Since networks are fundamental to innovation in communication, over the
next 10 years, everyone and everything will be connected everywhere for
constant communication, information and entertainment.
With broadband, wireless and global IP technologies as the heart of
coming economic growth, the expectation from users will drive the need for new
solutions, creating new opportunities for organizations that respond. Going
forward, networks will not only connect people to people, but people to
machines and machines to machines””creating billions of potential nodes on this
increasingly valuable grid. These network changes, along with user demand,
produce trends that reduce the challenges of today and introduce new solutions
for tomorrow.
1.
Increasingly Intelligent Networks
To enable major, new communication capabilities, intelligence will be
embedded in networks which will make network control more automated, dynamic
and flexible. In the coming decade, communication between network components
won’t be tightly tied to specific hardware. For instance, switches and
multiplexers can signal themselves to the other network components, allowing
dynamic configuration.
Besides, networks will become more resilient as their self-healing
capabilities become more sophisticated and effective. Mesh networks will
provide automatic restoration and real-time management of voice and data
traffic, predictable and more acceptable latency, improving performance time
and much faster data sent even with network disruption by adopting SONET ring
technology.
Verizon is the first network provider to deploy undersea cable mesh
technology. In 2009, during the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan,
Verizon’s global mesh network rerouted traffic within milliseconds of the
multiple cable breaks, finding the best paths for the highest quality
restoration of traffic.
2.
Pervasive Bandwidth
Globally, mobile data traffic will double every year through 2014, and
will grow to 3.6 exabytes per month. The increased volume in high definition
3-D video sharing, conferencing and streaming will cause data traffic to
skyrocket. Over the next decade, on-demand bandwidth will be used dramatically
with the growth of bandwidth-intensive applications. Business will be able to
upgrade bandwidth almost instantly without human intervention.
Verizon Wireless was among the first carriers in the U.S. to launch Long
Term Evolution (LTE) technology. More than 2000% wireless data will be carried
by Verizon Wireless between now and the end of 2014 after LTE is deployed.
3.
Pervasive IP Connectivity
As technology platforms continue to evolve, consumers and businesses
will demand access to all of their content regardless of where it’s store
anytime, anywhere and on any device. Fixed mobile convergence (FMC)
provides a seamless transition of voice, data and even video communications
despite of network, location and device. Machine to Machine (M2M) wireless
communication solutions can track assets, remotely monitor inventory and ensure
that distant equipment is operating properly.
Verizon demonstrated a small, handheld tablet device that streamed the
movie Up” in 1080p over LTE at 4 Mbps at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.
Live, high-quality videoconferencing over LTE using portable units from
Creative Labs was also demonstrated.
4. Everything as a Service
Cloud-based services will
grow to include more types of services, such as applications, servers,
software, data center space, storage and network equipment. Using virtualized infrastructure
can reduce capital costs and less IT support to administer, compared to
traditional approaches. Over the next several years, most software applications
will become cloud-based for both consumer and enterprise applications.
Verizon Business recently
began offering content-delivery network providers (CDNs) which deposit
consumer-focused content directly to the Verizon Internet backbone network
without any costly middlemen architectures that involve multiple connections.
5. Purpose-built Solutions
The industry is moving away
from point-to-point links to VPNs that run over the public Internet or private
clouds based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network technologies.
Through 2020, the VPN and private cloud trends will continue. Virtualization of
services will make it possible to create a logical network without building a
physical network.
Verizon Financial network
(VFN) is specifically designed to share market data and execute timely trades.
It offers financial services customers a fully end-to-end managed and
supported, highly scalable and low latency interface to the financial services
ecosystem.
Users already have high
expectations of their communication technology. They will come to expect
always-on access to the Internet that supports their lifestyles in every way.
None of this would be possible without the foundation of solid and advanced
communication networks.
In the future, network
providers will form alliances with other providers and partnerships with
application developers and device makers. The network is moving from just being
an enabler to being the foundational driver for the new economy. Verizon
Business looks forward to helping unleash every sector of the economy to
reinvent itself to produce real growth, real innovation, and real change for
customers globally.
By Christopher Kimm,
president, Network Field Operations, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle-East, Africa,
Verizon
