D-Link turns 40: from switches to managed services

D-Link turns 40. The company celebrated this with a press conference in which, in addition to reviewing its global trajectory and its particular journey in the Iberian market, it presented Nuclias Unity, its platform for managing enterprise networks from the cloud. The conversation with Anselmo Trejo, head of Marketing and Communication at D-Link in Iberia, helps to understand where the company is heading and, above all, what is changing in the way SMBs buy and administer their network infrastructure.

Four decades of connectivity, from hubs to the cloud

D-Link's story begins in 1990 with the launch of a hub that, according to Trejo, was an international success. Since then, the company has maintained a strong position in switching, and in recent years it has taken a relevant step in the enterprise and corporate field after joining the Taiwan Steel group and moving all R&D and production to Taiwan. The example Trejo cites is eloquent: from the 10/100 switches of another era to installing Enterprise switches in computer centers at the University of Barcelona and at universities in Madrid for advanced studies.

That journey is not just a matter of technological nostalgia. It marks a fundamental transition: D-Link no longer only sells boxes that connect, but managed solutions that solve an operational need. And that change of focus has direct consequences for any SMB that is thinking about renewing its network.

Gigabit as a bottleneck: the migration to multigigabit

One of the most useful messages from the meeting is the one that affects wired connectivity. Trejo acknowledges that Gigabit is still an active standard, but that it already demands a migration to multigigabit. The reason is concrete: the Gigabit connection can become a bottleneck even for the access points installed today. The company thus steers its offering toward 2.5 G and even 10 G, also for SMBs.

To this is added wifi 7, which the company highlights for its ultra-low latency and for the ability to support many devices connected to the same access point. For an SMB with internal mobility, laptops, mobile phones, cameras or sensors, this detail stops being a catalog curiosity and becomes a network design decision.

Nuclias Unity: managing the network without having an IT department

The core of the announcement is Nuclias Unity, a cloud platform for managing enterprise networks, both switching and wifi. The stated goal is for network administration to be more agile and secure, and for companies to be able to focus on their business without wasting time on administration tasks. Trejo presents it as a response to a very widespread problem: many SMBs install a switch and leave it unmanaged, or have access points running in standalone mode because they do not know how to unify their management.

The diagnosis of the head of D-Link Iberia is clear: the problem for most SMBs is that they do not have an internal IT department. That is why the platform is designed so that partners can install the network and also administer it remotely. In other words, the product and the service are integrated: it is not only about selling the switch or the access point, but about offering its configuration and continuous administration.

“We try to integrate the product and the management, because we already see, from security and performance problems, that the main problem is usually not in the product, but in the fact that many times it is not well managed or administered,” Trejo admits.

This idea connects directly with one of the lessons we repeat in this blog: security and performance rarely fail because of the device, but because of the lack of governance over it. In the case of networks, an unmanaged switch is an open door to inherited configurations, uncontrolled VLANs and pending updates. If you want to go deeper into how risk has stopped being measured asset by asset, you can read The CISO facing AI: risk is no longer measured asset by asset.

Industrial networks and machine to machine: new channel, new rules

The diversification of the catalog also appears in the conversation. D-Link has entered the industrial networks market with industrial switches and 5G machine-to-machine routers for IoT, aimed at vending machines, ATMs, trains —with a project in the Valencia metro— or electric vehicle chargers. Trejo acknowledges that this field requires a different channel, because the protocols and needs are not the same as in the traditional IT channel.

For an industrial SMB or a services company with devices in the field, this opens an interesting path: the same brand that sells them the office switch can accompany them in the connectivity of their machinery. But it also requires a warning: it is not advisable to transfer corporate network decisions to the industrial network without reviewing protocols, criticality and support.

What it means for an SMB and what we recommend

Beyond the anniversary, D-Link's message has a practical reading for any Spanish SMB. The network has stopped being an invisible expense to become an infrastructure that must be managed. And if there is no internal team to do it, the alternative is to rely on a partner that installs and administers. These are the recommendations we draw:

• Check whether your network is really managed. If you have switches or access points running without a central panel, you are probably losing visibility and capacity to react to incidents.
• Evaluate the Gigabit bottleneck. Before renewing access points, check whether the cabling and switching can handle the traffic they will generate. Migrating to multigigabit may be more urgent than changing the wifi.
• Ask for administration, not just installation. When hiring a partner, demand a clear model of remote management, updates and support. The cloud platform helps, but the service is what makes the difference.
• Do not leave the industrial network in the hands of the office provider. If you have devices in the field, validate protocols and criticality before standardizing.

The celebration of D-Link's 40 years is, at bottom, a snapshot of the sector: hardware is still there, but value is shifting toward management. For an SMB without an IT department, that can be good news if it translates into a close and local service. And there, as Trejo himself recalls, the channel still values having a human team nearby. If you are considering how to fit this management layer into your operation, at ForgeNEX we can help you define the model before buying the first box.

Source: Computerworld. Analysis and adaptation: ForgeNEX.