SD-WAN platforms will be required to power the IoT dreams of the market and will see greater enterprise adoption.
Editor’s Note: With 2017 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from across the mobile telecommunications space on what they expect to see in the new year.
IoT will fuel the adoption of SD-WAN
The “internet of things” will create billions of new data end-points through devices or systems, constantly relaying a growing volume of data across enterprise networks. The fundamental requirement for any IoT project to be successful is the availability and access of real-time data for all stakeholders.
The promise of simplified network deployment, centralized control and real-time application delivery is going to be critical for CIOs to choose software-defined wide area networks over legacy network technologies for their IoT-based applications.
For example, Augmedix, a leading health care technology provider, opted for a global SD-WAN to eliminate latency issues with their technology. This helps physicians become more productive by enabling them to use Google Glass to communicate in real time with human scribes across the globe to document the health records of patients. Without this service in place the Augmedix service could not update health records in real time and would hinder a physician’s ability to see more patients and be attentive to their needs.
Telcos will integrate SD-WAN capabilities to provide comprehensive end-to-end network solutions
Some telcos have already moved from solely providing bandwidth to partnering with edge-based SD-WAN vendors with intelligent routing and central network management. This approach still inherits the problems of today’s networks: the inflexibility of multiprotocol label switching, the unreliability of public internet, poor application performance, and the cost and complexity of having to manage multiple vendors and contracts.
As mainstream adoption of SD-WAN increases, enterprises will look at integrated and managed solutions for painless end-to-end connectivity that provides the application performance expected by a globally distributed workforce.
SD-WAN technologies will encompass all network connection end-points
Today, public and private cloud instances are as important as the corporate data center for business applications. More employees will work remotely via mobile devices.
In 2017, SD-WAN solutions will improve coverage across all connectivity end-points. This will enable CIOs to optimize the location of their applications for more efficient business operations.
