2016 State Of The Network: What Solution Providers Need To Know

Most businesses have at least a toehold in the cloud and have waded into the waters of software-defined networking, according to the results of an annual survey from networking solutions provider Viavi Solutions.

Viavi's ninth annual State of the Network survey found that two-thirds of enterprises have deployed some type of software-defined networking (SDN), while nearly 90 percent have at least one application in the cloud.

"The rush towards software-controlled networks, the push for ever-greater bandwidth and the challenges with cloud infrastructure are all part of the megatrends that we're seeing in the enterprise market," said Shamus McGillicuddy, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, in a statement distributed by Viavi.

The study by Viavi, based in Milpitas, Calif., is based on the insights of 740 surveyed CIOs, IT directors and network engineers from around the world. The following are five findings and what they mean to solution providers.