SD-WAN, Ethernet and WiFi are Key to Business Customers Survey Finds

Spiceworks Ziff Davis surveyed 620 IT decision makers in January about business connectivity products and how they see the network services landscape evolving. What came through in the survey responses is a desire to upgrade and take advantage of evolving technology as demands on the network continue to grow.

The commentary noted that the survey was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic bolstered the importance and profile of remote tools and technology.

The report paints a rosy picture for SD-WAN. Spiceworks says that 11% of organizations will start using the technology within the next two years. That’s atop the 21% already doing so. Large organizations will be even quicker to adopt, with 29% of enterprises planning to adopt by 2022, up from 33% today.

The use of MPLS is reduced by SD-WAN. MPLS currently has 24% adoption. However, 5% of respondents said that their companies are discontinuing its use, while only 3% are planning to start using it.

10GbE also is popular. Asked what Ethernet speed they planned to adopt over the next two years, 10GbE was the most popular answer, with 43% of SMBs say they plan to upgrade to that speed. More than one-third of larger enterprise respondents planning to upgrade Ethernet speed in the next two years will choose either 40GbE or 100GbE. 

Slower 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T Ethernet, which are less expensive, will be more popular with small businesses (11% of which plan to use that option) compared with enterprises (only 5% of which plan to use that option).

WiFi is Huge
The report also covers the continued growth of WiFi in the workplace. The technology now is used by 96% of businesses.

The Wi-Fi naming convention has been simplified in order to make things easier for a broad constituency, the report notes. Seventy-one percent of respondents say WiFi 5 (802.11ac) is the fastest iteration of the standard that they use, followed by WiFi 4 (802.11n) at 15%.

The newest version of the standard (WiFi 6 or 802.11ax) and the oldest versions (802.11g and 802.11b or older) had the lowest usage rates. All were under 10%. Six percent of respondents did not know what generation of Wi-Fi they were using.

Twenty-nine percent of businesses plan to upgrade to a new standard within the next two years. The firm found that 75% will move to WiFi 6 and 11% to WiFi 5. The rest don’t know their plans – except for 1% who plan to move to WiFi 4.

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