Blockchain Has No Place in Network Management

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• Blockchain may have many use cases, but there is little value in networking and network management.
• Multivendor interoperability will remain a problem unless there are standards and the backing of networking vendors.

I may come to regret that headline, but for the moment, I stand by it. The financial world is simply breathless over cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Not only have cryptocurrencies skyrocketed to meteoric heights; there have also been numerous reports that simply adding ‘blockchain’ to a company name can boost the company’s value, which demonstrates the buzz has reached peak ridiculousness. In the tech world, a number of commentators, bloggers, and vendors are ‘blockchain signaling’ in an effort to be viewed as in touch with a hot, current trend. This is true even in networking, where blockchain proponents position it for authenticated management, multivendor management, and configuration compliance.

Let me burst that bubble with a slap of cold, hard reality. Blockchain provides little benefit to auditing network management that is better than existing alternatives. Furthermore, I’d suggest that blockchain is an unproven technology in enterprise IT.

SD-WAN Won’t Become a Feature of Branch Routing

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• SD-WAN products and technology offer distinctly different features and benefits compared to branch routers. SD-WAN won’t augment routers but will replace them in the branch.
• Vendors making branch devices like routers and firewalls should be very concerned about being replaced with SD-WAN hardware and software.

I make no secret that I think SD-WAN is the cat’s meow. It really is transformative technology that, in most cases, can deliver on the promise of an as robust or better WAN overlay that obviates the need for a complex routed WAN architecture and the skills need to maintain it. If an enterprise wants to relegate its WAN to just pipes, it can overlay an SD-WAN on top of the WAN and manage it themselves. If the enterprise wants an SD-WAN and WAN service that has management integration from service provisioning to management, it can get a combined service—or soon will be able to get a combined service—from any number of managed service providers. In either case, gone is the complex routed WAN which is brittle and takes a long time to respond to problems. Whether the enterprise router jockeys will want to give up their beautifully crafted BGP is another matter, but the potential exists for most companies.

Four Interview Questions to Ask WOPR for a Junior Network Administrator Role

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are being developed for networking and network management, with the first iterations providing deep analytics and augmenting IT’s root cause analysis workflows.
• There are a number of gaps that need to be closed before the full capability of AI and ML systems is realized.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques continue to be improved as companies and researchers develop and test products. In networking, established vendors and startups are developing management systems that promise to automate the time-consuming, low-value work of data collection and correlation as well as the AI and ML techniques to provide actionable information to network IT, such as predictive trouble alerts and recommendations to resolve problems. Vendors’ products such as the recently announced Cisco DNA Center Assurance, Cisco Network Analytics Engine, and Mist Systems Virtual Network Assistant are also using sophisticated UI elements to help IT better understand networking problems and assist with root cause analysis. We’ve heard these promises in the past, and for one reason or another, these advanced techniques failed to deliver. Before you go the AI route, here are some key questions to ask.

Enterprises Want Streamlined Operations. Who’s Going to Provide It?

 

M. Fratto

• Underlying SD-WAN and virtual network functions address enterprise IT’s desire for more efficient operations.

• Managed service providers can differentiate themselves on operations and should invest in doing so.

I’ve heard some commentary that SD-WAN will become a feature of routers and firewalls, and the product segment will wither and die, but I don’t think SD-WAN products are going to disappear. Some vendors will consolidate features and functions. Cisco and VMware will integrate their SD-WAN acquisitions with their other networking products but that doesn’t mean enterprises will run to consolidated products. There will be some uptake of consolidated products, just like there was some uptake of router-firewall-VPN combinations, but enterprise demand for stand-alone SD-WAN products will continue for some time. There are a few reasons for this.

Enterprises Cannot Have Automation Commitment Issues and Be Successful

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• Blending intent-based networking with traditional network management paradigms, while a necessary transitional requirement, is fraught with peril.
• Committing fully to intent-based networking will drive all subsequent workflow and product changes and will result in overall better IT.

