The Future of Enterprise Networking: SMOAD and Beyond
Enterprise networking has evolved, especially with remote work becoming a preferential model. The future of enterprise networking will be viewed differently, with massive data usage and emerging technologies taking the centre seat. Today, we live in a hyperconnected world where we are redefining the way we communicate and conduct our business. Modern-day applications require unique enterprise networking, and this has given rise to increasing demand for custom configuration.
One technology cannot be used to resolve the multiple needs of applications. Different technologies need to be adapted to determine the challenges in small stages. Every technology tries to outshine the other, confusing enterprises when choosing which service to use. With the end consumer’s demands rising, enterprises are keen on tuning their communication system to provide enriched customer experience. Enterprises are looking for multiple network architecture requirements like security, storage, performance, reliability and latency. Customers can test their applications in a sandbox environment to enhance their performance and allow them to experience the network orchestration even before subscribing to it.
The rise in digitalisation and increased data volume to be secured and analysed has made data processing and security an integral part of the process. Remote working and online collaboration have become the order of the day. The workforce’s hybrid nature will still be prevalent, with people choosing to work from home, work from the office, or both. This makes it challenging for the network team to support numerous network locations and connections. Apart from this, there is a burden of managing the increase in video and voice traffic for a seamless and personalised user experience, irrespective of the location.
Enterprise networks and digitalisation
Enterprise networks do not evolve at the desired speed as in the case of computing and security. But this does not mean that they are not delivering enough throughput. Many businesses are spending money to enhance their networking space. Yet, there is a misalignment between demand and supply, and the enterprises have no option but to look to satisfy their network demands elsewhere. Enterprises always demand automation, security, and availability, and to meet these requirements, they add DIY models or join hands with non-telecom operator networking companies.
Here are some examples of traffic connecting users to enterprises. Email is an apt example of traffic running between users and mail-server operators. File sharing is another example of a practice that companies like Amazon, Facebook, Dropbox, and Google support. The traffic between users is limited. This is very limited compared to the transmission of voice, SMS and torrent downloads. It is estimated that over 90% of data traffic is not consumer-to-consumer.
Satisfying instant user/device experience is essential. The infrastructure and application have to be managed efficiently. Network connectivity is crucial, and these are the three things’ enterprises do to data:
- Moving data through space, called routing
- Moving data through time, called storage
- Transforming data, called computing
Future of enterprise networking: SD-WAN benefits
The SD-WAN market is projected at $13.7 billion by 2027. As the demand for agility, cost-effectiveness, secure networking solutions, and built-for-purpose solutions increases, SD-WAN is considered a suitable successor to traditional networking solutions.
How is SD-WAN seen as the future of enterprise networking?
SD-WAN helps evolve your network requirements by providing unmatched security, agility, and scale. Some of the SD-WAN features include:
- Enhanced performance: Application prioritisation, intelligent routing, and superior application steering lead to improved performance, enriched user experience and accelerated performance.
- Cost efficiency: SD-WAN reduces hardware cost consideration and optimises bandwidth and network asset usage, making it easier to achieve long-term ROI.
- Simple management: Centralised control simplifies policy management, network management, and automation by cutting down the need for manual configuration and expediting scaling. Sophisticated dashboards make it convenient to view the business verticals.
- Security: SD-WAN strengthens the overall network security. It provides secure connectivity to remote offices and encrypted traffic.
- Application awareness: SD-WAN has no match regarding application-aware dynamic bandwidth allocation. It is extremely helpful in high-demand environments. SD-WAN policies are pre-configured to identify latency-sensitive traffic to ensure no compromise in quality.
- Automatic failover: The congestion or failure on the primary connection is quickly detected, and the traffic is switched to the secondary connection automatically for a seamless user experience.
Hybrid work environments are taking over enterprises, and suitable networking solutions can ensure uninterrupted connectivity. SMOAD offers managed SD-WAN to interconnect distributed offices and securely deliver last-mile transport. For more details, contact us for a demo.