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A lot of the $40 billion that is spent annually on network infrastructure is destined to refresh existing networks. For some organisations the refresh cycle is an opportunity to move up a generation, for example accessing the flexibility offered from NFV and SDN technologies.

With the criticality and 'always on' nature of network infrastructure, the refresh process is a major challenge requiring careful planning. Don't despair though, because effective help is available from Out-of-Band (OOB) remote management appliances. Essentially a device category that itself has gone through a refresh recently, it can deliver network edge intelligence, increased flexibility and auto remediation.

Smart OOB appliances can help the refresh cycle in three important ways, namely with remote deployment, troubleshooting and availability. Bear in mind that during a refresh many of the network end points will need to be upgraded, or at the very least reconfigured. For centralised IT departments, visiting branch offices or even colocation data centres to reconfigure equipment is a significant burden. Instead, the use of remote management tools which connect using 3G/4G networks allows remote configuration of network elements - which is crucial while the primary connection is not available, or the device is no longer able to connect due to a change in the core. Set against the cost of dispatching an engineer for a single day, an entry level OOB appliance offers both an immediate cost and time saving and ensures network resilience.

Troubleshooting is also improved - and as anyone that has undergone a major network upgrade will know, a few things may not go to plan! In many cases, devices may hang due to an incorrect setting or a fault that can often be fixed by a simple power cycle. OOB appliances can connect directly to the device console, PDU and UPS allowing the IT help desk to use the cellular network to power cycle and reconfigure devices remotely.

Even assuming that everything goes well with the refresh, many organisations strive to maintain high levels of availability. This is an area where a modern OOB appliance excels by providing additional monitoring and automation facilities. For example, built-in temperature, humidity and tamper detection can alert IT teams ahead of time that an environmental factor needs attention. The auditing of configuration changes and firmware updates, along with the ability to quickly roll back to a last known good update in the event of an issue, provides additional levels of resiliency.

These smart features are based on policies set by the IT team and administered by either the fixed or cellular network to ensure continued visibility. In addition, the agnostic nature of an OOB appliance means that they can integrate with a vast array of networking devices and network management systems. This provides single pane of glass visibility of the network which is gained from a direct connection to each device, instead of relying on metrics gathered by network probes or multiple vendor specific management tools.

With the network upgrade finished, Smart OOB has an ongoing role because it can help organisations to securely manage devices to deliver high levels of availability with reduced downtime. Although often put in place to meet network refreshes, the benefits gained during these projects also translate into longer terms improvements in overall network resiliency and troubleshooting capability.

As networks start to service the Internet of Things, OOB technologies used for managing switches, routers and firewalls can also, for example, connect to point of sale terminals, ATM machines and many other non-networking devices that are increasingly under the purview of the IT department: a feature that will be critical for network refreshes of the future. NC