In this COVID-19 pandemic, most companies have realized the value of some of the technologies that were taken for granted all these years. Many technologies have proved their value by enabling businesses to keep running while most of their employees were forced to work remotely. In addition to that, some new technologies got a great boost and were capable of meeting the demands even in such tough times.
Many experts believe that most technologies that shined last year will have a major role to play in the upcoming years. These technologies will allow the companies to provide their customers with more secure and reliable access to resources.
Let’s take a look at some of the technologies that remerged in 2020 that will prove their worth in the years to come.
Zero-Touch Network Access
Connecting to the network from various locations and managing and controlling the access has become an utmost priority because all the data, users, devices, etc. are located across a hybrid environment. It has taken on unprecedented urgency to authenticate and authorize access to various users from diverse locations. Since remote working has become very common these days, employees need access to the data and applications to do their job perfectly. The business will be at a loss without that.
The security teams of the companies are struggling these days to control who and which devices should have the access and the purpose of the access. That is one of the main reasons why conversions on cybersecurity are becoming very common in most companies. Today, cybersecurity is one of the main discussions in every company. That is why security approaches like zero-touch network access have become popular.
Autonomous Networks And AIOps
The developments in autonomous networks and network automation benefits every aspect of your business operations. One of those main aspects is supporting a workforce that is currently working remotely from home. Autonomous networks also help businesses to deploy the infrastructure that is necessary for supporting emerging business opportunities quickly. They also help to automate the mundane tasks so that they can make more efficient use of IT staff time. This will give you more time to spend on crucial projects.
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Connectivity
In earlier times, voice communication and military applications were the main uses of LEO connectivity. However, low earth orbit connectivity is used by a wide range of operators these days. These operators include Amazon, Telesat, SapceX, and OneWeb. With the help of LEOs, these operators are offering higher-bandwidth data communications, HD video streaming, and broadband to rural areas. With the help of LEO satellite networks, you will get higher-throughput, lower-delay communications that can provide more bandwidth to each person.
Security Access Service Edge (SASE)
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many offices were forced to close and many enterprises were forced to fast-track their digital transformation initiatives. Many were also forced to expand their IT resources to mobilize their workers who are working remotely. This has caused the traditional enterprise network vulnerabilities to stretch to their limits straining the infrastructure and expose the vulnerabilities of their networks. Since many companies have started to move their workload to the cloud, Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) started to gain momentum. This network security framework allows the users to securely connect to applications from any location.
5G Mobile Network
5G or fifth-generation mobile network services are gaining popularity all over the world these days. However, the availability of 5G services still varies from location to location. Since 5G services are getting popular, most businesses have started to use 5G applications in their business activities. The early application of 5G services will be for employees who are working remotely and do not have access to high-speed Wi-Fi. Many companies are also planning to use 5G network services to connect small offices to corporate networks. This will enable several edge computing applications that are emerging these days.
Containers And Kubernetes
The world is changing quickly these days and most traditional applications have become almost impractical. The main reasons for this are that these technologies are often hard to maintain, improve, and update. This has led many companies to move to microservices-based applications. With the help of this application, we can break down an application into component parts in separate containers. This has made the updating process a lot easier.
Remote Access Through VDI, VPN, And DaaS
Even before the pandemic, remote access through virtual desktop infrastructure, virtual private networks, and desktop-as-a-service were quite common. The dynamics have however changed due to the move to work from home. Earlier, only 10-20 % of the organization required secure remote access to the resources and corporate network of the company, and the solutions were deployed based on that. Since work from home became the new norm, that 10 – 20 % became 100%. The main challenge faced by most companies in this situation is the bandwidth needed to support all the extra VDI, VPN, and DaaS session traffic that is coming into the company.
