How important is "The Network"

Hope everyone is well...

I wrote a blog post for my day job (the thing that pays for all the hobbies) and actually thought it was quite pertinent to share here as well.  While our lives may not depend on it (although it feels like that at times) so much of our FS world is now Network dependent.  

I thought I'd share.  Our marketing department is cleaning it up before it gets published by the company but here was the original post:

Quote

The Network as an Always-On Utility
               I’m a walking IOT Sensor: A Blog based on personal experience
It’s funny, I’ve been in this industry longer than I care to remember. For years one of the running jokes was the network is “just the plumbing.” At the time it was a fairly accurate statement. No one knew about or even cared about the network until they needed it and it wasn’t there. Sort of akin to turning on the tap and no water came out. 
Fast forward an undisclosed number of years and no longer is that an adequate analogy. Now the Network is more akin to an Always-On Utility. Next to the power to my house the Network is the most important utility I consume. Like many I’ve even gone to great lengths to have a backup power system for the house as so many critical functions of the house need power. Secondary to power they need a Network.
Let me explain. In our house it is just my wife, two dogs and myself. I am “fairly” certain neither of the dogs have connected devices despite their Instagram accounts. Without the dogs we have 76 connected devices! That’s lightbulbs, camera’s, thermostats, televisions, tablets, desktops, laptops, Alexa devices in every room, landscape lighting, it seems everything now a days requires a connection. Some of the lights fundamentally can’t even be turned on and off anymore without a network connection. To say we have become dependent on the network is an understatement. That is two people and two dogs in one house. Scale that across the organizations we service with the demands on the network growing to include more and more advanced use cases and we are getting to the point where next to power to the building the network is the most important utility we have.
That brings this back to me personally. Right now, I am a walking IOT sensor. I’m at home wearing a real time heart monitor with connectivity to a monitoring company. Living in an area with limited cellular coverage (we have dead spots in New jersey too) the primary communication mechanism between my heart monitor and the monitoring company is my network. When I had an episode while being monitored it was the network that allowed the monitor to report into the monitoring company and subsequently notify my Dr. Without the Network the monitor is useless to the monitoring company and my Dr.   The Network is now my most critical utility. 
So low and behold I am an actual walking IOT sensor and the most important utility in my house next to power is the network… 
Thank you Cisco Systems.  
#wearecisco #cisconetworking #ciscosystems

Edited September 16, 20214 yr by psolk