Networking Pain Points Create Channel Opportunities

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Network load

As interest in networking solutions that better address the rigors of enterprise application environments grows, the mission for solution providers is clear.

The study found that networking was the dominant category, accounting for 40% of last year’s IT budget. Cloud infrastructure came in second at 31%.

Networking remains this year’s top budget category, at 38%, but cloud infrastructure is now a close-second priority, at 37%.

While networking may not dominate the IT budget like it once did, a full 90% said they are increasing spending on networking in 2016. A full 95% also said network reliability is core to their business.

Two-fifths (40%) said they will increase spending on networking by 10% to 20%, while 35% said they would increase spending 20% to 50%. Another 18% said they would increase spending 50% or more.

A little more than a third (35%) cited disruption in service to enterprise applications as the biggest network pain point; 17% pointed to poor performance during a spike in network traffic.

Increased resiliency tops the list of network investment benefits, followed by reduced operating costs and simplified management.

Just under a third (32%) say they need to improve WAN reliability while 17% cited improving application quality and 13% pointed to reducing WAN operating costs.

Among those using SD-WANs, almost half (47%) are employing a hybrid approach spanning Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and internet connections. Only 23% are using internet connections only, while 21% say they have MPLS connections only.

Just over half (52%) are looking for more efficient ways to share loads. Another 43% want an SD-WAN solution that works with their existing WAN. Yet a full 72% would consider using SD-WANs that required them to replace MPLS networks.