Network Optimisation and Information Systems Management.
Network Optimisation is a critical component in the effective management of information systems. Information technology is growing at an exponential rate – with more and more applications consuming greater amount of network bandwidth as well as business users producing larger volumes of data from these applications (which in a majority of cases has to flow through the corporate network). This continued growth adds to the strain of an already over-stressed network architecture within an organisation.
This situation is unlikely to improve as fast as the technology and computer usage rates increase. The only viable solution from the corporate management point of view is to improve the IT infrastructure and data flow management within the company.
The phenomenon is especially noticeable in the UK,
which does not have the same high percentage of fibre optics per user as in North America and portions of Asia. While this problem is being actively addressed by British Telecom, there is a noticeable lag between the installation and implementation of an integrated solution using the high-capacity broadband communications.
This leaves the IT manager in a quandary: with the continued and projected growth of the IT network within the business community, competition for finite resources – e.g., the hardware network – becomes more than prudent; it is now imperative. Not helping the situation is the current economic climate. With the average business spending 10% of its budget to support IT operations, shaving percentage points off that amount can have a significant impact on corporate profits. While initial capital outlay may seem to be disproportionate – optimisation isn’t something readily apparent as a budget line item. However, when data flow management and systems engineering is laid out in spreadsheets and graphs, the exotic technical jargon and cryptic content is suddenly presented in a form that business managers, senior executives and upper-level corporate managers can readily understand, plan and promote to the wider organisation.
Network Optimisation starts at the individual workstation and winds its way to the server farm until it is shipped out onto the Internet or disseminated through the local area network (LAN). Tools in the form of software and hardware can go a long way to increase efficiency without compromising either security or data integrity. However, these tools on their own are of little value without organisations taking a real hard and serious look at their application estates and determining which applications could be consolidated, re-engineered (to reduce their data and network bandwidth footprints), replaced or even retired. Additionally, organisations need to scrutinise internal processes and, where necessary, update, re-design or even create new ones so that the people managing and using the network resources within the organisation are doing so more efficiently.
In the case of large corporate infrastructures, the use of a dedicated team of knowledgeable and qualified network analysts, architects and business specialists (who understand applications, infrastructure and data and can interface between the technical and the business communities) will ensure greater success in implementing network optimisation across the organisation. In any case, the end result should incorporate a usable and easy to understand graphic interface – and the appropriate throttles and regulators – to ensure load-balancing and employing the best value for the available resources. The days of simply adding more bandwidth without regard to the optimisation of data packeting and streaming are essentially gone.
The sooner the corporation takes a proactive approach to data flow management and improving the network hierarchy, the less work will be required to optimise in the future. Network Optimisation is not one of the steps that can be ignored. It is the 500-pound gorilla in the room and it isn’t going to go away by itself. An unfortunate axiom of IT is: “there is never time to do it right, but always time to do it over”.
Take the time. Analyse the problem, then implement the solutions. It is not too late – the last thing an organisation wants is the sudden realisation that the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t daylight; it’s an on-coming train.
