There have been three distinct phases of disaggregated networking history.
And we're now in the "cross the chasm" stage for enterprise adoption.
As I've dug into network disaggregation and digested much of what has happened, it has been helpful for me to think about its history in three phases:
1. Emergence
This is where things started, in the early 2010s, with the founding of the Open Compute Project (OCP) led by Facebook, the contribution of open switch designs, all carrying the intent of hyperscalers for open networking.
In addition, you had the emergence of startups like Pica8, Cumulus Networks, Big Switch Networks, and Pluribus, all contributing software to the ecosystem.
And finally, this emergence stage overlapped and coincided with the work of the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), which was progressing from focusing on OpenFlow and was leading towards the broader SDN/NFV work (and has since merged its projects into the Linux Foundation in 2023). This represented the solution space where telcos wanted to use disaggregated networking hardware or "white boxes."
2. Convergence
The mid 2010s' saw a convergence stage emerge. The most important event was the contribution by Microsoft of #SONiC to the OCP in 2016, as a community-led Network Operating System (NOS). SONiC rapidly gained traction and has become the driving force for the growth of disaggregated networking.
As a result (IMO), the early startups who were focused on proprietary NOS and other software components started to move towards a different type of convergence--acquisitions by OEMs and other players like Nvidia. By 2020 many of these early players were no longer independent.
In addition, telcos started to adopt disaggregated networking for SDN, NFV, Open RAN, and Open 5G Core use cases.
3. Crossing the Chasm
The third phase is where disaggregated networking starts to become safe for enterprises. The signal event was the transfer of SONiC to the The Linux Foundation Foundation in 2022, which created a "safer" governance structure.
There are a number of other factors that have made disaggregated networking ready for enterprise adoption:
➕ OCP's initiation of validated hardware and validated reference designs
➕ The growth of an automation and orchestration ecosystem based on open source (Ansible by Red Hat, NetBox Labs, Network to Code, OpsMill), and vendors (Aviz Networks, Dorado Software, BE Networks),
➕ The rise of OEM-like hardware vendors like Celestica that offer robust service and support packages that go beyond what "whitebox" vendors typically do.
I think this is a fascinating time for disaggregated networking. I noticed that at #AutoCon3 (Network Automation Forum), there was a lightning presentation focused on SONIC network automation. I think we'll see more going forward.
Anyway, it was helpful for me to think of things this way.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And what did I miss?
#disaggregatednetworking #whiteboxswitch #SONiC #OCP
