Jul/Aug 19 - ChannelVision Magazine

those network operations profession- als surveyed by Sirkin said they strug- gle with troubleshooting issues across the whole network as a result of dis- parate legacy architectures. Network professionals also are challenged to find network performance issues that span several network domains (38 percent) and are hampered by poor performance visibility across multiple network fabrics (35 percent). “These network performance blind spots contribute to the in- ability to improve overall network performance quality, which in turn hampers the successful delivery of network transformation initiatives,” say Sirkin Research analysts. NetOps pros surveyed by Sirkin clearly recognize how poor network performance negatively impacts busi- ness performance. Just more than 45 percent said that improving application performance across the entire network is high a priority network goal for 2019. More than four in 10 said the same about improving proactive alerting and/ or predictive insights of incidents, while almost 40 percent say improving re- mote site network performance is a top priority for 2019. More than a third also seek to improve endpoint and Wi-Fi/ wireless performance. Of course, resolving network performance issues starts by gain- ing visibility and insight into what and where issues are occurring, and the need to eliminate these network performance blind spots through end- to-end network visibility is one of the key network operations initiatives for 2019. According to the survey, 39 percent of NetOps pros are address- ing this need by consolidating legacy network monitoring tools, while 37 percent seek better network perfor- mance management solutions and another 34 percent seek to automate or upgrade network configuration change management tools. As for the highest priority projects for 2019 in general, network opera- tors say they are looking to become more agile while reducing costs. In other words, the strategic business objective of “doing more with less” is driving the transformation of enterprise networks, say Sirkin Research analysts. As for specific network transfor- mation projects in 2019, top priori- ties include deploying or expanding switch architecture, moving deeper into multi-cloud network connectivity and public cloud infrastructure and expanding corporate Wi-Fi and wire- less networks. About three in 10 list SD-WAN as a top project for 2019, while 21 percent say the same about expanding edge computing. o 2019 Top Enterprise NetOps Performance Challenges Have difficulty troubleshooting performance issues across the entire network 42% Cannot proactively identify network performance issues 36% Have poor visibility into performance across entire network 35% Have poor end-to-end performance monitoring 35% Source: Sirkin Research 2019 Top Enterprise Network Goals (scale of 1 to 5) Goals 1 – Not a Priority 5 – High Priority Goal 4 or 5 Improve application performance across entire network 12.9% 20.6% 45.1% Improve proactive alerting and/or predictive insights of network incidents 14.8% 11% 42% Improve network monitoring across entire end-to-end network 14.8% 12.9% 41.9% Improve network performance at remote sites or branches 18.1% 11.6% 39.3% Improve end-point network performance 18.7% 14.8% 37.4% Improve performance of Wi-Fi/wireless network 18.7% 12.3% 36.8% Improve reporting and insight from network data 18.7% 12.3% 36.8% Source: Sirkin Research 2019 Top Enterprise Network Transformation Projects (scale of 1 to 5) 1 – Not a Priority 5 – High Priority Goal 4 or 5 Deploying or expanding your switched infrastructure 22.6% 13.5% 36.7% Deploying or expanding multi-cloud network connectivity 23.9% 15.5% 35.5% Deploying or expanding public cloud infrastructure 25.8% 18.1% 34.2% Expanding Wi-Fi/wireless network 25.2% 15.5% 34.2% Expanding or deploying mission-critical applications in the cloud 25.8% 15.5% 31% Deploying or expanding an SD-WAN solution 34.8% 14.2% 29% Deploying or expanding edge computing 32.3% 8.4% 21.3% Source: Sirkin Research Core Communications 20 Channel Vision | July - August, 2019