Building and Maintaining an Efficient Network Infrastructure
High maintenance costs, new technologies like virtualization, and continual data growth directly impact the performance and manageability of your network. StraTech understands the issues affecting the network — from operational inefficiency and bandwidth constraints to the challenge of transitioning from 1G to 10G and the high costs of storage.
StraTech provides unified network solutions that maximize the performance of the network, are scalable and robust, and provide the flexibility to endure -- meeting operational objectives and addressing future challenges.
Reduce Network Complexity
As new technologies evolve, networks are forced to change and accommodate. This can lead to an overly complex network environment resulting in bottlenecks, sluggish performance, and bandwidth constraints. Using a consultative approach, StraTech analyzes your current network environment to make expert recommendations. Network solutions that encompass storage consolidation, network convergence, data protection, virtualization, and business continuity to simplify the network environment, delivering measurable gains throughout the IT infrastructure.
False Perceptions of the Single-Vendor Network
The days when a company sticks to one vendor for all networking needs are in the past; the transition from single-vendor networks to dual-vendor or multivendor networks is today’s reality. This practical approach to network infrastructure can offer a significant cost savings with no increase in complexity. In a report published by Gartner, “Debunking the Myth of the Single-Vendor Network,” the benefits of adding a second vendor to your network environment include a reduction of 15% - 25% in total cost of ownership (TCO) over a five-year time frame and a lasting decrease in network complexity, compared with a single-vendor network.
Why the change in perception? Because companies are finally starting to realize that the arguments against the multivendor network are unfounded.
Interoperability – According to the Gartner study mentioned above, most competing network vendors have adopted standards and best practices, especially interfaces between building blocks within the network, to make interoperability a minor issue for organization adding a new network vendor.
Manageability – Today, most vendors use industry-standard tools for alerting, performance and change management – administrative tools that monitor any network environment because they are vendor independent. These tools are specifically developed to reduce the complexity of network operations while improving manageability of the network environment.
Complexity – Sticking with one network vendor does not necessarily reduce the complexity of the network. Adding another network vendor actually helps to reduce network complexity by introducing more standardization to the network infrastructure. Introducing a new vendor can help rightsize the network with a focus on meeting specific operational goals that ensure long-lasting benefits.
Maintenance Costs – It is a major misconception to think that loyalty to the incumbent network vendor results in an opportunity to negotiate the best deals and keep costs under control. According to Gartner, sole-sourcing with a leading network vendor like Cisco will cost a minimum of 20% premium. Savings on maintenance and equipment are readily achievable when organizations seriously consider and evaluate competitive vendor offerings -- in some cases savings of up to 95% less than premium-priced vendors are attainable.
