Think of all the technologies an enterprise needs to operate – cloud services, robotics, mobile devices, IoT devices, and so on and so forth. What do all of these things have in common? In some capacity, they must always stay connected to a network. This has become even more true as IT environments grow to massive scales, and unprecedented digital dependencies drive business outcomes.
The truth is, this new year, network downtime could carry a price tag with consequences we’ve never seen before. Therefore, in 2025, as businesses look to cellular and/or hybrid approaches to enhance their wireless wide-area network (WAN) infrastructure, they must depend on four things to create resilient connectivity: artificial intelligence (AI), satellite connectivity, network slicing, and a renewed respect for zero-trust security principles.
AI and zero-trust security
Zero-trust is by no means a new concept, but its effectiveness will carry new meaning in 2025. As AI solutions gain popularity and organizations implement new technologies every day, IT architectures seem to perpetually grow their attack surfaces. This has made it harder for IT leaders to keep track of all the entry points through which bad actors can get into their networks.
As enterprises deploy cellular or hybrid wireless WAN infrastructure, they must leverage a solution that employs true zero-trust capabilities. This way, even as IT environments grow, there is no need to spend hours denying access to certain people and/or battling complicated configuration procedures.
CISOs, CIOs, and IT managers must lean into best-practices such as minimizing the potential attack surface by cloaking IP addresses, only enabling access based on least-privilege, and continuously monitor users to identify changes that could result in reduced access.
Zero-trust security will also become important as enterprises leverage more IoT devices – and realize their inherent security risks. The nature of IoT devices (such as security cameras, scanners, and sensors) makes them vulnerable to attack, which could then allow for lateral network movement from bad actors. Once a threat actor is able to breach one device, getting to the others becomes much easier.
In 2025, organizations will realize they need the strongest zero-trust measures for their IoT devices. This includes the cloaking of IP addresses, as mentioned above, and locking down IoT communications only with authorized hosts and continuous monitoring of traffic. AI can, and will, be a massive help in deploying and maintaining these zero-trust measures.
As many enterprises struggle to hire cybersecurity staff, AI can alleviate some of the workload for cybersecurity personnel. For example, AI-powered systems can analyze network traffic to identify anomalies and potential threats in real time. They can recommend specific access policies to ensure the network is locked down from threats. They can also alert cybersecurity personnel of a security incident and even begin remediation efforts if necessary.
WAN optimization with AI
Not only is AI a good catalyst for improved zero-trust security, but it can also improve overall wireless WAN performance. In 2025, more organizations will lean on AI to avoid service interruption and network downtime. There are already instances in the market of AI predicting traffic patterns, managing network resources, and determining root causes of network issues with the recommended remediation.
These tasks free up your IT personnel to focus on more critical business objectives. Not only can AI help maintain current wireless WAN performance, but it can also help top decision-makers to plan for their network’s future. Using AI for data analysis, automation, and predictive insights will provide more detailed input into network operations decisions covering costs, performance and optimization.
Mixing cellular and satellite
In the new year, more enterprises and public sector organizations will fortify their WAN architecture through the combination of cellular and satellite WAN links. While cellular covers about 98 percent of populated areas, organizations that leverage tools (such as connected vehicles) in rural areas can struggle to maintain valuable network connectivity.
Simultaneously, satellite download speeds, jitter and latency can vary based on factors such as a line of sight, time of day, and whether there are obstructing objects. These factors may not provide sufficient support to enterprise and mission-critical applications. If organizations combine the two – leveraging wireless WAN solutions that can intelligently switch between both links and secure connectivity with zero-trust capabilities – they’ll be able to create a resilient network that constantly supports critical communications.
Network slicing on 5G SA
In 2025, thanks to a growing number of 5G standalone (SA) networks, more carriers will offer wireless WAN connections with predictable service-level agreements. This will allow organizations, both in the enterprise and public sector, to leverage network slicing capabilities for their critical communications. The public sector – namely public safety departments – have seen the first deployments so they can ensure life-saving communications even in crowded communication scenarios.
Once public safety slices are established, enterprises should look out for future slices, which could include low latency slices, slices for IoT, and slices for bandwidth-hungry video traffic. This will help businesses match their applications to the most relevant network slice and enable differentiated services over 5G networks. It is also important to note that, with network slices essentially allowing devices to operate on their own virtualized network, there is an inherent level of security in a network slice. Threat actors who happen to breach a network through a device, will find it more difficult to attack other devices on separate slices.
Limiting network downtime
All of these together – AI analytics, zero-trust security, satellite connectivity, and, eventually, network slicing – will enhance wireless WAN networks that are resilient enough to power organizations around the world in 2025. This resilience will become important as every sector, from healthcare to finance to retail, becomes more dependent on always-available connectivity. With the right wireless WAN solution, whether cellular or hybrid, and the correct implementation of these four tenets, organizations can achieve unprecedented business success in 2025 and beyond.
