There’s some good news for the IT and networking sectors from Wall Street, but it’s not unqualified good news. Generally, 2022 numbers are not only looking better than 2021’s (no great feat) but more significantly, they’re looking better than they were earlier this year. However, there were still a significant number of enterprises who expected…
Who Has the Best 5G Strategy, Verizon or AT&T?
Verizon and AT&T have been locked in some form of competitive (with ownership of Bell companies playing a role) embrace since the Bell System broke up. Verizon has a major advantage in demand density, the ability of a market to pay back on network infrastructure, and AT&T has been perhaps the most radical Tier One…
Thoughts on a PaaS API Set for NFV and Edge Computing
How would you build an optimum service layer and PaaS for Nephio? If I think the project needs to face those tasks, then I should be prepared to comment on how it could be done. The starting point for that, as always, is at the top of the process, which is the notion of a…
There’s VNFs and then There’s VNFs
With all the talk about virtual network functions (VNFs) in the ETSI Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) group and now in the Nephio project (see my blogs HERE and HERE), it occurs to me that we’ve not really talked much about VNFs themselves. In particular, we’ve not talked about the fact that there are multiple VNF…
The Traps that a Nephio-Based NFV Solution MUST Avoid
In my blog last week on the Linux Foundation’s open-source function virtualization project (Nephio), I noted that two things that the project didn’t have. One was service-layer modeling and deployment and the other was a platform-as-a-service API set to define how network functions would be written. Today, I want to explain why I think the…
Nephio, the Open Source Savior of Function Hosting
Finally, a decade after the concept of NFV was first introduced, we may be on track to creating a useful implementation of function hosting. The Linux Foundation and Google Cloud announced Nephio, a project that would create an open-source framework for cloud-compatible function hosting and operations automation. It could realize the goals of the “Call…
Google’s Aquila Marries the Past and Future of Networks
Google has been one of the great innovators, even though a lot of what they do isn’t appreciated or even known. They launched Kubernetes and Anthos for cloud hosting, their Andromeda SDN network is probably the largest SDN deployment on the planet, and they also launched the Istio service mesh. Now they want to transform…
What Do Operators and Vendors Think of my New-Feature Groupings?
In a blog I did last month, I talked about three feature categories that could represent reasonable targets for operators interested in promoting higher-level service partnerships. Recall that AT&T indicated this was one of their strategies for improving their bottom line. Since then, I’ve gotten a lot of comment from operators, vendors, and enterprises, and…
Making Sure AI Operations Deliver on their Promise
With Tesla about to release its humanoid robot, we’re going to see more talk about the dangers of machines taking over. Do we actually face the risk of having AI get smart enough to become truly sentient, and deciding that its creators are an impediment to its future? I think we’re safe from that in…
Is the Juniper/Synopsys Deal a Sea Change in Silicon Photonics for Networks?
Juniper is getting serious about silicon photonics. The company already had hundreds of patents in the area, and a clear interest in making itself a presence in the space. Now, they’ve formed a separate company with Synopsys, which will contain Juniper’s silicon photonics technology and leverage it across a wide range of applications. Networking is…