Real virtualization is based on clusters. Virtualization assigns tasks to resources, and it doesn’t make sense to go through the assignment process to provide a resource pool the consists of one host. Virtualization really implies a remapping of hosting across a pool of available servers not a 1:1 assignment. In cloud and container computing, a…
The idea of combining content delivery networks and edge computing is logical on the face, given that CDNs function at the edge. Now, a demonstration of CDN and machine learning hosted on Ericsson’s Unified Delivery Network (UDN) suggests the company might be approaching fulfillment of both that combination of features and an implicit promise that…
If 5G is a vast and confusing set of technologies, it’s just as vast and confusing at the competitive level. If you do a bit of Internet research on 5G you’ll find that a few key vendors seem to be offering all the collateral. Ericsson tops the list, with Huawei and Nokia behind. Below them,…
One candidate for the so-called “killer app” for SD-WAN is security, which is a popular but almost always vague claim for killer-app status for nearly everything. In the case of SD-WAN, there are security benefits to be had, but they are a part of a larger benefit I’ve noted in past blogs. SD-WAN could be…
Could we have built NFV around containers? Could we still do that? That, in my view, is the most important question that NFV proponents should be asking. We have a lot going on with NFV, but movement (as I’ve said before) is very different from progress. If there’s a right way to do NFV, we…
Let us suppose that the goal of next-gen infrastructure (for operator services, cloud providers, or applications) is full virtualization of both application/service elements and hosting and connection resources. Most would agree that this is at least a fair statement of the end-game. The question, then, is what steps should be followed to achieve that goal. …
This blog is going to start what will likely be a long-running series of blogs spread over several months, and digging into the details of next-generation applications, services, and network infrastructures. There are many dimensions to that problem, and as is often the case, the industry has attacked it from the bottom. As is also…
You can always learn a lot from Cisco earnings calls. Not everything that’s said is meaningful, of course. For example, they always attribute anything good in revenue or earnings to their latest initiative (intent-based networking, in this case), and if they fall short it’s because that initiative hasn’t had time to percolate through the market. …
With MWC just around the corner and a flood of 5G stuff inevitable, this is the time to ask two questions. First, what is really happening in the 5G space? Second, when can we expect to see a complete 5G story deploy? Those aren’t easy questions to answer in MWC discussions, particularly when the emphasis…
The SD-WAN space is a unique combination of risk and opportunity. It’s clearly a risk to the traditional VPN and VLAN service models, the operator services that are based on the models, and the vendors whose equipment is used to deliver the services. It’s an opportunity for startups to rake in some money, for enterprises…