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.

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Automating edge deployments & lights-out management for Vapor® IO

Vapor IO provides autonomous network and data center infrastructure at the network edge. Their goal is to re-architect the traditional Internet into a distributed, ubiquitous, edge-to-edge web that serves end users with SLA-backed routing, up to twelve-nines reliability, 100-microsecond latency, and terabits-per-second bandwidth.

With 36 (and counting) major U.S. markets, and their recent expansion into Barcelona, Spain, Vapor IO needs to run operations as lean as possible. However, as they continued to scale, the complexity of their own management infrastructure stood in the way of achieving this goal.

See why they required eight hours of setup time at each site, and discover which Nodegrid technologies helped significantly streamline not only new installations, but operations and overhead as well. Download the case study for full details.

One of the company’s core values is to further business goals by making constructive changes and avoiding unnecessary complexity. This management infrastructure only added complexity and would require additional staff to maintain it. To solve this, Vapor IO would have to be proactive in closing several significant gaps:

• Each edge data center required at least five separate management devices that were not integrated together. Deployments required a skilled technician to be on site for an entire workday. This time sink would multiply in direct correlation to the total number of new sites to deploy.
• The ability to lease rackspace directly translates to revenue. But each site required Vapor IO to use at least 5RU for its own devices. As demand increased, this dead space would translate to millions in lost revenue, on top of additional power and cooling costs.
• Having disparate solutions not only increased the total points of failure, but also meant more devices to manage. This increased the likelihood of failures/outages that would require truck rolls, and also increased the ongoing operational workload required to keep many management devices running.
• A multi-vendor environment meant added overhead and rigidity that complicated procurement, project planning, and development of new designs. This made it difficult to adapt to different use cases and customer requirements.

The Internet Association of Australia, or IAA, operates an Internet exchange network that provides peering, virtual leased line (VLL), and cloud access services throughout Australia, with a goal to create better, 100% reliable Internet for the country. Internet peering is the building block of what makes up the Internet, and is critical for businesses, public organizations, and individuals to connect to valuable digital resources. This means the proper critical infrastructure must be in place to support the growing demand for everything from web hosting, to education, video streaming, gaming, and the myriad of other digital services.

But for IAA to keep up with their performance targets — which aim to provide 100% availability and 900Gbps speeds during peak times — they must sustain their infrastructure with frequent improvements, updates, and modernization efforts. This means constantly evaluating which equipment supports their goals, and which equipment holds them back.

IAA’s existing network management solution reached end of life and became the focal point of this dilemma. With 35 distributed locations containing Arista, Cisco, and Extreme Networks, and Juniper equipment, not to mention numerous server resources, IAA required a new network management solution that could provide fiber connectivity and true lights-out management to keep their infrastructure operational around the clock. This involved overcoming the following obstacles:

• Achieving a true out-of-band management network separate from the production network, to provide management access in case of routing errors
• Providing a fully remote virtual presence at all 35 points of presence
• Providing remote upgrades to network switches and servers, with the ability to remotely recover from failed upgrades, configuration problems, and human error
• Running tools locally for packet capturing and troubleshooting
• Enabling automation for fast deployments and reduced human intervention

IAA addressed their problems by deploying the Nodegrid Net SR and Nodegrid Gate SR. Read the full case study using the link below.

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Network automation and zero touch provisioning are more than luxuries. They’re quickly becoming the powertrain of business, helping you meet growth demands and keep up with important opportunities. These technologies also prove invaluable to making sure everyday tasks don’t hold you back, regardless of the environment you’re using.

By adopting automation, you can quickly realize its time- and cost-saving benefits that transform your networking capabilities — whether you’re using a traditional client-server architecture, or a cloud-based configuration.

In this blog entry, you’ll see how Nodegrid accelerated one car company’s drive to the cloud, and how network automation helped them seamlessly shift gears.

But first, here’s a recap of network automation.

Network automation employs software to help eliminate manual management tasks. This can help with routine work, such as device discovery or firmware updates, to more in-depth processes that are part of configuration management jobs. Automation helps with every aspect of networking, including improving the test lab environment, streamlining deployments, and reducing the workload for ongoing support and maintenance.

The beauty of automation is that you can use it at any scale you like. This can mean implementing something as simple as a few workflow commands that assist with device discovery and mapping, or as extensive as automating configuration tasks for a zero touch provisioning approach.

