Sometimes it seems like industry consortia have longer lives than the stuff they work on. Part of that is because the smarter ones keep moving to keep pace with industry needs and media interest. The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is reinventing itself, launching a new strategic plan, and if you combine this with some of…
Since we are pretty much done with 5G standards, it’s a good time to take a realistic look at the way 5G might actually deploy and how it might impact metro infrastructure and the carrier cloud. I want to stress that operators are internally divided on 5G and its impacts, so I’ve necessarily had to…
What is a service model? I get comments on my blogs on LinkedIn and directly from clients and contacts via email, and that’s a question I’ve been getting. I’ve dealt with modeled services for almost 15 years now, and perhaps that’s demystified them to me when they’re still mysterious to others. I want to try…
I saw an interesting article on the HPE/Aruba “Software-Defined Branch” concept, and it raises yet again a question we’ve grappled with in tech for decades. The model is an expansion of the classic-of-today SD-WAN, but it’s an expansion in that other pieces are added/integrated to form a package. Is this the right path for SD-WAN? …
You have to love the notion that we have “universal CPE” that somehow seems designed to serve one mission. The great majority of uCPE products seem directed at the NFV-related “virtual CPE” or vCPE goal of having a box on premises that can be remotely augmented with endpoint features like firewall, encryption, and perhaps SD-WAN. …
I tend to use colorful phrases and examples in my work, because it makes important points easier to communicate and remember. A couple of long-time clients recently and coincidentally sent me emails with some of the things they remember from our sessions. Since they bear on the state of the industry today and are still…
I blogged last week about the white-box revolution and “platform compatibility” for white-box servers. Since I had a number of interesting emails from operators (and vendors) on the blog, I wanted to use this blog to expand on the whole issue of platforms for white boxes, and on what “compatibility”, openness, and other attributes of…
One of the most important questions in network-building today is the role “white-box” technology will play. It’s a fundamental precept of operators and even many enterprises that they’re being gouged and locked in by network vendors. The obvious solution is to adopt an “open” technology, meaning something that doesn’t include proprietary elements and is subject…
Cisco has been a powerhouse in networking for decades, so when CEO Robbins says something at a big Cisco event, you have to pay attention. Most of the Cisco Live event seemed to focus on partnerships and opening of APIs for its Digital Network Architecture and intent-based networking initiatives, but there was a parallel move…
You probably know all about the stages of grief, or the stages of project post-mortem examinations. How about the stages of SD-WAN? The fact is that SD-WAN is undergoing a series of parallel revolutions, and the way they interact will shape both the opportunity and the competitive landscape, at both the product and service levels….