Is it time for your small - but growing - business to get a new network designed for business? Small operations can work off consumer-grade equipment for awhile, but eventually, you're going to need the power and flexibility of enterprise-class networking.
As it turns out, a brand you may already be familiar with is starting to make waves in the business networking community: NETGEAR. They've been among the most trusted brands in home networking for years, and now they're making hardware aimed specifically at small-to-medium sized business operations.
NETGEAR switches are built to higher standards than their consumer-class models, with state-of-the-art features, but at a price tag suitable for even startups or "garage" operations. For medium-sized businesses looking to minimize expenditures, they offer a bang-for-the-buck that's hard to match.
Here are just a few of the reasons you might be thinking NETGEAR for your first major business network.
1 - Simple standardization.
It really doesn't pay to buy network equipment ad-hoc, from different vendors. Business networking hardware is built assuming a customer will have standardized on that brand, with software that's specifically designed to facilitate connections between different pieces of hardware. There's just no way to do this in a mixed network.
NETGEAR gives you an easy and affordable way to get this level of standardization, which is a bedrock foundation of modern business networking.
2 - Ease-of-use.
Thanks to their consumer hardware, NETGEAR is very familiar with making systems that can be used by anyone. They've taken that philosophy to their business hardware as well. Everything runs through a simple windowed GUI by anyone with basic Windows knowledge.
There's command-line support if you already have someone managing your network, but if your organization doesn't have an IT department, NETGEAR switches make it easy to live without IT.
This also means simple scalability: When you add new hardware, there won't be a lengthy reconfiguration process. Your network can simply grow as you need it.
3 - Fast deployment.
Likewise, NETGEAR switches come pre-configured for most common uses, minimizing the amount of time needed to be spent on deployment and setup. Often, it's nearly a plug-and-play procedure. Again, nearly anyone can deploy them without any specific networking expertise.
Besides the low cost of the units themselves, this simplicity greatly reduces install costs, downtime, and long-term TCO by minimizing support and service costs. That can add up significantly over the years.
4 - Reliability
NETGEAR has already been noted in the home sector for the reliability of their products, and the same is true here. They're using the same proven chipsets and technologies in use by other big vendors, just in budget-focused designs that leverage NETGEAR's existing production facilities to reduce manufacturing costs.
Plus, NETGEAR offers a truly outstanding warranty for the industry: lifetime technical support, with next-business-day replacements for the life of the product.
If you're already familiar with NETGEAR home products, but are looking to make an investment in a next-generation business network, NETGEAR business hardware may be exactly what you need. The low prices, ease-of-use, and long-term reliability make it a great investment for growing businesses.
Want to learn more? Contact Hummingbird Networks today and we can discuss whether it's time to buy NETGEAR.