One-third of respondents identified server virtualization as the top monitoring challenge within their datacenter, closely followed by managing mobile devices, according to a survey released by Network Instruments at Interop Las Vegas 2013.

Highlights of the on-site survey of 108 network engineers, IT directors, application developers, and IT executives attending Interop found the following:

Network Bandwidth Demands Continue to Grow

Two-thirds of the respondents expect bandwidth consumption to grow by more than 25 percent in the next 12 months, and 39 percent expect it to grow 26 to 50 percent during the next 24 months. More than one in five respondents expects bandwidth consumption to increase by 75 percent during the next two years.

Moving Beyond 10 Gb

56 percent of respondents will have implemented 10 Gb technology within 12 months. Participants anticipate the move beyond 10 Gb network capacity to occur over the next two years. Nearly 10 percent of respondents will move to 40 Gb in the next 12 months, while an additional 20 percent will move to 40 Gb and 100 Gb in the next two years.

Monitoring Challenges for IT Initiatives

Of the latest IT initiatives, server virtualization and the introduction of mobile devices topped the list of greatest network monitoring challenges, according to the survey respondents, at 31 percent and 29 percent respectively. However, these were closely followed by cloud computing (25 percent), migration to 10 Gb and 40 Gb technology (19 percent), IPv6 (19 percent), and unified communications (16 percent).

"With survey participants choosing multiple IT initiatives, on top of ever increasing bandwidth demand and the need for higher-capacity, network management professionals seem to indicate they are facing multiple monitoring challenges on multiple fronts during the next few years," said Stephen Brown, director of product marketing for Network Instruments.

"As these organizations roll out higher-speed networks, they need to verify their existing monitoring strategy can keep pace to performance expectations. If relying on outdated, legacy monitoring technologies, customers risk dropping packets and slowing business processes; having clear visibility into the network and application performance will be key to bringing these new technology initiatives to fruition with the least disruption and highest user satisfaction."