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Four challenges to your enterprise network performance

IT Integration

The ways we use and communicate information are changing so fast that it can be tough to keep your enterprise network at the performance levels the business needs to stay competitive . So I’m going to warn you about four challenges to network performance you cannot afford to ignore:

1      Growth in data traffic – and data speed

Annual global IP traffic is increasing by 24% per year . Yearly data traffic will hit 3.3 zettabytes – that is, 3.3 trillion gigabytes – by 2021, up from “just” 1.2 zettabytes in 2016.

Meanwhile, broadband speeds will nearly double by 2021 , reaching 53.0 Mbps, up from 27.5 Mbps in 2016.

2      Arrival of 5G

Game-changing fifth-generation (5G) Wi-Fi is nearly upon us with such capabilities as…

  • Latency of less than 1ms;
  • Ability to deliver data speeds to 10 Gbps and beyond;
  • Energy efficiency while running thousands of devices; and
  • Improved network capacity thanks to an ability to sustain simultaneous connection of millions of low-bandwidth devices.

Among other things, 5G will boost use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices because of far more cost-effective Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications.

3      Intensifying network complexity

Today’s diverse network environments – assorted clouds, managed services, applications, in-house systems, eclectic mixes of endpoints, etc. – point to an acute need for the visibility necessary to maintain efficient and proactive  control of network assets.

With hybrid and multi-cloud strategies in particular, network engineers must monitor connectivity performance between the enterprise and service providers in order to determine the most efficient data flows and achieve improved network performance, cost savings, and resilience.

Yet, traditional network management systems offer only one view of only part of the network. They lack the user experience data and analytics necessary for mapping application dependencies, monitoring app performance , spotting transport performance bottlenecks, detecting unauthorized WAN traffic, powering predictive notification of and solutions for issues, and building complex network policies.

4      Heightened risk of security breaches

Cyber threats are growing in both number and sophistication – in concert with accelerating network complexity and diversification spawned by end-users requiring connectivity and access across multiple sites, multiple clouds, and multiple devices and apps.

Hence, network perimeters evaporate. Classic perimeter-based security and traditional firewall technologies are no longer sufficient. Nor are reactive responses to security events and threats. What’s more, as end-users and customers buffeted by the security problems of the organizations with which they do business demand relief, new regulations and compliance rules emerge. You ignore these at your peril .

The good news

These challenges can be addressed with technology services and solutions that can keep your network optimized and your organization competitive. I’ll take a look at these technologies in my next post.

Meet the Author
Tim Burke is the President and CEO of Quest. He has been at the helm for over 30 years.
Contact Quest Today  ˄
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