Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can (and should do) today. Postponing the replacement of aging network hardware because it “still works” isn’t being wise. It’s actually incurring a cost called infrastructure debt.
Every month or year, an organization puts off upgrades to network hardware, the costs to replace rise, risks of security breaches increase, and the incidents of downtime become more plentiful. Not only that, but outdated IT infrastructure means your operations are running less optimally, and you’re missing out on innovations like AI. You may have the assumption that good enough is indeed good enough. It’s not. Good enough is an expensive position that harms your organization in many ways. Each piece of network hardware has a lifecycle. Attempting to eke out a couple more years from a device that’s already past its lifecycle negatively impacts security, uptime, productivity, and long-term budgets.
So what’s the alternative? Implementing an IT modernization strategy that uses proactive lifecycle planning, asset vitality, and scheduled refreshes to prevent device age issues before they happen.
The Nuts and Bolts of Infrastructure Debt
Yeah, right, you may be thinking. So what if my servers and switches are old? How bad can infrastructure debt really be, and is it just a ploy to get me to upgrade a system that doesn’t need it?
Short answers: Infrastructure debt is real. The harm is significant, and it’s not a ploy — this is wise advice.
Examples of Infrastructure Debt
- Aging network switches
- End of support for firewalls
- Old Wi-Fi access points
- Slow laptops
- Failing UPS batteries
- Legacy servers
- Outdated storage arrays
- Unsupported operating systems
All of that and more is needed to get the most out of your IT infrastructure. That’s why you invested in, and why you need to keep investing in it. Those items are not options; they are musts. Staying with old tech means you are happy to keep falling behind competitors and limiting your revenue performance.
Why Companies Keep Using Legacy Hardware
Few companies like to invest in their IT infrastructure. However, those that do are the smart ones — and often the market leaders. They understand great performance is the result of smart investment. Where others see a cost, smart companies see a capital upgrade.
Bad Excuses To Use Old Hardware
- Budget pressure
- “It still works” mentality
- No asset lifecycle management
- Inaccurate inventory
- Disruption fears
- No modernization roadmap
- Lack of awareness
- Avoidance
In almost every case, it comes down to saving money. However, in the case of network hardware, a penny saved can be a dollar lost. When you do the math, it’s not uncommon for maintaining a modern network to save organizations a nice sum of money.
The Risks of Aging Network Hardware
As network hardware ages, it fails to perform like new. That’s true of almost any product, from a blender to a sedan. But the impact of decreased performance hurts business performance like few other issues can.
As the network hardware ages, your company incurs operational risks. That can include the seemingly mundane, from reboots and slow throughput, to the more noticeable, like port and power supply failures. But those are minor inconveniences compared to the big issue — security.
The Security Threats of an Old Network
- No current patches
- Unsupported firmware
- Legacy encryption standards
- Incompatible MFA or zero trust controls
- Outdated virus blockers
You’ll also face other risks, like lost transactions, missed calls, and potentially damaged brand reputation.
Calculating the Costs of Outdated Network Hardware
Do not oversimplify the mathematics of upgrading your network hardware. Do not say that doing nothing is free and doing X is $50,000. The math isn’t that simple, and the cost of doing something is usually quite high.
The Invisible Costs of Aging IT Infrastructure
- Idle or unoptimized employee time
- Lost sales
- Delayed shipments
- Emergency IT labor
- Slow customer responses
- Un-automated workflows
- No AI integrations
It’s not uncommon for a single serious outage to cost a business more than a year of planned hardware refresh spending.
Implementing an IT Modernization Strategy
Network device management, or a tech refresh cycle, is your company’s best protection against lost revenue and unexpected downtime from network hardware failures. Basically, it’s a plan that ensures devices are replaced before they become a liability or point of failure.
Recommended Tech Refresh Cycles
Every 3–4 years
- Laptops
- Tablets
- Mobile devices
Every 4–5 years
- Wi-Fi access points
- Firewalls
- Edge switches
Every 5 years
- Core switches
- Servers
- Critical appliances
Every 5–7 years
- Storage systems (SAN, NAS, Hybrid arrays, Archives, object storage platforms)
- Specialized infrastructure (load balancers, VPN concentrators, NAC appliances, POS, etc.)
Those recommendations are based on mean time between failures (MTBF) data. The estimated average operational time between failures for a particular device. It’s used to determine when a device should be repaired or replaced. Just because something breaks doesn’t mean it should be tossed out. In fact, swapping out network hardware too early can be just as bad as waiting too long. Ideally, you need to hit the replacement sweet spot using MTBF and other data points. Ultimately, using MTBF will help you plan for and prepare for replacements rather than react to an emergency failure.
IT Modernization Best Practices
You can’t modernize what you can’t see or don’t know about. You should adopt a technical prepper mindset. Be aware, be informed, be vigilant.
Tips for Managing IT Infrastructure
- Maintain a complete inventory of equipment
- Record purchases and installation dates
- Track warranties and support status
- Monitor firmware versions
- Categorize equipment by importance to operations
- Record incident history per device
- Forecast and budget for replacement years
- Standardize approved hardware models
By following the tips for managing IT infrastructure, you’ll migrate from reactive buying to planned technology investment/refresh. That comes with a myriad of benefits, such as competitive pricing, scheduled upgrades, easier training, predictable budgeting, and a sense that the IT department has things in order.
Infrastructure debt is the secret assassin of the bottom line. It creeps and grows over time quietly until it rears its head through outages, security incidents, and frustrated employees. Businesses that treat hardware lifecycle planning as a part of their IT modernization strategy reduce downtime, improve ROI, and avoid the compounding cost of aging infrastructure hardware.
Ready to Future-Proof Your Aging Network Hardware?
Keeping your network hardware up to date, both functionally and from a security standpoint, is a big part of future-proofing ongoing operations. Identifying and deploying the best approach to achieve it requires working with an expert. Matrix-NDI solves the challenges of your business operations by unlocking the full ROI of your technology investments. We design and install networks built for maximum speed and perfectly matched to bandwidth demands.
Why Work With Matrix-NDI?
We have on-staff Registered Communications Distribution Designers (RCDD), coast-to-coast service, and elite data networking partners, including Extreme Networks, Nile, and others. Ultimately, Matrix-NDI aligns your business with the devices, internet service, and software to achieve all technical objectives. We invite you to reach out with your needs and see how our expertise, partnerships, and national scale can be leveraged to solve them.
Contact Matrix-NDI to get started. Let’s build smarter, safer, more connected spaces — together.
