The big takeaway from Interop so far has been the battle for the data center, which is no surprise given that particular item has been on top of my surveys for both enterprises and service providers for eighteen months or more. Interestingly, the financial analysts aren’t seeing anyone decisively winning that battle—at least not right…
Microsoft/Skype Threats, and a Juniper Exec Defects to the Enemy
Skype and Microsoft? Well, apparently it’s more than just a possibility. There have been rumors swirling around a buyer for Skype for a week or more, but they’ve been just rumors. The possible deal with Microsoft is a lot more than that—Microsoft confirmed it at about 8 AM today. So now, the question is “why?” …
Cisco Angst and Open Switching/Routing
Today begins with more negative comments on Cisco, and it’s hard not to wonder at the way a company that was once a model of tech success (“I want to be the next Cisco”) is now seen as a model of a transition failure. The idea of breaking Cisco up into pieces so that valuable…
Nielson’s Data, Red Hat’s Cloud
Nielson is giving us some new data on video viewing habits, and there are a lot of interesting interpretations you can draw from it. It’s particularly fascinating if you factor in some of the data I’ve collected on content use, and the results of my content consumption model. At the high level, the Nielson study…
New Service-Layer Lessons
There are conflicting reports on the progress of the mobile operators’ Isis project to provide mobile/NFC transaction processing in competition with credit cards. Some of the media are saying that the initial link with Discovery for the actual transaction handling was an error in judgment, and the operators themselves admit that merchants say that Visa…
Brocade’s CloudPlex: Too Late and Little?
UBS released an Ethernet switching report today that confirms the trends that my surveys have shown for two years now—including the fact that it’s the data center network evolution that’s driving enterprise network equipment spending. What my data has also shown is that enterprises are not likely to see a data center network evolution in…
Verizon Takes Another Service Stance
Verizon’s Digital Media Services initiative has been somewhat of a yawn to the press but it’s of great interest to other operators and also to some vendors. Verizon is now launching another program, called the Verizon Strategic Initiatives Council, and this one could be even more important. Perhaps the most significant thing about it is…
Juniper, Clouds, and Broadband Pricing
Juniper has announced a series of new MX router models and a more integrated positioning between its branch routing, service management, and data center strategies. Called the “Universal WAN”, the approach is designed to both create a more deterministic and cloud-ready network to support the evolving enterprise IT plans of enterprises and to leverage Juniper’s…
Microsoft and RIM Add Market Color
Microsoft reported its numbers, and the results are interesting for what they say about the computer market overall. The entertainment side was very strong, thanks to Kinect, but Windows licenses were lower and this trend worried investors. In the middle, the server and Office franchises both delivered strong results. So what does this mean? Let’s…
Business News Erects Tech Signposts
We’ve got more signs of change from the earnings announcements, and as always change is good for some and bad for others. There does seem a bit of a bias toward bad-ness, though. Nokia is going to shift Symbian support to Accenture and cut 4000 jobs. The move illustrates that there are significant challenges for…