Among the number of factors influencing networking technologies, any one of them would be enough to shake up an industry: the move to the cloud, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the permanency of hybrid and remote work environments. Together, they are causing some technology trends to shift.
Here are four that you should be aware of as you are planning a network upgrade, a security policy change, or if you are looking for ways to simplify network management and cut costs:
Integrated Networking and Security: There are many challenges complicating network management, including remote and hybrid work settings, fleets of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, cloud migration, and the bandwidth demands of modern applications. The result is the near-elimination of the network perimeter, causing both connectivity and security vulnerabilities.
Companies are implementing a unified approach to networking and security with Secure Access Service Edge (SASE), which combines networking and security functions into a single solution. The technology allows companies to provide a consistently excellent user experience without sacrificing security.
Software for Managing Multiple Clouds: One of the difficulties with using multiple clouds is that each cloud provider tends to operate as if their platform is the only one a company could possibly need. The result is a complex environment for network and security teams to manage.
Now, technology trends are favoring the needs of the business with Multi-Cloud Networking Software (MCNS), which allows for the management of multiple clouds from a single console, providing improved visibility and optimization of workload placement and resource allocation.
Expanded Virtualized Networking: Software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) emerged as a niche solution in 2014, but its benefits and advancing features have made it an important solution for companies that require traffic segmentation, bandwidth allocation, and improved visibility and control over multiple locations.
Now the virtualization of the network is expanding, with technologies like firewalls, routing, and WAN optimization all being offered in software deployment. The result is a significantly reduced cost of operating a large, global WAN network.
Yet More Gs: While 5G is still being rolled out and implemented across the world, there’s already buzz around the developing 6G. The network technology will offer 100 times faster speeds than 5G, allowing companies to support bandwidth-hungry cloud applications better and handle massive volumes of data. It will reduce latency while also managing multiple users better than previous versions. These benefits may be most easily seen when applied to virtual reality and augmented reality applications.
If you’re interested in discussing emerging networking technologies and the ways in which they might impact your business, contact us at ITBroker.com. We can help you determine which developments are most likely to assist you in moving your objectives forward in 2023.
