NetOps 2.0, the current iteration, embeds a growing amount of automation, virtualization, and orchestration to improve the speed and accessibility of networking operations, rapidly establishing itself as fundamental to network management. An overwhelming majority (97%) of respondents regard it as somewhat or very important to network infrastructure planning.
Underscoring the importance of the network, digital transformation was identified by 23% of respondents as the biggest driver of NetOps and network automation. Other major drivers included a need to achieve performance improvements (17%), a growing focus on the importance of business continuity (16%) and cost savings (16%).
Unsurprisingly, when asked to rank network-management issues they were most focused on implementing over the next 12 months, respondents cited NetOps functionality (54%) and network automation (28%) at the top.
“With engineers unable to visit sites and network teams confined to their homes, the pandemic has clearly played a part in the drive to invest in NetOps,” said Gary Marks, president of Opengear. “However, the manifest benefits of greater agility, improved performance, and lower costs have built market momentum. We expect spending on NetOps and network automation solutions to continue to ramp up in the years to come and will explore this in detail during our upcoming automation week event.”
