IDC FutureScape

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Enterprise Network Infrastructure

2020 Predictions
Brandon Butler Rich Costello Brad Casemore Rohit Mehra
Patrick Filkins Roz Parkinson Amit Bansal Cintia Gomez
Alberto Arellano Karen V. Rondon

IDC FUTURESCAPE FIGURE

FIGURE 1

IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Enterprise Network Infrastructure 2020

Top 10 Predictions

Note: Marker number refers only to the order the prediction appears in the document and does not indicate rank or importance,
unless otherwise noted in the Executive Summary.
Source: IDC, 2019

October 2019, IDC #US45587119

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The past decade has seen the rise and mainstream adoption of what IDC refers to as 3rd Platform
technologies, which have significantly reshaped enterprise IT and the networking industry specifically.
The 3rd Platform is exemplified by the continued reliance by enterprises on cloud-based platforms for
mission-critical tasks; organizations looking to ensure ubiquitous, high-quality connectivity across all
areas of the network; and big data analytics powered by machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence
(AI) being used to simplify and optimize operations. 3rd Platform technologies are being used by
enterprises to enable new business opportunities, to create a more agile and responsive enterprise, to
delight and empower both internal and external users, and to keep pace with competition.

As enterprises invest in digital transformation (DX) initiatives to take advantage of these important
technology advances, another fact is becoming clear: DX requires network transformation too. The
network provides connectivity across all components of an enterprise; enables connections to the cloud,
among internal and external users; and can be a central place to monitor and secure operations. In this
era of 3rd Platform and DX, the network connects enterprises to the modern digital age.

This critical, central role that the network plays has also placed tremendous strain on it. The explosion
in apps has seen, in parallel, a rapid rise in mobility and devices, which had led to more devices being
connected to the network than ever before. All these apps and devices are consuming more bandwidth
each year. Meanwhile, a range of new use cases is demanding that latency of network connections
continues to decrease. This creates a trifecta of more users and devices consuming more bandwidth
that must be delivered at faster speeds.

The networking industry has evolved to meet these challenges. The trend of relying on software to
manage networks has been illustrated by software-defined networking (SDN), which began in the
datacenter but has now extended out to the access, wide area, and edge networks. New standards
and faster speed networks have been brought to market, including 400GbE switching, Wi-Fi 6, and 5G.

In this context, IDC's worldwide enterprise network infrastructure research analyst team has created
this IDC FutureScape to serve as a blueprint for enterprises on how to thrive in the modern, digital
economy by leveraging technology to forge new business models and optimize customer experiences.
This will require enterprise networking (and IT) teams to work more closely with the broader
organization, including lines of business and external partners and suppliers. As such, IDC predicts the
following trends will impact the networking industry in the years to come:

 Prediction 1: By 2023, 60% of enterprises will look for integrated solutions with advanced
security features, embedding automation and intelligence tools to optimize and secure their
core and edge network.
 Prediction 2: Cloud, DevOps, and the need for intelligent automation radically transform
network operations, forcing 70% of IT departments to rethink roles and staffing of network
operations teams by 2022.
 Prediction 3: Service meshes and application layer network and security services, integral to
elasticity and scale of modern applications, will be deployed in more than 70% of cloud-native
environments by 2023.
 Prediction 4: By 2022, more than 60% of new enterprise networking deployments across the
WLAN, SD-WAN, and UC markets will be cloud managed, bringing the cloud-hosted
enterprise networking market to over $18 billion.

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  Prediction 5: By 2023, more than 60% of large enterprises will adopt multicloud SDN for
operational simplicity and consistent network and security policies across hybrid IT
environments.
 Prediction 6: Over 60% of large enterprises worldwide will rely on advanced AI capabilities to
automate at least one part of their enterprise network by 2024.
 Prediction 7: As the enterprise edge is re-architected, the worldwide SD-WAN infrastructure
market will grow at a CAGR of 30% to exceed $5 billion by 2023.
 Prediction 8: By 2022, nearly 40% of enterprises worldwide will leverage cellular connectivity,
including LTE and/or 5G, in the campus environment to support network traffic growth from
new sites and applications.
 Prediction 9: By 2021, UC and collaboration apps ($14 billion in spending) supporting
cognitive capabilities such as NLP, facial recognition, or real-time transcriptions will be
deployed in at least 25% of enterprises.
 Prediction 10: Driven by the continued need for ubiquitous indoor and outdoor wireless
connectivity, more than 50% of worldwide enterprises will have converged management of 5G
and Wi-Fi 6 by 2025.
Note: This IDC FutureScape cites certain technology vendors. This information is for general-purpose
use only. In no instance does any citation represent IDC's endorsement of a vendor's products or
strategy, now or in the future.

This IDC study provides IDC's top 10 predictions for enterprise network infrastructure for 2020 and
beyond.

"Digital transformation has simultaneously created pressure on enterprise networks to evolve to meet the
increasing demands of the modern digital business while also creating a flurry of advanced technologies
that help solve these challenges," says Rohit Mehra, vice president, Network Infrastructure at IDC. "It's
imperative that networking professionals recognize these trends and prepare their networks for the
continued changes that will impact their environments moving forward. The trends that have defined the
central role of the network in the 3rd Platform era, such as the increased number of apps and devices —
and related bandwidth requirements — will only continue to grow into the future."

IDC FUTURESCAPE PREDICTIONS

Summary of External Drivers

 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
 Sense, compute, act: Maximizing data value
 Intelligence everywhere: AI's opportunity and implications
 Rising customer expectations: More convenience, customization, and control
 Growth of hybrid cloud and multicloud: Support for distributed apps
 Hyperscalers shaping the IT agenda: Spread of hyperscale innovations and best practices
 Enabling business at the edge: Evolving branch and IoT needs

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Predictions: Impact on Technology Buyers
The predictions that follow will have an impact on network operators and strategists, CIOs, and IT
organizations over the next decade. Innovative and forward-looking IT leadership will begin to evaluate
where, how, and when the infrastructure technologies included in these predictions will be evaluated,
tested, and deployed in their organizations and based on what business outcomes sought.

