Hello Etherneteers!
With the interesting times we’re in, it’s best to keep focus and use the opportunity for planning, growth, and action! … the mantra I’m following 🙂
An Opportune Time for Strategy …
A month ago, on March 25, we held a Zoom session dedicated to sharing some ideas for how to strategize, re-think and re-examine opportunities at this time, maintain momentum both personally and professionally, and surge ahead. The goal is to enable the members of the Group (and the broader networking community) to remain focused, and have a community of like-minded, forward-thinking peers to brainstorm with, and to be energized to work and plan for the near- to medium-term. That post is here https://bit.ly/3bli5lf.
The video of the session is now on YouTube, and available here https://bit.ly/3cPUJoo.
Would love your thoughts/feedback, and also which specific subjects would you like to know more about to navigate the current environment? Will be glad to organize Strategy Sessions based on what you tell me.
(Copyright Dr. Ivan Misner https://ivanmisner.com/take-action-to-achieve-your-dreams/)
… and Making Critical Connections!
It is now more important than ever to remain connected to (or make new connections with) – your peers, colleagues, teams, customers, clients, and, of course, family and friends.
Taking this maxim to heart, the folks at Layer123 together with their colleagues in the remaining divisions of Euromoney Investments PLC (thanks Millad Farahani, Lucy Dore, and co.) have taken the initiative to put together a brand new, free, worldwide, on-line event “Critical Connections” April 28-29 to examine how the TMT sector responds to the disruptions we are currently seeing. I talked of it in the Group here https://bit.ly/2Ybp8tp
Registration for the event is free, and can be done here https://bit.ly/3f0fJLl
Do register, as recordings will, I believe, be available to registered participants.
… for Professional Growth and Industry Insights
Critical Connections 2020 is a great way to make connections with other like-minded industry professionals as well as key leaders taking time to discuss the most contemporary issues facing the industry – how to grow, manage, and sustain networks and communications infrastructure, how to think about design principles differently, the role of software/AI/ML and predictive technology, and value of emerging technologies like edge computing, software-driven and software-enabled networks, and 5G.
So, this is a way to make critical connections in more ways than one! Connect with the pulse of the industry, connect with thought leadership, connect with new ideas, connect with peers/colleagues, and connect with what’s coming next. This, in my view, allows you to remain ahead of the curve (don’t “flatten the curve”, rather remain ahead of it!), and plan and strategize about areas you may wish to strengthen, focus on, learn about (I shared several ways to do that in the March 25 video https://bit.ly/3cPUJoo, and master to remain at the cutting-edge, and keep marching ahead!
Hope you will use this opportunity to do exactly that!
… While learning about Network Infrastructure J
As part of Critical Connections 2020, we’re having a panel titled “Impact of Disruptive Events: Challenges for Network Infrastructure”, where a number of topics – how architectural approaches and services design could be done to pre-empt the impact of disruptive events of the type we’re seeing right now!
Plus, issues of design invariance, impacts on the business of the enterprises (role of technologies like SD-WAN, for instance), how do the architecture and ops teams support the network, challenges unique to operator networks, how to lessen risk to teams managing/operating the network by using advanced design/architecture paradigms, and the key role of the network edge and associated technologies.
Joining me will be Pascal Menzes (CTO MEF Forum), Diego R. Lopez (Senior Technology Expert and Chair, ETSI NVF/ISG, Telefonica), Rabi Abdel (Cloud Principal Architect and Senior Manager, Vodafone), and Girish Mysore (CTO, Zinier) – all very accomplished gentlemen who have many insights to share!
I posted about this to the Group here https://bit.ly/2KEehAn
1. Security: Resource Public Key Infrastructure and Network Protection
Leslie Elizalde posted about an interesting webinar on the RPKI designed to secure the Internet’s routing infrastructure. Check it out here https://bit.ly/2VZ1iOQ
Tom Nolle, meanwhile, wrote about issues in protecting the network from built-in backdoor hacks https://bit.ly/2xZSgJ1
2. Automation of the Network
Anton Karneliuk has been posting about his lessons on the building blocks needed to master network automation and data center network design. He has a series of posts, some of which you can check out in the Group:
Emulating hyper-scale data centers https://bit.ly/3e4fXjY Python 3 for network automation mastery https://bit.ly/34Lxf15 Visualizing data center topologies https://bit.ly/3cDjLHn Developing graph models for data center network design and analysis https://bit.ly/3eYVPA8 Good job Anton!
Meanwhile, long-time Group member Josh Saul, posed about Apstra’s training on intent-based networking and the Apastra OS, here https://bit.ly/2JSF77u.
And Tom Nolle asked if 5G service automation being proposed by Nokia illustrate how to use AI to automate service lifecycle management https://bit.ly/3aYBXuD
3. How Cheap are Mobile Services? Hint: Cheaper than you think!
As always Gary Kim raised an interesting question asking whether selling mobile services is less profitable than selling groceries (which is considered a classically low margin business)?Find out the answer here! https://bit.ly/2xfO7kc
On the same note, Gary asked whether access providers will be able to create value by partnering with computing providers, especially at the network edge. Good question Gary! Check out some musings here https://bit.ly/2JQ2rT0.
4. MEF’s SD-WAN Certified Professional Exam and SDN Standards
Our Group’s long-time member and my dear friend Asad Naveed asked about preparing for the MEF’s SDCP Certification Exam. This is the industry’s first certification on SD-WAN technologies, and an exam I need to retake myself – I didn’t make the beta exam, as my preparation wasn’t enough. Plus, I lost time trying to give feedback, and ended up missing the last 9 or so questions – a big loss to my score.
Asad’s queries are here: https://bit.ly/2wVJxrd.
Long-time member Anuradha Udunuwara meanwhile posted an excellent update on SDN standards and implementation options on the ARC Tube channel, which is a wonderful initiative from Anu and two of his close colleagues in Sri Lanka. Check out Anu’s post and channel here https://bit.ly/2xCxzDa.
5. WFH Creates Challenges for Network Monitoring and Operations
Our member Ayya Kutti, who has been involved in network operations in India for over a decade, raised an interesting question about how WFH creates challenges for the network operations folks at operators large and small. With the network planning and operations folks themselves working from home, and with network traffic exploding due to everyone working from home, how do the operations teams overcome the challenge of working-from-home and yet keeping network operations running smoothly?Ayya’s question is here: https://bit.ly/3aAnqoT
6. What is Cloud Native?
The word cloud-native conjures up different images for different people, which is what prompted Tom to attempt to level-set on the meaning of the term! Tom’s views are here https://bit.ly/3etD8o7, tell me if you think he’s succeeded!
And, Tom also comments on whether hybrid cloud can include cloud-native, as IBM’s announcement seems to imply. More here https://bit.ly/2XIPmmN.
7. 5G’s Ops Dimension
Of course, no discussion of networking today can be complete without a 5G angle. In this context, check out Tom’s two insightful articles. The first covers how operationally efficient and feasible the assumption of large-scale virtual function deployment in 5G really is https://bit.ly/2zfDT3S, while the second looks at the security risks of virtualization in 5G https://bit.ly/3btfqWV.
Both security and 5G are important in any discussion of network infrastructure today, and these are also covered in our panel – details here https://bit.ly/2Ybp8tp, and registration here https://bit.ly/3f0fJLl.
Any questions or observations? Let me know! Remember, I’m standing for all that is possible for you in telecom networking and professionally.
Best,
-Vishal