Vision 2022: Open Networking & Edge Predictions

2347

By Arpit Joshipura, GM Networking and Edge, The Linux Foundation

As we wrap up the second year of living through a global pandemic,  I wanted to take a moment to both look ahead to next year, as well as recognize how the open networking and edge industry has shifted over the past year.  Read below for a  list of what we can expect in 2022, as well as a brief “report card” on where my industry predictions from last year landed. 

1. Dis-aggregation will enter the “Re-aggregation” phase (in terms of software, organizations, and industries) 

This will be enabled by Super Blueprints (which bring end-to-end open source projects together), and we’ll see more multi-org collaboration (e.g., Standards Bodies, Alliances, and Foundations) re-aggregating to solve common problems. Edge computing will serve as the glue that binds common IoT frameworks together across vertical industries. 

2. Realists and Visionaries will fight it out for dollars and productivity 

Given that what started as a pandemic could become endemic, there will be an internal tussle between Realists (making money off of 4G), Engineers currently coding 5G,  and Visionaries looking to 6G and beyond. (In other words, the cycle continues). 

3. Security will emerge as the key differentiator in Open source

Collaboration among governments and other global organizations against “bad actors” will penetrate geopolitical walls to bring a global ecosystem together, via open source. 

4. Market Analysts will reinvent themselves

There is no longer a clear way to track Cloud, Telecom, Enterprise, and other markets individually. There is a big market realignment in progress, with new killer use cases. 

5. Seamless Vertical industries will emerge

Enabled by Open Source Software — many vertical industries will not even know (or care) how the pipe traverses across their last mile to central cloud and edges (led by Manufacturing, Retail, Energy, Healthcare & Automotive). 

What did I miss? I would love to have your comments on LinkedIn.

Now let’s take a look at where my predictions from last year actually landed…

See my 2021 predictions from last year: https://www.lfnetworking.org/blog/2020/12/15/predictions-2021-networking-edge/ 

exam sheet with F grade, flat design