Why are companies racing to adopt network automation?

Network automation improves business in the same way that engines improve transportation. This simple analogy highlights the benefits of automated network tasks and processes, so let’s break it down.

Without modern machines, we rely entirely on manual input to move from point A to point B. Stamina and endurance are crucial, and so is the ability to think critically in the event that unexpected adversity crosses your path (i.e. storms, injuries, bears). Even if you’re in tip-top shape physically and mentally, relatively short ventures can drag on because your input drives the entire trip. Everything seems like a marathon.

And this is how manual networking feels. Discovering devices, installing security patches, monitoring data usage, updating firmware — all these tasks and more rest on your shoulders, and it’s up to you to carry them to completion. There’s little time, if any, to do anything besides focus on your arduous (non)adventure.

When you introduce engine-driven transportation such as a turbocharged sports car or tuned up off-road vehicle, you can easily go anywhere. Your mechanized chariot of horsepower converts your most minor input into forces that lurch you toward your destination. As for your stamina, endurance, and time, you save it all — even as you power through torrential rains or traverse over rocky mountainsides.

Automation transforms networking in the same way. You no longer have to heavily focus on every task and process, and can instead set your gaze on what’s beyond the horizon.

• Deployment — Network automation lets you automate configuration tasks and set up zero touch provisioning. This means that you can save a ton of time and money getting new sites configured and online. Instead of having staff perform extensive manual provisioning duties, you can just install your devices and let zero touch provisioning build your network automatically.
• Support & OPEX — For ongoing network support, automation continues to deliver time and cost savings. You don’t have to manually address every patch installation, firmware upgrade, or other issue. This means fewer truck rolls and more time for staff to focus on critical business needs.
• Maintenance — Nothing helps you maintain uptime like autonomous networking. With automation, you can set up scripts for a self healing network, and create alerts & notifications that let you know when critical issues occur.

How does Nodegrid supercharge network automation?

Network automation brings you major benefits, and Nodegrid delivers even more. That’s because Nodegrid is an open platform that lets you take advantage of automation, regardless of which vendor solutions you’re currently using. This flexible solution helps you:

• Customize using third-party automation tools & solutions of your choice, including in-house scripts and software.
• Extend automation and zero touch provisioning to end devices, even those that don’t support automation.
• Control devices remotely — from anywhere — no matter which vendors or manufacturers you deploy.

Here’s how Nodegrid put an auto company’s migration on cruise control.

For a major automobile manufacturer, a private cloud network model was necessary to help them meet their business needs. The challenge, however, would be in finding a solution that could integrate with their automation-heavy environment. They also required a solution that could provide reliable and comprehensive out-of-band access to their data centers, along with tools that could support collaboration with their heavily involved NetOps & DevOps teams.

With an already fatigued IT staff, the traditional approach was a roadblock nearly impossible to pass. Manually migrating and provisioning would burn too much time and effort, and pull network personnel away from keeping everyday operations in motion.

But when the company discovered Nodegrid, they realized that they could put deployment and management on cruise control.

By deploying the Nodegrid Serial Console S Series, the auto manufacturer had a powerful engine to drive their private cloud adoption.

Download the full case study below to discover all the benefits

In the finance industry, network modernization protects the most confidential customer data. Whether for processing minor withdrawals & deposits, or recording asset transactions & real estate purchases, your network must be secure and reliable from the ground up. This is one of the biggest obstacles when trying to modernize.

Using traditional solutions forces you to overhaul your infrastructure and disrupt your business, or endure a very slow, piece-by-piece implementation. Either approach requires plenty of time, money, and resources. And without careful planning, you may end up with a solution that becomes obsolete sooner rather than later.

In this post, you’ll see why you need to focus on network modernization, and how it helped one of ZPE Systems’ finance customers protect their data.

What is network modernization?

Network modernization means updating your infrastructure and management tools, so that you can address current challenges and future requirements. This approach allows you to get the most out of your legacy solutions, while setting up a foundation that can help you adapt to change. Network modernization involves at least one of the following:

• Deploying a solution that integrates in-depth control of legacy and modern systems
• Eliminating points of failure using more resilient systems and streamlined architecture
• Adopting extensible software or hardware that can accommodate changing needs

Why focus on network modernization?

