The Hidden Costs of Inadequate IP Management

As the number of devices connected to the Internet increases, IPv4 addresses are becoming scarcer, and network administrators are spending more time than ever managing IP address space. Today, network administrators are responsible for managing thousands, even millions, of IP addresses, and it’s simply no longer viable to manually track and monitor IP networks.

Think about it –– every network device connected to the Internet or corporate intranet requires —at least one IP address. Devices also need access to a DNS server to resolve domain names. If there is more than one device with the same IP address, a network router doesn’t know where to pass data packets, and a service disruption results. Ineffectively managed IP networks can cause of the following problems:

• Service cancellations, a reduction in new customers, and excessive technical support time stemming from an inability to provision the proper IP addresses

• Delays to new broadband services due to limited RIR address space allocations because of inadequate utilization reports and growth plans

• Insufficient access for customers because of unavailability or duplication of IP addresses

• Delays in the diagnosis of network outages due to a lack of diagnostic tools

• Delays in implementing business changes due to overlapping IP space

An end-to-end IPAM solution maintains an inventory of IP addresses in use, prevents deployment of duplicate addresses, and supports integration with DHCP and DNS servers to give you a holistic view of your resources. If you’d like to find out more about how IPAM can help your business, download our free white paper Cost Savings Analysis of IP Address Management Software: A Guide for Service Providers.