In a career that focuses on maintaining an entire computer network, it can be a task just to keep up with the evolution of technology. As one of the main employees responsible for installing and maintaining computer communication networks at a company, network engineers will no doubt see some new trends coming their way in the forthcoming years.
With the constant evolution of software and hardware, it is important for students taking network engineering courses to stay current on what’s going on in the IT arena. Here’s a look at a few of the top trends in IT and network engineering for 2015.
Mobile Devices
An important duty of professionals in a network engineering career is to ensure secure and reliable internet access to an organization’s work stations.
The introduction of smart phones and tablets has revolutionized accessibility to technology for everyone. However, this increased accessibility poses a problem for wireless network management. The fact that many employees are now carrying smart phones and tablets gives IT professionals a whole new set of devices to secure that could potentially make for a much more congested wireless network.
Full-featured wireless network analysis software can be installed to monitor your network 24/7. This software searches for unauthorized devices and analyzes overall network conditions, ensuring that bandwidth isn’t excessively dragged down and that the company work stations are running at an optimal pace.
Outsourcing
Working as a network engineer no longer means having an office in the IT division of a particular company. More and more companies are outsourcing their network and IT-based needs to network management firms. Smaller companies that require occasional hardware maintenance or where network health can be managed remotely are a good example of potential clients.
The idea of working at a network management firm is exciting, as it gives you the opportunity to change your workplace setting often.
3D Printing
As the technology becomes more accessible and widespread, the cost of 3D printing will continue to decrease over the next several years. Experts predict that this expansion will be especially great for industrial, biomedical and consumer applications.
IT professionals are encouraged to learn more about 3D printing technology, because it won’t be long before this technology is used in the creation of servers and computer parts.
Security
Businesses are increasingly relying on cloud services to manage their finances, customer data and internal project plans. While this makes communication more streamlined for companies and their clients, there have been a rising number of hacker attacks that target files stored online through cloud applications.
Experts are predicting that more sophisticated methods of risk assessment and management are going to become available in the next several years. There’s no doubt that network engineering training will increasingly focus on equipping students with knowledge of the security applications needed to help ensure that a company’s data remains protected.
Do you know of any other trends in the IT and network engineering field?