siliconindia | | April 20198By Dr. Derek Peterson, CTO, Boingo WirelessNEXT-GEN WIRELESS TRENDS EVERY CIO NEEDS TO KNOW lobal IT spending will reach USD 3.7 trillion in 2018, up 4.5 percent from 2017, as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, ar-tificial intelligence, and blockchain drive growth, according to Gartner. At the center of new in-novations impacting the enterprise are wireless networks, which serve as the connected workforce's heart-beat. As any CIO knows, wireless technologies are rapidly changing, making it difficult to keep up with what new solutions to budget for; what new network features to adopt; and what technology will still be rel-evant before the next wave of new WLAN product rollouts make a splash. Adding to these challenges is the growing need for IT profession-als to ensure seamless cellular cov-erage throughout the enterprise--an ask that is on the rise as businesses increasingly adopt BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies.To map out a winning net-work strategy, I've zeroed in on top trends to examine that will help you keep pace with the evolving wireless industry. NFV & SDN Reign Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Net-working (SDN) are moving from the lab to real-world deployments. In fact, forecasts show that NFV and SDN markets will grow significantly by 2021, hitting USD 158 billion.NFV should be a go-to for wireless networks, as the technology elimi-nates the need for expensive hardware and physical infrastructure, while re-ducing capital expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx). Us-ing cloud-based technology, NFV can upgrade an enterprise's network equipment--servers, switches and routers--to handle new standards, all while eliminating complete system overhauls. Improved scalability, in-creased data visibility, distributed data centers and information integrity are all among the benefits of NFV.Of note, in 2018 we'll see im-proved interoperability for NFV, as the New IP Agency (NIA) re-cently launched a new NFV Cer-tification Program that ensures multivendor flexibility.Complementary to NFV, SDN should also be a focus for IT strate-gies as it separates the network con-trol logic from network equipment to make the network programmable; es-sentially, it centralizes command and control of the network without having to physically reconfigure or program individual devices. SDN can be used without NFV, and vice versa; howev-er, when used together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Passpoint Simplifies Wi-FiTo create a truly ubiquitous connect-ed experience--one that removes the headaches of Wi-Fi log-ins, passwords in my opinionHeadquartered in California, Boingo Wireless is a wireless communication solutions company offering a wide array of services such as DAS, Connectivity, Wi-Fi, Small Cell, Mobile, Advertising, Airports, Venues, 5G, Spectrum, Unlicensed Spectrum, Stadiums, Arenas, and RF.G
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