Cloud Managed Networks

Organizations are seeking new and efficient ways to improve operations and optimize their network investments. InaCOMP offers cloud-managed networks and wireless networks to organizations of all sizes in and around Lansing, MI.  Cloud-managed networks are part of an innovative approach to meeting the demands of users, IT, and business initiatives. At InaCOMP we recognize that there is not a one-size fits all solution as business evolves. We know that IT has to adapt at the speed of light. InaCOMP offers the solutions to manage, troubleshoot, provision and configure your network – all in the cloud.

The nature of work is changing with a mobile workforce that requires a collaborative environment and smarter spaces. The workplace must have a high performance, secure Wi-Fi infrastructure that improves employee engagement and productivity. Mobility and IoT are not without their challenges. According to recent surveys, the top networking spending priorities for CIO’s are network management and security. Below are some of the benefits of a cloud-managed network:

• Simplify deployment and management of wireless LAN’s, switches and branch gateways

• Zero touch cloud-provisioning

• Provide rich analytics for smarter business decisions

• Optimize performance and proactively resolve network issues

• Provide granular visibility on mobile devices

• Scale network operations across multiple vendors

• Secure wired and wireless communications

• Enable remote trouble-shooting

Management and Control

You can’t manage what you can’t see

With the explosion of devices connecting to an organization’s network, IT operations teams need visibility into all things and users connected. They also need to be able to predict and proactively address issues before they happen, to avoid costly disruptions to the business.

You can’t control what you can’t understand

IT must implement the right set of tools to automate security policies and address compliance requirements. They should be able to provision infrastructure on-demand and control network access for any unknown device, without wasting time and resources. Businesses need a common policy framework to move beyond perimeter based security.

The New Network

The network needs to be smart and take action based on context – user role, device type, application category, and location – to ensure the highest levels of performance and security. The network not only needs to offer connectivity, but it needs to allow IT to gain valuable insights on device, app and real estate usage while helping the business measure return on investment for BYOD/IoT and digital workplaces. This is challenging for a traditional network that is static and proprietary, and built on application environments with long deployment lifecycles. Traditional networks cannot adapt in real time to changing conditions in the network and business environment. The move to mobile-cloud and the digital workplace allows businesses to see real benefits – recruiting and retaining top Millenials, lowering operating costs, and boosting productivity.

The Digital Workplace and IoT

An estimated 20 billion devices will be connected by 2020. Conventional BYOD security methods won’t be enough in the face of the surge of IoT devices. Sensors and devices often work poorly on traditional networks and can’t protect themselves. The network needs to play a key role in connecting and protecting the diverse range of IoT devices that will transform the workplace. In order to gain the benefits of IoT, organizations need a network infrastructure that can collect a wide range of data and provide the analytics to enable better business decisions. The digital workplace can adjust the work environment to occupancy and environmental conditions, improving the user experience, lowering operational costs, and improving productivity.

Cisco Meraki Solution

Branch Networking

Built for multi-site environments, Meraki products offer zero-touch deployments, multi-site visibility and control and automated alerts. The cloud-managed environment enables plug and play branch deployments and provides centralized control across any number of distributed locations. Configuration and diagnostics can be performed remotely just as easily as they can be performed on-site, avoiding costly field visits. Meraki devices self-provision with each device downloading its configuration via the Meraki cloud, automatically applying corporate network and security policies. Adding new sites to a network takes minutes, not hours or days. Self-provisioning site-to-site VPN connects branches securely with complete simplicity. Built in tools deliver remote diagnostic information in real time with automated monitoring and alerts.

Security Appliances

Meraki security appliances support security features like stateful firewall and an integrated intrusion prevention (IPS) engine. Threat definitions and filter lists are seamlessly updated to protect against the latest vulnerabilities and malicious websites. Software defined WAN capabilities lower operational costs and improve bandwidth utilization, ensuring the highest level of performance for critical applications without sacrificing data security and privacy. Centralized management, availabile from any device, anytime, allows IT to view networked clients, bandwidth consumption and application usage across all sites. IT can easily push policies to block, shape or whitelist activity. Self-healing site-to-site VPN capabilities keep branch locations security connected.

Wireless

Meraki access points are built for performance, offering faster connections, greater user capacity, more coverage and fewer support calls. The Meraki dashboard gives visibility into the network users, their devices and their applications. Administrators can quickly create access control and application usage policies based on rich analytics, optimizing user experience and network security. CMX (Connected Mobile Experience) is built into all Meraki AP’s at no additional cost. CMX displays real time location statistics. Using CMX, businesses can compare visitor trends including dwell time and repeat visit frequency to drive customer engagement and loyalty.

Security Cameras

Meraki cameras are built for simplicity. IT can add cameras to a network before they even arrive, and adjust focus, aperture and zoom settings remotely. By integrating SSD storage on every camera, the Meraki MV solution allows organizations to remove costly NVR hardware from the security solution. Since video is stored on the edge, cameras continue to record even if the network connection fails. SSD storage allows up to 20 days of continuous 24/7 recording. IT can easily search historical footage to identify and share an event with just a couple of clicks. The Meraki dashboard automatically detects whether the viewing computer is in the local network or somewhere remote. Local streaming video never goes to the cloud, while remote video is proxied through the cloud allowing it to be viewed anywhere. The result – MV cameras only use WAN bandwidth when needed, eliminating excessive and costly WAN usage.

InaCOMP – The Right Partner

Why InaCOMP?

Forward thinking companies are looking to use their networks as a platform for innovation. IT can leverage infrastructure to enable new services, new sources of revenue and new ways to compete, thereby increasing the business value of the network. It can be challenging to manage the network in an increasingly connected world, keeping corporation information secure and making it available to employees anywhere, on any device. Current estimates are that 93% of businesses are using cloud technology and 25% of total IT budges will be allocated to cloud computing. Cloud has quickly become an essential ingredient of modern IT. Integrating the cloud and legacy environments can be complex.

When you partner with InaCOMP, we leverage our proven process to help your organization maximize business outcomes. We start with an open exchange of ideas and a thorough discovery to document and detail the collective objectives of the project. We develop a solution mapped to the business requirements and present the solution in a meaningful way that is relevant to all stakeholders. After the project is completed, we take the time to openly discuss whether we accomplished the desired outcome and highlight what worked well and how we can improve in the future. Our edict is to create lifetime customers because at the end of the day, what matters to us is not only what we do, but how we do it.

At InaCOMP we firmly believe that together, we can make anything possible because we are a company that inspires performance. We just happen to be in the technology business. Reach out to us today to discuss your unique objectives.