A Simplified Journey to a Network Source of Truth — An Executive Perspective

Netformx has been in the networking business for 30 years. Thousands of design engineers, solution architects, consultants and IT professionals trust us, knowing we are willing to listen and learn and provide solutions to address their concerns. That’s an essential component of our company’s success: listening and learning as our customers face a continuing stream of challenges and changes that impact their customers’ networks. We then provide solutions to address those issues.

What am I hearing from IT Consultants?

Today, I hear a glaring, urgent, and widespread need to know exactly what is in network(s) right now. Not what was planned, but what is really out there. We call that accurate network view the “Network Source of Truth”.

I’ve heard frustration over the difficulty of putting a finger on a network’s ever-changing actual state and topology.

IT Consultants and MSPs are telling me things like . . .

How can I keep my customer’s network secure from growing and increasingly destructive cybersecurity threats?

It’s clear you can’t protect what you don’t know about. You need to know what’s in the network now, not a year ago. You need the Network Source of Truth!

How can I do a Network heath check to determine if the network is healthy or aging?

Which parts of the network infrastructure are no longer being maintained or supported by the OEM? Do you have the right technology partner support contracts in place? Where are the single points of failure? What preventative steps should you take and in what order? You need an accurate, current topology of the network, both physical and logical. You need the Network Source of Truth!

Is this technology refresh right for this network?

Faster, less expensive, lower power, better for the environment, more resilient, AI-enabled… Networking technology innovations march on relentlessly. Is the latest refresh going to transform and super charge your business or will it just be a necessary evil? You need to know the network’s baseline to decide. You need the Network Source of Truth!

Can you prove network compliance is covered to keep the network resilient?

Meeting industry’s compliance requirements is usually job number 1. Can you quickly produce the reports third parties require? Can you certify the reports are accurate? You need the Network Source of Truth!

Does your IT or managed services proposal reflect the actual network?

To run a services business it’s important to start with an accurate network baseline. Incomplete or inaccurate network information can result in proposals that don’t match reality and can impact profitability, resources, and customer service. The pre-sales consulting team and the operations group running the new network need to base decisions on the same, current network data. You need the Network Source of Truth!

How do you get to a Network Source of Truth?

All these concerns have the same needs — extensive knowledge of the current network via discovery that:

• Provides accurate data and topology maps
• Is automatic (no costly and time-consuming manual processing)
• Is easy to use
• Is lightweight, using minimal computing resources
• Reports issues with repeatable scanning

Then you can run discovery scans as often as needed, to always have access to the Network Source of Truth.

Netformx has been in the Network Discovery business for three decades. We’ve listened to our customers and have evolved our offerings beyond IT solution providers to also support the growing needs of managed service providers and their end-customers. Providers are able to deliver a solution or service that benefits by having the Network Source of Truth at their fingertips. Reach out to sales@netformx.com to learn how our customers are using automated discovery with enriched data to produce accurate results and keep their end customer networks fresh and secure.