Today, many businesses are running networks in an inefficient and costly manner. As businesses grow and transform, their networks are being asked to perform at a higher performance and levels of quality per application than they were originally designed for. CIOs need to ensure that business applications are not only available at all times, but constantly working at peak performance.

Traditionally, companies handle this situation in one of two ways. The first is purchase large amounts of bandwidth. This ensures there is enough bandwidth to handle an organization’s busiest of days at all times. The major problem with this method is that many companies purchase more bandwidth than they need and are unwilling to cut back due to fear of creating disruption in the network. This results in huge costs, most of which is being spent on unused bandwidth.

The second way businesses handle performance needs is by provisioning dedicated network resources for mission critical applications. The network segmentation is typically achieved through a costly and statically configured MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) technology, meaning the application would no longer run on the same network as the rest of the business. This approach creates the problem of owning and maintaining several different networks instead of just one singular network. Even though this method enables applications to run smoothly at all times, it requires more maintenance than necessary.

CIOs are left in a quandary. The need for networks to run efficiently is imperative but buying inordinate amounts of bandwidth is no longer a financially feasible way to maintain and optimize a network. With constant pressure to lower cost, a third option emerges: bandwidth on demand.

Bandwidth on demand provides businesses with additional network capacity when it is needed. Instead of segmenting your network, or purchasing more bandwidth than you need, bandwidth on demand allows a company to accommodate for bursts in data within its network. For instance, if the CEO of a company has monthly video conference call with key stakeholders, the IT group can allocate bandwidth on demand to ensure the video call goes through with the upmost quality. By paying for services as needed, rather than buying an expensive pipe that may go underused for days or weeks, a cost-effective and practical practice that maximizes network infrastructure monetization is formed.

While bandwidth on demand is great in theory, there is a critical missing piece to the puzzle. Without a software-defined networking (SDN) solution, IT organizations would have to provision specific bandwidth needs for an application or customer manually – a time consuming process. By utilizing a cloud exchange networking platform, IT organizations can mitigate unnecessary and costly overprovisioning while changing the way capacity planning is addressed. These platforms enable automated, dynamic orchestration of network resources so companies can take full advantage of bandwidth on demand with a pay-as-you-go business model. Additionally, cloud exchange networking platforms maintain granular views of the network and are equipped with the intelligence to program optimum network paths based on application requirements and available network resources – enhancing performance and resiliency. The platform is the critical application underpinning an automated bandwidth on demand network architecture that delivers on two important fronts: increased network capacity utilization and improved application performance. The demands put on organizations’ networks will always continue to change but bandwidth on demand creates an opportunity that can keep up with the volume and ever-shifting ways users consume it.