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Why You Should Drop Your Legacy Network for a Cloud-Managed Network Today

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When you’re asked to describe your legacy network, what terms come to mind?

Sluggish? Inflexible? Expensive? The list could go on.

Legacy networks are named so for good reason! This dated network technology is difficult to manage, has cloud-networkinglimited scalability, fosters ineffective communication and generally struggles to keep pace with the rapidly changing demands placed on data networks today.

From a scalability and functionality standpoint, today’s cloud networking technology, such as solutions provided by Cisco Meraki, represent the last nail in the coffin of the legacy network.

Cloud-based networks remove the burdens associated with legacy networks, enabling a network solution that’s scalable, cost-effective, simple to manage, and easy to install and configure.

The scalability features of a cloud-managed network are unprecedented. Expanding your legacy network could require significant resources, including space for large network appliances and the manpower to configure the network.

Cloud-Based Networks in the Education Sector

Cloud-based networks mitigate costs. For example, a university IT team needed just one person and four hours to deploy an entire wireless network in one campus building. Configuration only accounted for 30 minutes; the remaining time went toward physically installing wireless access points on walls throughout the building.

With a cloud-managed network in place, the university’s IT team is able to handle more than 1 TB of data every month while supporting thousands of unique clients. Moreover, university IT can restrict BitTorrent, Netflix and other bandwidth-intensive applications while prioritizing critical apps.

Cloud Networking in Healthcare

Cloud-based networks allow hospitals and community healthcare providers to offer Wi-Fi access and enable the use of leading mobile healthcare applications, all while remaining HIPAA-compliant. With a cloud-managed network in place, healthcare facilities enjoy 99.9 percent network uptime, which is especially critical in a hospital setting.

Cloud-Managed Networks for Government

For government agencies, a cloud-managed network provides various levels of administrative privileges, as well as instant visibility into network status. Such flexibility allows IT to easily reinvent the organization’s network architecture. Using just one SSID across the whole network enables easy management and group access controls, although a second SSID dedicated to guest use keeps agency data separate and secure.

Bringing a Cloud-Managed Network to Your Business

Both enterprises and small to medium-sized businesses benefit from cloud-managed networks. For example, an organization could use a series of indoor and outdoor network access points to create a secure, reliable wireless network solution that serves internal employees and customers. Furthermore, the company is able to build its social media recognition with a Facebook Wi-Fi login feature, where guests must “check in” via Facebook to access the wireless network.

The aforementioned scenarios highlight just some of the benefits a cloud-managed network offers. Even better, these use cases are not limited to the industries we’ve outlined them in here.

For an even more in-depth look at how cloud-managed networking benefits your industry, check out DynTek’s cloud networking infographic here!