Press Releases

Ipswitch Advises SMBs to Use Enterprise IT Tactics When Building out a Network

Five Best Practice Lessons Small- and Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs) Can Learn from Enterprise IT in Order To Create a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

Lexington, Massachusetts - October 10, 2006 – Ipswitch, Inc., a leading developer of network monitoring, messaging and file transfer solutions, today announced five lessons designed to help IT managers at SMBs develop best practice techniques when building out their network. The lessons are based on the collective and transferable experience of enterprise IT customers who use Ipswitch products to manage their networks.

“At Ipswitch we have both SMB and enterprise customers and we’re seeing that business critical service availability is the mission of every successful IT team, regardless of its size,” said Ennio Carboni, director, product marketing, Ipswitch. “As the pace of doing business accelerates, every company – even very small ones – can apply the experience of enterprise IT departments to their own network situation. We’ve seen five primary lessons emerge in network monitoring and implementation that can help SMBs develop practical, actionable guidelines to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their networks.”

According to Carboni, here are the five steps SMBs can take to get the most business value from their network.
  1. The Network Means Business – Business critical service availability becomes the mission of any successful IT team and in many instances the application is the business. So buying the latest technology is no longer the focus but simply the means to the end. For the SMB it is imperative that they use the technology that gets the job done at a sensible price.
  2. The Converged Network is Here to Stay – To the SMB, this means more than just data networking plus VoIP. When considering a converged network, the enterprise has paved the way for SMBs. SMBs need to ask these questions when considering a move to a converged network:
    1. Do you want to save money on telecom maintenance costs?
    2. Do you have an aging, soon-to-be-unsupported legacy PBX?
    3. Are your employees asking for freedom of mobility?
    4. Do you spend a lot on site-to-site calls between offices?
    5. Would you like to provide audio, Web and video conferencing to your employees?
    If an organization answered yes to at least one of the questions above, it’s time to consider upgrading an aging network infrastructure.

  3. Ease of Use is Key to ROI – If it isn’t easy to use, it won’t get used, and if it doesn’t get used, the investment is wasted. That’s why ease of use needs to be a driving strategy. Are values like flexibility, scalability and monitoring the converged network something worth having? Today the SMBs can learn from the experiences – and failures – of the Fortune 1,000. Make ease of use a mandate.
  4. Standards, Standards, Standards – Enterprise IT has disciplined the market because of its tough requirements for interoperable solutions that form a holistic response to the common challenges - this was an early version of the SOA requirements driving ISVs today. As more vendors – including enterprise-class solution vendors – target the growing SMB market, SMBs have the opportunity to migrate away from non-standard solutions including homegrown and open source solutions. Because of the new interest in the SMB market, SMBs can migrate to affordable standards-based solutions that will reap them the same benefits as their enterprise counterparts.
  5. Play Nicely with Others – Tools and vendors shouldn’t drive network monitoring choices. Instead, organizations should get what they want, when they want it, the way they want it. It’s important to buy the tools that do the job, rather than buying a brand. In the future, emerging standards will drive multi-vendor point solutions to interoperate.
While there is no one way to adopt new technology, SMBs can learn from large enterprises that have already made the technology investment and have ridden out the rough waves. Regardless of a company’s size, the approach that works best for each is the approach that best meshes with the corporate culture. If the SMB eagerly latches on to new ideas and new processes, it’ll be more willing to reach out and try new approaches. At the other extreme are SMBs who want the technology proven before making a move. By applying the five lessons referenced above, an SMB can work within the parameters of the lesson and tailor its adoption approach to the company’s needs and culture.

About Ipswitch

Ipswitch develops and markets software that works for small and mid-sized businesses worldwide. More than 100 million people use Ipswitch software to communicate via Ipswitch Collaboration Suite, monitor their networks with Ipswitch WhatsUp® and transfer files over the Internet using the market leading Ipswitch WS_FTP® Professional client and Ipswitch WS_FTP Server. To view the Ipswitch Blog visit http://blogs.ipswitch.com, to view Roger’s blog visit http://blogs.ipswitch.com/greene/, to view FTPplanet visit http://www.ftpplanet.com and to view the Daily Network Monitor visit http://www.dailynetworkmonitor.com. Ipswitch values community involvement; visit http://icare.ipswitch.com to find out how to become involved. For product and sales information, visit http://www.ipswitch.com.

Press Contact:

Laurie Azaria Klausner
Ipswitch, Inc.
(781) 676-5794