New iPad Is A Challenge For CIOs Across The World

Almost 65 per cent of the IT decision-makers accepted that they had invested in campus LANs since 2009 keeping in mind the growth of tablets and smartphone usage.  

Apple's New iPad has arrived. The technology world is happy about it and many are even 'prepared' for the device. The increasing number of mobile devices have posed a challenge to the CIOs all over the world. With devices like the 'New iPad' arriving, they expect these mobile devices to directly impact their campus LANs. Brocade conducted a survey of 120 IT decision-makers where many of the respondents expected the new iPad and other mobile devices to directly impact their campus LANs. The survey revealed that around 40 per cent of the respondents agreed that their employees use mobile devices to access their campus LANs, regardless of a Bring-Your-Own-Device policy. Over 30 per cent of the CIOs say that the new iPad will result in increase in their traffic directly. Almost 65 per cent of the IT decision-makers quizzed accepted that they had invested in campus LANs since 2009, keeping in mind the growth of tablets and smartphone usage.  Commenting on the survey, K P Unnikrishnan, director of marketing, Asia Pacific, Brocade, said, “All the CIOs today talk virtualisation, data centers, cloud. But one underlined principle that needs to be understood or is taking time to settle down is the whole aspect of the networking space. You can do all these things but if your network does not have these features and it doesn’t take into account all the latest technologies, it's all going to fall apart. It's like you have the fastest laptop and the fastest desktop but you later realise that it looks jazzy and sleek but it is not as fast as you had wanted it to be- The reason being the networks. You can have the jazziest technologies but if the networks are not ready to scale, there is no point. So getting upgraded on the network and being prepared for the revolutionary mobile devices is the call of the time.” Unnikrishnan also pointed out towards the sale of mobile devices. He said, “Samsung and Apple sold 72 million devices in the last quarter across the globe. This year about 1 billion smartphones are expected to be sold. Information access on these mobile devices for their employees will be a bigger challenge for the CIOs. The mobile device proliferation signifies the potential for a dramatic rise in the campus LAN traffic in the years to come. CIOs are getting prepared for this situation, which will affect the performance of the campus LANs.” Emphasising on the need for a good network, he said that organisations cannot and do not expect their employees to be physically present. He said, “Organisations work on a global level these days. And this is the need of the hour. Hence, thinking ahead of times in terms of the network needs is essential for IT decision makers.”