Most organizations rely on critical IT in order to serve their essential business functions. A reliable method to maintain critical IT is to use dedicated out-of-band (OOB) management networks, which traditionally have relied on plain old telephone service (POTS) lines or dedicated telephony circuits for remote access. However, these traditional links come with high costs, lots of complexity, and slow performance, which make them difficult to deploy and maintain.

Enter Starlink, a satellite-based Internet service that offers a cost-effective and scalable alternative for out-of-band remote access. This post discusses how Starlink solves these common problems and gives you a free guide that walks you through the setup process.

Problem: POTS and Telephony Lines Are Expensive

For decades, IT professionals have relied on POTS and telephony lines for OOB management, mainly because these lines remain operational even when the primary data network goes down. A major problem is that POTS lines are increasingly expensive to install and maintain, particularly in remote or rural areas. Additionally, 4G/5G LTE options aren’t always available due to coverage limitations or large enough data plans. The shift towards VoIP (Voice over IP) and digital communications has made POTS lines even less relevant, with many service providers phasing out support. This leaves businesses with fewer options and higher costs for maintaining these legacy systems.

Solution: Starlink is Cost-Effective

Starlink offers a much more cost-effective solution. You can use off-the-shelf routers to set up an OOB management network for a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Starlink also has a relatively low monthly subscription fee and straightforward pricing model, which make it easy to budget and plan IT expenditures. If components fail or break, you can typically repair or replace them yourself to get back up and running quickly.

Figure 1: Starlink requires only a dish, router, and few other components, making it a cost-effective alternative to expensive POTS lines.

Problem: Traditional Lines Are Difficult To Scale

Traditional POTS-based systems are notoriously difficult to scale, often requiring significant infrastructure investments and complex configurations. Copper wiring is expensive to install and maintain, and as more connections come online, switching systems must be upgraded. On top of this, POTS lines are being phased out, which means there are fewer resources being devoted to scaling and maintaining them.

Solution: Starlink is Simple to Set Up and Scale

Starlink entirely eliminates the need for telephony lines, and is a simple and scalable solution for OOB remote access. You can find the full list of components in our setup guide below, but with a Starlink terminal, compatible router, and minimal configuration, you can scale your OOB network wherever you have Starlink coverage. This ease-of-use extends to day-to-day management as well. Starlink’s satellite service offers global coverage, meaning you can manage your network devices, servers, and other critical infrastructure from virtually anywhere in the world.

Figure 2: Starlink comes with a straightforward out-of-box experience and step-by-step instructions. You can set up an out-of-band network in about one hour.

Problem: POTS Lines Lack Performance

POTS is designed primarily for voice communication and offers extremely limited bandwidth. It can’t support modern data services (such as video or high-speed internet) efficiently. As out-of-band management advances with data and video monitoring capabilities (such as AI computer vision), POTS infrastructure just doesn’t have the bandwidth to keep up.

Solution: Starlink Meets Modern Performance Requirements

Starlink provides high-speed internet, at speeds that typically range from 50 to 200Mbps. The connection handles much larger volumes of data than POTS lines are capable of, and Starlink’s low-Earth orbit satellites reduce latency to as low at 25ms compared to the typical 150ms of POTS lines. Out-of-band using Starlink means that IT teams can manage more systems and data, and have a more responsive experience, whether they’re managing edge routers across their bank branches or monitoring the cooling systems in their distributed colocations.

Figure 3: Starlink provides high-speed connectivity, with speeds ranging from 50 to 200Mbps.

Get Started With Starlink Using Our Setup Guide

Executive summary

• Opengear’s Operations Manager (OM) appliances are NetOps console servers providing out-of-band (OOB) management for remote network infrastructure.
• While OM appliances provide some automation capabilities, especially with the upgraded Automation Edition, they offer limited third-party integrations and end-device automation features.
• The OM2200 and OM1200 both lack integrated branch gateway functionality and have limited security features overall.
• The Nodegrid platform from ZPE Systems overcomes these limitations with vendor-neutral OOB serial consoles and branch services routers.
• Nodegrid enables end-to-end automation through end-device ZTP and unlimited third-party integrations with leading tools like Ansible and Chef.
• Nodegrid also consolidates data center and branch networking functionality like gateway routing, 5G cellular failover, and security to provide all-in-one solutions.

Reviewing the Opengear Operations Manager platform

Operations Manager (or OM) is Opengear’s line of NetOps console servers. OM appliances come with Smart OOBTM for out-of-band management, including automated port discovery and VLAN support. Opengear’s x86 Lighthouse platform supports Python scripts and Docker container deployments for NetOps automation. Lighthouse also supports over 100 power vendors’ equipment, allowing it to monitor and control UPS batteries, PDU outlets, and power load balancing. It’s important to note that, while the standard (Enterprise) edition of Lighthouse supports Python and Docker, customers must upgrade to the Automation edition for zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) or other third-party automation integrations. Additionally, OM solutions do not support 2FA or SAML authentication.

Opengear OM2200

The Opengear OM2200 Operations Manager model is designed for data center and high-density use cases. It features 16, 32, 48 serial and 24 serial/Ethernet mixed port configuration options, with an optional global LTE-A Pro cellular module. The OM2200 provides five regional options for dual AC power as well as a dual DC power cord model.

