Welcome to JitterWorks. Because you are reading this blog, it’s clear that you have an interest in learning more about the key performance indicators that are critical to your network and ultimately to the success of your business.

Jitter is one of those indicators. Jitter, in technical terms, is the variation in latency on packet flow. We will talk at length about latency and packet flow in future blog posts. For now, know that jitter is important enough for us to put it in our company name.

We started this blog as a means to educate business owners, managers and personnel in the importance of monitoring network performance. If the success of your company depends on a consistent, reliable internet connection, you need to be aware of the metrics that measure exactly what your network is doing at all times.

In the coming weeks and months, we will discuss, in detail, what we identify as the four cornerstones to effective and proactive network performance monitoring. Better known around our office as LOTUS.

Latency. Latency is the delay between the time you request the download or upload of data and the time you actually receive or send the data. Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms). The lower the number the better.

Outages. Outages are common and can last a few seconds or hours. Tracking when your network is down, how long and when it comes up is critical.

Throughput. Throughput refers to the actual amount of data your Internet service transfers to and from your network. Throughput is measured in megabits per second.

Utilization. In any office, it would be difficult to estimate the amount of bandwidth you need or use. Any number you come up with will likely be nothing more than an educated guess. The only true way to calculate the amount of bandwidth you need is to monitor and track your company’s utilization.

Speed. Overall network speed based on latency, throughput and utilization performance.

We have one more acronym for you. TnT. It’s not enough to see how these metrics are performing in real time. Network issues that are occurring now can be more easily resolved with access to historical data. Here’s where Tracking and Trending comes in. It’s important that your business has the ability to see what’s been happening with your network in the past hour, day, week, month and year.

What’s our motivation for taking the time to create this blog? Simple. Knowledge is power. The better informed you are about the importance of monitoring your network, the more inclined you’ll be to search for a powerful, but simple network performance monitoring solution for your company.

If you are one who enjoys jumping ahead in the learning process, you can click here to view an in depth presentation on the JitterWorks Network Performance Monitor (NPM).