Reality Check

Cisco's Annual Tech Trends & Predictions Event: Looking Ahead to 2014

It's been awhile since I blogged, but (early) New Year's Resolution is to do more of this and *much* more frequently.

I recently moved roles over at Cisco to the Chief Technology & Architecture Office, working for Dave Ward (Cisco's CTO & Chief Architect for Engineering) and with lots of great other folks who you'll hear about soon. I'm focused on driving new software solutions and offerings to market - from concept and initial architecture to delivery. We have some amazing things coming down the pipeline and more on that soon, I promise. I'll also be traveling a bit more speaking at events and discussing some of our roadmaps and what we see happening in the industry as a whole as we move increasingly into a virtualized world where new network architectures need to connect to and drive business outcomes via new technologies (and yes, lots of software in there). 

Tomorrow we're hosting the Annual Technology Trends & Predictions Event, which will go into what we expect to see in 2014 for not just Cisco but the industry as a whole. It's my first public gig in my new role, and it will be a live broadcast event (via Cisco IPTV & WebEx). You can register here.

Dave & I will be speaking on the Future of Internet Architectures, including how open and programmable interfaces are not just a necessity but a must for today's infrastructure, and how services and APIs essentially *are* the new platform. We'll go into a few hints of what is coming down the pipeline, discuss Open Source, of course SDN & NfV and more, and what all of this means for customers, partners, developers - and even business users. That's all I'll disclose... for now. You'll have to attend in order to get the full scoop. :)

There's a great roster of speakers including Susie Wee (VP & CTO, Networked Experiences), Guido Jouret (VP & GM, Internet of Things) and Maciej Kranz (VP of the Corporate Technology Group) who will be walking through different aspects of multiple technologies, solutions and shifts we across the entire market as we move into 2014. Please use the Twitter hashtag #CiscoTechRadar when tweeting during the event as well - we'll have people responding and also ensure we answer questions post-event via that hashtag. 

It will be a great event, I promise you that. Typically this is just an analyst, press and investor event but this year we're opening it up for the public to attend too - make sure you register to attend, and get ready with some good questions - we want to talk about what's coming in 2014 and I expect you guys to step up with some great questions to ask us. Post event I'll be sure to recap it here and happy to answer any Q&A that didn't get a chance to be answered as well. 

Cheers, and look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!/LC

 

 

 

Difficult Decisions

I've gotten a decent amount of pings over Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and also directly about my Juniper.net account bouncing and why.

First: I apologize for that. I've reached out to folks at Juniper to add a re-direct in there for you so you'll be connected with the right folks moving forward.

Second: Yes, because you have asked and I have not yet answered most of you - I did decide to leave Juniper Networks and last Thursday was my last day.

Third: Yes, I do have a new opportunity I am heading to, but I have a few weeks before I start. The what, the where - none of that is relevant right now. Why? Because I'll pop up in a few weeks. And you'll hear about it then. It's an awesome gig, it's with a great team and there's a whole hell of a lot to do. And I'm psyched (understatement). But that's for another post.

When one makes a decision in their career sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's very difficult, and this for me was the latter simply put because of an amazing, passionate group of individuals I worked with at Juniper and the wonderful partners, developers, consultants, customers and individuals I had the joy of getting to know. Period. But when making decisions like this I've learned (and thank you Sheila for reminding me) that you need to take out the emotional and look at the facts of what you truly want to do. When I did that I saw a very clear path towards the decision that I made.

Ah, Juniper. What a freaking ride it's been. Our team (known as the Developer Business Unit or DBU) was a start-up, kick-ass little engine that could. In under one year, we joined the Eclipse Foundation, created the framework and model for new ways to look at networking through Programmability (because it's not just about a box anymore - it's about the magic that happens inside and exposing it through APIs and new software that drives value not only for businesses but for developers by giving them the tools to build more intelligent applications and services), getting the keynote and I think surprising the pants off of everyone at JavaOne ("What's a networking company doing at a Java developer show? Don't you just sell boxes?") and the beta of the Juniper Developer Network, which included a full application and code gallery (Diet Coke, Clif Bar, and Quaker Instant Oatmeal should have sponsored NagiP, the IT team and me for that one. But hey, if you hit the dates you promised people and knock numbers out of the park, sleep doesn't matter, right?).

What a year. Some of the most trying work I've done (if I ever have to explain to someone again why you build a community, you don't "launch" one . . .) but also some of the most rewarding. And definitely with a team that I'll never, ever forget and will continue to call my friends.

• Eddie Amos, Jeet Kaul, and Mike Harding - the three headed monster (in a good way!) that continuously paved the way for things to get done from marketing and evangelism to engineering. I can tell you as someone that needed air-cover more than once in a while to get new things done, these guys did it. They are high on the get-it factor, they push the needle when it comes to execution, and lay it on the line for doing the right thing for the business. Looking back, I've learned a tremendous amount in just over a year working with these guys. And yes Jeet, I do remember and will be forever grateful for that night two weeks into my role at Juniper when I know you should have been home eating dinner with your family but you took the time to explain the intricacies of networking hardware to me. :)

• The brilliant and always inspiring Hal Stern who I think finally has figured out that sometimes I didn't answer his calls because his thinking was just so over my head from a technical perspective that if he wrote it down in email I could at least Wikipedia it :)

• Ivan Vojvodic, who was a great partner and colleague in driving multiple inroads and ventures with partners and development organizations.

• The Junos and Space SDK teams: Saurabh, Connie, Bijou, Karthik, Usama, Brian, Parag, Pratik, Sunit, Sree, and the rest of the crew who do amazing work and I know will continue to build amazing things.

