Tom Nolle is founder and principal analyst at Andover Intel, a unique consulting and analysis firm that looks at evolving technologies and applications first from the perspective of the buyer and the buyers’ needs. Tom is a programmer, software architect, and manager of large software and network products by background, and he has been providing consulting services and technology analysis for decades. He’s a regular author of articles on networking, software development, and cloud computing as well as emerging technologies like IoT, AI, and the metaverse.
Despite prevailing cynicism, many enterprises find their primary IT vendor to be the most trusted source of network transformation insight, helping to drive both strategy and purchasing.
AI usage will surely drive additional network traffic, but for most enterprises it likely won’t require a major overhaul of the entire data center network.
Wider acceptance of private 5G will require expanding its uses among early adopters and finding suitable applications for it in other industries.
Enterprises need a single networking model that can support SD-WAN and virtual networking in order to get the most out of their cloud resources.
Enterprises that used cloud networking as part of their network strategy cut network costs 5% to 50%
As network complexity grows, so does the complexity of dealing with it effectively.
Broadcom’s chips plus VMware software could be the bridge that connects applications in data centers with the cloud.
Network-as-a-service is popularly defined as expensing network technology and management rather than doing it yourself, but there’s a better way to look at it.
Google’s Aquila project is establishing a model for high-performance meshing that can handle the most demanding data-center workloads.
The ‘best’ traffic paths chosen by routers in a network won’t necessarily be the fastest ones.
Rather than layering security onto networks, the networks and carefully managed authorization policies can hinder attacks, but at an administrative cost.
In enterprise networks, best-of-breed may be a good choice, but what does ‘best’ mean?
SD-WAN overhead, on ramps, off ramps, and security are variable and must be chosen carefully to satisfy your requirements.
Integrating white-box switches and routers into business networks has its challenges, but properly scaled and vetted deployments can save money.