Click here to see a complete Opengear OM2200 Operations Manager product SKUs list.

OM2200 Pros:

• Plenty of RAM and storage space
• Many options for power and serial port configurations
• Uniquely broad support for 3rd-party power equipment
• Some NetOps automation capabilities

OM2200 Cons:

• Requires upgraded software licenses for ZTP and most 3rd-party automation
• No 2FA or SAML 2.0 support
• No managed USB serial ports
• No 5G support

Opengear OM1200

The Opengear OM1200 Operations Manager model is meant for small edge deployments. The compact chassis supports 4 serial, 8 serial, and 8 serial/8 Ethernet port combinations. It provides OOB and failover access via dual Ethernet (SFP Fiber is available on the 4E and 8E models) as well as an optional global LTE-A Pro cellular module.

Click here to see a full list of Opengear OM1200 Operations Manager product SKUs.

OM1200 Pros:

• Compact size
• Cost-effective range of port configurations
• Supports 3rd-party power equipment, Docker, and Python

OM1200 Cons:

• Requires upgraded software licenses for ZTP and most 3rd-party automation
• No 2FA or SAML 2.0 support
• It doesn’t have gateway routing/SD-WAN capabilities
• No 5G support

Opengear Operations Manager limitations

Both the OM2200 and OM1200 models suffer from similar limitations regarding automation, especially with the base version of the Lighthouse software. Even the upgraded Automation Edition, which unlocks ZTP and RESTful APIs, doesn’t provide much automation for end devices beyond running Python playbooks. This limits operational efficiency, slows down new deployments, and impedes the team’s ability to quickly rebuild core infrastructure after a failure or ransomware attack. Another issue with the OM1200, in particular, is that while its compact size will save space in your edge data center and branch office rack, it’s still a single-purpose device. That means you still need to purchase separate solutions for gateway routing, switching, and/or edge compute. These additional devices take up space, cost extra money, and require time to configure and manage.

Opengear alternatives from ZPE Systems

ZPE Systems provides an alternative option for NetOps-enabled OOB console servers called the Nodegrid solution. All Nodegrid devices run on the open, Linux-based, x86 Nodegrid OS which supports VMs and Docker containers to run your choice of third-party automation, software-defined networking/SD-WAN, and security applications. Nodegrid’s robust, onboard security protects lost or stolen devices with features like TPM 2.0, encrypted SSD, UEFI BIOS, secure boot, and geofencing. Nodegrid can also extend ZTP and other automation to legacy and mixed-vendor end devices for end-to-end network infrastructure automation. Try ZPE’s product selector to see which of Nodegrid’s serial consoles or integrated branch routers is right for your deployment. Below, we review the two models that serve as direct replacements for the Opengear OM1200 and OM2200 solutions.

Nodegrid Serial Console Plus (NSCP)

The Nodegrid Serial Console Plus (NSCP) is an alternative to the OM2200 for data center and high-density deployments. The NSCP connects 16, 32, 48, or 96 (Patent No. 9,905,980) serial devices, all in a standard 1U rackmount chassis. Dual SFP+, dual Gigabit Ethernet, and optional Wi-FI and 4G/5G LTE modules provide secure Gen 3 OOB management access and failover, ensuring blazing fast speeds and high performance. Plus, the NSCP comes with two managed USB 3.0 ports for additional flexibility.

Click here to see a complete list of Nodegrid NSCP product SKUs.

Nodegrid Net Services Router (NSR)

The Nodegrid Net Services Router (NSR) is an alternative to the OM1200 for edge data center and branch office use cases. The NSR is a modular, compact device that can deliver gateway routing, switching, serial console, and compute capabilities all in a single appliance. Gen 3 OOB and network failover are provided out of the box via dual SFP+ and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, with optional modules for WiFi and dual-SIM 5G/4G LTE. Additional NSR modules include:

• 16-port GbE Ethernet
• Storage
• 16-port Serial (for console server capabilities)
• 16-port USB serial
• Compute
• 8-port PoE+
• M.2 Cellular/Wi-Fi/SATA
• 16-port GbE Ethernet SFP
• 8-port Ethernet SFP+

Click here to see a complete list of Nodegrid NSCP product SKUs.

Key takeaways:

While the OM1200 and OM2200 provide OOB management with some automation, they have serious limitations that negatively impact operational efficiency. Nodegrid is an Opengear alternative providing a vendor-neutral OOB management platform that delivers unlimited automation, enhanced security, and all-in-one networking for ultimate operational efficiency.

Trade in to get a discount on Opengear alternatives

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See Nodegrid’s Opengear Alternatives in action

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Opengear OM2200 – Product SKU’s:

Opengear OM1200 – Product SKU’s

Nodegrid Serial Console Plus – Product SKU’s

Nodegrid Net SR – Product SKU’s

A single hour of downtime costs organizations more than $300,000 in lost business, making network and service reliability critical to revenue. The biggest challenge facing IT infrastructure teams is ensuring network resilience, which is the ability to continue operating and delivering services during equipment failures, ransomware attacks, and other emergencies. This guide discusses IT infrastructure management best practices for creating and maintaining more resilient enterprise networks.
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IT infrastructure management best practices

The following IT infrastructure management best practices help improve network resilience while streamlining operations. Click the links on the left for a more detailed look at the technologies and processes involved with each.

