Five Signs Your Network Needs an Upgrade

Upgrading the network is every IT manager’s dream, but it’s easier said than done, both from a cost and implementation standpoint. Yet there are valid reasons for upgrades, especially when business processes are at stake. Here are five signs that your network needs an upgrade:
 
1. You have introduced new services that aren’t well supported by your existing network. If your company has added Voice over IP (VoIP), for example, you might need further network segmentation or an upgrade from Layer-2 to Layer-3 switching.
 
2.You are experiencing serious performance bottlenecks. If these bottlenecks are affecting the business, it’s probably time to upgrade your switches and routers.
 
3. Your company is growing to include more geographically diverse locations. If your network was built for a smaller, more geographically constrained company, you’ll probably need to extend it significantly via a more powerful, redundant, Layer 3 Metro Ethernet solution.
 
4. You are having problems with downtime or service interruption. That’s a red flag indicating that you need more bandwidth and redundancy.
 
5. You are experiencing a lot of jitter or latency with your VoIP service. If this is a recurring problem, you should add QoS and PoE to all switches.