Author: Tom Nolle

Here’s a riddle for you.  What do Fedex and NFV have in common?  Answer:  Maybe nothing, and that’s a problem.  A review of some NFV trials and implementations, and even some work in the NFV ISG, is demonstrating that we’re not always getting the “agility” we need, and for a single common reason. I had…

The FCC finally released its neutrality order, causing such a run on the website that it crashed the document delivery portion.  Generally, the order is consistent with the preliminary statement on its contents that was released earlier, but now that the full text is available it’s possible to pin down some of the issues I…

I always think it’s interesting when multiple news items combine (or conflict) in a way that exposes issues and market conditions.  We have that this week with the Cisco/Microsoft cloud partnership, new-model servers from HP, a management change at Verizon, and Juniper’s router announcements.  All of these create a picture of a seismic shift in…

According to a couple recent surveys, TV viewing is dropping in the 18-34 year old age group.  Some are already predicting that this will mean the end of broadcast TV, cable, and pretty much the media World as We Know It.  Certainly there are major changes coming, but the future is more complicated than the…

We’re obviously in a period of transformation for computing and networking, and it’s equally obvious that HP is intent on improving its position in the market through this transition.  They’ve made two recent announcements that illustrate what their strategy could be, and it could mean some interesting dynamics in both computing and networking over the…

One of the “in-passing” comments made by John Chambers in Cisco’s earnings call was that the company was “We are pulling away from our competitors and leading in both the SDN thought leadership and customer implementations.”  Interestingly there’s a strong element of truth in that statement despite the fact that Cisco is widely regarded as…

In recent blogs I’ve been arguing that we’re focusing too much on the technology of new services and not about the actual opportunity.  There are scads of technological suggestions on where new revenue can be located, but where do you find opportunity?  That’s a question that’s always being asked by anyone who sells anything, including…

NFV as a technology has captivated a lot of people.  For it to be a “revolutionary technology” it has to do something revolutionary to the way we create network services and purchase network infrastructure.  That obviously has to start with some set of NFV products, created by credible sources and delivered with a compelling vision…

If kids put teeth under their pillow and hope for quarters, or dig in their yards hoping to find pirate treasure, so financial planners in operators are looking for NFV and SDN to generate revenue.  Cost savings are fine as a means of delaying the marginalization of the network and bridging out of a difficult…

The FCC is converging on a net neutrality order, bringing “clarity” to the broadband regulation process.  In fact, the process has been murky since the Telecom Act, nothing in the current order (as we know of it from the FCC’s released “fact sheet”) un-murks much, and in any event this is something only the courts…