Business IT

Networking has historically been hardware-centric, with organizations deploying stacks of routers, switches and security appliances. The result is a highly complex environment that is managed manually on each device. Inflexible legacy network architectures make it difficult to implement new applications and services or scale the environment to meet changing demands.

Although software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) adoption has slowed somewhat due to current economic conditions, a new report from Dell’Oro Group predicts that uptake of the technology will quickly rebound. The research firm projects that SD-WAN sales will increase 168 percent through 2024 to exceed $3.2 billion.

The sudden shift to remote work models has revealed weaknesses in many corporate networks. In an IDC study of enterprise networking decision-makers conducted in May and June of 2020, 84 percent of respondents said employees are unable to access applications at least weekly due to network connectivity issues. More than half (51 percent) said employees cannot access applications multiple times a week, with 11 percent reporting that this problem occurs daily.

Given the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations are scrutinizing expenses to keep a lid on costs. However, one area of potentially significant savings is often ignored or overlooked — the telecom bill.