Analysts make predictions on 2013 networking trends

What does 2013 have in store for the networking industry? We asked five top industry analysts to predict on networking trends for this year. Click on the links below to find out what will happen in data center networking, network security, campus LANs, network management and software-defined networking.

Eric Hanselman, 451 Research, on data center networks

Data center networks will continue to wrestle with the limitations of spanning tree protocolin 2013, but enterprises that move to alternatives like network fabrics will find roadblocks to scalability. Meanwhile, enterprises will use Ethernet exchanges to build hybrid cloud environments and cutting edge micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)-based photonic switches will start to make some noise in the data center. Erica Hanselman, research director at London-based 451 Research, shares his predictions for how the data center networking industry will shake out in 2013.

Greg Young, Gartner, on network security

In 2013, network security vendors need to develop third-party ecosystems that help enterprises correlate data among the various components of their security architecture. Also, network security pros will need to sort through the software-defined networking (SDN)hype to figure out how secure these new technologies are. Meanwhile, enterprises will accelerate their adoption of next-generation firewalls and advanced threat protection systems. We asked Greg Young, research vice president at Stamford, Conn.-based Gartner Inc., to share his views on the changes we'll see in network security this year.

Andre Kindness, Forrester Research, on campus LANs

Campus networking has lacked innovation for a few years, but 2013 may switch things up a bit. While wireless LAN vendors will be pushing faster 802.11ac networks this year, the industry may also see some architectural changes that could finally deliver true unified wireless and wired campus LANs. We asked Andre Kindness, senior analyst at Forrester Research, to share his views on the changes we'll see in campus LANs this year.

Jim Frey, Enterprise Management Associates, on network management

Emerging virtual overlay network technology will force network management vendors to develop tools to monitor these new environments in 2013. Meanwhile, enterprises will demand better visibility into their public cloud resources and virtual desktop infrastructure deployments. Enterprise Management Associates Research Director Jim Frey shares these and other predictions for how the network management market will evolve this year.

Brad Casemore, IDC, on software-defined networking

What's in store for software-defined networking? IDC analyst Brad Casemore predicts adoption will grow among service providers and cloud providers; vendors will battle each other in Layer 4-7 network services and SDN controllers; and OpenFlow may evolve, but very slowly. In the longer term, IDC projects that the SDN market will reach $3.7 billion by 2016. Here's more of what Casemore had to say about the SDN market in 2013.

reference: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/feature/Analysts-make-predictions-on-2013-networking-trends,