Virtualization (78%), automation (70%) and network slicing (70%) are the top technology trends increasing the need for test, monitoring and assurance stated by communications service providers (CSPs) and according to The 2021 Network Test Survey, released by VIAVI Solutions.
The past year has been a proving ground for both wired and wireless networks worldwide, with hundreds of millions of people working remotely and educating their children from home. Despite substantial increases in network traffic, today’s networks in large part met the global challenges created by the pandemic.
Study findings include:
■ 85% of respondents in the survey stated that in-person network technician visits had been reduced or eliminated as a result of the pandemic, although 78% said that the change was temporary.
■ More than 55% of service providers report a transition from instrument-based testing to remote, virtualized testing, with 7% saying the change is permanent.
■ In order to maintain quality of experience during the pandemic, at least 30% of service providers increased reliance on contractors for network quality assurance.
■ More than two-thirds (70%) of CSPs identify access network performance as the primary factor that most impacts subscriber experience, with transport network performance (41%) and core network performance (37%) also of concern.
■ An overwhelming majority of 93% in the study believe that testing improves customer satisfaction and reduces churn.
■ Despite challenges presented by COVID-19, only 22% of CSPs temporarily reduced the number of test cases performed, demonstrating the value placed on test and assurance
■ Nearly 80% of service providers agree that testing on the front end reduces the amount of operational expenditures needed to correct issues later
■ When asked about sources of test, measurement and assurance solutions, 89% of respondents agreed that vendors specializing in this area were essential to performance of the network
■ 78% strongly agree that network monitoring and assurance using artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are necessary to optimize networks.
“Prior to the pandemic, service providers had begun turning to technologies like automation, AI and virtualization to control costs while improving the customer experience. The current situation has only accelerated the adoption of these advanced technologies,” said Kevin Oliver, VP and GM, Converged Instruments and Virtual Test, VIAVI. “To ensure performance of more complex, next-generation networks, service providers need advanced test and assurance solutions and automated workflows, particularly when they are increasingly relying on contractors for crucial field testing.”
The Latest
To achieve maximum availability, IT leaders must employ domain-agnostic solutions that identify and escalate issues across all telemetry points. These technologies, which we refer to as Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations, create convergence — in other words, they provide IT and DevOps teams with the full picture of event management and downtime ...
APMdigest and leading IT research firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) are partnering to bring you the EMA-APMdigest Podcast, a new podcast focused on the latest technologies impacting IT Operations. In Episode 2 - Part 1 Pete Goldin, Editor and Publisher of APMdigest, discusses Network Observability with Shamus McGillicuddy, Vice President of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA ...
CIOs have stepped into the role of digital leader and strategic advisor, according to the 2023 Global CIO Survey from Logicalis ...
Synthetic monitoring is crucial to deploy code with confidence as catching bugs with E2E tests on staging is becoming increasingly difficult. It isn't trivial to provide realistic staging systems, especially because today's apps are intertwined with many third-party APIs ...
Recent EMA field research found that ServiceOps is either an active effort or a formal initiative in 78% of the organizations represented by a global panel of 400+ IT leaders. It is relatively early but gaining momentum across industries and organizations of all sizes globally ...
Managing availability and performance within SAP environments has long been a challenge for IT teams. But as IT environments grow more complex and dynamic, and the speed of innovation in almost every industry continues to accelerate, this situation is becoming a whole lot worse ...
Harnessing the power of network-derived intelligence and insights is critical in detecting today's increasingly sophisticated security threats across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructure, according to a new research study from IDC ...
Recent research suggests that many organizations are paying for more software than they need. If organizations are looking to reduce IT spend, leaders should take a closer look at the tools being offered to employees, as not all software is essential ...
Organizations are challenged by tool sprawl and data source overload, according to the Grafana Labs Observability Survey 2023, with 52% of respondents reporting that their companies use 6 or more observability tools, including 11% that use 16 or more.
An array of tools purport to maintain availability — the trick is sorting through the noise to find the right one. Let us discuss why availability is so important and then unpack the ROI of deploying Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) during an economic downturn ...