NFD23 - Arista
Second day of NFD23 with Arista . I already had an opportunity to see Arista ad NFD16 in 2017 .
CloudVision
Arista started with the correct first step, declaring upfront the problems they expect to solve with CloudVision :
What networking problem are you trying to solve? @AristaNetworks has a plan at #NFD23 https://t.co/x9JDTBWleS pic.twitter.com/6nU68sjztA
— Gian Paolo (@gp_ifconfig) September 30, 2020
Arista’s answer is CloudVision as SaaS so we can enjoy all the benefits of a unified platform for management, automation and visibility without the burden to manage all the necessary systems. Of course an on-premises option is available too.
The pillars of @AristaNetworks CloudVision, an Unified management platform for DC, campus, cloud and WAN:
— Gian Paolo (@gp_ifconfig) September 30, 2020
1) fully automated network deploy
2) real-time streaming telemetry
3) cognitive analytics#NFD23 https://t.co/x9JDTBWleS
Awake Security
Security must be integrated in the network, not an afterthought. @ken_duda now explains how the acquisition of @AwakeSecurity will improve @AristaNetworks security #NFD23 https://t.co/x9JDTBWleS
— Gian Paolo (@gp_ifconfig) September 30, 2020
This sounds very right. The acquisition of Awake Security is 2 days old, let’s see how it works in the next months.
Ken Duda has a plan for the integration that does not inlcude repeating the errors of other vendors:
"Changing the logo and get the product in the price list is not integration", a great advice for many vendors by @ken_duda at #NFD23 https://t.co/x9JDTBWleS
— Gian Paolo (@gp_ifconfig) September 30, 2020
The speed of the cloud
During the presentation Douglas Gourlay said
"the network of the future needs to adapt at the speed of the cloud" said @dgourlay at #NFD23 Network engineers need the same powerful tools available in the cloud for the campus and DC networks https://t.co/x9JDTBWleS @AristaNetworks
— Gian Paolo (@gp_ifconfig) September 30, 2020
Networking in the cloud has API, speed, consistency. Why do enterprise networks should be different? Why create snowflakes on-premises while on the cloud everything must fit in the constructs of the cloud provider?
The only way Enterprise Networks can benefit from the lessons learned from the cloud is to behave the same way. A standardized design is possible. Arista switches and software can be and enabler to reach the speed of cloud on-premises.
Wrap up
Other topics of the presentation were wider adoption of encryption at network layer, 800G optics coming soon-ish and routing updates about EVPN, MPLS and Multicast.
The vision and roadmap of Arista in the datacenter seems clear and consistent. I didn’t felt the same strong message for enterprise networks, campus and Wifi. Probably the main reason was the limited time available. I’ll follow future updates to see how it develops.
Recordings of the event are available online on VIMEO and YOUTUBE .