Of course, you can always have someone else do the dirty work. Companies that can't commit the necessary resources or just don't want the burden of creating, upgrading and maintaining in-house facilities may opt to outsource testing of critical products to independent third-party labs, which can develop the test methodology, do the testing and provide a comprehensive report detailing their findings.
The downside, of course, is that most testing services can't mimic your production systems precisely, and they can't provide the flexibility to make changes when unforeseen problems arise during testing. Another catch: You need someone in-house to manage the relationship with the outside lab, to negotiate the scope of each project and ensure that the lab's test methodology and setup will yield data that's applicable to your production environment. Only 4 percent of our survey respondents say they outsource product testing.
Another alternative is to make use of your vendor's reference lab. Sun Microsystems' iForce Centers (www.sun.com/executives/iforce/centers/), for example, are designed to help Sun's customers test prototypes prior to implementation. Sun also develops reference architectures (www.sun.com/products/architectures-platforms/refarch/features.html) to help customers develop size-appropriate solutions. Other vendors, including Microsoft (www.microsoft.com/usa/mtc/overview.asp), offer similar services.
Network Computing has been doing hands-on testing of IT hardware, software and services and reporting on our methodology and results since October 1990. Our goal is to help you make informed purchase decisions by cutting through the vendors' hype and identifying the products' strengths and weaknesses.
But even our most exhaustive tests can't guarantee that a winning product will work in your environment. You can read our analyses and rely on our findings to come up with your own shortlist, but ultimately you need to see for yourself. That's why we've devoted the bulk of this issue to a discussion of the inner workings of a comprehensive product-testing program. Here's a glimpse at the features you'll find inside:
"Justify My Lab," Contributing editor Jonathan Feldman provides step-by-step instructions for building a business plan and getting executive buy-in for your in-house lab.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
