NETWORK ASSESSMENT
A documented picture of what your network is actually doing.
Switches, Wi-Fi, firewall, cabling, security configuration. Written report.
Most network problems are not the user’s fault. Slow logins, dead zones, mystery slowdowns, and recurring outages all trace back to infrastructure that nobody has audited in years. We document every device and connection, test performance, and produce a written report with prioritized recommendations.
- On-site walkthrough included
- Written report with prioritized fixes
- No vendor bias on hardware recommendations
Most networks have grown one decision at a time. A switch added when the team grew. A wireless access point dropped in to fix a dead zone. A firewall replaced after the last one failed. Five years later, nobody has the full picture, and the slow logins and recurring outages start to feel like the cost of doing business. They are not. A real assessment surfaces what is actually in place, what is configured wrong, and what to fix first. Output is a written report you keep, regardless of who you decide to use to fix the findings.
What a real assessment finds.
The questions a network assessment answers are the ones nobody can answer off the top of their head. Is the firewall actually configured the way the install was scoped, or has it drifted over five years of one-off changes? Are there ports open to the internet that nobody remembers opening? Is the wireless coverage actually good enough for the team in the back conference room, or has everybody just learned to walk to the front?
Most network problems are quiet. They show up as people complaining about the technology, taking longer to do their work, or not bothering to use a feature because it is unreliable. The assessment surfaces the cause and quantifies the cost, so leadership can decide what to fix first.
The output is a written report with diagrams, photos of the cabling and rack work, screenshots of the firewall configuration, performance test results, and a prioritized remediation list with cost estimates.
What gets assessed.
Six areas of review. Each gets its own section in the final report with findings, photos or diagrams, and a prioritized remediation list.
Network audit
Full inventory and architecture review. Switches, routers, firewalls, and any line of business appliances on the network mapped, firmware versions captured, end-of-life hardware flagged, and topology documented in a diagram you can hand to the next engineer who walks in. Asset visibility persists if you continue with managed services afterward.
Wi-Fi assessment
On-site survey of the wireless environment. Coverage maps room by room, signal strength at the desks where people actually work, channel interference, capacity at peak load, and access point placement against the floor plan. Output includes a recommended access point layout if coverage is the problem.
Security configuration scan
External scan for ports and services exposed to the internet, internal scan for known vulnerabilities, firewall rule audit, and a check for the obvious wrong things (default credentials, unsupported firmware, open management interfaces). Findings ranked by severity in the report.
Performance testing
Throughput tests across the local network, internet circuit performance against what the contract says you are paying for, latency between sites if a wide area network is in play, and a check on whether the slowdowns people complain about are actually the network or something else (workstation, application server, cloud service).
Cabling and rack review
Physical inspection of the wiring closet and patch panels. Cable categories rated against the speeds you actually need, structured-cable runs documented, the rack tidied and labeled in the report, and any safety or code issues flagged. Photos included so the report is reviewable without going back on site.
Capacity and planning
Headroom analysis on the existing infrastructure. Where will the network be a constraint in twelve to twenty-four months given current growth trends? Which equipment is approaching end-of-life and needs to be in next year’s budget? Which design choices made sense five years ago and no longer do?
What a finding looks like in the report.
Every finding is severity-tagged, clearly described, and paired with a specific recommendation. A small sample of the shape, not real client findings.
The web-based management interface on the perimeter firewall is reachable from any IP address on the internet. The vendor has issued multiple security advisories on this interface in the past eighteen months.
Recommendation: restrict management access to an internal network or a documented VPN, apply the latest firmware within the next maintenance window.
Three of the seven core switches have reached end-of-life with the manufacturer; no further security patches will be released. Two are also out of warranty support, meaning hardware replacement requires sourcing on the secondary market.
Recommendation: scope a phased switch refresh in the next budget cycle. Approximate hardware cost called out in the cost annex.
Signal strength in the rear conference room drops below useful levels two-thirds of the way into the room. The current access point layout was scoped before the wall was added during the 2022 build-out.
Recommendation: add one access point centered in the conference room ceiling, run a structured cable to it during the next office maintenance.
The patch panel and switch stack are functional but the cabling is not labeled or organized. No immediate operational risk; future troubleshooting will take longer than necessary, and any move-add-change work is more error-prone than it should be.
Recommendation: address as part of the next on-site visit when bandwidth allows. Cost is mostly labor.
How the assessment is priced.
Fixed-fee per assessment, scoped to the size of your environment and the depth of review. Quoted in writing before any work begins. The first scoping conversation is free.
