Once again, we’ve come to the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, it’s time for holiday shopping, family visits, and general cheer — but on the business side, it’s the time when all organizations look forward and start planning for the new year. With every new fiscal year comes new IT goals, new operational aspirations, and new applications and technologies to incorporate. Of course, success across these areas means knowing just how to pivot to meet (or even exceed) new customer desires and more advanced corporate benchmarks.

On the horizon for the upcoming year, we see the Metaverse, AI, XR, 5G (and 6G) as leaders that will guide how businesses are shaping their IT strategy — along with a host of other cutting-edge tools. We’ve all become accustomed to the conversation about these applications and why they depend on the absolute lowest latencies and fastest speeds to deliver the best experiences. Now, it all comes down to figuring out just how connectivity and cloud foundations must adjust to benefit the adoption and proliferation of these technologies within business IT frameworks.

At the forefront of the changes to come will be three main trends: A strategic change in how critical infrastructure is procured (as well as how its success is discussed and measured), a reinvented approach to connectivity sourcing and an increased focus on customization. What does that mean? Well, to start it means we’ll need new metrics for data centers, the Internet Exchange will continue its popularity, and data gravity will be crucial for planning.

For the whole scoop, check out this feature article from The Fast Mode, written by our own EVP Bill Severn.