Over 13 years ago my wife and I selected a Shakira song, 'Wherever Whenever,' as the first dance at our wedding. Shakira wasn't too well known outside of the Latino community at the time, but with my Miami roots, I guess I was closer to her scene. How times have changed with Pitbull (born in Miami) MC'ing the American Music Awards and Shakira now 2 for 2 with her incredibly popular 2010 and 2014 World Cup videos.
Having spent 12 years in Europe I felt a real affinity for the 'old country,' but the ties just aren't there any longer. Admittedly, I'm probably behind the times on this. Socially and economically, we need to embrace our hemisphere for what it is and chart our own destiny. Its not isolationism, but when people ask if my daughters will study French (my original option, and we in fact went through 3 years of French au-pairs) or Chinese (that would be an even bigger joke, given lack of any family connections whatsoever), the logical conclusion is Spanish.
Sure, as with any nation or continent, we experience boom and bust. But with less dependence on foreign energy and its baggage, less dependence on trade where the trade-off with some countries seems to be the willingness to take part in an unending cycle of intellectual theft cat-and-mouse, and home-grown ingenuity that manifests itself in places like Amazon's latest 'factories' - I don't know what else to call them - our future in the new year looks bright. I've just got to bone up on my language skills, something I've never been that great at.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Snapchat and my Daughters (14 Oct 14 by gins)
By now you've heard of the latest security breach - the Snapsaved (now shut down) Snapchat client hacked and hundreds of thousands of potentially damaging photos posted to 4chan. Now, although Snapchat itself was not the target, many, my daughters included, post to it, and to be honest, i don't know if they've been using the Snapsaved client (or some other client, yet to be hacked). My bad! But we do limit in-app purchases. The problem is that many of these casual applications are no-charge. And i'm sure that they don't read the small-print when downloading said applications, as to what is saved and what is not. Where to draw the line?
In a world where Instagram is the new clique, replacing clothes and what kind of house you live in, I can't really cut them off. But i can give my daughters, ages 10 and 11, guidance, beyond the standard school Internet good citizen briefing on content and bullying. Guidance that reflects more of the real world, like what happened to that unfortunate girl in Saratoga, just five miles from our house. And guidance that can be understood by a very distracted ten year-old.
1. Never post a picture or opinion that you'd not want to have viewed or read by a future employer, by college admission, or even by your close friends. I know we've heard all of this before. A scary statistic by the CTIA - 46% of adolescents, ages 11 to 17, have received a message or picture their parents would disapprove of due to sexual content.
2. The same applies for pictures or opinions of friends (or non-friends). What goes around comes around.
3. Never (ever) be put in a position where someone has the opportunity take a picture that you'd not want to see posted. Something to be said about a buddy system at parties, especially once they hit high school.
4. Never share private information. Once again, nothing new.
Over the last year, the CTIA has published some great infographics on www.growingwireless.com. Worth taking a look. And within the site, the resources page has a wealth of information spanning smartphone OSs and cellular providers.
Time to have that conversation!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Dystopia (25 Aug 2014 by gins)
I was thinking back on some of the recent movies i've seen.... Divergent, Lucy, The Giver... and I was thinking. Is it just me, or is there some trend? Best way to check is wiki. Since many movies are derived from novels, here are those tagged as 'dystopian' by decade, knowing that it is inexact since the more recent ones will have a higher probability of mention. But close.
decade number per year commentary
1900s 6 .6
1910s 4 .4
1920s 5 .5
1930s 17 1.7 depression? impending war?
1940s 14 1.4 war
1950s 16 1.6 de-humanizing technology?
1960s 22 2.2 war, environment
1970s 17 1.7
1980s 12 1.2 bit of a lull
1990s 13 1.3 same
2000s 52 5.2 better reporting, or our angst is growing
2010s 36 9.0 over only 4 years. what, me worry?
I can't draw any conclusions, but i'm thinking of moving to a small island in the South Pacific, though i worry about flies, polar bears, and those kids from Shiroiwa.
decade number per year commentary
1900s 6 .6
1910s 4 .4
1920s 5 .5
1930s 17 1.7 depression? impending war?