Prediction 1: By 2023, 60% of Enterprises Will Look for Integrated Solutions

with Advanced Security Features, Embedding Automation and Intelligence
Tools to Optimize and Secure Their Core and Edge Network
By 2023, companies will spend $248 billion (12% of the IT budget) in security and networking solutions
(hardware, software, and services) and will look for solutions that maximize their budget, integrate both
functionalities, and reduce complexity across platforms.

As networks migrate from core to edge, a larger perimeter should be protected with the same budget.
In addition, to prevent risks and mitigate attacks, decision makers will seek to secure their IT
environments at each layer of the network. Meanwhile, managed service provider (SP) solutions will
provide more effective operations and ensure efficient applications delivery to users. In parallel,
hardware vendors will seek differentiation via innovation and by the addition of new features such as
higher speed, visibility options, user segmentation, network behavior analysis, and/or integrated
management platforms to their standard portfolio offerings.

Associated Drivers
 Rising customer expectations: More convenience, customization, and control
 Intelligence everywhere: AI's opportunity and implications
 Enabling business at the edge: Evolving branch and IoT needs
IT Impact
 Advanced network and security features are moving from traditional to managed services
options.
 AI and ML integration tools are achieving higher automation levels around network and
security management, leveraging analytics for the improvement of SLAs.
 The increasing need to dedicate human resources to work on DX-related projects forces
companies to look for automated, intuitive, and centralized solutions to facilitate network and
security operations and management.
 New techniques will require teams with greater skills, as these attacks become more
sophisticated. Security teams will need to have the right skills to learn advanced technologies
and understand the value of autonomous environments to protect and respond swiftly to attacks.
Guidance
 Companies should look for network solutions and service providers that guarantee an effective
solution implementation according to their company needs, with the capacity to integrate new
advanced functionalities in the future.
 Make a plan that incorporates not only more functionalities but a correct adoption and
enablement of new automated tools. A correct implementation must include not only the
deployment of network infrastructure but the education of the users around operations best
practices.

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  Evaluate security talent: Utilize advanced security services to protect beyond the perimeter.
With that said, enterprises will also need to invest in the people or find a partner that can
become an extension to their IT team. It is important to find the right partner that will provide
security talent to assist with the adoption of these new services.
Prediction 2: Cloud, DevOps, and the Need for Intelligent Automation Radically
Transform Network Operations, Forcing 70% of IT Departments to Rethink
Roles and Staffing of Network Operations Teams by 2022
As cloud operating models and processes become pervasive across the enterprise IT landscape, and
DevOps becomes increasingly common, the operational silos that separated the networking team and
network professionals from their IT counterparts and developers will dissolve. This will mean that
network operators must adapt and evolve, acquiring new technology skills, in areas such as
automation and programmability, as well as new "soft" skills, which will become increasingly important
to the collaborative processes that will be essential to achieving successful business outcomes.

To an unprecedented degree, networking and network operations will be all about supporting and
delivering applications to users and about serving the needs of both the developers who create
applications and the employees and customers who ultimately consume them. Close collaboration
between NetOps professionals and DevOps teams will be essential to success, and that will entail
greater network operator familiarity and understanding of developer APIs, workflows, and processes.
Automation and programmability will become valued skill sets, especially in organizations that are
strongly cloud forward in orientation.

The result will be a radically transformed approach to network operations, driven by the relentless
business imperative of digital transformation and the embrace of cloud-native technologies and
processes. Consequently, IDC predicts that 70% of IT departments will rethink the roles and staffing of
network professionals and network operations teams by 2022. Some organizations already have
adopted an approach in which a veteran network engineer is paired with a network-friendly developer,
helping bridge the divide and foster greater understanding between the two camps. We expect more
variations on this theme as organizations find a way of modernizing network operations, as well as
network infrastructure, in the years ahead.

Associated Drivers
 Rising customer expectations: More convenience, customization, and control
 Hyperscalers shaping the IT agenda: Spread of hyperscale innovations and best practices
 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
IT Impact
 NetOps will have to be integrated more closely with other facets of infrastructure operations
and with DevOps.
 Skills and culture of network operators will have to be assessed and upgraded to ensure the
network operations are as modernized as next-generation network infrastructure.
 Given persistent skills gaps and dearth of suitable and affordable talent on the market,
organizations will need to be creative in how they adapt network operations roles and
responsibilities to address the new technological and operational challenges.

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Guidance
 Organizations serious about infrastructure modernization to support cloud operating models
should be equally concerned with how to modernize their network operations teams and
practices.
 Put a plan in place to carefully assess and upgrade technological skill sets in areas such as
automation, programmability (including cloud and other APIs), and DevOps principles and
workflows.
 Carefully assess soft skills and cultural inhibitors to ensure that multidisciplinary collaboration
(e.g., between NetOps and DevOps) will proceed as planned.
 Consider pairing network engineers or other seasoned network professionals with developers
to foster teamwork, understanding, and knowledge transfer between key disciplines.
Prediction 3: Service Meshes and Application Layer Network and Security
Services, Integral to Elasticity and Scale of Modern Applications, Will Be
Deployed in More than 70% of Cloud-Native Environments by 2023
Cloud-native environments are characterized by containers and microservices, which recast the
structure of applications from monolithic entities to loosely coupled, fine-grained services that can be
composed modularly to expedite development processes. While open source container orchestration
systems, such as Kubernetes, have emerged to automate deployment, scaling, and management of
containerized applications, other challenges remain, particularly as microservices proliferate in
production runtime environments.

