Three network technologies driven by cloud-native computing

In its Hype cycle for enterprise networking, 2019, published last July, Gartner warns that IT decision-makers will no longer be able to make incremental changes to network infrastructure to keep up with the pace of change in their organisations. The report notes that networking technologies are being driven heavily by digitisation and cloud computing. In fact, the digitisation of business means networking needs to become more agile. While Gartner’s report covers a large number of networking technologies at various stages of maturity, a few of these are becoming more mainstream, others are ready for early adoption, while some are very much hype. In this article, we look at three technologies aiming to disrupt the cloud-native computing market. Cloud-managed networks (CMNs) provide a cloud-based web portal to enable centralised configuration and management of secure, remotely deployed enterprise wired and wireless connectivity.In his analysis of the market, Gartner principal analyst Bill Menezes says CMNs are going beyond initial adopters (such as small or mid-sized enterprises) with limited IT staff who need to support wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (APs).Functionality has expanded to include wired connectivity for management, provisioning, guest access, policy enforcement and other typical location network service applications.
We also have begun to see WAN security appliance management as part of the cloud portfolio, and CMNs are now extending to datacentre networking. Adoption will continue increasing as an ecosystem of infrastructure vendors’ partners provides an expanded service portfolio,” says Menezes.He points out that organisations with limited IT staff or budgetary constraints, which need to activate remote branches quickly and manage them remotely with limited availability of on-site technical staff, can benefit from CMNs. Retail store chains, coffee shops and restaurants, small hotels, waiting rooms in healthcare facilities, schools, small businesses and remote offices in general represent the majority of the current CMN installed base.
Although IT providers often propose CMNs for campus local area networks (LANs), Gartner recommends that it is less suitable for large enterprise sites with complex LAN and WLAN infrastructure. Its research found that adoption by large enterprises with more than 100 branch offices remains limited.