Distributed cloud networking is the new WAN for AI-era applications – Dell'Oro

Distributed cloud networking is set to replace traditional wide-area networking as enterprises retool for AI-era applications, according to new research from the Dell'Oro Group. The firm projects this market will grow to about $21 billion by 2029, driven by companies that want a single, coherent way to manage traffic, security policies and visibility across data centers, clouds and edge locations.

Instead of backhauling traffic through centralized hubs, distributed cloud networking ties together multiple environments so applications and data can sit closer to users or AI workloads. Dell'Oro argues this shift is less about chasing new technology labels and more about standardizing how networks are controlled and observed, as organizations try to keep complex AI and cloud deployments manageable.