Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 36 | Page 68

t cht lk allowing them to focus their efforts on business-impacting issues. • This will enable IT teams to not only take a proactive stance, but will allow systems to predict when issues will occur based on nuanced patterns, behaviour monitoring and network health, easing the pressure on IT resources even more. “ The containerised future • In this modern era, networks that exhibit cloud-native characteristics – such as modularity, programmability, elasticity and resiliency – will become increasingly popular. LOCATION SERVICES WILL ENABLE A NEW HOST OF SERVICES BASED ON PROXIMITY AND PREFERENCES. • In 2020, cloud-native networks will help DevOps teams by having switch infrastructures that interact with a cloud- based GUI to better support applications that have proliferated almost everywhere in modern enterprises, especially in containers or as micro-services. • Whether on premises, or in the cloud, the network must evolve to embrace a containerised future. Death of network software subscription models • Having network switches, routers and controllers that go dark once the software registration ends is harmful to businesses. • When customers buy equipment, they want all the ownership of features, functionality and their network, not a ticking time bomb in the form of a services contract that could impede Cloud-driven era 68 INTELLIGENTCIO essential features, security functions and even connectivity itself. • In 2020, customer-first subscription models tailored to cloud-driven strategies will emerge to deliver value and peace-of-mind. Security Securing widespread adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) • While the growing use of IoT devices is providing organisations with new levels of data to make intelligent decisions about business operations, they can also provide an open door for malicious actors to exploit vulnerabilities. With over 70 billion devices expected to be in operation by 2020 according to Gartner, securing these devices, and using behavioural analytics to detect Indicators of Compromise (IOC) will be critical. Continued integration and orchestration of security tools • With enterprises using over 130 plus security tools and technologies on www.intelligentcio.com