1940s 14 1.4 war
1950s 16 1.6 de-humanizing technology?
1960s 22 2.2 war, environment
1970s 17 1.7
1980s 12 1.2 bit of a lull
1990s 13 1.3 same
2000s 52 5.2 better reporting, or our angst is growing
2010s 36 9.0 over only 4 years. what, me worry?
I can't draw any conclusions, but i'm thinking of moving to a small island in the South Pacific, though i worry about flies, polar bears, and those kids from Shiroiwa.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Quaint: The Red Envelope (27 Jul 14 by gins)
My last two postings on retail - Big Data and Big Retail, and Big Data and Big Retail Redux - had me thinking about another well-known company and its 'factories.' A decade from now, when you're trying to explain the original Netflix business model to your son or daughter...
See, they take movies that start out as just 'electronic' bits, and stamp them onto plastic disks. So the bits are now 'physical.' In large factories scattered across the country they then stuff these disks into paper envelopes, and send them on their way via planes and trucks, all using gasoline, until they arrive at the subscriber. She takes the plastic disk, puts it in a DVD player, and those physical bits are now converted back into electronic bits and displayed. When finished, she puts the disk back in the envelope, sending it back to the factory.
Yeah dad.... quit the BS.... people couldn't be <that> stupid.....
See, they take movies that start out as just 'electronic' bits, and stamp them onto plastic disks. So the bits are now 'physical.' In large factories scattered across the country they then stuff these disks into paper envelopes, and send them on their way via planes and trucks, all using gasoline, until they arrive at the subscriber. She takes the plastic disk, puts it in a DVD player, and those physical bits are now converted back into electronic bits and displayed. When finished, she puts the disk back in the envelope, sending it back to the factory.
Yeah dad.... quit the BS.... people couldn't be <that> stupid.....
 |
| Physical Bits on DVD |
 |
| From Netflix |
 |
| From Netflix |
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Big Data and Big Retail (23 June 2014 by gins)
Big Data and Big Retail (23 June 2014 by gins)
It is common to speak of the differences between 'bricks and mortar,' aka Main Street, and the Internet economy. And much has been written about the ascendancy of Amazon and other Internet retailers, and the difficulties faced by the corner retail store and even category killers like Staples and BestBuy. But why do the Amazon's of the world succeed?
We live in the era of Big Data, where our lives are one with the cloud, where Siri is at our beck and call, and where retailers understand our deepest purchasing secrets. The real face of the cloud are the massive data centers run by the likes of Apple and Google, or independent operators such as Equinix. They look pretty cool, with aisles of servers, storage, networking gear, and the necessary power and cooling. And, in the case of Google, a vision out of the Color Kittens. But in the end, it is all just bits.
Now, what if the real secret of retail going forward is to just treat products as bits. And remember, I'm not talking about items that have already crossed the chasm from physical to digital, such as videos or books. The warehouse now looks much like a data center, and just as you have complete and storage, the whole fulfillment chain is organized in the same way. Who cares if instead of a few microns of flash it is a few inches on a shelf.
It is the era of 'Big Retail', where the corner store has been virtualized to a shelf in million square foot warehouse (much like a process on a VM in the networking world). The latest Amazon distribution centers are the best examples of this, but I'd expect other retailers to follow suit. In fact, the way it is described, there is no logical connection between a given product and a location in the warehouse... when it is time to ship, the system determines the 'closest' instance of the product. No different than in a data center with data replicated closer to a given compute element. The parallels are scary. But in a good way.
It is common to speak of the differences between 'bricks and mortar,' aka Main Street, and the Internet economy. And much has been written about the ascendancy of Amazon and other Internet retailers, and the difficulties faced by the corner retail store and even category killers like Staples and BestBuy. But why do the Amazon's of the world succeed?
