A recent research report continued on a theme that’s become a bit of a cloud computing mantra—we’re exiting the “early adopter” phase of the cloud and heading into the main event. In some sense this is true, because we are certainly in the “early” phase of the cloud. In another sense it’s misleading because almost…
There’s some good news on NFV, which I’m happy to be able to report since good news (other than hype) is hard to come by these days. I reported early this year that operators’ CFOs had told me in the spring of 2014 that they were so far unable to make a conclusive business case…
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…
Cisco came out with their numbers, and while I could talk about them by themselves, I think it might be more helpful to consider them in light of some other news, which is VMware’s decision to get serious about NFV and even Facebook’s tossing in a new data-center switch. I’ll mention some Cisco-numbers commentary where…
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…
OK, I have to admit it. There is nothing on the face of technology today that fills me with the mixture of hope and admiration and disgust and dismay like the Internet of Things. Even the name often annoys me. It brings to mind the notion of my thermostat setting itself up a social network…
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…
Alcatel-Lucent released its quarterly numbers before the bell this morning, and their results illustrate the complexity of the business of networking these days. Do we look at things tactically, as current financial markets do? If we say “No!” to that, then can we agree on what a strategic look would offer us? Let’s see. Tactically…
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…
The cloud and NFV have a lot in common. Most NFV is expected to be hosted in the cloud, and many of the elements of NFV seem very “cloud-like”. These obvious similarities have been explored extensively, so I’m not going to bother with them. Are there any other cloud/NFV parallels, perhaps some very important one? …