TECHNOLOGY

Technology Trends (Q3 2023)

MarketWord doesn’t just track the evolution of network technologies and its potential business applications. We contribute daily in/to the international industry bodies that develop new standards, open interoperable solutions and considered best practice guidance. 

We also track the dynamics between the market stakeholders to look behind the technology and pervasive hype to analyze the business realities. “There is no bandwagon on which we will not jump.” might be the motto of some. Have said that, We are fascinated by the multi-layered implications of Zero Trust, Multi-Cloud, Edge Compute, Network as a Service, Distributed Workforce and much more …

Open Source and Standardization: We have strong views on how these could work harmoniously. Contact us to discuss.

Cybersecurity a theme for 2023

COVID-19 was the accelerant for the explosion of the Cyber War with trillion dollar impact in 2023. Visit our cybersecurity site https://www.cybyr.com. The confluence of migration from data center to Cloud, multi-layer cybersecurity, Compliance, Zero Trust, SD-WAN, SASE, Container Security, Distributed Workforce dynamics, and the business practices for exponential organizations is where we contribute strategic perspective and marketing guidance to have good companies become great in 2023 and beyond. Read our newly published book on Holistic Cybersecurity: “Hey, Who Left the Back Door Open?” available on Amazon.com.

Speaking of strong views, there's the questions  ...

… that no-one wants asked …

… and that no-one wants to answer … 

Three Security misconceptions:  All you need is a top quality firewall | Cloud-native means no more security issues | Observability is a new word for monitoring (not so) | Zero Trust: achievable or claimed as hype by those with different agendas? | There is so much hype about SASE and SSE but most of it is based on marketing not actual definitions | Is the 2023 version of Network as a Service headed the same way and is anyone willing to deliver what the enterprise really wants? | The network secret they don’t want asked: Why won’t the service providers sell you gigabit speed copper-based services? The answer is (a) it’s free and (b) the shareholders might think it’s not cool. | So many questions about 5G: Fixed Mobile convergence – will it be adopted this time? | Will people pay more for 5G or will they get no choice and just pay anyway?  |  Will 5G force up the price of all cell services because  providers have to cover their massive 5G investment somehow? | Will 5G replace fiber (or is it just when and where)? | Are we seeing the beginning of the end for wireline service providers? 

NFV? does it have staying power against sexier fiber only networks – some like OpenReach have killed it off. Many think copper networks will be around for decades  because of the massive cost savings. | Cloud Services or Cloud Native? |  SDN? | No-one ever made any money from network management – Will NFV save it? | Ensuring revenue retention through NFV/SDN migration: can coexistence really work? | New revenues from services: have the providers reduced their skill set and crippled their innovation?  | Where are they in the voice-controlled home?Gfast can be faster and cheaper than fiber but does it stand a chance?  | Wi-Fi 6: will it fix the performance issues – will the public buy? SD-WAN the NFV killer app – but can we agree a definition – that therefore scales,  interoperates and generates revenues? (the MEF thinks so) Ditto Software Defined Access Will 5G FMC mean no more dropped calls or Internet outages? | Will Blockchain Technology cure all known problems and become ubiquitous? (survey says yes) Aren’t Intent-Based-Network Systems and AI old concepts that have been rebranded or will machine learning radically turn networking upside-down? Does anyone know if NFV devices perform under stress? Who has the test methodology? Does anyone know if internet SD-WAN will perform well enough compared to pt-to-pt? Who has the test methodology? Open source – proprietary in new clothes? Open source – great for agility but how can it scale/interoperate? Do regulatory issues stop providers innovating and waste resources? Why doesn’t IoT integrate with Wi-Fi?  | Life Cycle Orchestration: which one will win? Live events: can they work again – which are just for the (… better not say)?   | When will any or all of these go mainstream?

These buzzwords are great fun to stick in Keynotes but as Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire might say: “Show me the money!”. Contact us for more on this.

Terminology

Communicating ideas requires the listener to understand the concepts and not get “stuck” on terms where the meaning is unclear and lose the message. Many industry organizations pride themselves on being the defining authority for this or that protocol or process but careful examination reveals that the definitions are highly inconsistent and do not create the foundation of language required. Others – “Software Defined Access” is a good example – where you can find a proprietary definitions from 6 or 7 different organizations. MarketWord does not love acronyms. 

MarketWord will shortly be publishing a list of network terms and will invite others through its Confluence Wiki platform to add/comment.  (Sneak preview)

Recent Technical Marketing Work

See cybyr.com for latest news. In 2023- focus has been on crticial neworks infastructure and AI. 2020-22 technical marketing projects: contributions to the first industry  definition of Zero Trust Security Service attributes for the MEF. Elastic Services, Cloud Migration and the Multi-Cloud Security working groups for ONUG. Client-based technical marketing in the fields of network solutions for Intelligent traffic systems, IOT,  etc., additional involvement with SD-WAN, SD-WAN application security. Previously in 2018-20 Projects included  layer 2-3 security, and Intent-Based Networking projects. MarketWord authored/co-authored four white papers for the Broadband Forum. Topics: 5G fixed Mobile Convergence, Broadband Access Abstraction, Cloud Central Office, Fixed Access Network Sharing can be found on the Broadband Forum website

2021 Projects also included large real time Enterprise and IIoT projects including, Traffic Systems, Utilities, Military, Rail and Smart City implementations, and a number of Cybersecurity related work. 

Webinars produced in 2018 covered the above topics, plus 5G Transport, User Services Platform. 

MarketWord has been intimately involved in the creation of the messaging, web content, articles, wall charts trade show presentations, authoring on the above topics  … plus Gfast, NG-PON2, virtual business and residential gateways.2