If you haven’t heard about network segmentation, there’s never been a better time. Essentially, network segmentation refers to the breaking down of your business network into several smaller subnetworks – it might sound like a slightly odd idea, but it does present a number of convincing benefits.
Network Segmentation Improves Efficiency
One of the central advantages of network segmentation is an increase in efficiency. When the computers in your network communicate with each other, they send little bits of data known as ‘packets’; when two computers send each other data at the same time, or when multiple computers on the same network send data at once, the information can sometimes become garbled and the network can be slowed down. Reducing local traffic through network segmentation is one way to prevent that from happening.
You can also radically increase bandwidth by adopting network segmentation. Having a large amount of data on an unsegmented network tends to increase bandwidth usage as a whole. Segmentation is able to isolate any devices and applications that are consuming too much bandwidth; keeping them in separate subnetworks prevents your whole network from slowing down.
Finally, you can ensure that incoming traffic is balanced out between certain segments instead of simply drawing on the resources of just one; as a result, you should be able to handle greater volumes of traffic at once.
Network Segmentation Improves Security
Efficiency is one of the main areas optimised through network segmentation – security is the other. Instead of simply presenting a single barrier against malicious web users, segmentation divides up your network to contain any threats. Should one subnetwork be subject to a virus or a data breach, you should be able to prevent the issue spreading throughout the whole network.
Network segmentation also refines your control by providing employees with access to only certain specific parts of your IT network instead of the whole thing, and you’ll be able to monitor for any breaches between subnetworks. The upshot is that you’ll be protected against internal threats as well as external ones.