One major problem in these environments is networking, not so much the underlying connectivity
between endpoints, but the higher-layer interservice discovery, connectivity, traffic management,
observability, and security that are indispensable to cloud-native availability and reliability. Service
meshes, such as the Istio open source project, and related application layer network and security
services have arisen to address these challenges, providing the ability to connect, control, secure, and
observe the services that constitute cloud-native applications.

As containers and microservices are embraced at scale in production environments — both on-
premises and in public clouds — growing numbers of enterprises will adopt service meshes and
application layer services to mitigate the complexity of managing cloud-native interservice networking.
In the process, these technologies will redefine application delivery infrastructure, moving us from an
appliance-based architecture to a software-defined, composable model that decouples control and
data planes and offers dynamic and elastic modularity.

Associated Drivers
 Growth of hybrid cloud and multicloud: Support for distributed apps
 Hyperscalers shaping the IT agenda: Spread of hyperscale innovations and best practices
 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
 Intelligence everywhere: AI's opportunity and implications
IT Impact
 Enterprises will have to resolve the separation of concerns within and between DevOps and
NetOps into a reconciliation of interests, ensuing that teams deploying and operating service
meshes and other cloud-native application delivery services collaborate effectively to optimally
assign roles and responsibilities.

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  Enterprises will need to determine to what extent their existing investments in traditional
application delivery infrastructure, including ADC hardware and software appliances, can be
extended with cloud-native application delivery services to address heterogenous
environments, infrastructures (bare metal, VMs, and containers), and clouds.
 Similarly, enterprises will want to look at how their multicluster and multicloud postures affect
and influence their approach to next-generation application-delivery infrastructure. How, for
example, will service meshes and other cloud-native application-delivery services be used
across multiple Kubernetes clusters spanning more than one IaaS cloud?
Guidance
 Enterprises embracing cloud-native application environments should consider whether and
when they will need ingress controllers and service meshes for next-generation application-
delivery infrastructure.
 Have a solid plan for how DevOps and NetOps will collaborate and leverage the technology to
reconcile interest and ensure the availability, performance, elastic scale, and security of cloud-
native applications.
 Consider how service meshes and other application-delivery services, including ingress
controllers, might be integrated with or supported by existing investments in application-
delivery infrastructure to provide support for multiple clusters, multicloud, and heterogenous
application environments.
Prediction 4: By 2022, More than 60% of New Enterprise Networking
Deployments Across the WLAN, SD-WAN, and UC Markets Will Be Cloud Managed,
Bringing the Cloud-Hosted Enterprise Networking Market to over $18 Billion
The rise of the cloud has impacted enterprises in many different ways. The primary impact has been
that organizations are increasingly relying on cloud-based infrastructure and software delivered as a
service. There's another concurrent cloud-driven change happening related to how network
infrastructure is managed in the age of the cloud. The past handful of years has seen the rise of cloud-
based enterprise networking management platforms. In the past, these management platforms were
hosted exclusively on a customer's own premises, leaving the deployment, implementation,
integration, capacity management, updates, and ongoing maintenance to the customer. Cloud-based
platforms provide enterprise network management tools as a service, eliminating the need to host and
manage infrastructure for controlling your network equipment. The cloud-based platform provides a
centralized management tool that handles the full life cycle of managing the infrastructure powering
these technologies. As customers need to scale up the size of their environment, new hardware is
deployed, and additional cloud-based resources are added to the management tool. In this cloud-
managed model, customers no longer have to update their on-premises management software, plus
they get a centralized view of their enterprise network from the cloud.

These benefits have led to the cloud-based network management market being one of the fastest-
growing segments of enterprise networking. Technologies that have the most advanced cloud-based
management platforms include enterprise wireless LAN (WLAN), software-defined wide area
networking (SD-WAN), and unified communications (UC). IDC estimates that a quarter of enterprise
WLAN deployments are managed by the cloud, a figure that will grow to more than 40% by 2022.
Combined across the WLAN, SD-WAN, and UC markets, the cloud-hosted enterprise networking
market will grow to more than $18 billion by 2022.

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Associated Drivers
 Growth of hybrid cloud and multicloud: Support for distributed apps
 Enabling business at the edge: Evolving branch and IoT needs
 Sense, compute, act: Maximizing data value
IT Impact
 Cloud-based management platforms have risen significantly in popularity in the past handful of
years because of operational benefits, ease of deployment, and access to cutting-edge
features this technology enables.
 Cloud-based management platforms have several benefits. They provide a centralized
platform to manage multiples sites simultaneously; thus, management costs go from being a
capital expense to an operational expense, and adding capacity does not require installing
additional management components.
 Cloud-managed platforms typically have more rapid development of new features and
functionality compared with waiting for an annual upgrade. Cloud-based platforms host some
of the most advanced machine learning use cases, particularly for monitoring trends and
identifying anomalies.
Guidance
 Cloud-based network and UC management platforms are ideal for small or multidisciplinary IT
departments that are looking to outsource the day-to-day management of their equipment.
They're also popular among distributed enterprises that are looking for centralized
management of multiple sites.
 As enterprises deploy new enterprise networking and UC solutions, they should consider the
benefits that a cloud-managed system can bring.
 There is still a segment of the market that is not ready to transition to cloud-managed
networking and UC platforms for their perceived lack of security or manageability. This will
create a hybrid market in which a portion of deployments will be managed from the cloud,
while most enterprise networks and UC solutions will still be managed by on-premises
management systems.
Prediction 5: By 2023, More than 60% of Large Enterprises Will Adopt
Multicloud SDN for Operational Simplicity and Consistent Network and Security
Policies Across Hybrid IT Environments
Enterprises increasingly are adopting multicloud within the framework of their DX strategies. They
embrace multicloud for a variety of reasons, including the suitability of the application to cloud,
architectural reasons, the desire to mitigate cloud vendor lock-in, the needs of different internal teams
for the capabilities of certain clouds, and for pricing leverage in negotiations with cloud providers.

