VMware Joined SDN Olympics

First off, congratulations to my long time friends at VMware and Nicira -- they certainly made the SDN space a lot more interesting and deserve some reward after delivering some key milestones.

Some asked if the price is too high -- the fact is this type of strategic deal is valued at the size of the dream not the size of the revenue, it is a good deal as long as the dream is both bold and real enough.  Given Nicira is quite comparable to Insieme (*), the valuation seems to be very reasonable.  It is the beginning of a vendor war of physical versus hypervisor switches and VMware just fired the first shot.

With this deal, customers wonder why neither Cisco nor VMware bridges the gap between network admins and server admins but instead they each encouraged more silos between the two camps (VMware is saying physical network is merely a dumb pipe and Cisco is selling the value of their physical boxes)?   At the end of the day, both companies have to match their products with their business model.

Despite the short-term constraints they have, they did earn a spot on the SDN bandwagon with the money spent, they validated the SDN space, and they both have said it is only the very beginning! :)

I'm excited about the SDN opportunity ahead!

-howie
(*) Here is my comp table, the opinion here does not necessarily represent my employer.

Moore's Law on VMware's stock price?

Congratulations to Paul Maritz and Pat Gelsinger for their new roles!

I got a bunch of emails wondering whether VMware's stock has peaked given the virtualization market is quite saturated.

There is no question VMware will need to find the next cash cow at some point, but the virtualization business journey is no where to close to a saturation point in my opinion.

I think VMware's revenue and stock price has the _potential_ to track the blue line in the Gartner chart below -- hey, Moore's Law in play? :)

The bottom line is that hyper growth for virtualization ain't over yet, but the challenge for VMware is other players especially Microsoft are not standing still in the market share battle!

SDN/OpenFlow will not replace today's network!

I have the conviction that SDN/OpenFlow will transform the networking industry just like what VMware hypervisor did for server industry, but I don't think it is going to replace today's network any time soon if one day at all.

First, let me quote a from a job candidate. 

He has subsequently accepted our offer but it is a real typical one: "Can a centralized openflow based model for running complete complex network control plane is fully scalable, practical, deployable, interoperable, etc. when compared to the current traditional way of establishing packet switched network which are highly distributed for the longest time."

The answer is, "Oh Hell No"!

Secondly, if replacing the existing infrastructure isn't what SDN/OpenFlow about, then where is the money for SDN/OpenFlow?

IMHO, the golden goose is about complementing existing infrastructure with unprecedented flexibility, agility, visibility, resource fungibility in a way that is multi-vendor, multi-skillset, and compatible with today's toolchains and workflow when needed.

For instance, in any data center, if you ask a server admin, "your life changed in the last 10 years?", the answer is obviously "Oh Yeah, instead of dealing with physical machines and physical racks, I'm mostly dealing with virtual machines with mouse clicks"; if you ask the same question to a network admin, the answer will be "Not at all, I'm still dealing with the same VLAN and ACL CLIs that I had 10 years ago, it works but I simply cannot keep up with the mouse clicks and all the fancy ideas from the server guys".

The fundamental issue here is the disparity between "machine speed" vs. "human speed", network admins are desperate about a technology that gives them the "machine speed" otherwise they are in the way of the business.

Lastly, are those golden goose use cases implementable without forklifting?

Absolutely possible at least.  In some cases, OpenFlow is  a feature of the switch but not a wholesale deal.  In other cases, OpenFlow is augmenting the networking, not replacing the network.


All in all, SDN/OpenFlow is about complementing not forklifting existing network infrastructure, it is just like VMware server virtualization technology complemented previous generation server infrastructure.

Is the new Cisco spin-in Insieme or Insiemi?

Insieme or Insiemi? I heard this question quite a bit recently and have not checked with my friends there but according to my business partner at Big Switch Networks, the real name is Insieme Business Unit (IBU).

Cisco can of course name it however it wants for now but the reality is that it is an off the balance sheet business unit that sooner or later will be folded back in.  This BU is working on things harder for other BUs to execute with their "normal" constraints.  This ain't bad news for Cisco although it hurts morale for the current employees loyal to the Cisco mothership.