Isolated management infrastructure (IMI)

Management interfaces provide the crucial path to monitoring and controlling critical infrastructure, like servers and switches, as well as crown-jewel digital assets like intellectual property (IP). If management interfaces are exposed to the internet or rely on the production network, attackers can easily hijack your critical infrastructure, access valuable resources, and take down the entire network. This is why CISA released a binding directive that instructs organizations to move management interfaces to a separate network, a practice known as isolated management infrastructure (IMI).

The best practice for building an IMI is to use Gen 3 out-of-band (OOB) serial consoles, which unify the management of all connected devices and ensure continuous remote access via alternative network interfaces (such as 4G/5G cellular). OOB management gives IT teams a lifeline to troubleshoot and recover remote infrastructure during equipment failures and outages on the production network. The key is to ensure that OOB serial consoles are fully isolated from production and can run the applications, tools, and services needed to fight through a ransomware attack or outage without taking critical infrastructure offline for extended periods. This essentially allows you to instantly create a virtual War Room for coordinated recovery efforts to get you back online in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks. An IMI using out-of-band serial consoles also provides a safe environment to recover from ransomware attacks. The pervasive nature of ransomware and its tendency to re-infect cleaned systems mean it can take companies between 1 and 6 months to fully recover from an attack, with costs and revenue losses mounting with every day of downtime. The best practice is to use OOB serial consoles to create an isolated recovery environment (IRE) where teams can restore and rebuild without risking reinfection.
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Network and infrastructure automation

As enterprise network architectures grow more complex to support technologies like microservices applications, edge computing, and artificial intelligence, teams find it increasingly difficult to manually monitor and manage all the moving parts. Complexity increases the risk of configuration mistakes, which cause up to 35% of cybersecurity incidents. Network and infrastructure automation handles many tedious, repetitive tasks prone to human error, improving resilience and giving admins more time to focus on revenue-generating projects.

Additionally, automated device provisioning tools like zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) and configuration management tools like RedHat Ansible make it easier for teams to recover critical infrastructure after a failure or attack. Network and infrastructure automation help organizations reduce the duration of outages and allow small IT infrastructure teams to manage large enterprise networks effectively, improving resilience and reducing costs.

Vendor-neutral platforms

Most enterprise networks bring together devices and solutions from many providers, and they often don’t interoperate easily. This box-based approach creates vendor lock-in and technical debt by preventing admins from using the tools or scripting languages they’re familiar with, and it makes a fragmented, complex architecture of management solutions that are difficult to operate efficiently. Organizations also end up compromising on features, ending up with a lot of stuff they don’t need and too little of what they do need.

A vendor-neutral IT infrastructure management platform allows teams to unify all their workflows and solutions. It integrates your administrators’ favorite tools to reduce technical debt and provides a centralized place to deploy, orchestrate, and monitor the entire network. It also extends technologies like OOB, automation, and AIOps to otherwise unsupported legacy and mixed-vendor solutions. Such a platform is revolutionary in the same way smartphones were – instead of needing a separate calculator, watch, pager, phone, etc., everything was combined in a single device. A vendor-neutral management platform allows you to run all the apps, services, and tools you need without buying a bunch of extra hardware. It’s a crucial IT infrastructure management best practice for resilience because it consolidates and unifies network architectures to reduce complexity and prevent human error.

AIOps

AIOps applies artificial intelligence technologies to IT operations to maximize resilience and efficiency. Some AIOps use cases include:

• Security detection: AIOps security monitoring solutions are better at catching novel attacks (those using methods never encountered or documented before) than traditional, signature-based detection methods that rely on a database of known attack vectors.
• Data analysis: AIOps can analyze all the gigabytes of logs generated by network infrastructure and provide health visualizations and recommendations for preventing potential issues or optimizing performance.
• Root-cause analysis (RCA): Ingesting infrastructure logs allows AIOps to identify problems on the network, perform root-cause analysis to determine the source of the issues, and create & prioritize service incidents to accelerate remediation.

AIOps is often thought of as “intelligent automation” because, while most automation follows a predetermined script or playbook of actions, AIOps can make decisions on-the-fly in response to analyzed data. AIOps and automation work together to reduce management complexity and improve network resilience.

IT infrastructure management best practices for maximum resilience

Network resilience is one of the top IT infrastructure management challenges facing modern enterprises. These IT infrastructure management best practices ensure resilience by isolating management infrastructure from attackers, reducing the risk of human error during configurations and other tedious workflows, breaking vendor lock-in to decrease network complexity, and applying artificial intelligence to the defense and maintenance of critical infrastructure.

Need help getting started with these practices and technologies? ZPE Systems can help simplify IT infrastructure management with the vendor-neutral Nodegrid platform. Nodegrid’s OOB serial consoles and integrated branch routers allow you to build an isolated management infrastructure that supports your choice of third-party solutions for automation, AIOps, and more.

Want to learn how to make IT infrastructure management easier with Nodegrid?

To learn more about implementing IT infrastructure management best practices for resilience with Nodegrid, download our Network Automation Blueprint. 

