Ageing or obsolete devices compel investments in cloud outpacing on-premise infrastructure spend

The COVID-19 outbreak and consequent surge in bandwidth consumption are putting a strain on the network, compounding existing challenges, and, ultimately, creating a perfect storm. With an increase in remote working, remote access, and consumption of voice and video services, organizations’ network and security infrastructure are under incredible pressure.

In this ‘new normal’ many businesses will need, if not be forced, to review their network and security architecture strategies, operating and support models to better manage operational risk, opines Rob Lopez, Executive Vice President, Intelligent Infrastructure, NTT Ltd.

Lopez shared his opinion based on NTT Ltd.’s ‘2020 Global Network Insights Report’, which found that as businesses move applications to multi-cloud environments, investment in the cloud is outpacing organizations’ on-premises infrastructure spend.

This has caused refresh and upgrade patterns to slow down, with many businesses choosing to continue to sweat network assets and to slow investment in re-architecting their on-premises network and security infrastructure, shares Lopez.

Lopez further indicates that the report analysis has shown that there has been an increase in obsolete and unpatched network devices containing software vulnerabilities, introducing risk, and exposing the organization to information security threats.

The report, which is based on data from technology assessments conducted on more than 1,000 clients covering over 800,000 network devices, found 46.3% of organizations’ network assets were ageing or obsolete, as a weighted average, representing a huge surge on 2017, when this figure was just 4.3%.

"We expect to see strategy shift from a focus on business continuity to preparation for the future as lockdown begins to ease. Network infrastructure needs to be appropriately architected and managed to deal with unplanned surges, which will require a relook at cloud and on-premises infrastructure to reduce the impact and frequency of business-critical outages," says Lopez.

The security risk of ageing and obsolete devices in the future workplace: Obsolete devices have, on average, twice as many vulnerabilities per device (42.2) when compared with ageing (26.8) and current ones (19.4), creating unnecessary risk. This risk is exacerbated further when businesses do not patch a device or revisit the operating system version for the duration of its lifetime.

In the ‘new normal,’ as businesses reimagine the way we work, embedding resilience into the organization’s operations will be key. The pandemic will introduce permanent changes to the way businesses operate, including implementing smart workspaces that accommodate social distancing within their physical offices, while many companies will continue to embrace remote working.

The report also finds that with the adoption of new wireless infrastructure on the rise – an increase of 13% year-on-year – and the rise of open office and co-working spaces, a novel approach to all network architecture will be needed.

The evolution of the network must go hand in hand with digital transformation: As part of digital transformation strategies, leading organizations are already using networks to enable new business models (e.g. the Internet of Things) or optimize existing operating models (e.g. asset tracking), indicates the report.

Rob Lopez commented saying, “The network is the platform for business digital transformation. It needs to be ubiquitous, flexible, robust and secure to adapt easily to business change while increasing the maturity of the operational support environment. Businesses that use a high-level of network automation and intelligence to optimize operations will gain a significant competitive advantage and realize the benefits of the cloud economy, securely.”