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There has been much talk of the cloud and its ability to impact a wide range of industries. Services are delivered on the cloud, data is stored on it and cloud-based platforms are being adopted. Now being hailed as the next step is a disruptive technology that allows firms to move entire wide area networks (WAN) into the cloud.

Typically the WAN covers a broad geographic area using leased telecommunication lines such as private circuits (Ethernet), cables and satellites. Private and public entities alike utilise WANs to relay data among employees, clients, buyers and suppliers worldwide. In essence, without a WAN, modern business operations would cease.

Traditionally, large international corporations often deploy hardware architecture to run their WAN; it's not so compelling for small organisations because setup and maintenance costs are prohibitively high, but this is changing. Dominic Norton of Spitfire explains, "WANs are now very scalable and cost effective… for example a small company with a headquarters and two branch offices could incur setup costs in the region of £1,000 plus monthly circuit rentals of around £360."

A WAN could be set up on the public internet but concerns about reliability and security are significant. However, if these risks were handled, the running costs of a WAN on the public internet could be as little as £50 per month.

A handful of start-ups are trying to deliver on that promise, offering a subscription model with no capital expenses and running costs starting at £70 a month depending on requirements. The proposition is built on lightweight Customer-Premises Equipment (CPE) which, using the infrastructure in the company's cloud, can bond multiple Internet access links and terrestrial lines, choosing the best paths and uptimes through real-time monitoring of latency, jitter and packed loss. It can aggregate lowest cost Internet, 3G/4G/LTE and WiFi as well as leased lines, creating an attractive price and service. The CPE also understands possibly thousands of applications and chooses the best WAN connection according to need.

With plenty of funding around Network-as-a-service (NaaS), these new technologies have a vast range of applications for better living, working and collaborating. NaaS and its supporting technologies including Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualisation (NVF) will feature heavily amongst the keynote presentations and product demos being showcased at this year's IP EXPO Europe. In particular, SDN has quickly gained pace and become top of the agenda for IT professionals. To ensure visitors are at the forefront of this technology, this year's IP EXPO Europe will also bring together leading experts at the Software Defined Networking Conference.

Aspiring to be Europe's leading cloud and IT infrastructure event for the full range of IT professionals, visitors can view brand new technologies, attend keynote presentations and gather fresh insights from leading thinkers. With cloud, mobility, security, analytics, infrastructure and data centre technologies all under one roof, the event covers everything needed to build IT for a successful enterprise.

It will be found at London's ExCel centre and feature two brand new co-located events, Cyber Security EXPO and Data Centre EXPO. With over 300 exhibitors including Microsoft, VMware, IBM and Schneider Electric, the show will feature demonstrations and presentations covering every facet of IT infrastructure, including the cloud, data centres and the latest solutions to combat cybercrime.

The opening keynote speech will be delivered by World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Sir Tim will outline his vision for the 2050 Web and explain how organisations will use it to gain competitive advantage. He will also offer his insight into business strategies for innovation and the creation of markets through digital channels. NC

Register for the show at www.ipexpo.co.uk and track the news by following @IPEXPO in Twitter and the tag #IPEXPOEurope.