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Collaboration in DevOps: Strategies and best practices

A successful DevOps implementation results in a tightly interwoven team of software and infrastructure specialists working together to release high-quality applications as quickly as possible. This transition tends to be easier for developers, who are already used to working with software code, source control tools, and automation. Infrastructure teams, on the other hand, sometimes struggle to work at the velocity needed to support DevOps software projects and lack experience with automation technologies, causing a lot of frustration and delaying DevOps initiatives. The following strategies and best practices will help bring Dev and Ops together while minimizing friction.

Turn infrastructure and network configurations into software code

Infrastructure and network teams can’t keep up with the velocity of DevOps software development if they’re manually configuring, deploying, and troubleshooting resources using the GUI (graphical user interface) or CLI (command line interface). The best practice in a DevOps environment is to use software abstraction to turn all configurations and networking logic into code.

Use common, centralized tools for software source control

Collaboration in DevOps means a whole team of developers or sysadmins may work on the same code base simultaneously. This is highly efficient — but risky. Development teams have used software source control tools like GitHub for years to track and manage code changes and prevent overwriting each other’s work. In a DevOps organization using IaC and SDN, the best practice is to incorporate infrastructure and network code into the same source control system used for software code.

Managing infrastructure configurations using a tool like GitHub ensures that sysadmins can’t make unauthorized changes to critical resources. For example, administrators initiate many ransomware attacks and other major outages by directly changing infrastructure configurations without testing or approval. This happened in a high-profile MGM cyberattack when an IT staff member fell victim to social engineering and granted elevated Okta privileges to an attacker without having to get approval from a second pair of eyes.

Using DevOps source control, all infrastructure changes must be reviewed and approved by a second party in the IT department to ensure they don’t introduce vulnerabilities or malicious code into production. Sysadmins can work quickly and creatively, knowing there’s a safety net to catch mistakes, reducing Ops delays, and fostering a more collaborative environment.

Consolidate and integrate DevOps tools with a vendor-neutral platform

An enterprise DevOps deployment usually involves dozens – if not hundreds – of different tools to automate and streamline the many workflows involved in a software development project. Having so many individual DevOps tools deployed around the enterprise increases the management complexity, which can have the following consequences.

• Human error – The harder it is to stay on top of patch releases, security bulletins, and monitoring logs, the more likely it is that an issue will slip between the cracks until it causes an outage or breach.
• Security complexity – Every additional DevOps tool added to the architecture makes integrating and implementing a consistent security model more complex and challenging, increasing the risk of coverage gaps.
• Spiraling costs – With many different solutions handling individual workflows around the enterprise, the likelihood of buying redundant services or paying for unneeded features increases, which can impact ROI.
• Reduced efficiency – DevOps aims to increase operational efficiency, but having to work across so many disparate tools can slow teams down, especially when those tools don’t interoperate.

The best practice is consolidating your DevOps tools with a centralized, vendor-neutral platform. For example, the Nodegrid Services Delivery Platform from ZPE Systems can host and integrate 3rd-party DevOps tools, unifying them under a single management umbrella. Nodegrid gives IT teams single-pane-of-glass control over the entire DevOps architecture, including the underlying network infrastructure, which reduces management complexity, increases efficiency, and improves ROI.

Maximize DevOps success

DevOps collaboration can improve operational efficiency and allow companies to release software at the velocity required to stay competitive in the market. Using software abstraction, centralized source code control, and vendor-neutral management platforms reduces friction on your DevOps journey. The best practice is to unify your DevOps environment with a vendor-neutral platform like Nodegrid to maximize control, cost-effectiveness, and productivity.

Want to Simplify collaboration in DevOps with the Nodegrid platform?

Reach out to ZPE Systems today to learn more about how the Nodegrid Services Delivery Platform can help you simplify collaboration in DevOps.

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What is a terminal server?

A terminal server is a networking device used to manage other equipment. It directly connects to servers, switches, routers, and other equipment using management ports, which are typically (but not always) serial ports. Network administrators remotely access the terminal server and use it to manage all connected devices in the data center rack or branch where it’s installed.

What are the uses for terminal servers?

Network teams use terminal servers for two primary functions: remote infrastructure management consolidation and out-of-band management.

1. Terminal servers unify management for all connected devices, so administrators don’t need to log in to each separate solution individually. Terminal servers save significant time and effort, which reduces the risk of fatigue and human error that could take down the network.
2. Terminal servers provide remote out-of-band (OOB) management, creating a separate, isolated network dedicated to infrastructure management and troubleshooting. OOB allows administrators to troubleshoot and recover remote infrastructure during equipment failures, network outages, and ransomware attacks.

Learn more about using OOB terminal servers to recover from ransomware attacks by reading How to Build an Isolated Recovery Environment (IRE).

What are the benefits of terminal servers?

There are other ways to gain remote OOB management access to remote infrastructure, such as using Intel NUC jump boxes. Despite this, terminal servers are the better option for OOB management because they offer benefits including:

The benefits of terminal servers

Examples of terminal servers

Examples of popular terminal server solutions include the Opengear CM8100, the Avocent ACS8000, and the Nodegrid Serial Console Plus. The Opengear and Avocent solutions are second-generation, or Gen 2, terminal servers, which means they provide some automation support but suffer from vendor lock-in. The Nodegrid solution is the only Gen 3 terminal server, offering unlimited integration support for 3rd-party automation, security, SD-WAN, and more.

