Today, we are living in an application programming interface (API) economy. Just look around you and you'll see major success stories such as Uber, whose entire business model is built on leveraging Google Maps through an API to match drivers up with passengers seeking a ride.

According to Kristin R Moyer, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, "The API economy is an enabler for turning a business or organisation into a platform. Platforms multiply value creation because they enable business ecosystems inside and outside of the enterprise to consummate matches among users and facilitate the creation and/or exchange of goods, services and social currency so that all participants are able to capture value."

There are a few parameters that IT managers need to consider this year when choosing the right networking for its next-generation deployments.

The first, according to Motti Beck, Director of Enterprise Datacenter Marketing at Mellanox Technologies, is networking speed.

"Although today, 10GbE is the most popular speed, the industry has already started to realise that 25GbE provides higher efficiency and that it is fast becoming the next 10GbE. 25GbE will become the new 10GbE in 2017," states Beck.

A white paper by F5 Networks.

Meet Lerato, a Johannesburg-based sales rep. At home preparing for a customer visit, she opens her laptop to check e-mail and connect to her company's CRM system to make a few necessary updates. She lets the dog out, makes a cup of coffee, and before long realises she's already running late. She'll need to finish her CRM entry during the Uber ride using her mobile device.

Halfway across the country in Durban, Sam, an IT lead at the same company, is logging in at corporate head office. Managing mobile access and devices for over 500 employees, his job sometimes feels like a balancing act  – making sure all the devices and data are secure, ensuring regulatory compliance, and providing employees with what they need, when they need it, wherever they are.

The software defined wide-area network (SD-WANs) has captured the attention of the global networking segment.

Value-added distributor, Networks Unlimited, has recently positioned itself in the emerging SD-WAN market as the sole distributor for Silver Peak, the global leader in broadband and hybrid WAN solutions, across the Sub-Saharan market.