When you adopt an approach that focuses on network modernization, you can realize many benefits even into the future. The most important thing to understand is that the more you modernize, the more benefits you’ll see. For example, if you focus solely on deploying new hardware, you may experience advantages at the onset but eventual diminishing returns without modernized software. And if you implement only newer software, you’ll run into the same issue due to the limited capabilities of your legacy hardware.

Network modernization is a multi-faceted concept, but comes with many benefits:

• Using powerful, multi-function devices helps you save on deployment costs & efforts. You can replace many purpose-built appliances with a single box. This shrinks capital & shipping expenses, streamlines setup, and makes ongoing management much simpler.
• Using an in-depth software solution for management helps you save on support expenses. You can control your legacy systems and extend functionalities to them, while giving IT teams remote access to your infrastructure layer. Instead of training on many UIs and dispatching technicians to troubleshoot issues, modernized software lets you control everything seamlessly from afar.
• With an extensible solution, you get peace of mind knowing you can adapt to future requirements. Demands will continue to evolve (especially at the edge), and a flexible platform helps you accommodate changes. This could mean implementing the latest SD-WAN solutions, deploying compute power at the edge, or further reducing hardware stacks to meet business goals.

Network modernization helps a large financial firm

A major financial institution began to see weaknesses in their legacy system, and they knew that modernization was the solution. Their traditional infrastructure employed too many disparate systems that were difficult to manage, even to maintain everyday operations. Security and compliance issues were also developing, and to top it off, they would need to implement a new solution by taking a gradual approach.

For out-of-band management, they were using too many devices at the rack level. Their management solutions also lacked the ability to give them control over all their systems. Their servers and automatic transfer switches required separate gateways, which increased response times and made support difficult to manage.

So how were they able to replace these headaches with an efficient, cost-saving network? They used Nodegrid hardware and software to achieve a comprehensive network modernization solution.

European Business Reliance Centre, or EBRC, requires out-of-band management capabilities to keep business running. As a managed services provider, EBRC helps companies outsource their IT efforts and acts as a one-stop shop for organizations in finance, healthcare, security, and other industries. The company employs hundreds of IT experts who maintain critical infrastructures and applications, from data center hosting to cloud computing.

Because service agreements and customer satisfaction rely on high levels of availability, EBRC must ensure that they have the tools in place to prevent downtime and disruptions. This is where out-of-band management comes into play.

What’s the Role of Out-of-Band Management?

Out-of-band management allows support teams to access their network infrastructure. Instead of relying on the production, or in-band network, out-of-band uses a completely separate network path. This helps lock out potential security attacks, and also provides access that doesn’t rely on the main network. This is important for network engineers and administrators, because they can gain secure control of their infrastructure even in the event of an outage.

How Does Nodegrid Improve Out-of-Band Management?

Nodegrid improves out-of-band management by allowing remote access to physical & virtual assets. Because it’s vendor neutral, companies can deploy Nodegrid’s out-of-band regardless of which vendor solutions they currently use or plan to use. Finally, Nodegrid provides secure remote management via WAN links and a variety of connection types, including broadband, cellular, satellite, and others.

What Are the Advantages of Using Nodegrid’s Out-of-Band?

Nodegrid’s out-of-band helps companies preserve customer satisfaction and boost efficiency of their network support efforts.

Whereas typical out-of-band solutions require slow phone lines, modems, and even on-site intervention, Nodegrid allows IT teams to gain fully remote control of their systems. Device outages, interruptions, or attacks no longer need to leave organizations paralyzed by downtime or scrambling to dispatch technicians to all affected sites. With Nodegrid, teams can respond instantly whether the problem occurred in a data center rack, branch MDF, or virtual environment.

Nodegrid also allows companies to do away with the limited control offered by traditional solutions. Support teams can use Nodegrid’s out-of-band to gain granular visibility and control over their distributed networks. This means that when a password needs to be reset, a firmware upgrade needs to be installed, or a device even needs to be rebooted, IT staff can perform these critical tasks efficiently from afar.

All of these advantages equate to streamlined operations and savings on management. But don’t take our word for it. Watch this 90-second clip featuring EBRC’s Michel Ackerman, who describes the convenience and simplicity that Nodegrid brought to the European MSP.