My personal wrap up of the events at ONS 2014.

Today was the last day of the Open Networking Summit in Santa Clara, CA.  Here are a few thoughts I have on the way Open Networking is moving.

1.) The way forward is automation

Most of the keynote presentation focused on the importance of automation.  The theme was essentially: In the future, all network configuration will be handled by intelligent controllers via APIs of some sort.  Being ONS, the focus was on the use of OpenFlow.

2.) While box, open hardware is key

We need more open hardware.  Open is a complex word to define when it comes to networking gear, is it via api, c-code or sdk interfaces?  Right now, APIs are the main interface available.  Some vendors are offering to open their chips to direct interaction and in the future, that is what the end users want.

3.) Open Source software is more important than ever

Projects like OpenDaylight and ONIE continue to move forward quickly, the vendor adoption rate is increasing.  With the addition of the Dell S6000 and S4810 to the ONIE supported list, enterprises have more options.

4.) Network Visibility and Control is key

I am drawn to how people are leveraging hardware and software to provide better visibility and control of networks. The ability to automatically deploy VLANs, configure new network devices, and deal with networking anomalies.  A lot of interesting projects were demonstrated at ONS this year, including DDoS protection, SDN solutions for Wireless Networks and platforms for building NFV applications.

5.) Network Virtualization is happening now

From AT&T to ZTE, network virtualization is alive and operational today.  NFV is part of many carriers deployments and SDN for the WAN is a reality (per Dave Ward @cisco).

I am excitedly looking forward to seeing what happens between ONS 2014 and ONS 2015.  Expect great things, especially from the team at Sideband Networks.