It seems as if there is a new networking technology announced every day. When faced with a deluge of information and vendors seeking your attention, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. We feel the Gartner Hype Cycle reports seek to tame the confusion by objectively reviewing new technologies and applications and offering IT leaders a view of how new additions to the market will evolve over time.

As I write this, billions of users are looking at “the blue screen of death.” Flights are grounded around the world, 9-1-1 service is offline in the entire state of Alaska, hospitals can’t check in patients, retailers cannot make sales because their POS systems are down, Newark airport has reverted to paper tickets for check-in, and countless other organizations are at a standstill. This is the top story on every major news site I’ve checked. What could cause this carnage?

In today’s complex IT environments, maintaining full network visibility is a daunting task. Network segmentation, while essential for security, often complicates the process of obtaining a comprehensive view of the entire network infrastructure. Federal IT departments charged with the responsibility of keeping networks mission-ready, face significant hurdles in visualizing connectivity, ensuring security zone segmentation, and performing complete path searches across segmented domains.

IDC’s Business Value Solution Brief validates the impressive value delivered by the Forward Networks platform. According to the paper, the average user reaps $14.2M in value annually. This is achieved through improved efficiency, improved productivity, reduced downtime, and additional operational benefits (automated compliance validation, ability to achieve more without hiring, overall improvement to business operations, and additional revenue).

To objectively understand how increased efficiency translates to measurable ROI for enterprises, Forward Networks engaged IDC Research to determine the business value of the platform. After interviewing existing customers, they produced the IDC Solution Brief, The Business Value of Forward Networks, (US52128624, June 2024). The paper delved deep into the experiences of Forward Networks’ customers who leverage the digital twin technology.