What to look for in the best terminal server

Terminal servers have evolved, so there is a wide range of options with varying capabilities and features. Some key characteristics of the best terminal server include:

• 5G/4G LTE and Wi-Fi options for out-of-band access and network failover
• Support for legacy devices without costly adapters or complicated configuration tweaks
• Advanced authentication support, including two-factor authentication (2FA) and SAML 2.0
• Robust onboard hardware security features like a self-encrypted SSD and UEFI Secure Boot
• An open, Linux-based OS that supports Guest OS and Docker containers for third-party software
• Support for zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), custom scripts, and third-party automation tools
• A vendor-neutral, centralized management and orchestration platform for all connected solutions

These characteristics give organizations greater resilience, enabling them to continue operating and providing services in a degraded fashion while recovering from outages and ransomware. In addition, vendor-neutral support for legacy devices and third-party automation enables companies to scale their operations efficiently without costly upgrades.

Why choose Nodegrid terminal servers?

Only one terminal server provides all the features listed above on a completely vendor-neutral platform – the Nodegrid solution from ZPE Systems.

The Nodegrid S Series terminal server uses auto-sensing ports to discover legacy and mixed-vendor infrastructure solutions and bring them under one unified management umbrella.

The Nodegrid Serial Console Plus (NSCP) is the first terminal server to offer 96 management ports on a 1U rack-mounted device (Patent No. 9,905,980).

ZPE also offers integrated branch/edge services routers with terminal server functionality, so you can consolidate your infrastructure while extending your capabilities.

All Nodegrid devices offer a variety of OOB and failover options to ensure maximum speed and reliability. They’re protected by comprehensive onboard security features like TPM 2.0, self-encrypted disk (SED), BIOS protection, Signed OS, and geofencing to keep malicious actors off the management network. They also run the open, Linux-based Nodegrid OS, supporting Guest OS and Docker containers so you can host third-party applications for automation, security, AIOps, and more. Nodegrid extends automation, security, and control to all the legacy and mixed-vendor devices on your network and unifies them with a centralized, vendor-neutral management platform for ultimate scalability, resilience, and efficiency.

Want to learn more about Nodegrid terminal servers?

ZPE Systems offers terminal server solutions for data center, branch, and edge deployments. Schedule a free demo to see Nodegrid terminal servers in action.

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Collapsing the stack and centralizing management helps Living Spaces accelerate scaling across the U.S.

Living Spaces is a prominent furniture retailer in the United States. Their store locations include large showrooms, where customers can view furnishings for indoor and outdoor spaces, and plenty of warehouse space for storing on-hand inventory. These locations must serve customers with responsive shopping experiences, which depend on the network infrastructure.

Increasing demand helped Living Spaces grow out of its home state of California, into states including Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and others. Their out-of-band infrastructure was crucial to spinning up new locations and maintaining operations. But they faced a significant problem: this infrastructure was incredibly complex and costly, requiring many dedicated cellular and out-of-band devices at each location. See why their three-person network team needed a solution that could:

• Reduce costs and eliminate the need for $300,000 per year in SIM contracts
• Reduce workloads and risks, by centralizing management and minimizing entry points
• Accelerate deployments by allowing automation

An ISP network architecture must be designed for resilience to prevent major incidents from occurring that affect consumers, communities, and the provider’s reputation. But significant challenges stand in the way, including a reliance on legacy infrastructure, and an inability to troubleshoot and recover failed gear remotely. This post discusses why these challenges exist and what ISPs can do to overcome them.

ISP network architecture challenges

Many ISP networks lack resilience because providers are failing to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. With networks growing larger and more complex every day, new technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) and software-defined networking are needed to manage infrastructure efficiently and deliver innovative services. Additionally, providers get stuck in a break-fix cycle that leaves teams struggling to maintain service level agreements or focus on innovation. Let’s look at the causes of these challenges and discuss how to build more resilient ISP network architectures.

Legacy infrastructure creates technical debt and hampers growth

Internet service providers often have a network architecture that’s a mix of new and legacy infrastructure. However, engineers with the experience to support older solutions are no longer working in the field, either because they’ve been promoted to leadership positions or retired. When legacy hardware fails, inexperienced engineers need time to overcome this skills gap, and ISPs may even need to bring in consultants. This increases the cost of failures, creating what’s known as “technical debt” – when a solution is more expensive to support than the value it brings to the organization.

In addition, ISPs can improve network resilience and provide better service to customers, by adopting new technologies like AI, 5G, software-defined networking (SDN), and Network as a Service (NaaS). But legacy hardware hampers the ability to adopt these technologies. For example, NaaS abstracts the need for MPLS circuits and customer-premises gear, making architectures more cost-effective and improving the customer experience. NaaS brings SDN concepts like programmable networking and API-based operations to WAN & LAN services, hybrid cloud, Private Network Interconnect, and internet exchange points. It optimizes resource allocation by considering network and computing resources as a unified whole and attempts to automate as much as possible. The trouble is, ISPs struggle to implement NaaS and other beneficial new technologies because their legacy hardware simply can’t support it.

Solution: Legacy modernization with a vendor-neutral platform

The ideal solution is to replace legacy infrastructure with modern hardware and software that supports the latest technologies. But for many ISPs, an overhaul like this is too costly and intensive. The next-best option is to bridge the gap with a vendor-neutral network modernization platform that extends automation, AI, and 5G connectivity to otherwise unsupported systems.

