According to the 2025/2026 State of the Network study by VIAVI Solutions Inc. (VIAVI), reliance on packet capture to improve mean times to detection (MTTD) and resolution (MTTR) is likely to increase in 79% of enterprise organizations this year.
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Running annually in partnership with Enterprise Strategy Group, now part of Omdia, the study reveals how IT network and security teams are evolving to meet the demands of hybrid infrastructure, rising cloud complexity, and increasing pressure to detect and resolve issues faster. Based on insights from 750 global professionals, it highlights a clear shift toward deeper network observability, renewed reliance on packet capture, growing cross-functional collaboration in cloud monitoring, and the accelerating convergence of network operations (NetOps) and security operations (SecOps).
The study shows that organizations with strong packet capture experienced notable improvements to MTTD, with double the number of respondents reporting a significantly shorter MTTD rate over the past year compared to those lacking strong packet capture capability. In addition, respondents with good packet capture abilities were four times more likely to resolve issues in under an hour, and almost 35% more likely to resolve them in under three hours.
“As environments grow more distributed and threats become more dynamic, the path forward is clear. Unified visibility, smarter tooling, and operational alignment are no longer optional – they’re essential,” said Chris Labac, Vice President and General Manager, Network Performance and Threat Solutions, VIAVI. “Packet-level visibility has been proven to accelerate the detection, response, and resolution of network issues. Our report demonstrates that organizations not only understand the need for full fidelity forensics, multi-cloud visibility and NetSecOps alignment, but are actively putting steps in place to improve overall network observability.”
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Summary of key findings:
- 79% of organizations report growing reliance on packet data, with measurable improvements in MTTD, MTTR, and alert accuracy.
- Organizations with robust packet visibility are four times more likely to achieve MTTR under an hour compared to those without.
- The shift toward multi-cloud environments is driving a 125% increase in collaborative monitoring models.
- 42% of organizations that implemented NetSecOps models reported enhanced security benefits.
- While 92% of organizations reported that they had sufficient budget to meet their needs, 78% believed there was a need for more support to prepare for rising network security threats.
“Networks are under constant threat and permanently stretched, yet what is clear from VIAVI and ESG’s research is that most companies are taking steps to continually improve their uptime. Indeed, despite hard times, investment is set to increase in the overwhelming majority of companies for every single one of the 11 IT solutions we examined,” said Jim Frey, Principal Analyst, Networking, Enterprise Strategy Group from Informa Tech Target. “This means there’s a lot to be positive about, and this research demonstrates exactly where organizations are getting the greatest returns on investment to enable the best practices to be used across the industry.”
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