The 2020 State of the Network research was conducted to better understand the role of the networking professional by looking at their level of collaboration with business leaders, their current activity with technology initiatives, and the challenges they are experiencing. This year’s research specifically focuses on four main networking technologies – 5G, SD-WAN, edge computing and data centers – in order to provide deeper insights into these topics.
Key Findings:
- Close to half (47%) of networking professionals say that their relationship with business management is highly collaborative – meaning they are brought into weekly line of business meetings and their advice is usually heeded.
- The current most actively researched technologies are 5G (51%), Internet of Things (37%), and Software Defined Networking (32%); while the technologies with the most overall interest/adoption are network security monitoring, server consolidation and WAN optimization.
- 61% of organizations are either actively researching or have edge computing tools in production. The main drivers for edge computing are to reduce network latency, reduce operational expenses, and real-time data processing.
- On average, organizations plan to start using 5G within the next 3 years (2.4 years.)
- 86% of organizations expect obstacles to SD-WAN implementation, which include capital costs (45%), technology learning curve (43%) and uncertain ROI (37%.)
View the sample slides below and download the 2020 executive summary to learn more. To request an in-depth research briefing on the full study, please fill out the form to the right.