For example, serial consoles (also known as terminal servers, console servers, and serial console switches) provide remote management access to network infrastructure. The newest generation of these devices, known as Gen 3, are vendor-neutral by design so that they can control third-party and legacy hardware. Through a combination of built-in features and integrations, Gen 3 serial consoles can use technology like zero-touch provisioning (ZTP), AIOps, and automated configuration management to control connected hardware that otherwise wouldn’t support it. Some solutions, such as the Nodegrid platform from ZPE Systems, can even directly host SDN and NaaS software from other vendors, so ISPs can start implementing network improvements right away while they gradually replace their outdated infrastructure.

Physical infrastructure is difficult to manage and troubleshoot remotely

ISP network architectures involve a great deal of physical infrastructure, which is often deployed in remote edge sites and customer premises. Even with software- or service-based network solutions, hardware is needed to host that software, and the physical environment for that hardware is often less than ideal. Drastic weather changes, power outages, and other unexpected scenarios can happen without notice and rapidly bring down an ISP network. These events often cut off remote management access as well, making troubleshooting and recovery difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. In fact, supporting this physical infrastructure often consumes so much time and effort that it prevents ISPs from focusing on delivering better services and software to their customers.

Solution: Out-of-band management with environmental monitoring

The first part of the solution involves monitoring the environment that houses remote, physical infrastructure. An environmental monitoring system uses sensors to detect changes in airflow, temperature, humidity, and other conditions that affect the operation of network hardware. These sensors give ISPs a virtual presence in edge deployments and customer sites so they can quickly respond to changing conditions before systems overheat or circuitry corrodes.

The second part involves providing management teams with reliable remote access to physical infrastructure that won’t go down if there’s a production network outage. Out-of-band (OOB) management solutions use serial consoles with dedicated network interfaces used just for management access. This creates a parallel, out-of-band network that’s completely isolated from production network services and infrastructure. Additionally, many serial consoles use cellular connectivity via 4G or 5G to OOB access, providing a wireless lifeline to connect, troubleshoot, and restore remote infrastructure. OOB management allows ISPs to troubleshoot and recover failed hardware remotely, even during total network outages, so they can get services back up and running faster and less expensively.

The environmental monitoring system should run on the OOB network so remote admins can continue to monitor conditions while they recover failed hardware. The out-of-band management solution also needs to be vendor-neutral so ISPs can deploy third-party automation, AI, and NaaS on the OOB network. For example, Nodegrid Gen 3 serial consoles provide OOB, environmental monitoring, and a vendor-neutral platform to host third-party software at the edge. Nodegrid even enables fully automated responses to changing environmental conditions in those edge environments before admins are aware of a problem.

To learn more about building a resilient, automated network infrastructure with Nodegrid, download the Network Automation Blueprint.

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ISP network architecture resilience with Nodegrid

ISP network architectures must be resilient, meaning service providers must find a way to bridge the gap between legacy and modern systems while ensuring continuous remote access to manage, troubleshoot, and recover hardware at the edge. The Nodegrid ISP network infrastructure solution  from ZPE Systems is a vendor-neutral, Gen 3 platform that delivers legacy modernization, environmental monitoring, out-of-band management, and much more.

Nodegrid delivers ISP network architecture resilience in a single platform

Request a free demo to see Nodegrid ISP network architecture solutions in action.

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What is a Radio Access Network (RAN)?

A radio access network (RAN) is the portion of a cellular network that connects smartphones and other end-user devices to the internet. Information is communicated back and forth between smartphones and the RAN’s transceivers via radio waves. Those wireless signals are translated into digital form, passed to the core network, and then to the global internet.

What is 5G RAN?

Every cellular generation has its own associated RAN technology. 4G RAN was the first generation based entirely on the internet protocol (IP) rather than older circuit-based technology. The newest generation, 5G, supports faster speeds, great capacity, and lower latency than previous generations. However, there are significant challenges in the way of 5G implementation.

5G Radio Access Network (RAN) challenges

There are three major hurdles to 5G implementation:

1. Public opinion – Thanks in part to misinformation and conspiracy theories, there has been a lot of resistance to 5G implementations. While many people already use smartphones with 5G technology, they tend to balk at the idea of giant cell towers and masts going up in their town or city.
2. mmWave limitations – Wireless frequencies in the mmWave (millimeter wave) spectrum provide the speed and capacity required for 5G, but they have a shorter range and difficulty penetrating walls. That makes 5G tricky in industrial settings and office buildings.
3. Remote recovery – A 5G RAN typically operates in cramped spaces without a continuous human presence, and administrators monitor and manage the equipment remotely over the cellular network. However, if that cell link goes down due to equipment failure or natural disaster, teams are cut off, and a truck must be rolled to fix the issue, adding significant costs and downtime.

Addressing these hurdles is complicated, as the solutions often create additional challenges. For example, the first two points can be addressed with 5G small cell technology. Small cells are typically compact enough to deploy on top of buildings or street furniture to extend 5G coverage into densely populated areas without a full-size mobile mast. This makes 5G small cell networks more palatable to city officials and the general public alike. However, small cells are still subject to planning restrictions, and the absence of a common 5G small cell framework makes the application process difficult and time-consuming.

