What are businesses really doing with the cloud? According to a piece in Medium, not necessarily what you think. Some of the numbers they cite are interesting, even fascinating. Some are misleading or perhaps just wrong, at least according to my own enterprise data. Can the numbers support what I think is the primary goal…
Does Cisco come to mind when talking “open” in networking? Probably not, but they’re nevertheless touting an open model in optical transport. They’re also talking “disaggregation”. Is that an attempt to jump on a popular term (used by DriveNets, who beat Cisco in an AT&T core router deal)? We’ll have to dig a bit to…
Should we look at 5G in terms of edge applications? If the big benefit of 5G is lower latency, then doesn’t it follow that new 5G revenues would likely be associated with those applications, which would have to run at/near the edge? What are those applications, how much opportunity could be associated with them, and…
It’s nice to find a thoughtful piece on technology, and a potential new source for such pieces. The Next Platform, published in the UK by Stackhouse, is offering such a piece HERE and it’s worth digging into a bit. While the titular focus is “disaggregated routing” and perhaps DriveNets’ recent funding bonanza, there are plenty…
Are cloud providers’ edge deals with operators symbiotic or parasitic? Both Amazon (Wavelength) and Microsoft (Stack) have tailored edge offerings that essentially extend a tendril of their cloud into a telco data center. The cloud providers view this as a symbiotic relationship, meaning it’s an ecosystemic partnership that benefits both parties. Some telcos think it’s…
Network operators have faced challenges in profit per bit for over a decade. The major concern has been with the “wireline” segment of their business, the segment that provides business access and VPNs, and consumer home broadband. Some of them have fared better than others, and since those challenges are surely expanding with the work-from-home,…
What does separating the IP control plane really do? It’s been a kind of mantra for a decade that a separation of the control and data planes of an IP network creates a beneficial outcome. I’ve had a lot of discussions with vendors and network operators on this topic, and there’s a surprising variability of…
Microsoft reported an astonishing quarter, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they mentioned “cloud” 35 times on their earnings call. Unlike IBM, Microsoft was aligned with enterprise strategic shifts through 2020, and it showed on their bottom line. One question Microsoft’s results raises is whether the alignment was accidental or intentional, and if…
What happened to IBM? Things were looking good for the computing giant as recently as last quarter, with the acquisition of Red Hat. Now…well, not so good at all. The most interesting thing is that it may well be that IBM has failed at the test it should have aced, and that is far worse…
Why are enterprises more skeptical about public cloud these days? Vendors and Wall Street research have both noted the attitude. Why? We just came off a period of record consideration of increased public cloud use, and all the pundits are saying that the future is the cloud. Of course, pundits have lied to us for…