"There's a need for more self-aware and self-monitoring networks," said Gao. "The ability to configure automatically for certain situations and traffic types being a top requirement."

Sin at Cisco said all these requirements can be handled by more resilient networks. "Enterprises want better business continuity, so if something threatens day-to-day business, [a more resilient network allows them] to deal with it," said Sin.

Sin added that in addition to more security, network resilience requires firms to look at user policies, processes, people and action plans in the event of any disruption. "Enterprises seek ways to ensure senior staff can [always] run the firm with minimum disruption."

"We've heard it in the past: 'the network must never die'," he said. "The business now looks at the network as the platform for business continuity and disaster recovery.

Gartner meeting sees big network role