Why do I make so big a point about “box-centric” specifications for network virtualization? If somebody virtualizes a box, isn’t it the same thing as virtualizing everything that’s in it? In a blog last week, I looked at the 5G O-RAN specification and talked about some of my issues in abstraction of the functionality. I…
Why do enterprises think IoT is a key to transformation, but at the same time seem to be vague on the “Why?” Enterprises have been singing IoT transformation praises for over a year, and the same point has emerged in other analyst reports and surveys, but there’s rarely been a lot of detail offered in…
In a single day last week, I saw six news items that demonstrate the market, business, and technology challenge that’s posed by 5G. None of this tumult means that 5G isn’t going to happen, but it seems to me to demonstrate that we’re not yet really sure how it’s going to happen. The who-wins and…
5G specifications have addressed the growing interest in “alternative technologies” in networking, embracing things like NFV and (some say) SDN. What is less clear is how effective the initiatives will be in the real world. A lot will depend on how vendors interpret the specifications, and in particular how far we take the concept of…
I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that there was a profound difference between open-model network software based on the transactional or RESTful model, and software designed to be event-driven. I also said that the difference was critical in selecting the platform software tools to be used to support applications, particularly at the edge. What is the…
I promised recently that I’d post something on how operator planners viewed my “service plane” concept, as soon as I could get data. Over last week, I did some data gathering, and today I think I can keep my promise—sort of. The reason for the qualification is that what I’m calling the “service plane”, in…
Today’s market isn’t an easy one for network equipment vendors, especially those focused on service providers. Nokia may have a strategy to navigate this critical space, and if so every vendor needs to consider it. In its current quarter, Nokia beat on all the key financial metrics, and held to its guidance, which is pretty…
Juniper is an interesting bellwether of networking trends. They’re a major player in the data center and WAN markets for enterprises, operators, and cloud providers, and because they’re second to Cisco in the space, they are under more pressure to be aggressive and innovative. Juniper’s quarterly call on Wednesday showed a beat on all the…
How do we create portable code in hosted-function services for the network of the future? There are a lot of things involved in making virtual-function code portable, and I’m going to use the term “code” in this blog to indicate any software that’s designed to create network features and that isn’t a part of a…
In my blog of April 22, 2021, I postulated there would be three “planes” in a 5G network, the top plane of which being the “service plane”. I mentioned it a bit but didn’t get too far into it, despite the fact that if there’s a broad opportunity for new telco revenue to be had,…