Three key Unified Access milestones on the road to the Unified Network

Enterprise networks have come a long way since the onset of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. Mobility in the workplace and the proliferation of personal devices across the globe is now a given.

We have already seen a huge step-up in enterprise networking to deal with these extra demands on bandwidth. Just a few years ago, networks were not only unable to support the requirements of today's technology, they were even not built for mobile devices with numerous applications running at any given time. But with recent developments in Unified Access strategies, things are beginning to change.

Take the case of the flagship UK hospital the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust. This customer is implementing a Unified Access-powered network designed to offer reliable mobility both on- and off-site to support the growing performance demands of clinicians, staff, patients and visitors alike – both now, and for the future. The Trust recognised the importance of a campus-wide Wi-Fi network in improving the quality of patient care, providing better outcomes and with greater speed and efficiency. The network supports the growing number of devices and applications involved in healthcare.

With multiple locations, the Trust also needed a robust network to support reliable collaboration tools on both mobile and fixed devices – and Unified Access fitted the bill by enabling a single authorisation and management process for both wired and wireless environments.

At the crossroads?
Comprehensive Unified Access strategies such as this have played a huge part in recent network evolution. But for many enterprises it is a dilemma as to how to continue to meet the demands of the application hungry user.

The amount of traffic in the enterprise is only increasing – and in fact almost 60% of organisations feel that more than 50% of traffic will be running across the wireless environment in 2017 (Forrester). At the same time, when we look at the wired network, the same Forrester research shows that 77% of respondents have seen little or no change in PC usage. So we can't choose one or the other – either the wired or wireless network. They must be able to work alongside each other to the benefit of the enterprise.

So what comes next? Quality of Service, network access and security and prioritisation are the key foundations stones to be laid, but we must look to three technology milestones which I predict will become prominent in enterprise networking.

1. Intelligent fabric
First, I predict that we will see the evolution of the 'intelligent' network fabric, where we will see more intelligence in the switches.
A big cost factor in network infrastructure IT operations is the complexity of initial deployment and changes. An intelligent fabric implements a new dimension to simplicity by deploying and managing changes of access, core and data centre functionality in network infrastructures. By adopting an intelligent fabric, enterprises will be able to secure the best performance of the network based on advanced user-based profiles which push the right access to a given user's application requirements. Deployment will be much easier, much faster and will result in fewer errors.

Such an approach also allows for easy upgrades to the latest industry requirements for the other two milestones on the road to a unified network: network programmability and network analytics.

2. Advanced analytics
The second development which we anticipate is that of advanced network analytics. Once the enterprise has built an intelligent network fabric, the next step is to better analyse traffic on that network, in order to provide optimum performance across multiple applications.

It's all about source, device and location. If the network has sophisticated analytics in place to be able to determine which applications are running on which device at any given time, enterprises can begin to consume the network 'as-a-service' and deliver applications effectively to users of the network.

And there's even the possibility that the future buyer of enterprise networking solutions could be the application developer themselves – not the CIO or the IT Manager – based on the requirement to run applications effectively and to better understand the needs of those applications.

3. Advanced programmability
The third technology milestone I've identified in the future of enterprise networking is that of advanced programmability.

One of the major burdens facing IT managers is the management of a complex IT environment where considerable time is required to configure, deploy and manage the network infrastructure. In fact, a recent IDC study shows just how heavy this burden has become. IT decision makers report that approximately three-quarters (76.8 percent) of IT staff time and resources is spent maintaining existing environments, and less than one-quarter (23.2 percent) of staff time is spent on value-added activities.

We have already begun this journey with software-defined networking (SDN), which is generating big interest as a technology that makes networks programmable and less expensive to build and operate. Yet in the future, we expect to see even more development around this aspect of the network. Such an approach would also provide better user performance and could accelerate business outcomes significantly.

But, remember...

IT departments mustn’t assume that mobility will take over the workplace – there will still be a need for wired devices particularly in industries such as manufacturing where workers require wired devices to perform their jobs, and it's essential that applications can run seamlessly across both networks.

The mobility elements will also still need to be connected into a high-capacity wired core network, in order to function optimally.

It's an evolution. It's important that enterprises take a gradual approach that best adapts to individual requirements. There are different models of Unified Access deployment available to enterprises dependent on the size of the network and different requirements, but these three key technology milestones – intelligent network fabric, advanced analytics and advanced programmability – will be key to enabling enterprises to ensure their network infrastructures perform in the best ways possible.