1.Security is driving IT strategy. The majority of respondents listed security as the number one trend driving their IT strategy (77.4%). BYOD (55.5%) and cloud (44.5%) rounded out the top three. The results clearly demonstrate that in order to compete and fuel growth, businesses are increasingly dependent on pervasive connectivity and continuous engagement – both enabled by the constant increase in the number and variety of connected devices. As this transformation continues and even accelerates, IT departments must strike a balance between protecting the network and offering a flexible infrastructure capable of delivering a high quality of experience across business critical and lower priority applications.
2.On-premise managed networks are the norm, but hybrids are on the rise. The majority (50%) of respondents are currently using on-premise managed networks, while 32% are using either cloud or hybrid solutions. It is also important to call out that Wi-Fi remains top of mind, with 36.7% of the respondents primarily using one of these types of managed services to manage wireless access points.
3.802.11ac Wave 2 is gaining momentum. With its promise of increased performance, capacity and efficiency, it’s not surprising our survey found that 802.11ac Wave 2 is gaining momentum in the enterprise; but the journey to Wave 2 is still ongoing. The aggregate of those organizations who have deployed a Wave 2 solution and those planning to deploy a Wave 2 solution (about 45%) is roughly the same as those who are not planning to deploy a Wave 2 solution (44%). If you want to learn more about the benefits of the new wireless standard, check our new Wave2 eBook which also explores the 5 key justifications required to build a winning business case for Wave 2.
4.Current cloud solutions fall short. 1/3 of respondents, industry-wide, do not feel their cloud solution supports their BYOD and IoT initiatives. This is concerning because as organizations continue to multiply IoT initiatives to drive greater efficiency and insights into their business, they will need to be able to securely on-board, monitor, control and support IoT devices and applications, if they are to compete as a digital business.
5.Current business operations are not aligned with cloud models. Survey respondents stated that the top reason for NOT investing in the cloud is that their current business operations are not aligned with subscription-based cloud business models. While these organizations engage in a necessary transformation, they indicated that the most favorable subscription services are yearly (34%), followed by monthly (21.7%) and quarterly (13.3%).
As one of the top trends driving IT strategy in 2016, it’s clear that the use of cloud computing will continue to grow and will likely increase to become the bulk of new IT spend. To meet the growth in cloud managed and hybrid solutions, we recently announced ExtremeCloud, a simple, resilient and scalable unified wired/wireless cloud-based network management solution offered as a subscription service.
ExtremeCloud addresses the areas that are important to organizations.
•Security is built-into the entire fabric of ExtremeCloud and the devices that it manages;
•Business applications are dynamically identified, prioritized and controlled by the industry’s first flow-based 802.11ac Wave 2 access points;
•ExtremeCloud’s subscription based model aligns with customer’s desire to reduce CAPEX and align spend with business growth;
•Existing investments are protected because ExtremeCloud offers organizations the flexibility to manage the same hardware and firmware in cloud or on-premise;
•ExtremeCloud makes it easier and more affordable for businesses to accommodate their changing needs through its simple and streamlined management interface.
ExtremeCloud addresses the shortcomings of other cloud solutions by supporting BYOD and IoT with features like zero-touch provisioning of managed network devices. This allows Extreme’s wired or wireless devices to automatically locate ExtremeCloud, instantly configure and be fully operational without the risk and burden of reconfiguring local infrastructure.