If executed correctly, a multicloud strategy can confer compelling business benefits, including greater
organizational agility and flexibility and faster time to market. Nonetheless, IDC has found a direct
correlation between the number of clouds leveraged by an enterprise and the degree of complexity
associated with achieving multicloud successfully. That's not surprising, because hybrid IT and
multicloud effectively redefine the parameters of the datacenter and the datacenter network, which
were previously on-premises and centralized and are now geographically dispersed and distributed.
Indeed, multicloud management, including the management of the network infrastructure on which
multicloud depends, remains a significant enterprise challenge.

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Fortunately, enterprises can meet this challenge, at least partly, by extending IBN/SDN fabrics and
network virtualization overlays (NVOs) across multicloud environments to simply and declaratively
define and enforce consistent network and security policies, the latter through segmentation and
microsegmentation, across a distributed multicloud application landscape.

Associated Drivers
 Growth of hybrid cloud and multicloud: Support for distributed apps
 Rising customer expectations: More convenience, customization, and control
 Hyperscalers shaping the IT agenda: Spread of hyperscale innovations and best practices
 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
IT Impact
 Multicloud can provide substantial business benefits, but the IT team will be responsible for
ensuring that the underlying infrastructure, including the network, is up to the challenge of
mitigating and resolving multicloud complexity.
 The parameters of the datacenter network, and the purview of the team that manages it, are
changed irrevocably by the embrace of multicloud.
 Network architectures, infrastructure, and operational processes will have to be modernized
and extended to ensure successful execution of multicloud strategies.
 Skill sets of networking teams might have to be enhanced (in areas such as VPCs, cloud APIs,
and as-a-service IT delivery).
Guidance
 Take a proactive stance of networking for multicloud by ensuring that the IT department and
the networking team is informed of the evolving multicloud strategy and understands the
network implications of workload placement in public clouds.
 Determine whether investments in existing networking infrastructure, including IBN/SDN
platforms, and network management tools can be leveraged in a multicloud context.
 Assess how overlays and SDN fabrics might be applied across a multicloud environment to
support application availability, performance, reliability, and security, as well as flexible
workload placement across multiple clouds.
 Favor technologies and solutions that are simple to deploy and manage, abstracting and
mitigating the inherent complexity of multicloud, but do not compromise on breadth and depth
of features required or relevant clouds supported.
Prediction 6: Over 60% of Large Enterprises Worldwide Will Rely on Advanced
AI Capabilities to Automate at Least One Part of Their Enterprise Network
by 2024
The network infrastructure market is moving toward the goal of end-to-end digital-native networks built
upon the convergence of previously distinct boundaries between network types and locations. As part
of this transformation, all major network infrastructure vendors are embedding artificial intelligence–
supported automation into their portfolios, leveraging current advances in machine learning and
software-defined networking to increase network programmability, visibility, and security.

Reducing the need for manual network configuration and management is a critical step for enterprises.
Digital transformation trends such as the use of multicloud, supporting IoT, and enabling an always-
connected enterprise drive network requirements to new heights that people-centric management and

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control processes can no longer support. Recent years have seen the rise of machine learning and
artificial intelligence embedded into network management platforms to monitor environments,
recognize trends, and provide automatic management.

Initial use cases for AI-based network operations will begin with improving visibility, alerting for
anomaly detection, determining root cause analysis, and faster problem resolution. Network engineers
will be most comfortable with first leveraging an AI-based platform to receive guidance on how to
optimize their networks or resolve an issue, while in the future, AI-powered management systems will
be relied on for broader operational management. The further enhancement of this technology will lead
to self-driving networks in which operators express their desired state of the network in terms of user,
device and application access, security and usage policies, and the AI-enabled system dynamically
maintains that intent, even as conditions on the network change.

Associated Drivers
 Intelligence everywhere: AI's opportunity and implications
 Sense, compute, act: Maximizing data value
 Rising customer expectations: More convenience, customization, and control
IT Impact
 Initially intelligent networking solutions will be domain specific, focused on individual aspects
of the network like the campus, datacenter, wide area network (WAN), and within clouds. As
vendor solutions evolve and enterprises become more comfortable trusting autonomous
networks, these separate solutions will become integrated across domains.
 Many of the more advanced ML- and AI-supported aspects of network management platforms
are hosted in the cloud. To gain access to these features, enterprises must be willing to use a
cloud-based platform for managing their networks; there is a growing level of comfort with this
approach among enterprises (refer back to Prediction 4).
 This transition to intelligent automation platforms will impact the skills and capabilities that
enterprises need both from their internal IT and networking teams and from their suppliers.
When today's manual tasks are automated, it will free up time for network operators to focus
on more value-added tasks.
 Intelligent, self-healing network solutions will also impact enterprise consumption models and
hardware refresh cycles, putting pressure on vendors to pivot to more software-centric sales
motions.
Guidance
 Start small but start now. Initial AI-supported network management platforms are aimed at
making operations easier, providing greater visibility, improving security, and resolving
problems faster. Enterprises that embrace intelligent networks will be able to innovate and
deliver new services and customer experiences faster than those that don't.
 At this early stage of the market, enterprises should speak to a range of different providers —
both managed services and network solutions vendors — to understand what is possible. As
intelligent networking needs to work across domains, it will by nature be multivendor, making
interoperability and openness key requirements.
 In addition, enterprises need to start thinking about how intelligent network adoption will
impact their workforce. Enterprises should focus on reskilling existing staff and developing
relationships with vendors and service providers that can support them in training,
development, and adoption.

