2021 WAN in Review: Part 2

If you caught last week's special episode of the WAN Manager Podcast, you must be waiting on the edge of your seat for the second installment. 

To recap, Greg Bryan and Elizabeth Thorne are keeping up their tradition of decking the halls with an end-of-year WAN review. And since 2021 was such a big year, we couldn't fit everything into just one episode.

To make up for the cliffhanger, we've packed part two with enough data and lively conversation to knock your stockings off their mantel.

We're talking 5G deployment trends, the rising popularity of multi-cloud, new backbone/transport services from your friendly neighborhood CSP, and more.

Revisit part one to hear about SASE adoption, SD-WAN maturation, how remote work is changing the face of corporate networking, and the evolving MPLS vs. DIA matchup.

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Key Takeaways

Growth and Challenges of 5G

While still nascent for enterprise networks, 5G saw significant growth in the consumer market in 2021. The number of 5G networks globally was expected to reach 220 by the end of 2021, and countries with 5G subscribers increased from 32 in Q1 2020 to 68 in Q1 2021, adding hundreds of millions of consumer subscribers.

This growth in the consumer space suggests 5G will likely "trickle up" to the business and enterprise market sooner or later. However, implementing 5G in enterprise networks faces challenges, particularly sourcing plans across different countries, which may require relying on resellers or local IT staff.

The "Middle Mile" Challenge with Cloud Connectivity

As enterprises move away from traditional MPLS networks and incorporate the internet, especially when connecting to the cloud, a new challenge arises related to the "middle mile," the path traffic takes between the enterprise office and the cloud provider's network.

Unlike MPLS where the provider controlled the path, internet traffic can route inefficiently, and there is limited visibility or control over how an ISP gets traffic to the cloud provider's network. Enterprises also have less leverage with local ISPs compared to large carriers. Leaving MPLS can be cost-effective for some traffic but creates problems like inefficient routing or central internet breakout.

Emergence of Solutions for Cloud and Middle Mile Connectivity

To address the complexities introduced by cloud migration and the middle mile, a niche ecosystem of alternative providers and services is emerging.

These include Network as a Service (NaaS) vendors (like Megaport, PacketFabric, Equinix Fabric) offering more flexible transport, and services specializing in in-cloud routing or cloud-to-cloud networking.

Some cloud service providers are even starting to offer their own backbone transport services, proposing enterprises use their network backbone if their workspaces are already hosted there.

These solutions are largely nascent and still being rolled out, with questions remaining about how enterprises will contract for them.