The Future of Enterprise Connectivity: What's Really Shaping the Networking Market in 2026
Something significant is happening in enterprise networking, and it's worth paying attention to.
The old model — static infrastructure, on-prem everything, "if it ain't broke" mentality — is quietly being retired across organizations of all sizes. In its place, companies are building environments that are distributed, data-heavy, and increasingly dependent on infrastructure that can think and adapt alongside them.
For anyone selling into this space, that shift creates a genuinely interesting problem: the market is loud right now. Everyone has a story about AI-powered networking or zero-trust architecture. The harder question is figuring out which organizations are actually ready to spend — and on what.
That's exactly what we set out to answer in our 2026 Global Networking Market Outlook, pulling from a global install base of nearly one million unique accounts. → [Get your copy here] to see the full dataset.
The Market Is Growing — But the Next Five Years Are Different
The networking market has been on a steady upward climb, growing from $312 billion in 2020 to $415 billion in 2025. Solid, predictable growth.
What's coming next is less predictable and considerably bigger. Fueled by cloud networking, AI-driven operations, and automation, the market is projected to hit $643 billion by 2031 — a 7.6% CAGR that represents a meaningful step-change from the previous cycle.
The driver isn't incremental upgrades. It's companies ripping out legacy infrastructure and replacing it wholesale. That kind of modernization spending doesn't taper off quickly once it starts.
Nearly Half the Market Is Actively Looking to Buy
Here's the finding that genuinely surprised us.
Of the 978,257 global accounts we tracked, 46% are currently showing active buying intent. That's not passive research — that's organizations in active consideration and evaluation mode, right now.
Over 450,000 companies are in-market for networking solutions at this moment. Want to know which regions are leading the charge? → [The full report breaks it down by North America, APAC, EMEA, and LATAM] — so you can see exactly where to focus.
Where Budgets Are Actually Going
Companies aren't just buying more of the same. The spend is consolidating around three areas over the next 12 months:
- Cloud Security
- Data Center Infrastructure
- Network Automation
The pattern is consistent: buyers want software-defined, secure solutions that can actually keep pace with transformation initiatives already underway — not infrastructure that creates new bottlenecks down the line.
Curious how your category stacks up against these investment priorities? → [See the full spending breakdown in the report].
Who's Behind the Demand
If you're tightening your ICP, the data gives you something concrete to work with.
The strongest buying activity right now is coming from mid-sized organizations (201–1,000 employees) and large enterprises (1,000+). By industry, Technology and Consumer Services are leading overall engagement — but Manufacturing, the Public Sector, and BFSI are showing purchase intent that's just as strong, driven by their need for high-performance, secure connectivity at scale.
The full report includes detailed segmentations by company size and industry for every major networking domain and region. → [Download the 2026 Predictiv Report] to find the exact segments most likely to be your next customers.
The Bottom Line
A $643 billion market sounds like opportunity everywhere. It's not — it's opportunity in specific places, among specific buyers, right now.
The 2026 Global Networking Market Outlook gives you the intent data, vendor market share analysis, and regional breakdowns to stop guessing at who's ready and start actually reaching them.
→ Download the Full 2026 Predictiv Report to see the complete picture and find your next real opportunity.