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Prediction 7: As the Enterprise Edge Is Re-Architected, the Worldwide SD-WAN
Infrastructure Market Will Grow at a CAGR of 30% to Exceed $5 Billion by 2023
SD-WAN remains one of the fastest-growing segments of the enterprise networking market, driven by
a variety of factors. First, enterprises continue to rely on cloud-based platforms for essential functions,
from SaaS to IaaS. As they do so, having a reliable and robust WAN connection is critical. SD-WAN
has emerged in recent years as an elegant and potentially cost-saving measure to optimize WAN
connectivity.

SD-WAN technology allows enterprises to centrally manage multiple WAN connection types, enabling
enterprises to augment MPLS with broadband or cellular LTE connections. The SD-WAN management
plane centrally controls application policy across links, dynamically adjusting traffic over the
appropriate connection based on predefined security, quality of service, or cost metrics. SD-WAN also
provides centralized management of multiple remote or branch office sites, making the technology
ideal for distributed enterprises.

As SD-WAN technology continues to take hold in the industry, enterprises are already exploring how to
further optimize their branch offices. This has led to the advent of software-defined branch (SD-
Branch). In this architecture, enterprises use SD-WAN along with other virtual network functions
(VNFs), such as next-generation firewalls, wireless LAN controllers, or session border controllers. As
SD-WAN deployments continue to take hold and enterprises look toward creating an SD-Branch,
important benefits are being brought to enterprises across the globe.

Associated Drivers
 Enabling business at the edge: Evolving branch and IoT needs
 Growth of hybrid cloud and multicloud: Support for distributed apps
 Intelligence everywhere: AI's opportunity and implications
IT Impact
 SD-WAN enables centralized, policy-based management of hybrid WAN connections;
dynamic path selection of application traffic between enterprise datacenters, cloud endpoints,
and other branch offices; and increased levels of programmability, security, visibility, and
analytics.
 The automation capabilities inherent in SD-WAN and SD-Branch enable organizations to
extend comprehensive management platforms to the edge of their enterprise network without
having truck-rolls of infrastructure equipment or technical staff onsite to install it.
Guidance
 Any enterprise with a WAN should consider SD-WAN as a way of lowering connectivity costs
while simultaneously gaining increased levels of analytics and ensuring high levels of service
for both applications and end-user experience.
 Networks must be as agile as the applications they support. They must be architected, built,
and operated with agility as a central goal. This means that intelligent network automation in
the form of technology such as SD-WAN must be embraced unreservedly by the IT
department in general and by network operators specifically.
 SD-WAN is just one part of the evolution toward digital-native networks, and enterprises must
not be shortsighted about how the market will continue to evolve; therefore, they should
prioritize working with vendors and service providers that can help them develop a road map
to get from where they are today to where they want to be in a seamless and low-risk manner.

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Prediction 8: By 2022, Nearly 40% of Enterprises Worldwide Will Leverage
Cellular Connectivity, Including LTE and/or 5G, in the Campus Environment to
Support Network Traffic Growth from New Sites and Applications
Enterprises everywhere, spanning manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and government, are grappling with
a continued rise in network traffic, of which the vast majority is generated indoors. Further, campus
environments are challenged to find new ways to cope with rising traffic, particularly due to the
proliferation of video from traditional devices, as well as from new endpoints coming online from IoT
projects. Consequently, cellular solutions, including LTE and/or 5G, are being earmarked for more
enterprise-focused deployments, as a means to quickly and efficiently address the rise in network traffic.

Performance gains in LTE, and the massive potential of 5G to extend these gains for the next decade,
are driving more enterprises to consider wireless as a viable, future-proof solution for their needs. In
addition, as spectrum sharing initiatives, such as OnGo (CBRS), and unlicensed spectrum solutions,
such as MulteFire, gain prominence, enterprises are provided a lower TCO cellular solution to support
their needs. Taken on the whole, IDC expects both LTE and/or 5G to see strong growth over the next
five years, as a means for both last-mile access and backhaul connectivity to the enterprise.

Associated Drivers
 Rising customer expectations: More convenience, customization, and control
 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
 Enabling business at the edge: Evolving branch and IoT needs
IT Impact
 IT managers will increasingly be pressed to learn and potentially handhold integration of LTE
and/or 5G into branch environments. Cellular solutions, particularly those tied to initiatives
such as OnGo (CBRS) and MulteFire, are being tailored for the "last mile" access.
 Enterprise IT will have to consider how LTE and/or 5G can be leveraged to improve operations
and address demand for new applications. Comanagement of cellular, in conjunction with
existing wired and wireless networking solutions, will be of upmost important to ensure
integration does not drive network complexity and costs up.
 Differing consumption models spanning traditional managed, carrier agreements, neutral host
models, or a "do it yourself" approach, which continues to gain momentum, will need to be
considered before determining the best course of action.
 New spectrum sharing models, including the use of licensed spectrum for cellular in some
regions, will enable enterprise IT managers a requisite "innovation band" to deploy new
applications on. As such, education around scheduling, interference, and co-management of
adjacent network solutions will be paramount.
Guidance
 Evaluate the efficacy and alignment of LTE and/or 5G as it relates to internally generated
operational, application, and data-driven goals. Cellular's strength in positioning across certain
applications, particularly those that require unfettered tracking across mobile environments,
will play a key role in determining next steps.
 Deploying new cellular solutions at the campus is likely to require a multivendor engagement,
drawing from traditional network equipment suppliers, edge infrastructure players, and
systems integrators. It may be easier to work only with a systems integrator that can help to
aggregate and eventually install systems.

