Overly, Underlay, Packets Flow Free. Is SDN Going to Take Over the World?

A software-defined network: is it an evolution or a revolution in networking? The hype of SDN has been around for several years, but as yet it doesn’t seem to have managed to get much traction outside of the MSPs and Fortune 500 companies with regard to SDN, and telcos with regard to SD-WAN. When, if …

It’s All about Microsegmentation

For the last eighteen months, VMware has been pushing NSX as the third pillar of its software-defined data center (SDDC). NSX has three big selling points that VMware promotes: taking control of the network, automation and orchestration, and microsegmentation. The first two are standard SDDC fare: first, pull the function into software, abstract where necessary, and orchestrate to bring …

Another Missile Fired in the Cisco vs. VMware SDN War

Yesterday I was reading about Cisco’s fourth quarter earnings results, as you do when you are bored and waiting for the next episode of EastEnders to start—well, we all have to take a rest from SDN goodness every now and then. Now, this was interesting for two reasons. It was the last quarter under the …

Cisco ACI: Is It Wham! or Sam Cooke?

An odd little title, I think you will agree, but consider this: Wham! had a hit with “Freedom” and Sam Cooke sang “Chain Gang,” and I think you can now see my thought process. This post is going to investigate not the technical capabilities of Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI), but rather what its market …