A router is a foundational piece of equipment in any IT environment. However, it rarely receives the respect it deserves when it comes to choosing the right one.
While home users and micro businesses might be able to get away with standard routers, anything larger than a small business with three employees needs to invest in a router that provides much greater security and can handle larger volumes of traffic.
As the device responsible for directing traffic across your network, your router plays a critical role in:
- Facilitating your internet connection
- Securing your internet connection
- Routing internet traffic to devices in the internal network
A bad or insufficient router leaves users with an unstable internet connection, which is often a frequent cause of workplace meltdowns. This is particularly annoying if your users are working in the Cloud or use an intranet.
Worse than this, an insufficient router is also a security risk, because it does not contain the necessary features to block potential attacks.
Choosing the right router
Router specs are hard for non-technical people to understand. If this is you, you can either spend countless hours googling it, or you can hire an IT expert to evaluate your business and suggest a router that will meet your needs.
When we’re trying to determine the best router for a business, we look at:
- The size of your organisation
- How many users are typically on the network at any given time
- Your security needs
Then we compare it with the different capabilities of the routers we believe offer the best value for money.
This includes the speed, range, bandwidth, security, and ability to customise certain features.
Some of the latest routers available through Juniper and Cisco offer benefits such as next generation connectivity, scalability, automation (through the incorporation of AI), and cloud-based monitoring and management.
You may not need all of the latest whizz-bang features. However, you do need features that are going to offer you the right level of connectivity and security to ensure a seamless connection and the safety of your IT environment.
For help choosing the right router for your business, please give us a call on (02) 6189 1322 or contact us.
