DriveNets shared the results of a global IP networks survey conducted by
Heavy Reading highlighting that just 7 percent of network operators surveyed
are fully satisfied with their incumbent network providers. High costs, lack of
openness and innovation are cited as the main sources of dissatisfaction with
their current vendors.
The survey, A Radical Network Change to
Cloud, which was sponsored by DriveNets, also found
increasingly high adoption of network disaggregation. An average 35 percent of
service providers surveyed are already in the process of adopting modern
cloud-native or disaggregated networks - from access to core - while more than
50 percent plan to do so within the next five years.
The survey results clearly show that modern networks will
be designed like clouds - based on cloud-native software running over a shared
pool of physical resources - with complete disaggregation of hardware and
software. According to the report, those who ignore these trends do so at their
own peril.
"Either the incumbent suppliers adapt to meet the
new requirements, or they will be replaced with more responsive players," said
Sterling Perrin, senior principal analyst at Heavy Reading and author of the
report. "Disaggregation is opening the IP market to new supplier choices that
have not existed in decades, giving operators new power in the buyer-seller
relationship."
Results reflect changing industry
dynamics
The survey results reflect the changing dynamics between
communications service providers (CSPs) and cloud providers, who are becoming
partners as well as competitors.
"Cloud providers are pursuing CSPs' revenue streams,"
said Ido Susan, co-founder and CEO of DriveNets. "They're not only taking on
some operational networking payloads but are also becoming a backbone
alternative for enterprise services. Transforming their network to a modern,
fully virtualized cloud-native architecture will enable them to be more
innovative, roll out new capabilities at the network edge next to new cloud
buildouts, and substantially lower their costs."
Susan cites AT&T's deployment of DriveNets Network Cloud as an example of
this innovation:
"AT&T deployed our technology because they, like the
rest of the industry, are focused on building networks that are powerful,
scalable, responsive to fluctuations in demand and open to new innovations. The
results of this survey reinforce that most service providers have realized that
a disaggregated, cloud-native network architecture will take them there."
"Our latest forecasts for disaggregated routers reflect
CSP's expanding interest in this rapidly emerging market," said Shin Umeda,
vice president of the Dell'Oro Group. "We expect disaggregated routers in which
the network operating system (NOS) software is sold independently from white
box hardware to see their first large-scale deployments in 2021, for use in
both high-capacity core networks and as cell site devices in mobile backhaul
networks."
In addition to the high level of dissatisfaction with
current network suppliers, the report also covers the level of adoption of
disaggregation, the benefits of deploying disaggregated and cloud-native
technologies, and the challenges operators will face if they don't evolve to
new network architectures.
Biggest sources of
dissatisfaction with current IP network suppliers
- Lack of interoperability - 22 percent
Adoption of
disaggregated, cloud-native networks is already happening
- 42 percent of mobile network operators have already deployed this
technology
- 40 percent of fixed network operators have deployed this technology
Benefits to adopting disaggregated or cloud-native networking technologies
- Architecture simplification - 45 percent
- Higher, more flexible scale - 45 percent
- Virtualization - 44 percent
Download the full
report here.