Over the last few months, I have moderated three software-defined networking (SDN) seminars that were produced by Network World. In each seminar a number of speakers spoke at length about the potential for SDN to automate the vast majority of configuration changes that are now done in a largely manual fashion, and in every session [...]
SDN: Lots of Smoke. Any fire?
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In a previous blog post I discussed the growing trend away from hardware specific solutions and towards solutions that feature software running on generic hardware. That trend took off several years ago with the introduction of server virtualization. In today’s environment it is difficult to read a trade magazine or go to a conference and [...]
Business Critical Applications – Do You Have A Plan?
Apr 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In my last blog entry I pointed out that market research that I recently conducted indicated that in the majority of instances (62%) in which the performance of a business critical application is performing poorly, the company loses money. That metric on its own tells quite a story about the business value of ensuring acceptable [...]
Factors Driving WAN Evolution
Mar 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In a blog entry I wrote at the end of last year I pointed out that while the LAN is going through a period of rapid change, there are few if any fundamentally new WAN technologies under development. As a result, when IT organizations look to evolve their WAN they need to do so based [...]
The Role of Network Services in IaaS Solutions
Feb 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In my last blog I discussed the expanding set of cloud-based IaaS solutions. I also used the results of a survey that I recently gave to roughly 200 IT professionals as the basis for a discussion of the factors that are driving and inhibiting the adoption of IaaS solutions. I am going to use this [...]
The Changing Face of IaaS
Feb 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In a recent blog post I stated that 2013 will be a pivotal year for the use of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions. I will use my next two posts to elaborate on some of the changes that I see happening in that environment. The initial set of IaaS solutions that were brought to market by Cloud [...]
The Need to Plan for WAN Evolution
Jan 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
In a previous entry here on the WAN Speak blog I discussed some of the differences between the LAN and the WAN. I also pointed out that there are not any fundamentally new WAN technologies under development, and that as a result, IT organizations need to plan for WAN evolution based on the assumption that, [...]
Looking Forward to 2013
Dec 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Working in IT in 2013 will not be suited to the faint of heart. I say that because, in over thirty years of working in the IT industry, I have never seen so much fundamental change occurring across so many dimensions. While some of these changes have been around for a while, some are relatively [...]
How NOT to Align IT With The Business
Dec 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The trade press and industry analysts are often quick to point out that IT organizations need to align the IT function with the company’s business units. It would be difficult to find someone to argue against that advice. However, the mantra of aligning IT with business is vague, and as a result it’s often hard [...]
The Lack of Innovation in the WAN
Dec 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
There are a number of differences between local- and wide-area networking. One obvious difference is speed: many IT organizations are in the process of upgrading their data center LAN links from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps, and they’re aware that 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps technology is under development. In contrast, due to the prohibitive [...]
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