Like any business in silicon valley, the key to success is the people.  In order to compete with tier-1 start-ups on talents, they must call themselves a start-up not the "IBU".  At the end of the day, for talents who want big company insurance yet can tolerate capped/limited financial upside, corporate decoder ring, top-down engineering culture, and top heavy management, it is one of the better BUs to work for.  Great news for people looking for a stable and good paying job!

Cisco's joining the SDN battleground is like Microsoft's going after the server virtualization battleground 7-8 years ago, which not only validated the new emerging industry immediately but also did the customer a big favor by having another player in the market.  Customer will win as a result!

I wish IBU good luck and I also wish the industry take this unique opportunity in thinking through how to leverage the tremendous momentum and deliver unprecedented customer benefits.

Happy Year of Dragon!

To me, 2011 was a "big switch" year and I'm anticipating 2012 is a bigger year for network virtualization:

   http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2012/01/11/2012-prediction-big-switch-networks

Happy new year to everyone!

-howie

It's a Whole New Ball Game!

The networking industry is experiencing tremendous change as we speak.  Cloud, Convergence, Merchant Silicon, Server Virtualization, IT as a Service, and Software Defined Network are all contributing to the macro environment change in the network industry.

Just a couple of years ago, I could hardly run into any networking admins dying for a disruptive technology in their backyard, but things are the opposite right now. They may not have fully grasped the implications of the private cloud just yet but network admins across the board are basically asking two questions these days:

1) Who can give me a solution so that I'm no longer constantly on the hot seat with ever increasing network add/change/remove requirements without a budget increase?


2) Who can give me a product to make me look like a champion just like VMware did to server admins 6-7 years ago?

The VMware networking team has innovated on the server side of the fence for much of last decade but nothing sexy happened on the physical networking side of the fence.   It's a whole new ball game now because the perfect storm of macro changes arrived.  As a passionate networking system guy, I simply cannot resist joining the new exciting game!

My decision to join Big Switch Networks was a no-brainer after realizing that it is the unique company that 1) understands the game; 2) has a sound ecosystem strategy to play the game; and 3) has an amazingly talented bench to win the game.

I'm game!

Missing VMware and VMworld 2011

Congratulations to VMware on another overwhelmingly successful VMworld -- VMware demonstrated once again where to find the center of the technology universe circa 2011.

I left VMware, hence missed this event live for the first time since 2005.  However VMware and VMworld will always have a special place in my heart, as I was fortunate enough to work at VMware for 9 years and serve VMworld in 6 consecutive years.

1) I witnessed vSphere grow from nowhere to one of the most critical infrastructure software on the planet.   I also made my own impact in getting 250,000 customers and majority network ecosystem to embrace virtual networking.  What more one can ask from such a rewarding and thrilling journey?

2) During the 9+ years, almost every one of the ESX/vSphere pioneers taught me so much about building a rock solid system software via thorough code and design review;  every networking team member from interns to PE/Sr. Staffs gave me fresh perspectives day in and day out; engineers from our Beijing R&D center kept reminding me what a passionate and intelligent team we have 5000 miles away; Charles and Steve et al showed by example there is so much innovation in seemingly boring managerial tasks; Ray, Andy, Raghu et al encouraged me to be bold and think big.   I simply cannot thank everyone enough for your mentoring and blessing along the journey!

3) I also got to see my colleagues grow not only career-wise but also in their lives outside work: 9-year is long enough for me to see many then young college graduates getting married and now raising a family; many coworkers' little boys and girls now grown up and getting ready for college time.   We achieved milestones one after another -- I miss you all and I will continue to cheer and pray for you.

4) I had privilege to give talks on virtual networking in front of many hundreds of passionate customers every single year prior to 2011.  I was on vacation this year but AFAICT from blogsphere, there is probably more excitement about virtual networking this VMworld!  Congratulations again to the networking team at VMware.

Even though I have already moved on, I am looking forward to seeing my alma mata company accomplish a bigger goal, my brothers and sisters keeping having fun & excitement for a very long time to come, and I do want to be a proud and grateful VMware alumni for life time.