrastructure. WANs facilitate communication between devices around the world.
Some benefits
Network infrastructure is the backbone of any modern organization. It provides how data and information are transmitted between different parts of the organization and forms the foundation upon which all other business operations are built. A well-designed network framework can provide several benefits to an organization, including:
- Improved efficiency: A well-designed network framework can help improve an organization’s efficiency by reducing the time and resources required to complete tasks. In addition, by consolidating data and information onto a single network, employees can access the information they need more quickly and easily, increasing productivity.
- Improved communication: A highly efficient network framework helps in overcoming communication barriers within an organization. By providing employees access to shared files and applications, team members can collaborate more effectively on projects. In addition, network infrastructure can help to streamline communication between different parts of the organization, such as between various departments or locations.
- Increased security: Network infrastructure can also provide enhanced security for an organization by allowing administrators to manage and monitor access to data and resources centrally. By restricting access to specific network parts, administrators can help prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to sensitive information.
- Scalability: Scalability is essential for any organization. With the help of the right network infrastructure monitoring, the organization will grow abundantly without redesigning the network. Whether it be day-to-day operations or any significant issues in the network, the network framework provides detailed insights into your network to overcome any problem in advance and achieve great results.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Organizations always look for cost-effective ways to grow their organization. Network infrastructure monitoring is a cost-effective solution for organizations to manage their network. With efficient network infrastructure monitoring, there will be fewer disruptions and issues, which helps organizations save a lot of costs.
How does Network Infrastructure impact security?
An outsized proportion of your company’s network infrastructure serves to protect the network and endpoint devices from attacks. Whether it’s your firewall stopping malicious traffic at the edge or a network security appliance detecting and preventing an in-progress malware attack, network hardware, software, and services are all a big part of your company’s cyber security.
Security-critical network infrastructure devices are frequently strung together to form new integrations. In particular, businesses commonly connect their intrusion detection systems directly to firewalls so that they can stop attacks as soon as they’re detected. In a similar vein, logging and management systems can be connected to other infrastructure to provide oversight.
Challenges in Network Infrastructure
Network infrastructure is the foundation of an organization’s interaction with all customers and users. It consists of all the hardware, software, and applications that allow users to communicate with each other over a network.
Network infrastructure is also known as the “backbone” of a company’s IT department. Which means it supports all other IT systems in use at any given time.
The challenges associated with network infrastructure include:
- Security threats: In recent years, the number of security threats that target networks has increased dramatically. With more than 20 million new malware samples being created every day. This makes it extremely difficult for IT departments to keep up with these attacks and protect themselves from them.
- Performance issues: The performance of your network infrastructure can vary greatly depending on how you’ve set up your network. When you’re designing your network, don’t overlook this aspect. Poor performance can negatively affect productivity among employees and customers alike.
- Costs: Setting up new network infrastructure can be expensive, but if done correctly, it will help keep your data plan in check.
Consider ongoing costs like maintenance fees paid to providers who manage parts of your network and plan for a long-term strategy. NaaS can keep network costs down and multi-year contracts always provide cost savings.
Conclusion
Network infrastructure is the foundation upon which a successful organization builds. That said, protecting and cultivating a healthy network infrastructure can be a tall task. It’s also one that might be often overlooked. Cleaning up your network and making sure it’s strong and secure is an important endeavor. Get the right tools and solutions on your side and you’ll build a strong base that will keep your network running smoothly for years to come.