In today's world, there are three networks that integrate together to enable digital transformation and facilitate business operations, which will positively affect customer experience.
These networks are:
The wireless access network is usually managed and controlled by service providers and operators in the country.
Cloud computing network, which is a public network that needs the Internet to access its service.
Finally, corporate and institutional networks that depend on the wireless access network to connect to the cloud network.
The wireless access network plays an important role by facilitating connectivity services that enable enterprise networks to take advantage of cloud computing services.
These three networks use old traditional technologies, and therefore they face constant challenges in terms of performance, load distribution, and data traffic management. Therefore, they do not provide sufficient flexibility and harmony between different network devices, because their nature is static rather than dynamic functions, and they are configured Manually, which makes it more vulnerable to errors, and does not support automation in services, nor does it allow innovation and development in the way it works.
In order to achieve the required flexibility in network services and take full advantage of cloud services and maintain performance, reliability and quality, the wireless access network needs a fundamental change in its infrastructure.
This change must be supported by programming and automation through virtual network technology, to be consistent with reducing operating costs and reducing the cost of capital. Therefore, it can be said that the current wireless access network has failed to meet the requirements of achieving the desired digital transformation.
The problem is that as organizations drive towards digital transformation, they need to significantly improve the performance, monitoring, and security of their network, and at the same time, they must also maintain cost-effectiveness.
For example, critical applications need sufficient network throughput with low latency and fast portability.
These needs vary from application to application—each application has its own security rules and performance characteristics—so companies need to transform their network to support the new requirements.
Despite the great development and new solutions from the manufacturers of network devices, they remained unable to make any fundamental change in improving the structure of the network infrastructure, because all network solutions are closed, and do not allow innovation and development in network services for those outside the developing companies, in addition to So they are very expensive.
Hence the need to create an open, robust, secure and simple infrastructure that is low cost and easy to handle.
The Open Networks Foundation (ONF) emerged in America in the past decade, leading a new era of innovation in the field of networks, adopting open source systems that support programming through programming-defined networking technology, based on open source technologies, which enabled the manufacture of new programmable network devices.
This new technology effectively restructures wireless access networks to be reflected in the performance of cloud computing and enterprise networks.
Thus, ONF paved the way towards complete network transformation and the promotion of the principle of digital sovereignty, of which network infrastructure is one of its most important tools.
AWS defines network transformation as "the complete redesign of networks including: the cloud, wide area networks (WANs), branches, data centers, remote user networks, and network security infrastructure."
Network transformation opens the door to new possibilities for cost reductions of 50% in total cost of ownership through open platforms and automation, 30% increase in workforce productivity improvements to improve operations, and reduction of manual efforts by 82% with cloud data tools.
Therefore, a complete network transformation will put companies on the path to digital transformation at a faster pace.
Does network transformation accelerate digital transformation?
Enterprise and corporate networks still use traditional network hardware such as routers, switches, and even security devices, such as firewalls.
These devices were designed decades ago, and despite that, we are trying to use them in complete digital transformation!
Experts emphasized that the current network hardware and equipment is completely unsuitable to support 5G applications.
Therefore, we can say that there is a historical digital transformation in progress, without taking into account the needs of applications for network resources. Therefore, we can say that network transformation has become an urgent and very important necessity in digital transformation operations, as it enables network transformation for companies to reach their full potential by maximizing network performance and efficiency. , while reducing operational costs and better meeting each customer's needs.
Optimizing network performance is one of the most impactful investments that can impact a business through a wide range of effective methods.
The Network Transformation Market research study from Business Research provided estimated statistics for the size of the Network Transformation investment, as the study covered the global Network Transformation Industry market size, shares, competitors, detailed Network Transformation market segments, market trends, and opportunities.
The report indicated that the size of the global network switching market is expected to grow from $25.53 billion in 2021 to $38.96 billion in 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 52.61%.
Also, the global network transformation market size is expected to reach $228.77 billion in 2026, at a compound annual growth rate of 55.67%.
The Aether project from ONF is a new step towards the digital transformation of enterprises
Experts emphasized that the digital disruption that most business sectors are currently witnessing will be the engine in achieving radical changes in economies, cities, societies and the business landscape.
The question that arises here is, will the current communication network technology be able to transform into the era of Industry 4.0?
The era that will open the door to new applications and services that use data analytics based on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and real-time process automation.
The introduction of these new network transformation technologies can dramatically transform the ways employees work and customers interact with your organization, and you may also need to bring in external partners and experts to train your team and increase the capacity of your organization.
You will also need to organize this as part of your digital transformation strategy.
Institutions' digital transformation strategies have been waiting for the full implementation of fifth generation networks, and the important question that arises is: Will the application of the fifth generation managed by Internet service providers in countries open the way to reach the fourth industrial revolution and enable the implementation of low latency applications (almost real time) with benefit Public cloud services?
This has not been confirmed by experiments so far.
Therefore, the need for innovation in the way networks operate remains urgent and necessary.
Over the past decade, the Open Networks Foundation - ONF - has emerged to engage in innovative research in the field of networks to create a new and simplified network framework - known as SDN (Program-Defined Networking) is a communications network architecture that provides significant improvements in network performance, making it more dynamic, manageable and effective than In terms of cost and adaptability.
Over the past two years, ONF has unveiled its latest project, Aether - the first open source platform that supports 5G private networks as a managed offering through the edge cloud, to enable organizations and companies to implement low-latency (nearly real-time) applications and accelerate digital transformation. In the licensed, unlicensed and slightly licensed spectrum (Citizen Broadband Radio Service - CBRS) that is available in many countries nowadays.
Aether will meet the technical requirements that enable the use of Industry 4.0 applications on the network, because it provides the following:
Reducing access time for cloud computing services by applying edge computing.
Application class definitions and resource allocation are interactive and flexible.
Providing specific resources for each application (network slicing) when needed.
Use of licensed and unlicensed frequency spectrum (CBRS).
Power monitoring and optimization, transmission power tuning and idle time auto quiet.
Controlling communication between enterprise networks and public service provider networks.
Provide high network security with Quality of Service (QoS) by applying edge computing.
Full support for automation in network services.