The Unsung Network Heroes
We all expect networks to just work these days – and while Zyxel’s Nebula network management is making their lives easier, we should not forget that we still need the talented technicians who work behind the scenes, to keep the network up and running smoothly, says Kevin Drinkall, EMEA Professional Business Market Development Manager at Zyxel.
We all take connectivity for granted today. We come into work, connect to the WiFi network or our port replicator and expect it work. On trains, in cafés and bars, restaurants, shops and hotels, we expect to be able to connect and stay connected, so that we can work, access online services and surf the web. We expect effortless digital payments, to use automated checkouts, gain access to digital TV channels and streaming services.
We give almost no thought to what’s making all this happen – and making sure it continues to work. It is not just the network equipment and infrastructure that we take for granted, but the people who make it happen as well.
Behind the scenes
You can’t see them, but they are there somewhere behind the scenes. These are the unsung heroes of the everyday networking and connectivity we all rely on. They are probably sitting – largely unnoticed – in a corner of the office, located in the basement or in a tiny office in a remote section of a hotel’s admin zone. Wherever they are, they will spend their day watching over the performance of switches, wireless and connections making small tweaks to ensure everything keeps running smoothly and delivering the performance that users expect.
Sadly, these invaluable cogs in the machinery of organisations only get noticed when things go wrong, rather than the everyday heroes they are, they are often treated as the villains of the piece and put under immense pressure to get normal service resumed as quickly as possible.
While that might seem unfair most of the time, they understand completely. They actually take a lot of pride in keeping a close watch on the network and making the small adjustments that will ensure the network performs as it should, through the peaks and troughs of demand throughout the day.
Making life easier
Thankfully though, life is getting easier for these talented individuals – at least for those working with Zyxel’s Nebula solution. With Nebula, technicians can monitor and manage networks remotely from anywhere – even on their smartphones. They can make the necessary changes to network settings that may be needed to fix a problem – or prevent one from developing in the first place – from anywhere.
The Nebula Control Centre system is now quite mature. Its sophisticated functionality is being used by more and more managed services providers (MSPs) as the central pillar of their remote network management offering. This is great news for everyone – it makes it easier for the technicians to do their job and ensures that businesses can keep their networks up and running - and users can get online - throughout the day.
Whist big advances are now being made with artificial intelligence, we can’t yet see a day when we will be able to completely replace network technicians. Nebula is at least, making life easier for them, but we will still need them to be there, behind the scenes, watching and waiting, making changes and adjustments as necessary, at the opportune moment. We should all be grateful they are.
