The ongoing quest for anywhere-and-everywhere connectivity is driving a greater focus on what links together every aspect of an enterprise’s digital journey: the network as the technology backbone.
From on-premises servers, to public cloud and edge data centers, network infrastructure is fundamental to modern business operations. Look no further than the challenges posed by out-of-date networks: Not only are they ill-equipped for innovative new technologies such as artificial intelligence, but they also present security risks.
Many enterprises are subsequently upgrading to next-generation networks to reduce IT costs, improve performance and agility, and better secure their infrastructures. But it’s essential that businesses have the right strategy and technology in place as they progress their modernizations. The path to success always starts with a secure, dynamic and intelligent connectivity backbone.
Here are five trends that will shape the networking industry in 2024:
#1: Integrated wireless technology will become a reality
Ubiquitous wireless has been a trending topic in the networking space for years. But seamless, integrated mobility across different wireless technologies has been far from successful. This is often the result of a lack of device support and consolidated authentication. With the implementation of a unified SIM, or multi-IMSI solution, which solves these challenges, private and public cellular connectivity is now emerging for a number of use cases.
This new frontier of connectivity will provide ultra-secure capabilities, greatly expanded coverage and business efficiencies. In one example, integrated connectivity improves the employee experience, providing seamless connectivity regardless of location. For instance, a convergence of private 5G and public cellular network can connect frontline workers who need to remain accessible inside and outside of buildings. Another use case is a traveling executive will have secure, cost effective and low latency connectivity globally.
#2: Flexibility is key for a hybrid cloud approach
Enterprises around the world will continue to struggle to keep costs under control with data intensive workloads in the public cloud, making the ongoing effort to improve services and processes cumbersome for users. In the next year, some businesses will look to move new workloads to the private cloud or the edge for improved latency and performance or regulatory needs. Enterprises looking to adopt private cloud or edge computing should select vendor-neutral, hybrid-based solution frameworks that provide the flexibility of moving workloads from public cloud to private cloud, or near prem to the edge.
#3: GenAI will improve efficiency, operations and safety - with the right data
By 2026, generative artificial intelligence technology will account for 20% of initial network configuration. In addition to the more anticipated ways GenAI will impact business operations, such as through worker productivity, service providers will deploy AI to enable customers to gain real-time visibility and insights that connect their business operations to their bottom line.
AI can drive operational efficiencies and improve worker safety and health – but this all starts with gathering good data, often from the edge. With the right data strategy, in one example, a manufacturing company can use computer vision to detect defects in their production line, greatly improving efficiency, while workers can leverage AI-enabled wearables to drive better mobility and worker safety.
#4: Migrating to cloud networks will help companies advance sustainability goals
A recent study shows that while 85% of organizations place a high strategic level of importance on advancing sustainability goals, only 16% have integrated sustainability into business strategies and data.
By moving a company’s legacy networking services to the cloud, also known as Network as a Service (NaaS), organizations move from a capital expenses (CapEx) operational model to flexible operating expense (OpEx) subscriptions. NaaS solutions help enterprises manage the data and application needs of a hybrid workforce, and eliminates unwanted hardware and maintenance costs. Deploying a tailored network configuration enables companies to reduce their carbon footprint by optimizing energy consumption, but also ensures operational efficiencies and a robust, scalable network. Some NaaS vendors are also sourcing electricity from renewables and utilizing artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML)-based models to optimize power consumption.
#5: Collaboration with networking teams will play a pivotal role in digital transformation
To meet the demands of a competitive business landscape and ever growing cyberattacks, today’s enterprises need strong IT environments, secure networks and synchronized (IT) teams. It’s imperative that networking teams collaborate with security, cloud and workplace teams in order to properly manage an organization’s network and streamline IT operations to reduce costs and drive efficiencies.
For example, network and security teams must partner to balance the large volumes of firewall policies running on the corporate network and IoT devices in factories.
Network and workplace teams must collaborate to focus on creating the best employee communication experiences and tools for today’s hybrid workforce. We’ll continue to see the emergence of tools such Microsoft Copilot that are leveraging AI to help employees boost productivity and collaboration.
Across teams, deploying AI and automation tools will be key to reducing maintenance time, ensuring more robust, resilient IT infrastructure, and allows the employees to focus on innovating and providing better Quality of Experience for the customers or end users.
In 2024, we’ll see an increased awareness and prioritization of networks as the key to allowing organizations to deploy new services and shed outdated systems and processes. From deploying private ubiquitous networks to leveraging GenAI to improving efficiency, networking sits at the core of the systems and applications powering business transformation.