©2019 IDC #US45587119 12

  In conjunction with the new networking paradigm, enterprises will need to have an adjacent
plan in place to address data creation, dispersion, and aggregation, which could include
adopting a new edge network and core cloud topology.
Prediction 9: By 2021, UC and Collaboration Apps ($14 Billion in Spending)
Supporting Cognitive Capabilities Such as NLP, Facial Recognition, or Real-
Time Transcriptions Will Be Deployed in at Least 25% of Enterprises
Intelligent collaborative apps today can support the automation of many simple, manual, and repetitive
meeting tasks. In addition, more advanced capabilities are being deployed to enhance the end-user
experience (i.e., workers), as well as those of partners and customers (i.e., contact centers). The list of
capabilities and use cases is growing — context with intelligence, natural language processing (NLP),
speech recognition (SR), conversational AI, virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), bot integrations,
facial recognition (FR), data analytics, real-time transcriptions, translations, word searches, among
others.

These solutions are not just improving worker productivity and team collaboration but are also
transforming the modern workplace (i.e., the digital workplace) by changing the way workers setup,
schedule, access, and collaborate before, during, and after collaborative sessions, among many other
use cases. They support easier, more intuitive end-user experiences with anywhere, anytime access
to content while being interoperable with an array of consumer-centric applications.

The future of unified communications and collaboration lies in defining business value and outcomes
for organizations. Creating a better, more intuitive worker experience through real-time
communications, team collaboration with context, and integrations with business workflows and
applications — no matter the location of workers and devices — is of growing importance to
organizations. Executives need to have a more strategic view of, and have already prepared their
organizations for, the digital workplace. Rather than focusing on communications and collaboration as
merely a technology or product buy, consider it an opportunity to add value to the business or solve
organizational issues (e.g., integrate communications with applications, introduce or enhance team
collaborative apps among lines of business, reduce annual hardware-associated spend, or address
customer churn).

Associated Drivers
 Intelligence everywhere: AI's opportunity and implications
 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
IT Impact
 The business value of collaborative apps is of growing importance to many organizations
today. Being able to monitor, capture, extract, and report the value of these apps to the
organization can provide critical end-user, partner, and customer data and insights that can be
key to more satisfied workers, customers, partners, and so forth.
 New collaborative solutions are overwhelmingly cloud based today, so upgrading to these
advanced capabilities is mostly automated for IT.
 Access to/use of new intelligent collaborative features is typically determined by an
organization's current licensing model; an upgrade to the next level of the vendor/supplier
licensing may or may not be required.

©2019 IDC #US45587119 13

Guidance
 The expectations and requirements of younger, more tech-savvy workers are in line with the
capabilities IDC is seeing in intelligent collaborative applications today.
 Communications and collaborative applications with intelligence capabilities should be key
components of any digital transformation initiative.
 Organizations can adapt to disruptive changes in their business models and ecosystems by
leveraging digital technologies, IoT, AI, ML, NLP, and virtual reality/augmented reality
capabilities, among others, within their communications and collaboration environments.
 Organizations should consider the business value that intelligent collaborative apps can
provide for them going forward. The identification of use cases that focus on solving business
process, workflow, and/or collaboration challenges are more likely to receive funding than
those that simply cut costs.
Prediction 10: Driven by the Continued Need for Ubiquitous Indoor and
Outdoor Wireless Connectivity, More than 50% of Worldwide Enterprises Will
Have Converged Management of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 by 2025
Two key technologies are being concurrently developed in the licensed and unlicensed wireless
spectrum to ensure that wireless standards keep up with the today's fast-paced environment: 5G and
Wi-Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax). The simultaneous development of these standards has led some to ponder if
these wireless methods will complement or compete one another. IDC believes enterprises will adopt
and use both 5G and Wi-Fi 6.

5G will primarily be used for outdoor mobile connectivity, in addition to enterprise branch backhaul
applications. Wi-Fi 6, meanwhile, will become the de facto indoor Wi-Fi standard by 2023. There will
be some overlap between these technologies, however. A number of vendors, from
telecommunications providers to network infrastructure suppliers, are looking to position 5G, as well as
related cellular technologies such as LTE and CBRS in the United States, as an option for private
cellular connections inside the enterprise and in direct competition with Wi-Fi 6.

This creates a challenge as well as an opportunity for vendors. Enterprises will need ways to
comanage both important wireless connectivity methods simultaneously. While the WLAN industry has
advanced management platforms that are deeply integrated with broader enterprise operations and
security and performance optimization systems, those platforms will need to extend to support cellular
connectivity options. Likewise, telecommunications vendors supplying cellular connectivity to
enterprises will need a way to integrate management of those connections into enterprise workflows.
There is a significant opportunity for vendors to bridge this gap between these connectivity methods.
Work is already underway by a variety of vendors. The coming years will see additional developments
to help enterprise comanage their connectivity across both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

Associated Drivers
 Hyperscalers shaping the IT agenda: Spread of hyperscale innovations and best practices
 Enabling business at the edge: Evolving branch and IoT needs
 The age of innovation: Multiplied innovation drives the future of the enterprise
IT Impact
 Enterprise of all sizes around the globe will benefit from the adoption of both the new wireless
connectivity standards that are in concurrent development: Wi-Fi 6 and 5G. The key for
enterprises will be how to manage these connectivity methods simultaneously.

