By: Ittai Bareket, CEO of Netformx

Over the last few years, competition and technology advances have led Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to undergo major transformations. Their networks are becoming virtualized and programmable. There is heightened focus on customer centricity, omni-channel experiences, and rapid and personalized service delivery. New business models embrace vertical markets, partnerships, and expanded ecosystems. And the Internet of Things (IoT) is upending both networks and operations.

These revolutionary changes are driving CSPs to Transform and Digitize (TND) and to become Digital Service Providers (DSPs). TND is fundamentally changing how CSPs do business including their go-to-market strategies, consumption and business models, and how they continue adding value to their enterprise customers.

It’s time to transform aging enterprise networks

Just as CSPs are transforming and digitizing, so too are their enterprise customers. Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) are starting to emerge as this paradigm shift gains traction. Their role is to drive growth and profitability by converting traditional businesses to digital ones that leverage modern technologies and data. For example, to keep pace with a mobile workforce, an enterprise may leverage cloud, machine-to-machine (M2M), big data, and other technologies, while incorporating advanced technologies to ensure it is all secure.

In order to transform, enterprises need to first understand their current infrastructure which, in many cases, is rapidly aging. Too often, companies have avoided costly infrastructure updates and upgrades. Instead they have left functioning their obsolete devices and sweated aging equipment.

The Cisco 2016 Annual Security Report found that aging infrastructure is growing and leaving organizations increasingly vulnerable to compromise. Of 115,000 sampled Cisco devices on the Internet, 92 percent were running software with known vulnerabilities, 8 percent had reached their end-of-life stage, and 31 percent will reach end-of-support within one to four years.

Most deployed enterprise architectures are not prepared to support a sound enterprise mobility strategy or wireless, and only a small number of network devices are IPv6-enabled. IPv6 upgrades are becoming critical as the number and variety of Internet-connected devices multiplies. In America, the IPv4 address pool is already depleted. The situation will become even worse as IoT and M2M devices proliferate which, according to Gartner, is predicted to grow to 26 billion units in 2020. It’s time to transform these aging networks.