New research commissioned by Opengear spanning the UK, the U.S., France, and Germany has found that nearly two-thirds (64%) of network managers, network architects, and network engineers said their organizations have hired dedicated network automation engineers to transition to network operations (NetOps). However, only one-third of respondents said their teams had undertaken industry training courses to achieve this goal.

NetOps 2.0, the current iteration, embeds a growing amount of automation, virtualisation, and orchestration to improve the speed and accessibility of networking operations. Nonetheless, despite its growing importance, more than half (53%) of survey respondents said they had to study NetOps on their own personal time.

“Our survey results show that network engineers are keen to learn about this new world of NetOps and the benefits of automating network infrastructure planning, deployment, and management,” said Gary Marks, President of Opengear. “More than two-thirds (67%) of survey respondents said the emergence of NetOps had added value to their role and made their work more rewarding. Organizations must recognise their talent and commitment by providing the in-house training they need to make the leap to NetOps.”

Underlining this lack of upskilling, 44% of respondents said they had to learn how to program in programming languages like Python, yet just 26% claimed they had to retrain to obtain new certifications. The urgency of upskilling was highlighted by the long recruitment cycle most organisations must navigate. On average, it takes organisations more than four months to successfully recruit for a network role that requires skills that include working with NetOps. More than half (57%) of respondents say it typically takes their organisation four months or more.

About Opengear

Opengear, a Digi International company, delivers secure, resilient access and automation to critical IT infrastructure, even when the network is down. Provisioning, orchestration, and remote management of network devices, through innovative software and appliances, enable technical staff to manage data centers and remote network locations reliably and efficiently. Opengear’s business continuity solutions are trusted by global organizations across financial, digital communications, retail, and manufacturing industries. The company is headquartered in New Jersey, with R&D centers in Silicon Valley and Brisbane, Australia. Opengear was acquired by Digi International in 2019, bringing together two organizations with a deep commitment to providing the best products, software, and services that meet the demands of mission-critical networks. Both companies continue to build and support strong customer relationships. For more information, please visit www.opengear.com.

About Digi International

Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) is a leading global provider of business and mission-critical Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity products and solutions. We help our customers create next-generation connected products and solutions to deploy, monitor, and manage critical communications infrastructures and compliance standards in demanding environments with high levels of security, relentless reliability, and bulletproof performance. Founded in 1985, the company has helped customers connect more than 100 million things – and counting. For more information, visit www.digi.com, or call 877-912-3444 (U.S.) or 952-912-3444 (International).

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