Executive Summary: ISG Provider Lens™ Network - Software Defined Solutions and Services - Australia 2022
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Borders between SDx and cloud are blurring
This ISG Provider Lens™ study examines a range of network offerings related to software-defined networking (SDN) in Australia. These include managed SD-WAN and associated core and mobility service offerings, SDN transformation services, and the fast-emerging areas of secure access service edge (SASE) and Edge technologies.
This study provides an overview of the segments and serves as comprehensive decision-making support for user organisations, enabling them to evaluate the offerings and performance of providers of SDN services in Australia.
Networks and SDN services encompass a range of business areas, processes and methods. They are also closely tied to the overall digital business transformation trends among enterprises in Australia and worldwide.
The borders between WAN, LAN, wireless local-area network (WLAN) and cloud connectivity are beginning to blur. In Australia, over the next 5-10 years, software-defined technology and orchestration will enable end-to-end workflow monitoring and ensure segmentation continuity from the edge to the applications. Enterprises of the future will need to be hyper-connected, data-driven, multicloud enabled and end-to-end secured. This creates massive opportunities for a range of Australian telcos and managed service providers (MSPs), including global MSPs with a presence in Australia.
Over the next five years, edge networking, multicloud network architectures, network services verticalization, SASE, AI-assisted network automation platforms, network as a service (NaaS), and 5G/ WiFi6 convergence are predicted to cut across technology domains to provide an integrated network ecosystem to support the next-generation enterprise.
Enterprises in Australia want to increase their agility, flexibility, competitiveness, delivery structures, and remote working and continuity practices, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The significant challenge is not just in terms of technology, but the transformation of established processes and traditional management practices.
Traditional networking is shifting to SDN. The SDN strategy of MSPs that provide more services over an increasingly distributed workforce will continue into 2023. Concurrently, many providers in Australia want to broaden their portfolio of services to support their remote workforce.
Over the last few years, providers have observed a spike in security requirements from enterprises, and this trend is expected to continue. At the same time, enterprises are demanding more flexibility, speed and collaboration, both internally and outside organization boundaries, to support their increasingly mobile customers and users at the edge of the business and the traditional network. Over the next 2-5 years, edge solutions and virtualisation will foster the consolidation of services for MSPs.
CEOs and CTOs of Australian enterprises need to develop an understanding that SDN works hand in hand with cloudification, intelligent edge and mobility strategies. This also extends to digital business transformation areas such as AI, IoT, automation and collaboration.
Some of the trends observed in this space across Australia are detailed here:
Accelerated adoption of SDN technologies and increased opportunities for SDN suppliers
The enterprise networking landscape and demand for network automation and SD-WAN services have significantly changed, with the restrictions enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic and increased adoption of the work-from-home (WFH) model. Enterprises are looking for SDx solutions, integrated with BCP and DX as well as providing for disaster recovery, eliminating vendor lock-ins and achieving a robust security posture, along with reduced implementation timelines. They see network services as a potential lever to build business resilience, reduce CapEx, and achieve agility and scalability.
The pandemic has triggered a shift to more distributed networks including an acceleration in cloud migration. The market witnessed a significant uptake in the use of collaborative tools, particularly unified communications and video conferencing solutions, to support the new remote work model. Also, with the movement of applications from on-premises data centres to cloudhosted environments, providers see more opportunities to optimise SD-WAN solutions for SaaS and IaaS environments, including fully virtual environments at remote or branch office locations.
These drastic changes have led to an upscaling of network capacity by customers. At the same time, they face pressure to re-evaluate network configurations, security and transformation options Many enterprises continue to support work-from-home employees and have implemented a hybrid model that combines in-office/ branch with remote work. This will further drive SD-WAN usage and continue to shape the evolution of the SDN market in the future.
Innovative technologies and solutions
Digital business transformation and innovations require flexibility in SDN for driving solutions to their full potential. Service providers have been addressing this need by offering intent-based networks, AI/machine learning-driven solutions, rapid hotspot provisioning, and intelligent edge computing. The increased adoption of such innovative technologies have been driving significant changes in network operations over the past five years.
Many telecommunication service and network service providers as well systems integrators offer SD-WAN and other SDN solutions, ranging from partial solutions to complete end-to-end offerings. Some have introduced advanced SDN-based technological innovations such as intentbased networks that use AI/machine learning interactions and control, or edge intelligence and computing solutions, with SD-LAN or SD mobile wireless LAN (SD-WMLAN). This market is further driven by the transition of many enterprises to the cloud or multicloud environments that are well supported by SDN, from the enterprise core to edge. Further change is apparent in the early stages of implementation around SASE.
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