We live in the era of Big Data, where our lives are one with the cloud, where Siri is at our beck and call, and where retailers understand our deepest purchasing secrets. The real face of the cloud are the massive data centers run by the likes of Apple and Google, or independent operators such as Equinix. They look pretty cool, with aisles of servers, storage, networking gear, and the necessary power and cooling. And, in the case of Google, a vision out of the Color Kittens. But in the end, it is all just bits.
 |
| Overhead Data Center View |
 |
| Google Data Center Racks |
Now, what if the real secret of retail going forward is to just treat products as bits. And remember, I'm not talking about items that have already crossed the chasm from physical to digital, such as videos or books. The warehouse now looks much like a data center, and just as you have complete and storage, the whole fulfillment chain is organized in the same way. Who cares if instead of a few microns of flash it is a few inches on a shelf.
It is the era of 'Big Retail', where the corner store has been virtualized to a shelf in million square foot warehouse (much like a process on a VM in the networking world). The latest Amazon distribution centers are the best examples of this, but I'd expect other retailers to follow suit. In fact, the way it is described, there is no logical connection between a given product and a location in the warehouse... when it is time to ship, the system determines the 'closest' instance of the product. No different than in a data center with data replicated closer to a given compute element. The parallels are scary. But in a good way.
 |
| Overhead Amazon Warehouse View |
 |
| Amazon Warehouse Racks |
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Taking the Human out of the Loop, or Give My Regards to Captain Dunsail (by gins, 23 Apr 14)
Taking the Human out of the Loop, or Give My Regards to Captain Dunsail (by gins, 23 Apr 14)
Almost every week we read of another disaster, and all too often, the cause is not mechanical, but human - a cruise ship off Italy, a jet over the Indian Ocean, and more recently, a ferry off the coast of Korea. Closer to home, and covered only by the local papers, are the ones that impact our local communities - a highway fatality, or an amber alert. As a society, we run a fine balance between autonomy and control, between the value of a human life and the power of technology to protect it. But what if we’ve now reached an inflection point, where the machine, and by extension, the Internet of Things, is now ready to become our protector? Where we now have the ability to secure our skies, our waters, and even our highways and schools. Sure, there are times when the machines fail, but this is more the exception, and the odds that the human may fail in judgment are in fact far greater.
Almost every week we read of another disaster, and all too often, the cause is not mechanical, but human - a cruise ship off Italy, a jet over the Indian Ocean, and more recently, a ferry off the coast of Korea. Closer to home, and covered only by the local papers, are the ones that impact our local communities - a highway fatality, or an amber alert. As a society, we run a fine balance between autonomy and control, between the value of a human life and the power of technology to protect it. But what if we’ve now reached an inflection point, where the machine, and by extension, the Internet of Things, is now ready to become our protector? Where we now have the ability to secure our skies, our waters, and even our highways and schools. Sure, there are times when the machines fail, but this is more the exception, and the odds that the human may fail in judgment are in fact far greater.
The technologies are available today – just look
at Google’s autonomous vehicles and the states that have embraced them, jets
that can land on their own and the transition of global navigation to GPS, and
sensors that can track people and objects based on Bluetooth Low Energy,
ensuring that your loved ones have arrived safely at school. In fact, I’m
taking delivery shortly of a BMW i3 that includes something called Active
Driving Assistant and Active Cruise Control, as well as other under-the-hood Teutonic
magic. On my way into work, it will vibrate if I’ve left a lane, brake
I’m too close to the car in front of me (even if distracted), and even warn me
if a pedestrian crosses my path. Not
quite Google, but a heck of a lot cheaper!
 |
| BMW Active Driving Assistant |
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| Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy - Internet of Things |
 |
 |
| BMW i3 |
Are we giving up that much by turning over control to something that doesn’t get tired, stress-out over the kids, get overly emotional, and can react in a millisecond? Throughout history, humans have embraced technology – fire, plumbing, steam, electricity, and modern medicine. Isn’t this just the next logical step? We’re not talking about a world of Skynet, ARIAA, and the M-5, but if you ask anyone who has experienced some form of calamity firsthand, I’m sure you’d get no pushback.
