Many organizations have embraced software-defined innovations such as the software-defined data center and the software-defined WAN, taking advantage of programmability and automation to simplify the management of their networks and other data center resources. What’s been missing, until recently, was a way to achieve the same benefits at the access layer of the network.

Network management software is a huge component for gaining centralized visibility into infrastructure, which IT managers crave. By consolidating management information onto a single dashboard, IT staff can monitor uptime, change configurations, add hardware and much more. For such an important function, picking the right solution is a pivotal decision. Organizations have dozens of network…