An ever-increasing choice and instances of usage in mobile devices, the rising use of corporate data and work rendered away from offices is all leading to the gradual increase in the importance of WAN. The need to optimize WAN for organizations is increasing multi-fold. How do you balance the widespread use of WAN while optimizing it? What happens to the much-needed risk for security? Here are some tips for managing and optimizing WAN for best results:
Better Policy Management
Many organizations find it rather difficult to use WAN. They would not be able to use this technology optimally without burdening on the incumbent web servers. As a business, you’d have to take educated decisions on defining network usage policies given the demand to tap into the widening network access across geographic precincts and devices. To ensure a proper balance security and performance, it’s imperative to find business critical applications first and optimize the networks for them. With the right use of technology, you can enhance end-user application use and also protect the data being transferred to and from the networks to end-users.
Ensure Network visibility
Without full network visibility, it’s virtually impossible to secure your WAN and optimize it for best performance. As an organization, it’s critical for you to note the traffic coming in and out of your network, bandwidth usage, locations the network is being accessed from, the details of users accessing the network, and also identify the type of traffic that flows in and out of your networks. Without knowing what’s allowed to come in or go out, how would you spot breaches? The use of your WAN is effectively reduced when you lack visibility – much like driving a road train through dense fog with limited or no visibility.
You’d need tools to alert staff when a breach occurs and those that allow you complete visibility into the network. You’d need network monitoring tools for setting up a protocol – a broad baseline for business as usual – so that you’d know when something feels out of place.
Develop new strategies
Threats to network security aren’t cast in stone. Just like anti-virus software battles with an ever-growing variety of virus, network threats evolve too. Organizations need a strategic approach to network monitoring, especially with the type and incidences of usage of WAN are involved. You’ll need new technologies that allow you to deploy a coordinated approach to manage network security. You’d need a strong base to cover the entire network (which includes users, locations, devices, and even other networks within your network). Plain monitoring without a strategy is like a big lazy watchdog guarding an entire seaside dock.
If you need to know more about network monitoring tools or if you’d like to know how to develop a network monitoring strategy for your WAN, LAN, wireless networks, do let us know and we’d help you out.
714-333-9620