“These are always like hero experiments to see how far can you push the number," Cisco's Bill Gartner said.

HPE has tried multiple times over the last two decades to emerge as a leading networking vendor. The Juniper deal is its latest and biggest foray.

"Telcos should be selective when committing to any joint go-to-market initiatives with hyperscalers and other partners,” Omdia's Andreas Olah said.

Devices are getting smarter, bringing new complexities to network management. In response to these new and evolving challenges, Lumen is increasingly relying on automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence

With 2024 around the corner, here is a recap of our most popular networking coverage from the year – spanning Broadcom, Cloudflare, AMD and Cisco.

Key trends and predictions that will reshape enterprise networks over the next year include automation, cloud enhancements and new types of SASE deployments.

The deal was arguably the most watched across the ecosystem due to VMware’s embedded position within the cloud, software and networking ecosystem.

LF Connectivity, which provides open-source tools for communication service providers, has expanded with two new subprojects: ISP Toolbox (from Meta) and Magma.

Log observability software and the rise of multicloud computing have dramatically changed network performance management, but costs affect the tools used.

Gone are the rows of old, proprietary electrical and mechanical equipment in grid substations. In come server racks.

"Why do you need SD-WAN if it's one hop versus something that can control all the hops?" BT CTO Colin Bannon asked.

With IDC predicting the SD-WAN market will reach $7.5 billion by 2027, SD-WAN remains one of the most important markets in enterprise networking.

Retailers are working to upgrade the Wi-Fi capabilities to keep pace with changing consumer behaviors and expectations. However, IT teams at many retailers have significant work to do to

“Don’t hold your breath on a true success story in which VMware remains unaltered and its own independent entity," Forrester's Tracy Woo predicts.

Dell promise to accelerate how quickly data scientists can access and use their data and rapidly build out critical artificial intelligence and generative AI tools.

Verizon Business is integrating Zebra Technologies devices and software into the carrier’s private 5G and 4G LTE network offering to smooth enterprise adoption.

SDNs at a global scale and free-space optics to the heavens

A company with a specific artificial intelligence use case in mind should consider three aspects: accuracy, latency and cost, AWS GM Atul Deo said.

A. O. Smith — a manufacturer of residential and commercial water heaters, boilers and water treatment products — has gone all in with artificial intelligence-powered RPA.

“A lot of what is being driven today is a fair degree of bespoke and the challenge is that this is not scalable," STL Partners' Yesmean Luk said.

“We are ready to deliver all alternatives that customers want. This is not a religious question for us at all,” CEO Pekka Lundmark said.

Artificial intelligence ignites ideas faster, but automation is the best path to deliver AI. Anything that AI can do, AI and automation can do better.

CFO Scott Herren remains convinced the company will see "a return to order growth" in the latter half of 2024.

The carrier's private 5G network will replace an existing Wi-Fi network at the Norfolk International Terminal.