Making decisions about your network infrastructure is a big deal. Every technology you pick, every vendor you choose, every design decision you make will stick with your company for years. It affects everything from how efficiently you operate to whether you can keep up with the competition. You've got to validate complex network topologies, network solutions like SD-WAN, zero-trust security, IT testing requirements and cloud integrations, without breaking the bank or taking down critical production systems.
That's where managed network proof of concept (PoC) solutions give you a key strategic advantage. They offer controlled, realistic environments to test, validate, and fine-tune new technologies before you make a big investment.
A managed network proof of concept (PoC) is a full-service offering that takes the guesswork out of evaluating new tech. Instead of committing to expensive hardware purchases, lengthy software contracts, or risky in-house experiments, you get access to a controlled, professionally managed environment where you can really put new network solutions through their paces before you roll them out. It's an insurance policy against expensive tech mistakes and a tool for making smart, data-driven decisions.
Whether you're looking at a new SD-WAN solution from multiple vendors, testing a complex Cisco ACI implementation, or validating a new network security architecture, a managed network testing approach gives you the hands-on experience you need. No more relying on vendor demos or theoretical spec sheets. You get real-world testing with your actual network traffic, configurations, and operational conditions.
Table of contents:
A PoC focuses on checking if a technology is feasible and works as advertised, all within a controlled lab environment. The goal is to answer, "Can this tech actually do what we need it to do?" A pilot, on the other hand, means deploying a solution in a live, but limited, operational setting to see how it performs in the real world, how users like it, and what its operational impact is. The goal here is to answer, "How does this tech actually perform in our production environment?"
A smart tech evaluation process often starts with a PoC to minimize risk and cost, then moves to a targeted pilot for real-world validation. CloudMyLab's managed approach can help you fine-tune both phases based on how much risk you're willing to take and what your business needs.
Proof of Concept as a Service (POCaaS) is a comprehensive service delivery model that transforms how organizations approach network validation and technology testing. Instead of building internal capabilities or relying on vendor-controlled demonstrations, POCaaS provides you with complete, professionally managed network POC testing environments as an on-demand service.
Vendor demos are designed to tell great stories, but they rarely show you how a solution will hold up under your specific, real-world conditions. Unlike vendor demos that show off ideal scenarios with perfect configs and fake traffic, managed PoCs let you test solutions against your specific requirements, unique traffic patterns, and tricky integration needs in a controlled yet highly realistic environment. Vendor labs show you the best-case scenario.
Your managed PoC environment tests realistic scenarios: your actual application traffic, your existing network limitations, the headache of integrating with your current tools, and the operational steps your team will actually use in production. This critical difference often brings to light major issues that would otherwise only pop up after an expensive and disruptive deployment.
Failed network deployments can cost companies an average of $5.6 million annually, according to recent industry research. Companies that use managed PoC solutions have been shown to reduce deployment risks by up to 78%and speed up their time-to-market by as much as 45%.
When you skip proper proof of concept validation, you're up against:
Smarter resource use
Your engineering talent is your most valuable and most limited resource. Traditional, in-house proof of concept projects often tie up your best people for months, pulling them away from other important initiatives. CloudMyLab's managed PoC solutions free up your internal teams to focus on what they do best, while our experts handle the technical validation, infrastructure management, and detailed testing.
Small businesses or startups can compete with larger firms
Managed PoCs also make enterprise-grade PoC testing accessible to everyone, leveling the playing field for small businesses and startups. For example, a 50-person fintech startup may used a managed PoC platform to validate complex regulatory compliance features that would have otherwise required hiring three additional, expensive specialists.
Your managed network PoC with CloudMyLab uses sophisticated network emulation platforms including EVE-NG Professional, Cisco Modeling Labs (CML), and GNS3 hosted on enterprise-grade cloud infrastructure. This is real network simulation, running actual vendor operating system images and your specific configurations.
Professional network emulation requires industrial-strength platforms:
CloudMyLab gives you access to all three platforms, so you can pick the best tool for each testing scenario without the hassle of setting up and managing them yourself.
Virtual network labs get rid of the physical limits that seriously hold back traditional IT testing. Need to simulate a 50-site global SD-WAN network topology? You can configure it in minutes, not months. Want to test your network's convergence time after multiple simultaneous link failures? You can run complex failure scenarios with a single click, without risking production systems.
Emulated environments offer testing capabilities that are just impossible or impractical with physical hardware. You get precise timing control, perfectly repeatable test conditions, and the ability to save and restore the state of your entire network, which lets you thoroughly validate edge cases and complex failure scenarios.
Virtual environments also excel at large-scale simulation that physical labs can't match, simulating networks with hundreds of devices, intricate topologies, and realistic traffic patterns that would be financially and logistically impossible to recreate with physical gear.
Cloud hosting adds accessibility and scalability to your network testing. Your PoC with CloudMyLab can be provisioned instantly, scale elastically, and can integrate with cloud-native automation tools. This lets you test hybrid cloud scenarios, validate SD-WAN cloud connectivity, and make sure your network designs work smoothly across multiple cloud providers.
The cloud infrastructure supporting your PoC includes enterprise-grade security, redundant connectivity, and professional backup systems, keeping your sensitive testing data protected while being accessible to your authorized team anywhere in the world.
