5G. IoT. Smart Cities. AI. All the industry buzzwords that have been gaining steam will be on full display in 2022 and beyond as enterprises and service providers look to harness the growing tide of data that is passing through their networks. Some technologies have plenty of runway left, however, some enterprises may already be rethinking choices they made just a few years ago. The common theme: The need for high-capacity fiber networks has never been stronger. Everstream CTO Chuck Girt expounds on this as he looks forward to 2022:
#1: Service providers will stop paying lip service to network automation - or risk losing market share.
Analyst firm IDC shared that in 2020, more than 64.2 zettabytes (ZB) of data was created or replicated globally. For comparison, that’s nearly 65x as much information as there are grains of sand on all the world’s beaches. Data consumption is increasing so quickly that service providers must augment their networks to help them become more self-provisioning. To reach that point, network automation is critical.
Network automation combines machine learning and artificial intelligence to detect and mitigate potential issues before they impact connectivity. It is one of the top network-centric priorities providers can undertake on behalf of their enterprise customers.
Automation is now moving beyond the basics of instantaneously rerouting traffic to avoid network outages or reduce latency. Today automation is AI-based and more predictive, spotting trends and pointing network engineers to places in the network where future issues could occur if action is not taken.
The bottom line: With enterprise service level agreements (SLAs) becoming increasingly competitive, service providers must keep pace in 2022 or risk losing market share to those who have invested in new technologies. It can’t be done all at once, but providers must set realistic yet aggressive, goals (10-15% of the network per year is achievable) to automate their network, one piece at a time.
#2: Businesses will re-evaluate their SD-WAN investments in 2022.
Software-defined WAN, commonly called SD-WAN, has become one of the networking industry’s biggest buzzwords. Through the COVID pandemic, businesses became acutely aware they need to create flexible, resilient networks. Many businesses turned to SD-WAN as a panacea, latching onto its promises, including increasing site capacity, improving performance, cutting costs, reducing provisioning time, and improving security.
The problem: Like other networking technologies, SD-WAN has limitations. In 2022, businesses using SD-WAN will see the true impact on their networks and realize it might not deliver the full benefits they were seeking. Yes, the solution is in vogue, but does it really meet their business needs? Some businesses are already expressing their disappointment, with comments like, “We were told it would fix errors,” and “I thought it included load balancing.” (Note: It does neither). SD-WAN can also be considerably more difficult to manage than traditional WAN solutions.
Another downside: SD-WAN is capped at 10 Gbps. Many businesses today are seeing their traffic skyrocket and need solutions that scale to 100 Gbps and above.
The bottom line: Expect to see some businesses move away from SD-WAN and back to fixed point-to-multipoint networks, whether that be MPLS or another technology. If businesses have a solid underlying network, they don’t really need SD-WAN.
#3: The perfect storm will spur Smart City growth.
5G wireless hasn’t yet reached its potential. Neither has the Internet of Things. But these two growing technology areas, rooted in high-capacity fiber networks, will begin to create a perfect storm of connectivity in 2022. Once 5G is rolled out at full capacity, we will see even more smart devices and solutions developed to support the growing need of businesses and municipalities.
In addition, cities - looking to attract businesses and people back into downtown areas - will begin to implement more robust Smart Grid initiatives to inject intelligence into everything from streetlights to electricity plants. Using IoT, these cities can collect and analyze data from transmission lines and distribution substations to make more informed decisions about their customers’ needs.
The bottom line: Fiber enables 5G, and 5G enables IoT. With fiber at the back end, service providers can deliver the higher-bandwidth services businesses and cities need to grow.
The true power that high-capacity fiber networks enable has long taken a backseat to technology buzzwords. That won’t change much in 2022. But what will change is the realization by businesses that none of these technologies can deliver on their promises without a resilient, robust fiber network. They’ll start demanding “what’s under the hood?” when they engage in or renew contracts. If they don’t like what they see, many businesses will consider moving on to technologies and providers that better meet their growing bandwidth needs.
