Redefining Networks for Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Social and Security

Much has been written about cloud, big data and analytics, mobile, social, and IT security as significant forces that are transforming information technology and business. Much less has been said about the impact of these forces on networking or about the role that networks play when business initiatives are based on them. As these technologies move from future trend to mainstream, the network as the common, critical infrastructure component will get close to the breaking point. How close is that breaking point? The pace of adoption is telling. Two years ago, only about half of the respondents to the IBM Business Tech Trends Study had adopted analytics and mobile. Social and cloud were deployed by even fewer (34 percent and 39 percent respectively).