Real network POC testing must integrate with your existing infrastructure and workflows to be useful. Your managed PoC environment with CloudMyLab can securely connect to your production networks for realistic testing without compromising security. This lets you test new technologies using your actual traffic patterns, validate that your existing monitoring tools can see and manage the new solution, and ensure smooth migration paths.
Built-in APIs and automation interfaces allow for deep integration with your development and deployment pipelines. This way you can treat network infrastructure testing as code, with version control, automated testing, and reproducible deployment processes.
Pretty much any network technology can be thoroughly tested in our managed environments. This includes:
Read more: Want to learn more about ACI? check out our guide on Cisco ACI.
When you're figuring out how to run your PoCs, the choice between a hosted solution and building a physical lab comes down to a few key factors:
We all agree, being able to pivot and innovate quickly is crucial. A Managed PoC Solution lets you rapidly confirm if a concept is feasible and performs well in realistic scenarios. This means you spend way less time and resources on ideas that might not pan out. Complex theories can be quickly turned into testable models to meet market needs. Managed PoC Solutions streamline your idea-to-market path, significantly cutting down development timelines.
Managed PoC solutions boost your innovation speed through structured experimentation frameworks that get rid of guesswork and give you clear, data-driven results.
For example, a telecommunications provider may need to validate a new SD-WAN deployment across 200 locations. A traditional in-house approach would have tied up internal resources for 8-12 months. The managed approach may deliver comprehensive validation in just 6 weeks, and let them get to market well ahead of their competitors.
A successful network PoC needs more than just technical skill. It requires deep, strategic insight into how a technology aligns with your specific business objectives.
Our teams at CloudMyLab bring industry-specific expertise that helps you prevent expensive missteps and spot opportunities. Our specialists have been through hundreds of PoC projects across various industries. They can anticipate complex integration challenges, identify potential performance bottlenecks, and structure your tests to give you actionable business intelligence.
A Managed PoC Solution from CloudMyLab offers a secure sandbox for rigorous validation, completely isolated from your live production systems. This isolation ensures potential issues during testing don't affect your existing production environment or sensitive data.
Replicability allows for consistent, precise reproduction of tests under standard conditions which are essential for accurate comparisons and reliable results.
Monitoring facilitates detailed observation and recording of key performance metrics, giving you the data you need for informed decisions.
Keeping things financially efficient is a huge advantage of a Managed PoC solution. Expert-driven Managed PoCs can also significantly cut your time to market, which positively impacts revenue generation and cost-saving initiatives.
Traditional PoC testing can often give you ambiguous or purely technical results. Our managed PoC solutions are designed to generate comprehensive analytics that support confident go/no-go decisions, complete with quantifiable risk assessments.
Understanding and meeting customer needs is key to business success, and a Managed PoC can really deepen this connection, especially for vendors or service providers. You can tailor interactions and showcase solutions based on specific customer preferences, increasing satisfaction and loyalty.
You can establish direct channels for valuable customer feedback during the PoC phase to refine your final product or service offering.
You can let your potential clients experience your product firsthand in a realistic environment, fostering trust and speeding up their buy-in.
A comprehensive proof of concept investment typically ranges from $15,000 to $150,000, depending on technology complexity, testing duration, and project scope. But a detailed cost-benefit analysis strongly favors managed PoC solutions.
Industry data suggests every dollar invested in proper pre-deployment validation typically prevents $8 to $12 in downstream deployment costs, operational disruptions, and rework. Think about the total cost of a potential technology failure: direct fix costs, opportunity costs of delayed projects, impact on your company's reputation, and any competitive disadvantage.
Our managed PoC approach turns these significant risks into manageable, predictable investments with clearly measurable returns.
Planning your network validation timeline requires a realistic understanding of your project's complexity and scope. Network PoCs typically range from 2 to 12 weeks. A simple configuration validation or a single-vendor technology test might take 2-4 weeks.
A more comprehensive multi-vendor integration testing scenario could require 8-12 weeks. Key timeline factors include technology complexity, number of vendors involved, depth of integration requirements, and team availability.
Our experienced project managers will work with you to establish realistic timelines that balance thoroughness with business urgency.
Today's digital market rewards companies that can move fast with confidence, not those that just deploy new tech and hope for the best. Managed proof of concept solutions provide the critical validation framework that lets you make bold, strategic moves backed by solid, empirical evidence.
CloudMyLab's managed PoC platform isn't just about testing technology. It's about fundamentally changing how your organization approaches innovation, manages risk, and maintains its competitive edge. We don't just validate concepts; we help you validate your strategic vision and give you the confidence you need to execute it effectively.
Ready to turn uncertainty into a strategic advantage? Contact CloudMyLab today to find out how our managed proof of concept solutions can speed up your next critical technology initiative while protecting your investment and your timeline.
Network engineers benefit by getting immediate access to enterprise-grade lab environments without needing to build or manage them. This lets them test complex multi-vendor scenarios, safely validate configurations and automation scripts, and get expert support. This frees them up to focus on high-value engineering tasks rather than infrastructure management.
GNS3 is great for Cisco-focused routing and switching labs and is highly flexible due to its open-source nature. EVE-NG offers superior multi-vendor support and advanced features, making it ideal for mixed-vendor enterprise environments. CML 2.0 provides the most authentic Cisco device emulation with officially licensed and supported images, making it the gold standard for Cisco-specific testing and automation development. CloudMyLab offers hosted access to all three, letting you use the best tool for your specific PoC needs.