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| M-5 |
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Kids and Gadgets Redux (by gins, 27 Feb 2014)
Kids and Gadgets Redux (by gins, 27 Feb 2014)
So i had the pleasure ;) of taking my kids to Miley Cyrus last night. The show notwithstanding, what was really interesting was just how they and everyone around us (mainly high-schoolers) were glued to their phones through the performance. We were surrounded by texting, Instagraming, Facebook posting, and endless hours of video capture. It got me thinking.... we used to talk about "being in the moment." That capturing life through a lens was something less than real. However... they were in 'their' moment, and if that is their reality, who am I to judge.
So i had the pleasure ;) of taking my kids to Miley Cyrus last night. The show notwithstanding, what was really interesting was just how they and everyone around us (mainly high-schoolers) were glued to their phones through the performance. We were surrounded by texting, Instagraming, Facebook posting, and endless hours of video capture. It got me thinking.... we used to talk about "being in the moment." That capturing life through a lens was something less than real. However... they were in 'their' moment, and if that is their reality, who am I to judge.
A sea of phones... remember lighters?
Top Apps at Sochi - view into social media (by gins, 27 Feb 2014
Top Apps at Sochi - view into social media
(by gins, 27 Feb 2014)
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Kids and Gadgets (by gins, 23 Feb 2014)
A recent CNET article hit close to home in articulating just how much kids have changed in only the last five years. We have two daughters, ages 9 and 11, and they had just passed preschool when the first iPads were released. Nevertheless, it took no time at all for each to adopt their own (or was it the other way around?). Applications consisted of both casual games and those that included logic and learning. And yes, I place 'The Room' in this latter category. Fast forward to this past year, and they each have iPhones, and both live parts of their lives (and those of their friends) via Instagram and messaging. Not necessarily a bad thing, though my oldest daughter had upwards of 1500 texts last month. The flip-side of this... despite what seems to be an engineered after-school experience, they definitely interact more (in person) with their classmates and have plenty of opportunity to burn off excess energy as part of their dance activities. More than I had at times. Weekends are for cocooning, but that could be the tradeoff. So is it bad or good? Just different, and the new reality in the valley.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Gartner on IOT (by gins, 11 Feb 2014)
Gartner Says the Internet of Things Installed Base Will Grow to 26 Billion Units By 2020
The Internet of Things (IoT), which excludes PCs, tablets and smartphones, will grow to 26 billion units installed in 2020 representing an almost 30-fold increase from 0.9 billion in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that IoT product and service suppliers will generate incremental revenue exceeding $300 billion, mostly in services, in 2020. It will result in $1.9 trillion in global economic value-add through sales into diverse end markets.
The Internet of Things is the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment.
"The growth in IoT will far exceed that of other connected devices. By 2020, the number of smartphones tablets and PCs in use will reach about 7.3 billion units," said Peter Middleton, research director at Gartner. "In contrast, the IoT will have expanded at a much faster rate, resulting in a population of about 26 billion units at that time."
Due to the low cost of adding IoT capability to consumer products, Gartner expects that "ghost" devices with unused connectivity will be common. This will be a combination of products that have the capability built in but require software to "activate" it and products with IoT functionality that customers do not actively leverage. In addition, enterprises will make extensive use of IoT technology, and there will be a wide range of products sold into various markets, such as advanced medical devices; factory automation sensors and applications in industrial robotics; sensor motes for increased agricultural yield; and automotive sensors and infrastructure integrity monitoring systems for diverse areas, such as road and railway transportation, water distribution and electrical transmission.
"By 2020, component costs will have come down to the point that connectivity will become a standard feature, even for processors costing less than $1. This opens up the possibility of connecting just about anything, from the very simple to the very complex, to offer remote control, monitoring and sensing," said Mr. Middleton. "The fact is, that today, many categories of connected things in 2020 don't yet exist. As product designers dream up ways to exploit the inherent connectivity that will be offered in intelligent products, we expect the variety of devices offered to explode."
