The Network Management Market

Network management is a set of practices, tools, and processes used for operating, administrating, securing, and maintaining computer networks.

The role of network management is to ensure the network infrastructure is accessible to its admins and performs up to standard.

See below to learn more about the global network management market:

Network Management Market

The network management market was estimated to be valued at $6.7 billion in 2020. Forecast to follow a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9% over the analysis period from 2020 to 2027, it’s expected to reach $12.2 billion by the end of it.

The solutions segment of the network management market is projected to reach a value of $9.2 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 9.8%. The services segment is forecast to maintain a CAGR of 6.4% over the same period.

Regionally, the global network management market is segmented as follows:

• The U.S. market was estimated at $2 billion in 2020, with a 29.8% share
• The Chinese market is forecast for a CAGR of 8.3%, reaching $2.1 billion by 2027
• Japan and Canada are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% and 7.2% over the forecast period
• Within Europe, Germany is projected to maintain one of the highest CAGRs at 7.1%

By industry, the communication and technology sectors are driving demand.

Some notable industries also driving demand include:

• Banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI)
• Manufacturing
• Government
• Retail
• Transportation and logistics

Network Management Features

Network management involves numerous procedures, methods, and approaches to running a network, such as:

Network Administration

Network administration is a set of responsibilities for tracking the resources of a network and managing and maintaining it in real-time to assure it performs up to standard.

Network Operation

Network operations is the control center of the network, ensuring its functioning as planned. This includes overseeing proactive network monitoring, troubleshooting, and remediation of issues. 

Network Maintenance

Network maintenance isn’t only responsible for the functionality and longevity of the network’s software and hardware, it also covers the needed system, security, and configuration updates. 

Network Provisioning

Network provisioning covers the use of the available resources and how they’re allocated toward the available network services. This is responsible for preparing the whole or part of the network for user access.

When using third-party network management offerings, whether it’s off-the-shelf products or a managed service by the provider, there are set features and components that are essential, including:

Endpoint Connectivity

Since the primary purpose of a network is connecting the numerous infrastructure’s endpoints, a network management solution needs to be compatible with various types of endpoint nodes, offering visibility and access at all times.

Logging and Monitoring

Built-in logging and network monitoring systems track the performance of the network both in hardware and software, sending out notifications when something isn’t performing well.

Automation

Network automation capabilities simplify and scale the range of network processing, from security provisioning to general management and configuration updates. Automation could drastically reduce the workload of network administrators, especially in larger, multi-office networks.

Server Connectivity

Servers are an essential part of any network. Network management systems need to have the capacity and capability to connect to as many servers for user access.

Network Switch Management

Network switches are hardware responsible for managing the network’s traffic and connectivity. The central network management solution needs to be able to control them remotely.

Network Assurance

Network assurance is responsible for sending out and enforcing the network policies and security and privacy configurations. It also ensures compatibility between the various policies and configurations in order to avoid configuration errors and unplanned loss of connectivity.

Analytics and AI in Network Management

Traditional network management operations are no longer sufficient for the distributed nature of modern work and business operations. Many experts are looking toward big data analytics, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to better automate, manage, and increase the visibility of the typical enterprise IT infrastructure.

With the implementation of advanced technologies into network management, business and technology leaders have access to context-rich data. This improves their ability to troubleshoot and optimize operations in the most impactful areas.

“[AIOps is] the catalyst that enables enterprises to speed up time to resolution for incidents and predict issues before they happen,” says Nitin Kumar, a member of the Forbes Technology Council.

“This predictability and insight are essential for modern business, and they can come from the data that the business is already producing. This next generation of monitoring delivers a paradigm shift in analytics.”

Benefits of Network Management

Network management solutions and services are a staple of corporate IT departments.

Some notable benefits of network management solution include:

• Increased network visibility
• Reduced downtime
• Improved network efficiency
• Centralized network administration
• Built-in automation
• Built-in monitoring and logging
• Increased network flexibility
• Boosted network security

“The goal of automated network management and orchestration is to eliminate manual steps for pushing configuration changes to myriad devices and replace them with automated provisioning tasks,” says Gregory Webb, member of the Forbes Technology Council.

“When a new service needs to be built, application engineers no longer need to wait for IT to scope, provision, and deploy required infrastructure updates. They can use automated workflows to push required changes.”

Network Management Use Cases

Network management solutions and services are being used by organizations in different industries, such as the following examples.

University of Reading

The University of Reading in the U.K.’s is home to just under 20,000 students.

The university was in the middle of migrating to an AI-driven network through Mist AI by Juniper Networks when students were required to move to remote learning.

Moving from in-person classes to fully online in six weeks, the University of Reading used a variety of Juniper solutions, including Juniper Mist Wired Assurance, an AI-driven network management and automation solution.

“We wanted to simplify, standardize, and optimize IT, so that we could produce services that would add value to our students,” says Stuart Brown, director of digital technologies, University of Reading.

“Juniper opens up a wireless-first strategy that we didn’t have before. As we shift to data-driven decision-making, Juniper future-proofs our strategy.”

The university’s network is now able to keep up with student activities, from attendance and parking to breakfast and exam results.

Mitsubishi Motors North America 

Mitsubishi Motors North America is part of the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. A leader in the automotive industry, the company manufactures Mitsubishi brand vehicles with over 350 dealers in North America.

Running a complex network, Mitsubishi Motors was looking to move its networking efforts from frame relay to a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS).

Needing an upgraded network management system to keep up with the switch, the company used Netreo’s centralized network management solution.

“Netreo understands the realities of a multi-vendor environment, and they have taken extra steps to consolidate everything we need, so we don’t have to run multiple, incompatible management tools on dozens of different devices,” says Jefferson Jih, manager, local area networks, Mitsubishi Motors North America.

“We have great confidence in Netreo to cost-efficiently monitor and manage our entire data network and IP voice environment.” 

Working with Netreo, Mitsubishi was able to centralize its network management, gain more visibility of the network, and monitor web applications.

Maryland Municipalities

Maryland Municipalities is a group of 157 communities in the state of Maryland. The municipalities cover 4.4% of the state’s land and are home to 26.2% of its population.

Struggling to monitor and maintain the fiber network services in the municipalities, they sought the help of Skyline Technology Solutions. 

Skyline’s team looked into the repeated outages in the fiber network of the cities, and the large number of the cable networks needed upgraded management.

Installing Skyline’s Fiber Network Management solution, OPSInsight, Maryland Municipalities was able to use its centralized monitoring and maintenance capabilities and customizable data models to troubleshoot the network and determine faults and errors efficiently.

“All of our backbone assessments are done through the Taper Report in OSP. … Everything is documented as it is in the field. So, it’s real-life information,” says Nick Caleo, GIS/CAD technician, Skyline Technology Solutions.

There’s no other tool that I’ve seen that comes close to OSPInsight’s accuracy when it comes to troubleshooting emergencies.” 

Network Management Providers

Some of the leading network management providers in the market include:

• Accedian Networks
• Juniper Networks
• Cisco
• IBM
• AppNeta
• Extreme Networks
• BMC Software
• LiveAction
• SolarWinds Worldwide
• CA Technologies