2024 promises to be an interesting year for network technology. HPE Aruba makes five predictions, citing Zero Trust, AI and WiFi 7 as critical pillars for the network of the future.

Prediction 1: The death of the standalone firewall

The rise of the hybrid workforce and the extensive use of IoT devices have irreversibly eroded the network perimeter, and with it the standalone firewall is disappearing. A good “inside” can no longer be protected from a bad “outside” by a ring of firewalls. Trying to close the gaps by deploying more firewalls within an organization only increases complexity, creates room for error, and slows down companies that want to act quickly.

This quickly turns the next-gen firewall appliance into a last-gen firewall appliance. On the one hand, the Secure Service Edge (SSE) replaces firewalls and proxies with a cloud-delivered secure web gateway, cloud access security broker, and zero trust network access. SSE also provides an attractive way to manage security for users accessing applications from anywhere. On the other hand, IoT security requires on-site segmentation, right at the edge of the network. To achieve this, firewall services are integrated directly into access points, switches and SD-WAN gateways. Even in the data center, introducing top-of-rack switches with L4-7 security can enable much more cost-effective east-west segmentation than traditional next-gen firewalls at the end of the aisle. In the coming years, the market for next-generation firewalls will continue to decline as these new cloud-based and integrated capabilities provide an easier way to manage secure connectivity.

Supporting Industry Statistics: As more companies adopt programmatic, hybrid work strategies, buyers are more likely to choose firewall providers that offer cloud-based security services with credible cloud security strategies. Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls (Adam Hils, Rajpreet Kaur, Thomas Lintemuth) May 16, 2023

Prediction 2: Zero trust principles accelerate the alignment of security and network goals

Most organizations have separate teams managing networks and security, and their goals can be contradictory in many ways. In 2024, leading companies will demonstrate how Zero Trust principles can be used to align the interests of both teams, driving better end-user experiences and better business outcomes. In a typical organization, the goal of the network team is to connect people and services reliably connected, operational, and with predictably good performance. They are designed to make it easier for people to connect anywhere and avoid complexities that cause failures, latency, or delays. On the other hand, the security organization is tasked with minimizing risks and maintaining compliance. All too often, the user and their experience get caught in the middle. An overzealous security implementation can slow down or make it impossible for users to access the apps and data they need, slowing down business. On the other hand, lax security or a network team that wants to please everyone by bypassing security measures can lead to infiltration and ransomware.

Leading companies will adopt zero trust architectures, where the network’s job is not to connect something to something, but rather to act as an enforcement layer for security policies. Security policies can be enforced for users accessing applications in the cloud. However, for many traffic flows, especially for IoT devices and their associated services, it is more efficient to automatically implement these policies in access devices such as access points, switches, etc. Routers. With the right level of shared visibility, automation, and a clear definition of policies and enforcement, network and security teams can align their goals and deliver a better experience.

Supporting numbers: According to Forrester, 96% of customers said security and networking worked together to deploy SASE.

Prediction 3: Measuring end-user experiences will become a must for driving operational excellence

To meet employee and customer expectations, IT organizations must move to SLOs and SLAs based on measured user experiences. Users don’t care what the error is, they focus on one simple thing: is the application they are using working well or not? User satisfaction drops when they first find problems and then are dismissed by IT by telling them that all devices are working properly and working.

To address this issue, companies will widely adopt digital experience management (DEM) tools that both measure the actual experience of end users and perform synthetic research to ensure the infrastructure is ready even when users are not present . Enterprises will likely want a mix of measurements collected by endpoint agents (e.g. an SSE agent) and measurements collected by dedicated hardware sensors, particularly when monitoring Wi-Fi performance. Ideally, these same measurements drive automated AIOps capable of learning and then implementing best practices, resolving issues quickly, and resolving issues automatically.

Supporting Stat: By 2026, at least 60% of I&O leaders will use DEM to measure the performance of applications, services, and endpoints from a user perspective, up from less than 20% in 2021. (Gartner, Market Guide for Digital Experience Monitoring, March 2022)

Prediction 4: 6GHz Wi-Fi usage will skyrocket – and will remain Wi-Fi 7’s biggest feature.

The barriers slowing Wi-Fi adoption in the 6GHz spectrum will be removed in most regions and usage will explode.

A few years ago, Wi-Fi 6E introduced native support for the 6GHz band, more than doubling Wi-Fi capacity, enabling more users and faster speeds. In some segments the standard was introduced quickly, in others it was more cautious. By 2024, the last obstacles to widespread acceptance will be removed.

First, the use of the 6 GHz band, especially outdoors, must be approved by government authorities. While some countries, such as the US, have been quick to open spectrum to Wi-Fi, others have been slower. Fortunately, great progress has been made in this area and by 2024, most companies in most parts of the world will have access to the 6GHz spectrum.

Second, some companies have been hesitant to adopt Wi-Fi 6E while Wi-Fi 7 is just around the corner. Now that Wi-Fi 7 has been ratified, there is no doubt that Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 will be interoperable. Because 6E devices and access points ship in volume, 6GHz Wi-Fi deployments can run at full speed.

Finally, the transition is hampered by support on both access points and client devices. We are seeing a large number of new devices supporting Wi-Fi 6E and the proliferation of 6E access points. Additionally, more Wi-Fi 7 devices are coming to market and can leverage the 6GHz band to provide a better user experience with Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 access points. The combination of these developments will see widespread adoption of the 6 GHz spectrum in 2024, resulting in faster transmissions and a better user experience.

Supporting Industry Numbers: “HPE Aruba Networking has shipped more than 1.5x the number of Wi-Fi 6E APs than any other vendor in the industry” – Sian Morgan is the senior network analyst at Dell’Oro Group.

Prediction 5: AI will ease the burden on IT administrators

Sometimes it is said that you don’t lose your job to AI, but to someone who uses AI effectively. This definitely applies to IT administrators.

The increasing burden of implementing new technologies and maintaining cybersecurity while maintaining the same or even shrinking workforce means every administrator must do more. Fortunately, AI and automation are advancing rapidly, shifting the task from managing and configuring individual devices to defining policies for an entire organization and deploying those policies automatically and consistently. Additionally, AI is also capable of sifting through large amounts of data to identify anomalies and recommend (and even implement) solutions. It is now common knowledge that AI is only as good as the data set, which is why larger, high quality data sets are essential. Leading vendors will draw AI insights from data lakes containing millions of managed devices and hundreds of millions of endpoints. Finally, large language models (LLMs) accelerate existing natural language interfaces and provide administrators a more convenient way to get the information they need.

The bottom line is that companies need to ensure they provide their IT teams with the AI ​​force multiplier that administrators need to stay competitive.

Supporting Statistic: By 2026, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology will account for 20% of initial network configuration, up from nearly zero in 2023. (Gartner, Strategic Roadmap for Enterprise Networking, October 2023

This is a post from HPE Aruba. The ITdaily editorial team assumes no responsibility for the content.