For most Charlotte-area businesses with a single office. On-site walkthrough, six-area review, written report with prioritized findings, and a closeout call to walk through the report. Most engagements take one to two weeks of elapsed time, with one to two days of on-site work.
For businesses with multiple offices, larger network footprints, or wide area network scope. Quoted with a per-site adder so the cost scales with the actual scope rather than a flat fee that does not match the work. Each site visited and documented separately.
For businesses that already know where the problem is and want a deeper review of a single area: Wi-Fi survey only, security scan only, or capacity and capacity-planning only. Scoped tighter, priced lower, delivered faster than a full six-area assessment.
The written report stays with you regardless of what you decide to do next. If we are the right team to implement the recommendations, we are happy to scope that as a separate project; if not, the report contains everything another team would need to do the work.
Why NetSafe for the assessment.
The deliverable in this engagement is the report, and the value of the report is whether it leads to the right action. A few things shape that.
No reseller incentive on the recommendations
The assessment fee is the assessment fee. We are not paid more if the recommendation is to buy a particular vendor’s switches, replace your firewall, or refresh a specific wireless platform. The report is the deliverable; what you do with it is your decision.
The report is meant to be implemented
Findings are written in language a competent network engineer can act on, with diagrams, screenshots, and configuration excerpts where they help. If your internal team picks up the work or you take the report to another vendor, they will have what they need without coming back to us for clarification.
Severity, not alarm
Real findings get real severity ratings. We do not inflate medium issues to critical to drive scope, and we do not bury critical issues to keep the report short. Anything in the report worth flagging gets a recommendation; anything that did not rise to that level does not get filler text just to make the deliverable feel substantial.
Actually been doing this since 2003
Twenty-two years of network work in the Charlotte market. We have seen what works and what does not in real businesses, what vendor relationships matter regionally, and what kinds of findings tend to surprise leadership later if they are not flagged early. The pattern recognition is the value, not the scan tool.
Frequently asked questions.
How is this different from your security gap analysis?
Two different engagements. The security gap analysis is an automated assessment across ten domains pulled from the platform we already manage for active managed clients; it is customer-only and free as part of the managed engagement. The network assessment is a project-shaped engagement focused specifically on the network and infrastructure layer, open to anyone, delivered as on-site work, and priced as a fixed-fee project. If you are an active managed client, you already get the gap analysis quarterly; the network assessment is for cases where you want a deeper look at the infrastructure layer specifically.
How long does a network assessment take?
Most single-site assessments take one to two weeks of elapsed time. The on-site portion is one to two days; the rest is the analysis, scan results, and report writing. Multi-site engagements scale based on the number of locations. For an urgent timeline (an upcoming move, an audit deadline) we can usually compress the elapsed time to a week.
Do I need a network assessment if my network seems fine?
If you have not had one in five years and the environment has grown organically over that time, probably yes. Most networks accumulate small misconfigurations, end-of-life equipment, and one-off changes that nobody documented. The assessment surfaces the things that have not yet caused a problem but probably will. If you are about to move, make a major hardware purchase, or run an audit, the assessment is also the right starting point.
Will the report be readable for non-technical leadership?
Yes. The report opens with an executive summary written in plain language, with the prioritized recommendations and a budget-impact view. The technical details (configuration screenshots, diagrams, scan output) live in later sections so an engineer who needs to implement the findings has the data, but a leadership team reading the executive summary can make the right calls without working through the technical sections.
Can the assessment satisfy a cyber insurance application?
Often, yes. Cyber insurance carriers increasingly ask whether a recent network or security assessment has been performed by an outside party. The written report serves as the documentation. If you are about to renew, mention the renewal date during scoping and we will format the deliverable so it lines up with the questions your carrier is asking.
What if you find something serious during the assessment?
If we find an active security issue (an open port to the internet that should not be there, evidence of compromised credentials, a critical vulnerability with public exploit code), we surface it immediately rather than holding it for the report delivery. Containment is your call, but you have the information the moment we have it. The final report still documents the finding, but you do not wait two weeks to act on a critical issue.
Let’s get a real picture of your network.
Tell us what is bothering you about your current network: dead zones, slow performance, recurring outages, an upcoming move, or just the fact that nobody has looked at it in five years. We will scope the right depth of assessment for the question and quote it before any work begins.
Or call us:
(704) 333-0404
What our clients say
Netsafe Solutions has provided fast and courteous help on a regular basis. I have been pleased with the promptness of their service.Michael T. Jun 2025 · Google
Yesterday's service was punctual, effective, and Professional - just like every time I need help. Good listeners, easy to talk to (and understand), and always pleasant.Drake S. Sep 2025 · Google
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