2018

State of the Network Study

Technology Adoption Trends &
Their Influence on the Network Role
 Edge Computing is Changing the Network

Computing is moving closer to the edge of the network, giving

organizations the ability to analyze data in near real-time.

2 Source: “What is edge computing and how it’s changing the network,” Network World Sept. 2017
 The Network Role is Expanding

Q: Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements.

3 Source: 2018 State of the Network Study, Network World

 Network Security is the Top Responsibility
Network Security 60%
IT Operations 59%
Network/Systems Management 59%
Internet/intranet 57%
Computing Hardware 52%
1000+: 42%
Business Continuity 48% <1000: 62%
Data Center 47%
Data Storage 46%
1000+: 59%
Disaster Recovery 45% <1000: 37%
Telecommunications 41%
Architecture 40%
1000+: 39%
IT Governance 37% <1000: 52%
Software (including SaaS) 36%
Compliance 35%
Cloud Services (PaaS, IaaS) 32%
Data Management/Analytics 30%
Database 30%
Systems Engineering 28%
Application Development 27%
Programming 18%
Machine Learning 12%

Q: In which of the following areas do you primarily have responsibility?

4 Source: 2018 State of the Network Study, Network World

 Top Challenges Related to Security & Access to Data
Maintaining network security while
assuring network connectivity 42%

Protecting Against Data Breaches/Leaks 36%

Ensuring Availability (Uptime) 35%

Ensuring Business Continuity 35%

Reducing OPEX Costs 34%

Optimizing End-to-End IT Service Delivery 31% Up from

18% in
Finding, Hiring and Retaining the Right IT Talent 30% 2017

Finding the Right Balance of On-Premise

and Cloud-Based IT Resources 28%

Faster Network Service Configuration and Delivery 24%

Attaining End-to-End Visibility
into Infrastructure Performance 23%

Attaining End-to-End Visibility into Application Performance 22%

Integrating Emerging Tools with
Legacy Systems and Applications 21%

Integrating Cloud Services into a Seamless IT Resource Pool 21%

Q: What are the top network/data center-related challenges and obstacles that your organization is facing?

5 Source: 2018 State of the Network Study, Network World

 IT Budgets Continue to Show Growth

Increase
43% 39% U.S.
49% Non-U.S.

Remain the same

57% U.S.
50% $137M
Average
42% Non-U.S. IT budget

7% Decrease
5% U.S.
9% Non-U.S.

Q: How will your organization’s total IT budget change over the next 12 months? AND Q: You mentioned that your overall IT
budget will change in the next 12 months compared to the past 12 months. What percentage will this change by?

6 Source: 2018 State of the Network Study, Network World

 Security, App Dev & Cloud Services Budgets Expect to Increase
Network Security 61% 37% 1% 1%
Application Development 61% 25% 13% 1%
Cloud Services (PaaS, IaaS) 60% 34% 4% 2%
Machine Learning 55% 33% 9% 3%
Data Management/Analytics 47% 47% 5% 1%
Software (including Software-as-a-Service) 46% 43% 5% 5%
Compliance 46% 52% 1% 1%
Computing Hardware (servers, clients, mobile devices) 43% 43% 13% 1%
Disaster Recovery 42% 54% 2%2%
Programming (Development) 42% 39% 17% 2%
Architecture 40% 53% 5% 2%
Data Storage 38% 52% 8% 2%
Data Center 37% 46% 16% 1%
IT Governance 37% 58% 4% 1%
Business Continuity 36% 59% 2%3%
Internet/Intranet 34% 56% 9% 1%
Network/Systems Management 34% 59% 5% 2%
Database 32% 57% 8% 3%
IT Operations 30% 52% 15% 3%
Telecommunications 28% 49% 18% 5%
Systems Engineering 26% 59% 12% 3%

Increase Remain the Same Decrease Not Sure

Q: Please indicate whether the percent of your organization’s total IT budget dedicated to the following areas will increase,
decrease or remain the same over the next 12 months.

7 Source: 2018 State of the Network Study, Network World

 Ensuring Availability & Uptime is #1 Driver Fueling Network Investments

Ensuring Availability (uptime) 53%

1000+:61%
Improving Data Security 53% <1000: 48%

Improving Network Speed/Performance 53%

Ensuring Business Continuity 51%

Improving Customer Experience 45%

Reduce Operations Expense 44%

Improving IT Process Efficiency 43%

Improving Business Process Efficiency 41%

1000+:43%
Improving Agility/Flexibility for react to Business Changes 33% <1000: 26%

Enabling New Initiatives (i.e. IoT, Machine Learning) 33%

1000+: 35%
Enabling a Digital Business Approach 26%
<1000: 20%

Q: Which of the following are primary drivers of your organization’s networking investments? AND Q: Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements.

8 Source: 2018 State of the Network Study, Network World

 Conclusion

The networking team is collaborating even more with IT and other key groups in the
business and becoming more involved in IT initiatives and shaping the overall IT strategy

Security continues to be top-of-mind for network professionals. They’re joining forces

with IT to stay ahead of potential cyberattacks and putting investments behind securing
the network.

IT budgets dedicated to security, cloud services and application development are

still on the rise

The Networking team is investing time and budget into emerging technologies.
Converged and hyper converged systems, IoT and Blockchain are among a few of the
technologies on their radar

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