The online video sees hard-pressed head of IT Simmons being terrorised by his fearsome chief executive Mr T. Rex, who demands that he quickly implement remote and mobile access. Models of dinosaurs bring the story to life, and tie in with the video’s overarching theme of network evolution.
The short video focuses on a common pain point for businesses trying to do more with their IT in the face of reduced or static budgets. The disastrous results at the fictional company in the Jurassic Business Park neatly demonstrate the value of network testing and optimisation prior to implementation.
Networks First’s managing director, Sara Gemmell, said the video was designed to get people thinking about the network: “Clearly it’s a light hearted video which we hope people will enjoy, but it also carries a serious message. IT departments are under increasing pressure to deliver new technologies with reduced budgets, and often without considering the burden on a network. We want to stimulate debate and get people talking about networks and how we rely on them to support new apps and solutions.
“RIM’s recent service issues with BlackBerry have highlighted the importance of the network. 70 million users were affected by a single faulty switch at a UK data centre, causing mass disruption and chaos. This was a preventable outage which illustrates how much businesses rely on their networks.”
According to Gemmell, the problems faced by IT departments can be exacerbated by non-technical business leaders who think implementing cloud or remote access should be simple: “Certainly some senior managers and directors want things immediately without considering the implications for the network. In our videos Mr Rex isn’t thinking about the consequences of mobile devices on the network – in this case with disastrous results!”