Another Validation for Building Networks Like Cloud

Transforming Networking

I joined DriveNets two and a half years ago since I was captivated by the concept of ‘building networks like cloud’, and its power to significantly change networking – making it as efficient, scalable, and open as a cloud infrastructure. Truly a platform for innovation.

Before joining DriveNets, I was at Cisco, leading the product marketing organization for the enterprise portfolio. Back when I started, Cisco’s legend CEO John Chambers coined the term – ‘The Network is the Platform’, since the network is changing the way people work, live, learn, and play. The Network is a platform for innovation, growth, and opportunity. I still believe in these concepts. However, the Network that brought us here hasn’t changed in years and would not get us there.

In today’s world the new platform is the cloud, enabling new applications and making them more accessible and far-reaching. The cloud also changed market dynamics, enterprises, and consumers’ consumption models, and created new needs. It relies on the network, but it also offers alternatives for parts of it.

Building Networks Like Cloud

DriveNets Network Cloud empowers networks to be groundbreaking again. It built networks just like cloud – software-based and easily scalable (elastically), running over an infrastructure of standard white boxes. It also substantially lowered the cost of building and operating high-scale networks. Winning this leading industry award for Best Product validates our vision, just like winning the core backbone of AT&T. It demonstrates that change is not only real, but it’s here to positively transform networks from relying on legacy hardware-centric solutions to cloud software.

Three Pillars of Network Cloud

This evolution of DriveNets’ Network Cloud brings unique multi-stage disaggregation capabilities to the network:

1. Disaggregation (of software and hardware)

Hardware/software disaggregation turns networking challenges into software ones. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) networking hardware simplifies the physical infrastructure through common and shareable building blocks that cost less and perform better.

2. Distribution (across multiple hardware instances)

For optimal scaling of the network without using multiple sizes and types of white boxes, network functions are distributed across multiple boxes. They use an intelligent abstraction layer that takes a cluster of white boxes and combines their resources into a single pool. This is done at the software level, abstracting the underlining distributed hardware resources from the service instance that runs above. With that, it is possible to use just a couple of hardware building blocks to build a router of any scale by simply multiplying those building blocks in the cluster.

3. Network Orchestration

Network Orchestration and automation are key to the successful operation of a distributed disaggregated network. Providing multiple views to network operation functions simplify the handling of separate hardware and software instances, while automating the upgrades and troubleshooting of the network and services. In addition, the orchestration system provides a monolithic solution-like view of each network function, with its own allocated resources, in a simple-to-manage manner, even with the service instance running on top of distributed software and hardware.

As if building networks like cloud (disaggregated, distributed, and automated) is not enough, it is only the starting point. We continue to expand on our vision, our goals, and our dreams, to address the ever-evolving needs of high-scale networks. Just wait for next year’s Leading Lights award… ????