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The networking world has already experienced a great deal of change over the course of the last few years and 2015 shows no sign of bucking the trend of advancements and innovation in technology.
A growing number of businesses and organisations operating within the world of networking have made the art of identifying relevant trends almost essential as being unprepared is simply not an excuse anymore.
Layer 1 Switching
According to Enterprise Networking Planet's Teren Bryson, Layer-1 (or Crosspoint) switching is set to take an increasingly central role in networking technology.
These switches allow for all Layer-1 (wiring) connections across the datacentre to be permanently connected.
It's not a new technology, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it could emerge as one of the must-have innovations for companies to adopt over the coming year.
Even if the level of deployment fails to reach any sort of dizzying height, awareness of the possibilities of Layer-1 switching and the flexibility it offers datacentres in terms of a cabling solution is paramount.
Networking bandwidth will continue to double
What does seem to be more certain is the fact that networking bandwidth will continue to grow at breakneck speed.
Such a situation will inevitably place a greater amount of stress on business networks across the UK, with many companies facing a small window to use for preparation.
Many analysts may point to the fact that the transition from 1G data centres to 10G data centres took around a decade to materialise, but there the move towards 100G is likely to be much faster.
Keeping up with those advancements is going to be key, with reliability set to be just as important as innovation over the course of the coming year.
The growing demand on networks created by data, cloud, video and mobile solutions means that systems will need to be more agile and scalable than ever before.
Chief information officers will therefore have to ensure their organisation's network is capable of handling the increased workloads, especially considering the fact that an increasing number of businesses are now moving more applications over to the cloud.
Internet of Things (IoT) to take over
There are plenty of experts within the industry that believe this coming year could see the IoT become increasingly central to the infrastructure of many businesses.
Through connecting every device within the workplace, it can allow businesses to increase productivity and mirror the operational behaviour of larger organisations.
It means that the IoT is likely to be a popular approach among small and medium businesses.
According to Gartner, the IoT trend could include as many as 26 billion devices by 2020.
Keeping on top of the infrastructure involved in such a potentially complicated setup will be crucial, particularly given the recent rise of cyber threats and other security breaches.
