Thinking of Buying an Enterprise Network? Wait. Report Predicts Cost Dip in Five Years

A new report from Dimension Data (News - Alert), “Network Barometer Report 2013,” took an annually released look at enterprise networks and the ability to keep up with the most critical business operations. Perhaps the biggest revelation in the piece was the news that enterprise networks are likely to cost a whole lot less in as little as five years.

The report's release, which took place during Cisco (News - Alert) Live in Orlando, Fla., took a look at some of the differences between a standard wired network with support for 100 users and its direct wireless equivalent supporting the same number of users. What the report found was that once the physical hardware that goes into a wired network was removed—things like LAN switches and all the cabling required to connect everything—the wireless network was about half as expensive as its wired equivalent. What's more, the costs associated with operating and managing the network also fall when the network is wireless, yielding further savings over the wired equivalent.

Given that networks, according to the report, most networks right now are made up of about 80 percent wired ports handling individual users and 20 percent wireless ports handling multiple users. But the rise of several different factors involved in the development of the mobile workforce are causing a growing number of organizations to look at network management differently. More and more networks are likely to incorporate wireless elements, and in larger proportions. The cost savings associated with putting in wireless networks will also come into play, and this is leading Dimension Data to predict that, soon, the current proportion of wired to wireless users will be reversed, with 80 percent wireless users and 20 percent wired users.

Dimension Data's report also showed a drop in corporate networks carrying vulnerabilities, from 75 percent in 2011 to 67 percent in 2012. It's a marked drop, but at the same time it shows how much work remains to be done in terms of network security, and hopefully the rate of decline can continue at the least, or accelerate in the best-case. Further, access switches are going to need to support both gigabit Ethernet and power-over-Ethernet to continue to be part of the equation, and more organizations are keeping current devices past the end-of-sale point, in a process referred to as “selective sweating.”

What does this mean for business owners looking to bring in a new network? It looks to mean two critical points: one, now may not be the best time to bring that network in, and two, regardless of when, the new network should be heavy on the wireless. The immediate savings are substantial, as Dimension Data points out, and given that more networks will likely be moving in this direction over the course of the next five years, this increases the likelihood that new competitors will get into the market in a bid to supply it. That in turn may yield further price drops that businesses will no doubt welcome.

Holding out a bit to see how the market shakes out may be a smart idea, but going with a largely wireless network may be a plan that's worthwhile no matter what time it's put into play.