The IoT encompasses hardware (the things themselves), embedded software, communications services and information services associated with the things. Gartner refers to the companies that provide the hardware, software and services as IoT suppliers. The incremental IoT supplier revenue contribution from IoT in 2020 is estimated at $309 billion.
Economic value-add (which represents the aggregate benefits that businesses derive through the sale and usage of IoT technology) is forecast to be $1.9 trillion across sectors in 2020. The verticals that are leading its adoption are manufacturing (15 percent), healthcare (15 percent) and insurance (11 percent).
IoT value-add is composed of the combination of mature IoT, which is already yielding benefits, and a high-growth emerging IoT opportunity. It is derived from a combination of sector-specific technology (such as connected, automated manufacturing systems), and more generic, widely used technology, such as the suite of "smart building" technologies, including light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and smart HVAC systems.
Emerging areas will witness rapid growth of connected things. This will lead to improved safety, security and loss prevention in the insurance industry. IoT will also facilitate new business models, such as usage-based insurance calculated based on real-time driving data. The banking and securities industry will continue to innovate around mobile and micropayment technology using convenient point-of-sale (POS) terminals and will invest in improved physical security systems. IoT will also support a large range of health and fitness devices and services, combined with medical advances, leading to significant benefit to the healthcare sector. Emerging connected sensor technology will lead to value creation in utilities, transportation and agriculture. Most industries will also benefit from the generic technologies, in that their facilities will operate more efficiently through the use of smart building technology.
More detailed analysis is available in the report "Forecast: The Internet of Things, Worldwide, 2013." The report is available on Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/document/2625419?ref=QuickSearch&sthkw=G00259115.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Let There Be Light Redux.... Pope Francis (by gins, 23 Jan 2014)
The Internet is a “gift from God” that facilitates communication, Pope Francis said in a statement released Thursday, but he warns that the obsessive desire to stay connected can actually isolate people from their friends and family.
Let There Be Light..... Google's Quantum Computer (by gins, 23 jan 2014)
And AC said: "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" And there was light--
—Closing line, The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
Google on benchmarking the D-Wave 2 quantum computer -
BTW, I had to look up Quantum Annealing
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
There Will Come Soft Rains (by gins, 4 Aug 2026)
At CES, the Internet of Things was all the rage, and just yesterday, Google announced the intent to purchase Nest for a whopping $3.2B (which in fact was close to its valuation after the latest funding round). I won't rehash the various pros/cons of the transaction on privacy or positive steps forward to the connected home, or make humor of it..... "Dave... I don't approve of your surfing habits.... I'm going to freeze you out tonight." It hits home in more ways than one, since we've installed two Nests and four Protects.
But the first thing I thought about, looking forward to ultimate positives and negatives, was a short story from Bradbury, published years before I was born, at a time when the smart home was truly science fiction...
(c) Ray Bradbury, 1950
But the first thing I thought about, looking forward to ultimate positives and negatives, was a short story from Bradbury, published years before I was born, at a time when the smart home was truly science fiction...
In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to
get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The
clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time,
seven-nine!
In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk.
"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills."
Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes.
Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today..." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.
Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long wait the door swung down again.
At eight-thirty the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone. An aluminum wedge scraped them into the sink, where hot water whirled them down a metal throat which digested and flushed them away to the distant sea. The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry.
Nine-fifteen, sang the clock, time to clean.
Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted. The rooms were acrawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They thudded against chairs, whirling their mustached runners, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust. Then, like mysterious invaders, they popped into their burrows. Their pink electric eyes faded. The house was clean.
Ten o'clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.
Ten-fifteen. The garden sprinklers whirled up in golden founts, filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness. The water pelted windowpanes, running down the charred west side where the house had been burned evenly free of its white paint. The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.
The five spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, the ball—remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer.
In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight pieces of perfectly browned toast, eight eggs sunnyside up, sixteen slices of bacon, two coffees, and two cool glasses of milk.
"Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling, "in the city of Allendale, California." It repeated the date three times for memory's sake. "Today is Mr. Featherstone's birthday. Today is the anniversary of Tilita's marriage. Insurance is payable, as are the water, gas, and light bills."
Somewhere in the walls, relays clicked, memory tapes glided under electric eyes.
Eight-one, tick-tock, eight-one o'clock, off to school, off to work, run, run, eight-one! But no doors slammed, no carpets took the soft tread of rubber heels. It was raining outside. The weather box on the front door sang quietly: "Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today..." And the rain tapped on the empty house, echoing.
Outside, the garage chimed and lifted its door to reveal the waiting car. After a long wait the door swung down again.
At eight-thirty the eggs were shriveled and the toast was like stone. An aluminum wedge scraped them into the sink, where hot water whirled them down a metal throat which digested and flushed them away to the distant sea. The dirty dishes were dropped into a hot washer and emerged twinkling dry.
Nine-fifteen, sang the clock, time to clean.
Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted. The rooms were acrawl with the small cleaning animals, all rubber and metal. They thudded against chairs, whirling their mustached runners, kneading the rug nap, sucking gently at hidden dust. Then, like mysterious invaders, they popped into their burrows. Their pink electric eyes faded. The house was clean.
Ten o'clock. The sun came out from behind the rain. The house stood alone in a city of rubble and ashes. This was the one house left standing. At night the ruined city gave off a radioactive glow which could be seen for miles.
Ten-fifteen. The garden sprinklers whirled up in golden founts, filling the soft morning air with scatterings of brightness. The water pelted windowpanes, running down the charred west side where the house had been burned evenly free of its white paint. The entire west face of the house was black, save for five places. Here the silhouette in paint of a man mowing a lawn. Here, as in a photograph, a woman bent to pick flowers. Still farther over, their images burned on wood in one titanic instant, a small boy, hands flung into the air; higher up, the image of a thrown ball, and opposite him a girl, hands raised to catch a ball which never came down.
The five spots of paint—the man, the woman, the children, the ball—remained. The rest was a thin charcoaled layer.
(c) Ray Bradbury, 1950
Friday, January 3, 2014
White Goods, White Boxes, and a view to 2014 (posted by gins, 3 Jan 2014)
When I was a kid, my parents used the term 'white goods' to refer to major appliances. Although branded, they were pretty generic in their functions (remember this was the time before fridges with built-in displays or even ice makers) and differentiation at a given tier was primarily on price. You bought it, it fit, and you hoped it was reliable. This was the world of white goods.
Fast-forward to 2014 and we have our own version of white goods for networking - 'white-box' switches. Over the past two to three years, primarily in conjunction with SDN, the concept of a white-box switch has taken hold. Here, generic hardware is provided by an OEM or ODM, offered as a reference design by a merchant silicon vendor, or created by a large cloud service provider. It introduces some interesting business models, sometimes disruptive, for traditional networking vendors or even some of the new SDN specialists. Do you continue to offer a complete stack under your own brand, consisting of the switch hardware and network operating system (NOS), or do you refer customers to a third party where they may purchase the hardware, later applying your NOS (and hoping that everything works as advertised).
However, the white-box switch itself is not the gist of the discussion, and too much has been made of the fact that these switches will result in generic offerings. Hardware vendors still have the opportunity to differentiate based on functionality if they understand the intended application, while keeping COGS and TTM in-line. And this doesn't apply only to the SDN/controller space. There are many segments within the larger switching and routing market that require optimized hardware and where today's off-the-shelf designs or even platforms offered by some of the larger vendors don't meet the bill. Or, hardware platforms that can better adapt to different NOSs, much like x86 supporting Windows, OS X, and Linux. These are all areas ripe for innovation. Moving up the stack, the value is also of course in the NOS, and here is where networking vendors can add differentiation, even across third-party hardware.
In 2014 we'll see continued innovation in this space balancing realistic expectations. In the same way that 2013 served as a good gut-check with regard to SDN in general, tempering the promises of many of the startups in this space, the coming year will provide clarity on the how, what, and where of white-box switches.
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