Abstract Networking Thoughts: ONS, Sad State of DC Networking, Random Market Thoughts

I will be spending the upcoming week at the Open Networking Summit (ONS) in CA.  With all the SDN buzz over the past year, this week’s ONS appears to be a good test of the hype.  Will the energy be sustained by the event or diminished?  Will the event be a repeat of 2011 or will fresh, new ideas and progress with SDN be showcased?   Personally, I do not look forward to industry conferences, but I am looking forward to this conference.   I will try to blog some thoughts during the conference or each night.

Sad State of Data Center Networking: An interesting post this past week over on the Packet Pushers website concerning the sad state of data center networking.    The second paragraph entitled the Inconsistent Network makes a lot of sense to me.  I have been in the networking business since 1988, when my boss at the time explained how spanning tree works.  What I have found to be true in networking across the enterprise-service provider continuum is that selling in the transition zone from legacy to emerging solutions is where the most value can be created.  Selling legacy technology is a simple theta calculation.  Selling the future in which the proposition is all or nothing, or forklift upgrade or a limited solution set is not a big winner.  How vendors address the transition zone is the difference between winners and losers.  I will be looking for indicators of how SDN vendors intend to sell into the transition zone at ONS.

Random Market Thoughts: Market rips on Thursday fueled by the global growth recovery China GDP vibe and the market declines on Friday fueled by the global growth recovery stalled China GDP disappointment vibe.  This is why all the “trader talk” is stupid talk.  If you are actively trading equities in this mess, good luck.  I trimmed my exposure heading into earnings, but still long a few equities such as FNSR, as I think inventories are lean, bad news priced in and any uptick in CAPEX should benefit FNSR.  I starting shorting oil and gas this week and feel good holding this through the summer.  GOOG reported this past week.  I think my call on GOOG over the past year was correct, but another class of stock is confusing.  When stocks becoming confusing, my reaction is to not be involved.

/wrk

* It is all about the network stupid, because it is all about compute. *

** Comments are always welcome in the comments section or in private. **