Returning guest Mike Frane discusses the top-of-mind trends for enterprises this year around securely connecting the distributed workforce.

Kelsey Ziser, Senior Editor

January 10, 2022

Windstream's Mike Frane forecasts enterprise networking and security trends for 2022

Mike Frane, VP of product management for Windstream Enterprise, is back on the podcast to provide his forecast for enterprise trends in 2022 such as cybersecurity, SASE, zero trust access, SD-WAN and more.

"We're going to see an increase in ransomware attacks, malware and exploits," says Frane. "... make sure your security is evolving as fast as your business model and your network."

Frane also discusses how enterprise culture must adjust to the needs of the distributed workforce, and is hopeful that the industry will better understand the "acronym soup" around managed services for enterprises so operators' customers can better customize the networking and security services they need.

There are also some new opportunities for cost savings as enterprises adjust to the distributed workforce, says Frane. "In the 'before times,' we saw customers spending about the same or maybe a little more in the move from MPLS to SD-WAN. Now, because they don't have as many people in the offices, we see more cost savings as they move from those legacy technologies to the SD-WAN technologies."

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— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

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