Networking trends, according to Cisco

Cisco recently released its traditional annual report on trends in the networking world. This year’s study concludes that networks are becoming more relevant every year and are intrinsically linked to the business strategies of the companies interviewed. The survey assessed challenges, priorities, the maturity of architectures and investment strategies, reaching out to more than 2,000 IT leaders and professionals in 10 sectors around the world.

Among the trends observed, three themes stood out: centralised network platforms, security as the main concern and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a driver for modernising infrastructures and making networks better (networks for AI and with AI).

Adoption of network platforms on the rise

According to the report, IT leaders and professionals are recognising that network platforms can provide a more efficient and consistent architecture, with simpler integration between domains and better performance.

For Cisco, network platforms are integrated systems that combine software, policies and open APIs with an intuitive interface, advanced telemetry and automation. It guarantees a centralised experience for operators, total network management and an API-driven ecosystem that simplifies operations.

According to the survey, one in five (21%) of the organisations surveyed currently maintain several separate systems for managing headquarters, branches, networks, data centres and multi-cloud domains. Within two years, adoption of network platforms is expected to increase to 72 per cent, covering one or more domains.

“Organisations that take advantage of the platform approach to simplify management and enable advanced functionalities will be better placed to succeed in the digital business era”, says Brandon Butler, IDC’s research manager for corporate networks.

Security is the main concern

Cyber security is the number one concern for network strategies, according to 40 per cent of respondents to the Cisco study. Managing security in the cloud, along with the convergence of security and network technologies, is considered a priority in order to face the growing threat landscape.

In this year’s report, 42 per cent of respondents said that the integration of network and security technologies is the area that needs the most improvement in order to meet IT and business objectives.

According to 44% of the organisations surveyed, faster identification and response to cybersecurity threats is the most important benefit expected from the convergence of network and security technologies, processes and tools. Sharing data and telemetry between network and security domains is the second benefit expected by 29 per cent of respondents, followed by providing consistent and secure access to multi-cloud applications from anywhere (27 per cent).

For a two-year scenario, organisations are planning to make investments to facilitate convergence between network and security technologies. When asked about priorities in the area of network security, 52 per cent mentioned integrating network security into broader IT security functions.

Within two years, 60% of organisations also expect to have an integrated multi-cloud network and security management platform with common APIs to ensure the secure transfer of workloads, have visibility of networks and applications and manage policies. In addition, the most innovative IT organisations plan to have AIOps-driven automation to optimise the transfer of workloads with end-to-end visibility.

Cloud security was the biggest area for network investment this year, according to 38 per cent of respondents. Securely connecting the distributed workforce and their devices is also a dominant point in future IT strategies.

Over the next two years, 49 per cent of respondents intend to make significant investments in cloud-based security tools. In that timeframe, 39 per cent expect more than half of their security tools to be in the cloud. For 29 per cent of respondents, policy-based micro-segmentation to ensure a zero-trust network architecture for IoT devices will be another important area of investment.

Networks for AI and with AI

The huge AI workload deployed in data centres, alongside traditional processes, is resulting in priority measures to modernise these environments. To meet this demand, organisations are focusing their budgets on Ethernet and advanced Ethernet, according to the Cisco report.

A third of respondents said they will invest primarily in data centre network upgrades over the next 12 months due to the increased demand from new applications and workloads such as Generative AI. For 32%, InfiniBand is the preferred technology for delivering high performance when connecting data-intensive workloads.

Over the next two years, 89% of respondents also plan to deploy some form of AI-ready data centre clusters, and 56% say they will deploy an enhanced next-generation Ethernet network to support AI workloads without data packet losses.

Alongside the demand for processing power and connectivity, IT leaders and professionals also clearly believe in the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to significantly improve various functions, including automating operations, enforcing policies, strengthening security and ensuring digital resilience.

The majority (67%) of respondents said that their IT teams have already started to adopt AI resources to simplify operations, automate complex tasks and speed up the correction of performance problems. In the case of network operations, 32% believe that using a network platform is the right solution for aggregating telemetry data for analysis and specialised AI applications.

Within two years, 60 per cent expect to have AI-enabled predictive automation in all domains to manage and simplify network operations. In addition, 17% expect to integrate AI-enabled networks with AIOps to enable predictive optimisation between users, devices and applications in all network domains.

In addition, the use of AI to improve cyber security is expected to increase over the next two years, with 51 per cent of respondents planning to deploy AI-enabled endpoint recognition and policy management. This will give organisations the ability to identify potential performance and security problems and resolve them proactively.