“If its adaptive, its Ciena“ If you go to Ciena’s facility in Kanata Canada, and miss the signage stating that “If its adaptive, its Ciena” you’re eyes must be closed. Through presentation after presentation, but more importantly demo after demo with real software and hardware, Ciena hammered home its laser-like goal: deliver flexibility and automation to all layers of the network. It was an exciting and compelling week. Hardware defines the possible. While many associate operations and automation with software, this week’s heavy focus on leading edge hardware reminded us just how critical hardware advances are to the issue. Why? Because it provided confirmation of tomorrow’s capabilities – the “knobs, speeds and feeds” that management systems can control, and must monitor, model, and inventory. Management software, after all, plays a supporting role to wring the absolute most flexibility and performance from the trillions of dollars that will be invested in global networks over the next decade. In fact, the changes in Cloud, SDN/WAN and underlying transport (including adaptable optics) mean we, as an industry must rethink long held assumptions regarding automation, best practices and the art of the possible. (See our recent Market Outlook on “OSS Sea Change” for a more expansive […]