The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the saying goes. That certainly seems to be true with NFV, based on what I’ve heard over the last couple weeks from both vendors and network operators. Two years ago, I noted that vendor salespeople were frustrated by the unwillingness of their buyers to…
Factory Processes and Functional Elements in NFV and IoT: Connecting the Dots
Today I want to take up the remaining issue with edge-centric and functional programming for event processing, both for IoT and NFV. That issue is control of distributed state and stateless processes. Barring changes in the landscape, this will be the last of my series of blogs on this topic. As always, we need to…
Google Steps Into Lambdas: What More Proof Do We Need?
I write a lot about things that aren’t mentioned often elsewhere, and that might rightfully make you wonder whether I’m just off in the lunatic fringe. I did a series of blogs talking about the shift in software in general, and the cloud in particular, to “functional” or “Lambda” programming, and a few of you…
Applying Edge Programming and Lambdas to OSS/BSS Modernization (and IoT)
Most of you will recall that there has been a persistent goal to make OSS/BSS “event-driven”. Suppose we were to accept that was the right approach. Could we then apply some of the edge-computing and IoT principles of software structure and organization of work to the OSS/BSS? Let’s take a look at what would happen…
Why the Critical Piece of VMware’s NFV 2.0 is the “Network Model” NSX MIGHT Support
I mentioned in my blog yesterday that a network and addressing model was critical to edge computing and NFV. If that’s true, then could it also be true that having a virtual-network model was critical to vendor success in the NFV space? The VMware NFV 2.0 announcement may give us an opportunity to test that,…
Taking a Longer Look at 5G Infrastructure and Services
It seems possible, based on the results of the MWC show, to speculate a bit on what infrastructure and service considerations are likely to arise out of the 5G specs. “Speculate” is the key word here; I’ve already noted that the show didn’t address the key realities of 5G, IoT, or much anything else. I…
What Would Edge-Hosting Mean to Infrastructure and Software Design?
If computing in general and carrier cloud in particular is going to become more edge-focused over time, then it’s time to ask just what infrastructure features will be favored by the move. Even today we see variations in server architecture and the balance of compute and I/O support needed. It is very likely that there…
A Slightly Early MWC Retrospective
The iconic MWC conference is now pretty much history. The big announcements have been made, the attendees have largely exhausted themselves (the exhibitors certainly have!), and it’s time to take stock and decide whether anything important was really said and shown. In terms of point announcements, it’s rare for something huge to come out at…
How Could We Accelerate the Pace of New Edge-Deployed Data Centers?
There should be no question that I am a big fan of edge computing, and so I’m happy that Equinix is pushing storage to the edge (according to one story yesterday) or that Vapor IO supports micro-data-centers at the wireless edge. I just wish we had more demand focus to explain our interest in the…
Are You in the Mood for Indigo? AT&T’s New Concept Could Change Your Mind!
When you have an architecture that set the standard for NFV, what do you to for an encore? AT&T’s answer to that question is “Network 3.0 Indigo” or in short terms, just “Indigo”. It’s another of those huge concepts that’s difficult to describe or to understand, and its sheer scope is certain to create healthy…
