Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2022. Read them in this 14th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
The Five Key Trends Driving Networking Success in 2022
By
David Hughes, Senior Vice President, Chief Product and Technology Officer at
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
After two years characterized by
enormous upheaval as the result of the pandemic, 2022 will feature a
continuation and refinement of key trends that were sparked or accelerated by
COVID-19. At Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, we envision those
trends to be a continued explosion of IoT and machine to machine (M2M)
communications, the maturation of SASE, the transition to Wi-Fi 6E, the
refinement of hybrid or work-from-home paradigms, and increased demand for
infrastructure service models, especially networking-as-a-service (NaaS).
Prediction
1: Devices will outnumber people 10:1 by 2025
Digital Transformation is driving a
proliferation of IoT devices and (M2M) communications are growing rapidly.
Today, connected devices outnumber people 5:1. Over the next three years, there
will be 10x more connected devices as compared to people, making automated
secure connectivity of IoT of paramount importance.
Without an automated way to onboard,
provision and secure these devices, organizations will be left vulnerable to
security breaches, which are continually growing in sophistication.
Prediction
2: Two clear paths to SASE emerge
As SASE deployments enter the early
majority stage of the adoption lifecycle, the market will see a clear split in
approaches. Small and medium size enterprises are likely to be attracted to the
all-in-one SASE offerings, where simplicity and ‘one throat to choke' take
priority over advanced capabilities. On the other hand, large enterprises will
remain unwilling to compromise on security, reliability or the quality of user
experience.
They will look to a dual-vendor
approach, pairing a best-of-breed SD-WAN partner for on-prem security and WAN
facing capabilities, with a fully-fledged cloud-delivered security partner
delivering secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB) and
zero trust network access (ZTNA) services.
Prediction
3: The transition to Wi-Fi 6E will take off in 2022
While much attention has been given to
5G cellular, on the campus and inside the enterprise, we are on the cusp of a
fast transition to Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6E delivers high capacity with an additional
1200 MHz of new spectrum, while retaining backwards compatibility.
Leading market intelligence firm 650
Group expects over 200% unit growth of Wi-Fi 6E enterprise APs in 2022,
indicating that enterprise organizations recognize the potential of 6E,
especially with the continued reliance on activities such as videoconferencing,
telemedicine and distance learning.
Prediction
4: Hybrid working will drive the rise of ‘microbranches' supercharged with AI
automation
Even as the pandemic recedes,
work-from-home is here to stay. This new normal will drive the emergence of the
microbranch or ‘branch of one'. In the early days of the pandemic,
organizations scrambled to expand VPNs and deploy remote access points (RAPs)
to connect their locked-down workforce and implement pop-up testing kiosks.
In 2022, we will see enormous growth for
purpose-built microbranch offerings that combine enterprise-class Wi-Fi access
with sophisticated multi-path WAN connectivity and advanced AIOps for
reliability and consistent user experience. These microbranch offerings will
securely extend the enterprise to the ‘branch of one.'
Prediction
5: The increased value on ‘services' will drive a step function increase in
demand for infrastructure consumption models like NaaS
There is a culture shift happening right
before our very eyes - the increased value consumers are placing on
‘experiences' over ‘things' and the decline in needing to ‘own something' has
already touched our everyday lives. This same shift will begin to play out in
the enterprise as well in the coming year, with organizations being less
focused on devices and CAPEX and more focused on the business outcomes of their
technology investments.
Organizations want greater financial
flexibility and cost predictability, while being able to increase IT efficiency
and keep pace with innovation. A flexible infrastructure consumption model
allows for all of this, and for those organizations that aren't fully ready to
take the plunge, flexible consumption models provide the option to ‘try before
buying', so that enterprises can adopt the new model - or not - at their own
pace. This will drive a big increase in demand for consumption-based services
like NaaS in 2022.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prior
to joining Aruba, David founded Silver Peak in 2004, building an industry
leading WAN edge infrastructure company on the premise of enabling customers to
build a better WAN. A holder of 50+ patents, David is responsible for
accelerating the company's edge-to-cloud strategy, currently leading the team
responsible for the technology vision and strategy for Aruba.