How to know if Internet of Things will break your network
Notice: This blog post was originally published on Indeni before its acquisition by BlueCat.
The content reflects the expertise and perspectives of the Indeni team at the time of writing. While some references may be outdated, the insights remain valuable. For the latest updates and solutions, explore the rest of our blog
Key takeawaysThis key takeaway was generated through LLMs crawling the page and coming up with an overview of the content.A Fortune 500 communications provider is undertaking a multi-year, multimillion-dollar replacement of networking gear from core to edge to meet IoT-driven demands; the article highlights that IoT places not only higher bandwidth requirements but critical reliability constraints because many connected devices send UDP-like, non-recoverable data packets. The author warns that legacy, SNMP-based monitoring and limited networking expertise are inadequate for ensuring the packet delivery reliability required for digitizing critical services across industries such as manufacturing, shipping, utilities, and retail. The piece urges IT and networking leaders to reassess infrastructure, monitoring, and operational capabilities now to avoid being blamed for impeding enterprise digitization efforts.
Why is the communications company replacing its entire network infrastructure when rolling out IoT?
The company is replacing its network because IoT introduces both much higher bandwidth needs and, more importantly, stringent reliability demands. Many connected devices transmit their data in a UDP-like fashion—if a packet is lost there is no retransmission and the data is permanently lost—so the existing network cannot guarantee the required packet delivery. Upgrading hardware from core to edge and rethinking monitoring and operations are seen as necessary to meet the accuracy and reliability standards needed to support IoT-driven digitization across critical services.
What are the risks of relying on two-decades-old SNMP-based network monitoring for IoT deployments?
SNMP-based monitoring systems (e.g., HP NNM, CA Spectrum, IBM Tivoli, SolarWinds Orion) were designed for traditional network environments and often focus on device and interface state rather than the packet-level reliability IoT requires. For IoT, lost UDP-like packets cannot be recovered, so visibility and real-time assurance of delivery are critical—capabilities these legacy tools may lack. As a result, organizations using such monitoring risk undetected packet loss, degraded service for digitized operations, and operational incidents that could directly impact top- and bottom-line business activities.
What operational gaps should IT and network teams address before major digitization initiatives?
Teams should evaluate three key areas: whether digitized services are business-critical; whether monitoring stacks and operational processes can deliver packet-level reliability and real-time visibility beyond legacy SNMP tooling; and whether there is sufficient, experienced networking talent to design and operate a network at IoT scale. If any of these are deficient, the current network likely won’t meet IoT reliability needs, and leadership must plan upgrades, tooling modernization, and skills development to avoid hindering the company’s digitization efforts.
Yesterday I spent some time with a new customer of ours, a Fortune 500 communications company. They are essentially the network over which a variety of companies send their data across. These companies can be in manufacturing, shipping, utilities, retail or anything else you can imagine. As we were talking, they mentioned a major project they are undergoing – a complete replacement of their networking gear from core to edge. Three years, tens of millions of dollars, requires CEO sign-off.
“Why are you doing that?”, I asked. “Surely, that is a big and expensive project with many risks associated with it.”. The answer was one I’ve heard several times over the past few months: “We’re rolling out IoT and digitizing many of our operations and there’s no way our current network infrastructure can deliver on the bandwidth and reliability requirements put on us by IoT.”. While the bandwidth point is apparently a clear one, the reliability is one that was only made clear to me for the first time by another company I spoke with a few weeks ago: connected “things” send their data in a way similar to UDP packets. That means that if you miss a packet, it’s lost. No option for retransmission. No way to recover it. Its gone. The data will never come back.
That’s a very important point – it’s not only about bandwidth but more importantly about reliability. And we all know that while bandwidth can be obtained by adding more connections and bigger hardware, reliability is a whole other story. You need to up your game, run things with the accuracy they do at an Intel factory.
The litmus test for networks pre-IoT
So, if you’re on the networking or IT side of the house and the CEO is talking about digitizing the entire business, you should be worried if:
1. Services that are being digitized are critical to the company’s top and bottom lines.
2. You are relying on two-decades old, SNMP-based, network monitoring technology (like HP NNM, CA Spectrum, IBM Tivoli, SolarWinds Orion, etc.)
3. You have a shortage of networking talent or the talent you have isn’t experienced enough to run a network of this scale.
If you’ve answered YES to the above, it’s time to sit down and think long and hard what you’re going to do. Chances are, your current network won’t deliver and you’ll be blamed for slowing down the company’s business progress.
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