We have a number of interesting items today, ranging from OTT to handsets, so let’s get started! Yahoo’s latest step in reinventing itself is the acquisition of Tumblr, a “blogging site” that’s in some ways a mixture of Facebook-ish, MySpace-ish, WordPress-ish, and other concepts. At a high level, Tumblr is a adspace wrapper around a…
A Contral Story that Makes Sense
Last week at Interop, Juniper offered a bit more detail on its Contrail stuff. I didn’t get any press release on this, perhaps because Juniper has done a number of SDN announcements already and considered this a follow-up. At any rate, the additional detail offers some color on what might distinguish Juniper’s approach from others. …
SDN From Rembrandt to Rhode Island
We had a couple more earnings reports that seem to underscore the general theme that network spending, if not all of tech spending, is under pressure. Brocade did OK versus expectations but issued what the Street believed was tepid guidance. Aruba undershot by a very significant margin, and specifically called out Cisco’s “bundling” strategies as…
Cisco: Good Now, Could Be Better Later
Cisco reported their numbers, which were much awaited and which the Street viewed as highly favorable. The stock is up nearly 10% pre-market on the results, with both revenue and EPS beating estimates and guidance seen as generally good. Given that most tech companies were weak this quarter, the results are impressive and you always…
Lessons from the Optical SDN Debate
We’re hearing again about the goal of applying OpenFlow to manage optical networks, and the interest surely reflects the value that “converging” layers of the network might have to network operators. I’ve commented before on the fact that a packet-match-and-forward architecture like OpenFlow is hardly suited to applications where packet examination isn’t possible because data…
Can a Pact Save the OSS/BSS from NFV Oblivion?
Ericsson, Huawei, and NSN have entered into a somewhat-historic agreement to break down interoperability barriers for OSS/BSS systems. OSSii is essentially an agreement to share interface specifications not to cooperate in broader development, or to set new standards for OSS/BSS interoperability (still largely under the TM Forum). The promise is to facilitate rollouts of new…
Might the FCC Spur SDN/NFV?
Anyone who’s read my blogs knows I’m no fan of current FCC Chairman Genachowski. I’ve always believed his role in the VC-and-startup world has made him too much a fan of Internet novelty and not enough a fan of reality. In particular, I’ve been critical of the neutrality position he’s championed, which includes the preservation…
Putting the Software into Networking
It’s “recap Friday” again, and there are a lot of little items that (as usual) add up to some significant industry trends. Facing important truths about something you depend on is never easy, and it looks like the industry as a whole and some companies in particular are now going to have to do that….
Is Virtualization Reality Even More Elusive than Virtual Reality?
Software, in defining networks, shouldn’t be expected to cull through a lot of details on network operation. But yes it should. SDN will be the agent of making applications a part of the network itself. No, that’s NFV’s role, or maybe it’s nobody’s role because it’s not even a goal. If you listen to the…
Taking the On-Ramp to the Virtual Age of Networking
Light Reading made an interesting point yesterday in commenting about this year’s Interop show. I’ve been to Interop in the past, and it’s always been the bastion of Big Network Iron. Now it may be about to show its softer side, if you believe the advance comments on keynotes and vendor announcements. Trade shows drive…