I recently wrote about the nascent developments around intent-based networking (IBN), specifically, that a system can automate the provisioning of a network based on a very high-level state of what the result should look like. It’s a laudable goal and, I think, still a few years and a few iterations away from reality, but getting there – even any widespread adoption of automation and orchestration – starts with your company’s unwavering commitment to IBN and automation.

Intent-Based Networking: Nascent but Hurdles Remain

M. Fratto

• Intent-based networking (IBN) promises to optimize network operations by shifting IT from a configuration focus to an outcome focus.

• The promise may be a stretch today but IBN is evolving as a technology and a practice and improvements will come from early adopters.

IBN faces significant technical and operational challenges in gaining market acceptance within enterprise IT. The challenges start with defining and understanding what IBN is, but then quickly progresses to include things such as organizational and technical implementation.

SD-WAN Competition Between Resellers and MSPs Will Heat Up

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• New products, technologies, workflows and architectures used by ISPs as well as IT’s growing acceptance of managed services are laying the groundwork for expansion of SD-WAN managed services.
• Competition in the SD-WAN segment will increase as existing MSPs and resellers with MSP offerings enter the market.

SD-WAN is disrupting more than WAN services. It’s also the catalyst for the launch of a new round of managed services, which will have a significant impact on the SD-WAN competitive landscape. The clearly defined choice of how enterprises acquire products – via the channel versus managed services providers – is collapsing as MSPs launch new services based on the very same products being sold through the channel. It’s the rare case where a trend that’s great for buyers because of the flexibility it offers is also great for equipment vendors as they can sell more products, but there is a chance for hidden conflicts in the sales cycle.

The Competitive Impact of Cisco’s Acquisition of Viptela Is Yet to Come

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• Cisco intends to acquire Viptela for $610 million (USD), but it’s one more SD-WAN product in a sea of products.
• The competitive impact will take a year or more to be realized, and will largely be determined based on Cisco’s integration strategy.

Cisco Systems intends to acquire Viptela for $610 million. That’s a pretty good chunk of change for a company that already has two SD-WAN products, IWAN on the ISR routers and Meraki’s SD-WAN. Until the deal closes, Cisco and Viptela will be pretty quiet about future plans, but since Viptela will be added to Cisco’s Enterprise Networking Group, it is safe to say it will augment Cisco’s networking portfolio and at least, for a while, be offered alongside IWAN.

Customer Tracking Using WiFi and Beacons Should Be Dead in Retail

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• WiFi and Bluetooth beacons are inconsistent trackers that can tell retailers little more than ‘some device was somewhere in this vicinity for a period of time.’
• Beacons and RFID on products open up more opportunities for many benefits, including increasing customer touch and understanding their shopping habits.

The National Retail Federation’s 2017 Big Show in New York was a cornucopia of everything retail, from smart displays to supply chain management to social media analytics. One overall theme I kept hearing was how retailers want to enhance the shopping experience with customers and ultimately sell more products. Online retailer sites like Amazon and Best Buy can gather a wealth of information about user behavior and feed that data back into their analytics to track product performance and make recommendations to customers based on past behavior and the behaviors of similar customers. Brick-and-mortar stores don’t have that advantage and are desperately trying to learn more about the buyer and increase sales.

No More IT Stinkin’ Thinkin’

M. Fratto

Summary Bullets:

• Vendors promise the world with new products and technology and sometimes deliver. Shift your perspective to what technology can do, not what it can’t do.
• Pavlovian dismissal of vendor claims is a drag on IT meeting the needs of the enterprise.

Back in the day, when I was failing at car sales (in our fail-fast social fabric, does that mean I was successful?), a sales manager pulled me aside and urged me to avoid “stinking thinking.” He’d point to the sales people huddled by the sales phone who were complaining about lack of leads due to too few walk-ins, the ‘up system,’ or the weather. What they weren’t doing was working the phones or client lists or performing other tasks that would lead to sales. Worse, stinking thinking was infectious, and if a sales person was caught up in the sphere of influence, they got pulled in and started complaining. I would have starved if I stayed in sales, but I took that lesson to heart.