As network traffic and applications move from the data center, enterprises must consider whether it makes sense to build their own on-premises infrastructure or if they should host it in the cloud, according to Netskope Field CTO Gerry Plaza.

Network traffic no longer runs through the infrastructure that enterprises built inside of a data center or office. It is now traversing through the internet, which has “become the corporate network,” he explained.

Analyst firm Gartner reported enterprises are turning to internet services for their WAN connectivity as SD-WAN replaces aging network equipment. The analyst firm expects that by 2026, 45% of enterprise locations will exclusively use internet services for their WAN connectivity.

One of the biggest challenges Plaza says he hears from customers is that because traffic no longer passes through their data center, they can't inspect it, can't troubleshoot it, and don't know how to provide the best user experience to their end users.

Further complicating this is the fact that users are now on personal devices, home internet access, and “all of that is outside the purview of traditional network hardware.”

The idea of building hardware-centric network infrastructure is “mundane, costly, and high maintenance,” Plaza said, and the future of network infrastructure is the as-a-service model enabled by cloud.

Network-as-a-service (NaaS) models enable a flexible, modular approach that’s designed to make it easier to add features and meet new requirements or business needs as they come.

“When our users are to the left and our applications are up to the right, it just doesn't make sense to keep this piece of hardware right here in the middle where none of our traffic is passing through anymore,” Plaza told SDxCentral.

Instead of needing to build hardware-centric network infrastructure, enterprises can work with vendors and hyperscalers to deliver software-defined networking and security as-a-service so that IT teams can “concentrate on doing innovative things, value driven activities, as opposed to figuring out just how to interoperate how to piece hardware together."

“You don't want to build what doesn't differentiate. The differentiation is in your innovation and the services and applications that you deliver back to your end users and your customers,” he added.

”So therefore, you should concentrate your efforts on value-driven activities as opposed to what I consider ‘keep the lights on.’ And the way you do that is by moving more toward purchasing the outcome as opposed to trying to build it yourself.”