©2019 IDC #US45587119 14

  IDC expects the traditional enterprise use cases for Wi-Fi and cellular to remain, even with the
development of these new standards. Wi-Fi 6 for indoor connectivity and 5G (along with LTE
and CBRS) for in-building private wireless and short- or long-range outdoor connectivity.
 As enterprises continue to use both of these technologies, they will increasingly look for ways
to simplify the management and operation of these technologies and will look for a range of
vendors in the market to support their concurrent use of both connectivity methods.
Guidance
 Enterprise should consider which of these connectivity methods is best for their individual use
cases. In some cases, using both technologies simultaneously could be an adequate solution.
In these cases, enterprises should consider the initial deployment and ongoing operational,
integration, and management of the connection.
 Enterprises will have an opportunity to work with a range of vendors to support their
connectivity methods in the future, from communication SPs to network infrastructure vendors.
It will be incumbent on these vendors and others across the networking industry to support
both connectivity methods.

ADVICE FOR TECHNOLOGY BUYERS

Network professionals are facing a situation in which the network has an opportunity to become a
meaningful enabler of DX initiatives within the enterprise, rather than a cost center and inhibitor to
future innovation. To the extent that network operators and managers are able to embrace the actions
outlined in the sections that follow, they will be able to help lead and shape this change.

Rise of the Cloud

The rise and mainstream adoption of cloud computing has been one of the most important technology
developments of the 3rd Platform era. The growing embrace of cloud, as both a destination for
workloads and as an operating model, has reshaped how organizations assess and manage their
enterprise IT needs. From a networking perspective, the cloud creates a myriad of challenges and
opportunities. Enterprise networking professionals should have the goal of enabling the business to
use whatever resources the business needs, whether those are hosted on-premises or in public
clouds. To effectively and securely do so requires network professionals to ensure they have policies
in place for the connection extending to workloads in cloud platforms. This means setting up reliable
and resilient connections, ensuring they are secure, having a way to monitor and analyze traffic to and
within the cloud, and being able to measure the success of the deployments. Modern platforms are
evolving to help organizations manage these tasks and, in doing so, integrate the management of their
cloud usage into their existing enterprise network management platforms. By doing so, the cloud
becomes an extension of the enterprise environment in a world where workloads are becoming
increasing distributed.

Software-Defined Networking
With the rise of 3rd Platform and cloud computing, software-defined networking has become a central
key to advanced networking capabilities. The ability to disaggregate the data plane from the control
plane creates numerous efficiencies that are required in the modern digital age. As this is done, the
value of enterprise networking systems migrates from network hardware to network software — as well
as to cloud-based network services. SDN has migrated beyond the datacenter to other areas of the
network, from the access layer to the wide area network, and now the edge of the enterprise network.

©2019 IDC #US45587119 15

Enterprise networking professionals should continue to consider how SDN and broader software-
based, cloud-oriented business models can benefit their operations and broader business goals.

Centralized, Integrated, and Automated Management

As the scope of enterprise IT continues to expand, it's imperative that organizations think about ways
to simplify and optimize the management of their resources, including the network. One way to do this
is to centralize management policies. In the past, enterprises have relied on a silo-based approach to
managing the disparate aspects of the network. Increasingly, there are tools available to help
organizations more centrally manage these environments. For example, user and device
authentication and usage policies can be shared across the wired and wireless local area networks.
Application policies — related to quality of service, security settings, or routing paths — can be centrally
set and automatically executed across multiple WAN connections. This functionality will continue to
enhance as new use cases are determined and vendor platforms evolve. The benefit is a simplification
of management, an optimization of resources, and a more secure delivery of services to the business.

EXTERNAL DRIVERS: DETAIL

The Age of Innovation: Multiplied Innovation Drives the Future of

the Enterprise
Description
Digital transformation — the continuous process by which enterprises adapt to or drive disruptive
changes in their operations, customers, and markets — is now being driven by multiplied innovation.
Competition is powered by platforms and ecosystems where network effects and innovations feed off
themselves. But the changes and innovations aren't accidental; they are driven by data, analytics, and
learning, which feed and multiply more innovation. Data drives intelligence yielding insight and
knowledge, allowing for action and creating value. Automation and machine learning revolutionize
operations, providing major increases in productivity and efficiency. To compete, companies must
balance digital and industrial competencies and master them at scale. Yet these efforts will not
succeed without leadership and talent and the enterprises' ability to effect change.

Context
With direct digital transformation investment spending of $5.5 trillion over the years 2018–2021, DX
continues to be a central area of business leadership thinking. Industry leaders are transforming
markets and reimagining the future through new business models and digitally enabled products and
services. At the same time, companies that digitize their operating model may see a 40% increase in
productivity. Purely digital opportunities aren't enough anymore. New opportunities will come
increasingly from combining digital technology with physical assets. To succeed, digital natives need
to adopt and transform the traditional world of industrialization and specialized assets. Industrial
natives need to adopt and master digital technologies that could affect robustness, reliability, and
safety.

Sense, Compute, Act: Maximizing Data Value

Description
Today, data and intelligence represent a unique opportunity for creating unimaginable value. Real-time
data from IoT, mobile devices, and other devices at the edge — combined with historical data,

©2019 IDC #US45587119 16

enterprise systems, and global information — continually sense an environment and put it into new
contexts. By combining data with AI and machine learning, organizations are spreading intelligence
from the core to the edge to turn data into action and action into value. Automation literally extends
beyond decision making and optimization into life-and-death dependencies. Competitiveness is
determined by how data is transformed into insight and knowledge to create high-value differentiators
for products, customers, and markets and deliver meaningful, value-added learning, predictions, and
actions that improve experiential engagement, industrial processes, enterprise decision making, and
much more.

Context
In this "data driving action" world, ensuring the veracity of the data and transforming data into insights
become a strategic imperative. Sometimes called "decision-centric computing," the need to understand
and utilize data goes beyond data integration and governance. What becomes essential is: first, to put
data into context to provide meaning; next, to understand it in relationship to other data and events to
gain knowledge; and finally, to add judgement and action to achieve the full potential of value realization.

