NC Feb-Mar 2023

FEATURE: 2023 PREDICTIONS
devices with 2.5G or 5G to provide the
full potential and the wired switches need
to connect to Wi-Fi 6 Access Points to use
all the available bandwidth. Companies
will need to take a step-by-step network
upgrade, starting from the wired device to
build an infrastructure ready to deploy the
new Wi-Fi 6 Access Point and then once
ready, migrate the Wi-Fi from the current
implementation to Wi-Fi 6."
They add that Wi-Fi will continue to grow
as the main access technology, and will
require "a more powerful infrastructure
and advanced feature-set to support the
growing demands of the user. The
capability to manage the mobility, device
location, and the capability to adapt
autonomously to environmental changes
will be the main characteristics of new
wireless solutions. To accommodate this
increase in complexity, smart network
management tools, incorporating
elements of artificial intelligence, will
become more widely adopted."
ESPRIA
Platform and Infrastructure-as-a-Service
(PaaS/IaaS) represent one of the biggest
opportunities for service providers in
2023 according to Espira, offering "the
chance to host the services and
infrastructure that are usually present in
an on-premises data centre. This includes
elements like hardware, software, storage,
servers and networking components,
along with the virtualisation layer and
ready-made services such as database
platforms, to help businesses scale
quickly. It is a hugely attractive model as
PaaS and IaaS also enable organisations
to cut costs, reduce the time spent
managing in-house infrastructure and
services, and improve service levels for
their end users.
"This model eliminates wait times for
hardware, other components, or on-site
support and the subscription-based billing
model of IaaS offers many advantages to
clients in terms of scalability, cost, and
security, often making enterprise-grade
services available to organisations for
whom they may previously have been out
of reach."
TELEHOUSE
Telehouse caution that the energy crisis is
also set to impact IT operations and cost
efficiencies. "With the price of energy
reaching unprecedented highs, many
organisations will see their IT spend
continue to rise next year. However, while
budgets might be able to absorb these
extra costs in the short term, it is not a
sustainable financial option for most
businesses. Decision-makers will therefore
start to look towards other means of
ensuring a reliable, secure energy supply
and energy reduction schemes to
minimise the impacts on operational costs
to ensure current and future productivity."
WWW.NETWORKCOMPUTING.CO.UK @NCMagAndAwards FEBRUARY/MARCH 2023 NETWORKcomputing 09