It is a great deficiency to organizations if they fail to automate their internal and external business operations or transactions. Computers are premium must-haves for organizations, educational institutions, government offices and small-, medium- and large-scale enterprises. A large number of these compose a network. And their optimal functionality can be attained through efficient management.

Network management is the execution of the set of functions required for controlling, planning, allocating, deploying, coordinating, and monitoring the resources of a network. It is typically applied to large-scale networks such as computer networks and telecommunications networks; it refers to the maintenance and administration of such networks at the top level.

This includes performing tasks such as initial network planning, frequency allocation, predetermined traffic routing to support load balancing, cryptographic key distribution authorization, configuration management, fault management, security management, performance management, bandwidth management, and accounting management.

Network management encompasses functions such as providing support services, ensuring that the network is used efficiently, and ensuring prescribed service-quality objectives are met.

The complexity of communication networks continues to expand at a frenetic pace. Whether corporate or government enterprises the networks are elaborating in size, scale, and the types of services supported. The expense of network downtime or inefficiency is huge and continually increasing.

An efficient network management is achieved through coordinating network management with the changing demands of the business. Its attainment keeps profit flowing, increasing organizational potentials, productivity and flexibility. It also integrates competitive advantage through secure infrastructure; scalability—automatic data transfer from an unresponsive server to a properly operating one; and improved infrastructure management.

Managing networks also comprises of upgrading networks. This enhancement is important because data on sales, inventory, manufacture, accounting and other business transactions transpiring are passed, exchanged, and retrieved through network links. Any disruption arising in networks could discompose, even destroy these operations.

Network management directly contributes to business, enabling business agility. It addresses IT and non-IT organizations’ concern regarding data, unit and system security and application optimization. Security-wise, safeguarding functionality components should be applied into infrastructure like firewalls, virus scans, intrusion-detection systems, and intrusion-prevention systems. Applications optimization-wise, technology to be used should utilize technological resources to minimize cost or process time and maximize throughput, service levels, and revenues.

Enterprises ought to acquire an industrialized information technology infrastructure, dependable network security features, and omnipotent devices for handling the desktop computer units that their employees are using to induce lively business functions. A risk-free and wonderfully managed network infrastructure enables network access to local and remote users without jeopardizing the network or the organizational data on it.

For successful network management, enterprises must equip themselves with the necessary and right tools to enhance their IT infrastructure administration. By doing so, employees are supplied with steady access to organizational information they need to provide fast and reliable client service, produce accurate reports, and generate effective business decisions.

Copyright 2007 Ismael D. Tabije