BYOD, Virtualisation Can Bring Networks To Their Knees

If organisations don’t start to plan for upgrades at the core of their networks, technology megatrends such as mobility - or bring your own device (BYOD) - video, and virtualisation could bring them to their knees. This will impact competitiveness and organisational efficiency, and leave end-users - the consumers who increasingly drive technology adoption - frustrated and unproductive.

That’s one of the findings in the 2012 Network Barometer Report released by global ICT services and solutions provider, Dimension Data. The Report reveals that while many organisations are investing in order to connect more mobile devices to their networks, they may be overlooking the underlying network infrastructure responsible for the distribution and delivery of their communication services. The Report covers aggregate data compiled from Technology Lifecycle Management (TLM) Assessments conducted worldwide in 2011 by the Group on almost 300 organisations of all sizes across all industry sectors.

Raoul Tecala, Dimension Data’s Business Development Director for Network Integration said, “There’s often a disproportionate focus on endpoints such as laptops, tablets, smartphones or virtual machines. However, organisations cannot ignore the basic routing and switching equipment at the core of the network.”

“Our data reveals that organisations are upgrading the wireless access points at the edge of their network aggressively. In fact, a third of all the access points discovered during 2011 were 802.11n capable. That’s almost triple the 12 percent 802.11n penetration from 2010,” he added and pointed out that the most recent Wi-Fi standard 802.11n offers higher speeds than previous standards.

The Technology Lifecycle Management (TLM) Assessment is an IT infrastructure asset assessment service that discovers, catalogues and analyses assets on the network. It identifies basic configuration, end-of-life and security issues so that they can be proactively addressed and enables new levels of coverage, reliability and performance for data, voice, video and other mobile services.

“Given the market trend towards increased mobility alongside the anywhere, any devices, any application end-user demands, we predict that 802.11n access point penetration will be greater than 50 percent next year,” said Tecala.

As organisations enable technologies such as mobility and desktop virtualisation at the edge of the network, the underlying network infrastructure needs to evolve in line with technology adoption.

Network managers need to plan and budget for upgrades at the core of the network to cope with the load.

“Without adequate planning organisations can expect traffic jams and performance bottlenecks. It’s like building a number of new onramps onto a motorway, and not adding new lanes to carry the additional traffic,” added Tecala.

Other Key Findings In The Report

Two thirds of all devices assessed in 2011 had at least one known security vulnerability: however repeat users of the Technology Lifecycle Management Assessments had fewer vulnerabilities, with only 59 percent vs. 75 percent of non-repeat users

Of the known security vulnerabilities discovered, four of the top ten most prevalent were new. Three of these have a high severity rating, while PSIRT (Product Security Incident Response Team) #111895, which was found in 6 percent of network devices, carries a critical rating. Organisations need to ensure that their IOS patch management processes are comprehensive and that they screen for security vulnerabilities regularly.