Intelligence Everywhere: AI's Opportunity and Implications

Description
Accelerating progress in AI is impacting experiential engagement, business processes, strategies, and
more — autonomously creating a significant portion of new innovations. But, as automation and
augmentation increase, so do the ethical issues and opportunities for misuse, surveillance, invasions of
privacy, and more. Many future applications will be developed by AI without human supervision. Beyond
that, augmented humanity — the fusion of digital technologies and humans — for improved mobility,
sensing, and cognition will become routine. There are justifiable concerns and issues around AI-enabled
applications, bias, and transparency and the long-term impacts of these on workforce transitions and the
essential elements of being human. Social pushback is demanding accountability and rights. Business
and governments need to address the ethical and legal issues of AI to realize its opportunities.

Context
AI innovation and application are being driven by massive investments in all kinds of industries.
Hospitals are testing how AI can enhance care, school districts are looking at AI-equipped cameras
that can spot guns, and human resources departments are using AI to sift through job applications.
Government agencies, including law enforcement, are looking for ways to harness this next
technological revolution to meet their ends, while others are demanding accountability and an
"algorithmic bill of rights." With industries investing aggressively in projects that utilize AI software, IDC
forecasts AI systems will more than double from 2018 to 2022 to $79.2 billion, with a CAGR of 38.0%.

Rising Customer Expectations: More Convenience, Customization,

and Control
Description
Customers accustomed to the personalization and ease of dealing with digital-native companies such
as Google and Amazon now expect the same kind of service from every business in every industry.
The changing expectations are most evident in the newest generations of customers, but all customers
are demanding more convenience and personalization. At the same time, they want more control of
what data is collected and how it is used. Intelligent customer agents will start to intermediate the
relationship on the customer's behalf, taking more control from the vendor. Companies that

©2019 IDC #US45587119 17

systematically collect, measure, and analyze data to create exceptional, personal, relevant, and
compelling experiences can set themselves apart from their competitors.

Context
With new customer expectations being set by thriving companies that disrupt markets, the previous
levels of customer service are no longer good enough. New business, operational, and organizational
models are required to meet continually growing consumer expectations. 38% of companies that are
digital natives report that they are "almost constantly online" through their device of choice, the mobile
phone, providing unparalleled access to behaviors and preferences, that they expect to be turned into
customized engagement and experience. While there is also backlash, customers seem willing to
relinquish some control over their data in exchange for a sufficiently engaging personalized
experience.

Growth of Hybrid Cloud and Multicloud: Support for Distributed Apps

Description
Developing and executing a comprehensive cloud strategy is integral to the success of any digital
transformation initiative. Enterprise cloud initiatives are designed to closely align the consumption and
utilization of IT resources with strategic business objectives and business outcomes. Cloud provides
an extensible platform for agile development and for new modes of analytics-based customer
engagement. As cloud consumption increases, enterprises are not relying on one cloud, but on many.
Hybrid and multicloud strategies are a reality for enterprise IT as private and public cloud models are
now viable options.

Context
It's the responsibility of enterprise networking professionals to ensure the secure, scalable, and
optimized use of these hybrid and multicloud architectures. Enterprises today are exploring ways to
centrally manage their network connections, whether they are to the cloud or between clouds. Having
centralized policies for application quality of service, user and device access, as well as monitoring
and analytics becomes increasingly challenging as the scope of the deployment grows. Enterprises
will continue to look for ways to optimize their use of these cloud architectures.

Hyperscalers Shaping the IT Agenda: Spread of Hyperscale Innovations

and Best Practices
Description
Hyperscalers have designed, built, and operated networks at unprecedented scale and operational
proficiency. This is true across many facets of their networks, from advanced automation and SDN
capabilities to scale-out systems, real-time analytics, and visibility based on streaming telemetry. All of
this enables simplified management, faster identification of issues, and remediation of problems.

Context
Enterprises aren't hyperscalers, but DX compels enterprises to consider network modernization.
Hyperscale innovations are being repackaged for enterprise consumption, deployment, and day-to-day
operations. As this is done, enterprises will gain significant benefits in the efficiency of their networks,
both in operations and management.

©2019 IDC #US45587119 18

Enabling Business at the Edge: Evolving Branch and IoT Needs
Description
Success in digital transformation requires new thinking about the consumption of IT resources in
increasingly "smart" edge locations. These are the urban cores, hospitals, factories, transportation
hubs, and a wide range of spaces where we all work, play, and live as well as where we all want to use
"smart" things to deliver optimal digital experience. Such local edge environments are where
innovation tied to augmented reality/virtual reality, IoT, robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing,
cognitive/artificial intelligence, and rapid image processing will occur.

Context
To scale, the edge IT systems that enable delivery of these services must be built on a highly
standardized and automated hardware/infrastructure software platform that supports the easy
deployment/maintenance of cloud-native applications in many distinct locations to deliver SaaS-like
services. It must also be easy to quickly and securely connect these distributed assets to centralized
cloud environments to enable greater resiliency and centralized asset management. Important
elements of edge IT environments include high availability, dynamic delivery of network connectivity,
advanced compute capabilities to support extreme low latency, and real-time analytics and smart
storage/caching that meets the need for local data placement and data governance.

LEARN MORE

Related Research
 Critical External Drivers Shaping Global IT and Business Planning, 2020 (IDC #US45540519,
October 2019)
 Market Analysis Perspective: Worldwide Datacenter Networking, 2019 (IDC #US45539519,
September 2019)
 Market Analysis Perspective: Worldwide Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, 2019 (IDC
#US44548319, September 2019)
 Market Analysis Perspective: Worldwide Internet of Things, 2019 — Infrastructure (IDC
#US45529419, September 2019)

©2019 IDC #US45587119 19

About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory
services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology
markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-
based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,100 IDC analysts
provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in
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achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology
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