2014/07/02 Cloud is our number-one networking initiative, say enterprises in Infonetics’ latest survey

Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, June 30, 2014—Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 2014 Network Equipment Spending and Vendor Leadership: North American Enterprise Survey, which explores enterprises’ top networking initiatives, budget priorities and growth, investment drivers and barriers, and vendor preferences.

“Our just-finished survey on network equipment spending indicates the outlook for network equipment is healthy. Enterprises are expecting double-digit growth in their expenditures this year and next. How they are spending their budgets is changing, and allocations towards wireless LAN, network monitoring, and switches are growing. Greater spending on branch office infrastructure is also anticipated, a sign of confidence in continued economic expansion,” notes Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.

Machowinski adds: “One of the most interesting findings is that cloud has emerged as the number-1 networking initiative over the next 12 months. Companies are embracing the cloud in a services model as well as building their own cloud-architected data centers, and this means upgrades to network infrastructure.”

• Respondent companies spent, on average, over $1.1 million on networking equipment in 2013, and they expect to increase spending by 19% this year
• Wireless LAN (WLAN) budget allocations are on the rise among those surveyed, becoming the #2 investment area for 2014
• The economic outlook for North America is positive and companies are looking to capitalize on new opportunities, leading to an expenditure shift from headquarters to branch offices
• Around 3/4 of respondents consider Cisco the top network equipment vendor, an even better showing than in Infonetics survey last year
• Juniper has made major gains from last year, moving up 3 positions in respondent ratings