In addition, some small cells are tiny enough to deploy indoors, improving 5G propagation and coverage in buildings. However, operators would need to deploy dozens or hundreds of small cells to achieve the speed and reliability needed for industrial IoT and high-tech use cases. Each one requires significant power resources as well as a fiber or wireless backhaul, and due to a lack of standardization, operators may even have to submit many individual planning applications. Plus, a small cell network of that size is complex to monitor and manage, requiring additional hardware and software solutions that add even more costs and complexity.

Addressing the third point requires an out-of-band network connection to 5G RAN deployments. For example, a 4G/LTE serial console provides an alternative internet connection so teams can remotely access RAN equipment during 5G outages. A serial console directly connects to radio access network infrastructure so remote administrators can do things like reboot a hung device or refresh DHCP even if the local network is down.

However, many serial consoles suffer from vendor lock-in, meaning they don’t connect to all devices or support third-party management, troubleshooting, and recovery tools. This either limits an administrator’s ability to remotely recover from outages or forces them to deploy additional hardware and software solutions to gain all the remote functionality required, adding to the expense and complexity of 5G RAN deployments.

A new approach to 5G deployments

The upgrade from 4G to 5G is proving to be more fraught than previous transitions between generations, so it’s clear that a new approach is needed. Small cell technology is a good start, but a lack of standardization severely hampers its adoption. Help is on the way, though – a group called the Small Cell Forum (SCF), which is made up of wireless leaders like AT&T, Cisco, Qualcomm, and Samsung, is working to establish a set of common definitions and recommendations to help the industry standardize 5G small cell networks.

In their definitional report, the SCF highlights the need for vendor-neutral hardware that’s customizable and swappable for various 5G use cases. Architectural design and planning applications are simpler when all of a small cell network’s equipment supports the same common 5G interface. Multi-functional devices combining networking, out-of-band access, and third-party application hosting significantly reduce expenses and management complexity.

Let’s examine some potential 5G use cases that could benefit from this new approach.

Smart cities

A smart city is the ideal use case for a 5G small cell network. Since wireless clients are packed into densely populated areas, an array of 5G small cells should provide sufficient coverage without the need for a full-sized mast. Deploying a small, vendor-neutral, multi-functional device like the Nodegrid Mini Services Router alongside small cells provides flexible backhaul options, out-of-band remote management, and application hosting. Installing small cells and Mini SRs on streetlamps, parking structures, and other public infrastructure gives teams everything they need to remotely monitor, operate, and recover 5G smart city infrastructure without adding more complexity to the network.

Global asset tracking and logistics

The internet of things (IoT) makes it possible for large, global enterprises to streamline asset tracking and supply chain logistics. Organizations use IoT-enabled devices to handle inventory management, fulfillment, shipment tracking, quality control, and more. 5G small cell technology provides the necessary speed, coverage, and bandwidth, but the sheer number of devices – and their global distribution – creates a lot of management complexity.

All-in-one solutions like Nodegrid reduce the tech stack by combining networking, management, and application hosting in a single box. Plus, Nodegrid provides a centralized management platform that can unify all connected devices, apps, and services in a single place. Administrators get a single pane of glass to monitor, control, troubleshoot, and automate the entire global architecture, reducing costs and streamlining operations.

Building automation

Many large property management companies rely on building automation systems that use operational technology (OT) to control door locks, lighting, HVAC, and more with very little human intervention. 5G’s improved speed and lower latency open up even greater automation capabilities, especially in warehouses and manufacturing plants.

Nodegrid’s compact, vendor-neutral solutions give remote operators a reliable, out-of-band connection to automated building systems to keep businesses running 24/7, even during 5G outages or LAN failures. You can deploy the Mini SR in cramped or semi-outdoor spaces to extend monitoring, security, and management coverage to every part of the 5G deployment. Nodegrid enables end-to-end building automation and makes 5G networks more resilient to failure.

Simplifying 5G with Nodegrid

A 5G radio access network (RAN) provides internet access to 5G-enabled systems, such as smartphones and IoT devices. While 5G deployments are proving complicated and fraught with issues, these challenges are overcome using small cell technology and vendor-neutral, multi-function devices like Nodegrid. Nodegrid’s integrated services routers deliver all-in-one networking, out-of-band management, backhauling, and application hosting capabilities to simplify 5G deployments without compromise.

Learn how Nodegrid can help deliver simplified 5G with out-of-band management!

Request a free Nodegrid demo to see how vendor-neutral solutions simplify 5G radio access network (RAN) deployments.

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Providing low-level remote access and automation saves hundreds of hours per month for the university’s small IT team

One of the largest universities in the United States fosters academics and research for nearly 40,000 students, staff, and researchers. The university sits among the top 10 schools for engineering, and heavily integrates technology into all disciplines, including engineering, computer sciences, and agricultural studies.

The university received a grant to expand, update, and connect their network of campuses, while enhancing infrastructure and mobility, resiliency, and campus amenities.  But having more than 200 on-campus buildings presents a challenge. The campus is home to academic facilities as well as a hospital, airport, 60,000-seat sports stadium, and dozens of leased spaces for local businesses. This makes the university equivalent to a small city, and its network infrastructure is what keeps it all connected.

