Verizon's five business-tech trends in 2013 for enterprises

Says distributed data centres will emerge as a viable option for traditional virtual private networks among others

Verizon Communications Inc, a New York-based company delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications, sees greater adoption of advanced technology to meet changing demands of enterprises while increasing productivity and creating new experiences for customers in 2013.

“As companies look to transform their businesses in the year ahead, Verizon is zeroing in on the most meaningful opportunities for our enterprise and government clients worldwide. Next year, we are continuing to sharpen our focus on harnessing the power of our advanced technology platforms to deliver industry-specific solutions that unlock productivity and value for our clients, their customers and society,” David Small, senior vice-president and chief platform officer for Verizon Enterprise Solutions, said in a release. 

According to Verizon's top five business-tech trends for 2013, distributed data centres and the intelligent wired and mobile networks that connect them now represent a viable alternative to traditional virtual private network (VPN) methods that long have formed the backbone of distributed enterprise communications for a generation. Verizon believes that next year there will be a significant shift from VPNs to public, private and, importantly, hybrid clouds.

“To keep up with the changing demands of today’s enterprise, the ideal platform needs to be secure and easy to use and configure. In 2013, if you can’t switch workloads between public and private clouds, you won’t be competitive.  This, next year, will require a bold approach to embracing change and re-engineering networks in support of cloud-based applications,” Small said.

Verizon believes that connected machines (or machine-to-machine connections), mobility, intelligent networks and security tip the scales of opportunity. In 2013, security will move out of the specialist realm and become a mainstream IT must-have. Security breaches span access, infrastructure and apps. They happen on fixed and mobile networks. They impact physical, intellectual and financial capital. And the scope is global, according to the “Verizon 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report.”   

“We expect identity security to be a much more prevalent issue in 2013,” Small said. “Two-factor authentication is already gaining adherents, but it won’t be enough to counteract the increasing amount and intensity of criminal activity pursuing both intellectual property and financial gain.”

“The race is on to protect every endpoint, every device and everything connected to the Internet. While the Internet affords us countless opportunity it also comes with a price. No longer is strong security an option; it’s a mandatory requirement for all organisations to protect their intellectual and physical capital, customer identities and society at large,” he added.

Verizon provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America’s most advanced fibre-optic network, and delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.