Ongoing rise of network outages has cost over a third of organizations between $1M and $5M in the last year, putting data centers at risk of significant disruption

Nearly nine in ten organizations have experienced an increase in network outages over the past two years, with more than a quarter reporting increases of 25% to 50%, according to new research from Opengear, a Digi International company (NASDAQ, DGII, (www.digi.com). The rise in outages has cost more than a third of businesses between $1m and $5m in the past year alone.

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Network outages are on the rise — 84% of businesses report more disruptions in the past two years, with over a third losing $1M–$5M in the last year, according to new research from Opengear.

Over half of organizations also noted a 10-24% increase in outages over the two-year timeframe. The survey, designed to identify critical pain points affecting data center operations, polled over 1,000 CIOs, CSOs, and network engineers across the UK, US, France, Germany, and Australia. The survey highlights how network outages are causing significant disruptions across data center operations, affecting everything from system availability to business continuity.

Network engineers identified the most common causes of these outages as device configuration changes (highlighted by 27%) and server hardware failures (referenced by 26%), both of which can severely impact the stability and performance of data centers.

To mitigate these risks, nearly a third of organizations (32%) rank AI and machine learning technologies among the technologies they have primarily invested in to support data center operations. At the same time, 30% expect to increase spending on Out-of-Band (OOB) management solutions over the next five years to meet this same goal.

Patrick Quirk, President and General Manager, Opengear, said: “Outages are no longer isolated events. They are happening more often, and the cost is hitting businesses hard. Complexity, aging infrastructure, human error, and cyberattacks are all part of the problem. Governments are starting to take notice too, putting policies in place to protect critical digital infrastructure. As organizations lean more heavily on data centers to power digital transformation, the stakes are higher than ever. An outage is not just downtime. It is lost revenue, lost productivity, and lost trust.”

“Forward-looking businesses are not standing still. They are rethinking their strategies to build resilience into every layer of their operations,” added Quirk. “One clear shift is toward decentralization, pushing workloads closer to where data is generated and consumed. That move reduces risk from a single point of failure, but it also demands new approaches to management and security.”

As businesses adopt decentralized data processing models, 28% of organizations view the shift to edge computing and distributed networks as a trend that will significantly impact network management within their data centers over the next five years. This move towards edge computing further reflects the broader trend of decentralization in network architecture, which, while offering operational efficiencies, also requires more sophisticated management solutions to handle the increased complexity of data center operations.

According to Quirk: “Edge computing brings clear advantages in speed, security, and efficiency. But it does not make the job easier. Distributed environments create more moving parts, and that means more opportunity for failure if they are not managed properly. The answer is a resilient foundation, and secure remote management that keeps infrastructure reachable and under control, no matter where it is deployed.”

About Opengear

Opengear, a Digi International company, delivers secure, resilient access and automation to support critical IT infrastructure on the First Day, Worst Day and Every Day. Through presence and proximity, Opengear solutions enable provisioning, orchestration, and remote management of network devices through innovative software and appliances. Opengear solutions are trusted by global organisations across financial, digital communications, retail, and manufacturing sectors. The company is headquartered in Utah, with an R&D center in Brisbane, Australia. For more information, visit www.opengear.com/.

About Digi International

Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) is a leading global provider of IoT connectivity products, services, and solutions. It helps companies create next-generation connected products and deploy and manage critical communications infrastructures in demanding environments with high levels of security and reliability. Founded in 1985, Digi has helped customers connect more than 100 million things and counting. For more information, visit www.digi.com.

Disclaimer

Responses reflect the views of participants at the time of the survey and may not represent the broader industry. The findings presented are for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as definitive industry trends or predictions. While care was taken to ensure accuracy, the data is self-reported and subject to respondent interpretation.

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Outages are no longer isolated events. They are happening more often, and the cost is hitting businesses hard. Complexity, aging infrastructure, human error, and cyberattacks are all part of the problem.