HP: It’s Time For Users To Question Cisco’s Role

A simpler architecture

What’s the more standard architecture going to look like? “Much simpler,” said Congdon. “Basically a converged infrastructure cloud, hosting applications, and a relatively unintelligent high performance fabric for delivery, with a more intelligent service delivery edge, that partners with the cloud apps.”

The application has to collaborate with the end point, he said, and believes this will spell the end of the need for ever-increasing network inspection ability between the two. “You can’t reverse engineer every packet to get a better experience. We do deep packet inspection, because we have to, but it is not sustainable. We need better alignment between the network and the delivery, we need a secure agreement to negotiate those things, instead of reverse engineer everything on a packet by packet basis.”

This requires trust, of course, so the user and the end point can ask for what they need, and negotiate paths through the network to provide it. “I don’t want to have to do a lot of heavy lifting on every packet.” That would help in practical issues like roaming between different wireless networks, he said.

Is it the users’ fault?

That’s all very well, but users have bought into Cisco’s dominance and the network architecture which Congdon disparages. Are the users to blame? Should they be demanding the kind of network he thinks they need?

“Some people think the only way to solve their problems is to go with one particular vendor,” he said, “then other vendors have to work round that vendor, making it hard for the users. The fault lies with both”

He’s positive about progress so far – in that he thinks customers are starting to open up their requests to more vendors.

We’d have to say there’s a long way to go before HP’s ideas cause Cisco much trouble, but he may be right that there are changes in the direction he wants.