Their small IT team was responsible for maintaining more than 10,000 management devices, most of which were long past EOL and frequently failing. They needed a refresh, but with a solution that could also reduce the hundreds of hours they spent every month on travel and on-site work. To maximize their day-to-day efficiency, they required a solution that could overcome these operational gaps:

• Reducing the 100-150 hours of monthly travel times, by giving engineers the ability to fully access their stack remotely
• Reducing the 80-120 hours of monthly on-site work required to maintain the 99.999% SLA, by automating manual jobs such as patching and firmware upgrades
• Expanding their management headroom and use-case adaptability, by migrating to IPv6 and reducing the existing 6RU device stack

Download the full case study to see how ZPE’s Nodegrid hardware and software solved these problems.

Problems and Gaps

The university is one of the largest in the United States. It sits among the nation’s top 50 schools for research expenditures, and heavily integrates technology into all disciplines, including engineering. Its main campus is home to more than 200 buildings that sit on over 2,500 acres of land. The campus is essentially a small city, and the university’s network infrastructure keeps it all connected.

This network infrastructure, however, was well beyond EOL and in disrepair. But rather than simply upgrade to newer devices, the university’s small IT team wanted to improve the overall quality of life well into the future. This meant addressing three gaps:

• Inefficient management at scale — Each engineer spent an average of ten hours per month on travel alone, just to traverse the campus’ wide footprint and get to each MDF/IDF closet.
• Too much focus on ops — The aging infrastructure was on the brink of collapse and required each engineer to spend eight hours per month in on-site work, just to keep devices running.
• Too many devices — The infrastructure includes roughly 10,000 devices to manage, which was exhausting IP on their limited IPv4 network and too rigid to fit in tight spaces, like their remote farm closets and research labs.

Solution

The university deployed the full lineup of Nodegrid devices, including the Nodegrid Serial Console, Nodegrid Services Routers, and Nodegrid Manager. These allowed them to overcome all three gaps using remote management, automation, and consolidated functionality, to save engineers hundreds of hours every month. Download the full case study to see the complete solution and benefits.

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This post discusses how to save money through automation and provides a network automation cost savings calculator for a more customized estimate of your potential ROI.

How network automation provides cost savings

Network automation reduces costs by streamlining operations, preventing outages, and aiding in backup and recovery workflows.

Reduces OPEX

The focus of the Cisco/ACG study was the economic benefits of streamlining network operations through automation. For example, the OPEX (operational expenditure) involved in spinning up a new branch is too high because deployments require so much work, time, and staff. Using automation to provision and deploy new resources can significantly reduce the time it takes to spin up a new branch, which means the site could start generating revenue much sooner. Using automation to monitor device health and environmental conditions could extend the life expectancy of critical (and expensive) equipment while reducing the number of on-site staff needed to maintain that equipment.

Network automation reduces OPEX by increasing the efficiency of repetitive or tedious tasks like new installs, incident management, and device monitoring. Crucially, automation does so without reducing the quality of service for end users and often only improves the speed, reliability, and overall experience.

Prevents outages

Network downtime is an expense that cash-strapped businesses can’t afford to bear. According to a recent ITIC survey, a single hour of downtime costs most organizations (91%) over $300,000 in lost business, with 44% of enterprises reporting outage costs exceeding $1 million. However, preventing downtime is difficult when most network teams are caught in a reactive break/fix cycle because they lack the staffing, resources, and technology required to maintain visibility and identify issues before they occur.

Network automation solves this problem using advanced machine learning algorithms to analyze monitoring data and identify potential issues before they cause outages. For example, AIOps (artificial intelligence for IT operations) solutions provide real-time analysis of infrastructure, network, and security logs. AIOps is adept at recognizing patterns and detecting anomalies in data so that it can identify issues before they affect the performance or reliability of the network.

Accelerates recovery

While network automation helps to reduce downtime, it can’t eliminate outages altogether. When outages do occur, recovery is often a long, drawn-out process involving a lot of manual work, during which time revenue and customer faith may be lost. Network resilience is the ability to quickly recover from ransomware, equipment failures, and other causes of downtime with as little impact as possible on end users and business revenue. Automation speeds up recovery efforts in a few critical ways:

• Streamlined backups – Automation makes performing regular backups and snapshots easier, reducing the risk of gaps or inaccuracies.
• Reduced imaging delays – Automatic provisioning ensures that clean systems are spun up quickly so that business can resume as soon as possible.
• Faster failover – Automatic network failover and routing technologies can reroute traffic around downed nodes before a human admin has time to respond, providing a more seamless end-user experience.

Network automation is a direct source of cost savings because it reduces OPEX without negatively impacting the business or customer experience. Automation also indirectly saves money by helping organizations avoid outages through proactive monitoring and maintenance. In addition, network automation technologies make businesses more resilient by speeding up recovery efforts when breaches and failures do occur.

Network automation cost savings calculator

ZPE Systems provides network and infrastructure automation solutions for any use case, pain point, or technological need. ZPE’s vendor-neutral platform allows you to extend automation to every device on your network, including legacy and mixed-vendor solutions, so that you can achieve true end-to-end automation (a.k.a. hyperautomation). For a customized estimation of how much money you can save by automating your network operations with ZPE Systems, check out our network automation cost savings calculator.

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For help with the network automation cost savings calculator or to learn more about automating your network operations, contact ZPE Systems today.

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