• From the marketing side: Anna Griffin, Juniper's VP of Global Branding & Advertising, who has an amazing awareness and knowledge of brand and the right way to go about building a strong one, Barbara French who took the time to sit down and actually understand the goals of this "new" developer and software business and truly help us deliver from the analyst perspective, Adam Christensen, my buddy from IBM days and Juniper lead for Social, and of course, Brad Brooks who I wish I got to work with a bit longer and who brings loads of leadership and talent to the team (and although he'll never admit it and I'm not sure if he knows it, is usually one of the smartest guys in the room).

• Lastly, Nagi Punyamurthula and Helen Sebhatu - countless hours spent on website coding, events, partner strategies and evangelism, building new programs and who I could count on for anything and everything when we were building JDN and multiple different programs - you guys are the best. Period. 

I don't give compliments that often to folks - maybe it got knocked out of me at MSFT or maybe I'm just not that good at it - but when I do, I mean them. That said, the DBU team is hands-down some of the best folks I've ever had the joy of working with, and I wish them and Juniper the best.

Signing off for now./LC

Email: [email protected]/Twitter: @lcooney

 

 

 

 

It's time for a Revolution in Development: Welcome to the Juniper Developer Network

When I was offered my role at Juniper to take on the new developer initiative, I was ecstatic at the possibilities it offered me.  The businesses I like to work for and work with have dynamic people, great products, and disruptive ideas. Juniper offered me the opportunity to lead one of these disruptive ideas, The Juniper Developer Network (JDN), and as you all know by now, I jumped at it. :)

Today, I'd like to talk about the beta version of JDN, why we have it, and why it's so important to the bigger picture of how the networking paradigm is shifting - and why it's time to join the revolution developing with the Junos Developer Platform.

What JDN Offers:

JDN is a robust technical community (we have over 500 development organizations involved) for developers wanting to build new networking applications with Junos and the Junos Space SDK. We offer:

• Products: Get the Junos and Junos Space SDKs. Our APIs give you the ability to build innovative applications for your network, so check them out. With the Junos Space SDK, we're development language agnostic - you can use Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, .NET, and more to develop with our RESTful APIs. A huge plus.
• A Network Application Gallery: From management and monitoring to performance and more, we have the network applications you need to be successful. Or, if you have applications you'd like to sell, we've got an easy upload component for you to get your application or service listed in the App Gallery.
• Code & APIs: We’ve got great code and components to dive into and download for use in your applications.
• Training: Check out our learning resources for information on training, case studies, and more.
• Community & Development Partners: We’re working with the best of the best when it comes to partnering with great development organizations, consultants, and community partners. Check out the resources they have to offer you.
• Direct help from Experts to get started building your Application. Simply email us at [email protected] and we'll get back to you on ideas, technical questions, and more.

What JDN offers doesn't end there. Not only is it products and educational material for folks building applications, but we have The Junos Marketplace  so developers that have built great applications with our SDKs now have the ability to post these to get extra publicity, including access to new customers, Juniper partners and customers, and potential revenue from selling these applications. Right now we have what is called a "try-and-buy" where you can go to the Gallery to get access to trial versions of the applications you're interested in, and if you like them, work with either us or the developer who built them to purchase. Longer term, we will be implementing a commerce component to sell these applications and services directly from the site. We know getting new customers is important, and to do this you need more visibility for your applications and services. With the Application Gallery, we're here to provide that for you.

With JDN & new technologies, we're making development easier and your solutions smarter. In addition in our Technologies section we talk about some of the new things we're working on to make our network systems smarter, such as protocols like OpenFlow and ALTO. Although as developers you don't need to fully understand these to utilize them  (we're working on building these into our routers and switches  so it "just works" for you) what they do is make applications run faster and take better paths through the network for optimal delivery of your applications. It also allows for new insertion points to happen in the network for revenue generating services. We call this "Programmable Networks" as essentially it allows you to program from the software level how your networks work, run, scale, and more. It allows innovation to happen bi-directionally with the network informing your applications and vice-versa - your applications delivering information into the network for better solutions all around.  

With Programmable Networks, smarter Juniper systems enable better software apps and services because of better data to use in applications (through our Junos and Junos Space APIs), faster ways for your applications to get through the network and to the end-users, and better customer and subscriber experiences - along with more potential to create revenue generating services.

At the end of the day, our #1 job is to help make developers, partners, academia, enterprises, service providers, and ISVs successful whether they are building applications to use in their own environments, building applications to sell and promote, or want a network solution for their needs from our App Gallery.

Now this is beta. There are a few kinks we are working out. Because of certain IP restrictions, it takes a sign-up to get our products (which are free). We're working internally to minimize this. I like products to be free and easy to access, so know that we are working on making this a reality.  There are a few other minor things we are working on as well, which you'll see on the site.

What we would really *love* is your feedback. We're not "launching" a community here, we're building one. And to build it the right way we need your input on what you'd like to see on the site, improvements we can make, and more. We'll roll into GA in 2012 but to do this the right way let us know what you'd like to see. You can either ping me directly or send email to [email protected]. This is going to be your site - and we want your help to build it right.

The networking paradigm is shifting quickly and there's a revolution about to start with network software development. The Junos Developer Platform and JDN give you the tools and products to be ahead of the curve and start innovating now. 

Find out more and join today: www.junosdeveloper.net or http://developer.juniper.net

Enjoy!

/LC

 

Building Great Applications for your Network

You hear the word network and application together more and more frequently today. Why? Because you actually can build applications more easily than ever using tools that are developer and network friendly and utilize tools you already know how to use (ie: Eclipse IDE).

Historically there's been a divide. But the network and applications need to work together.

The good news? The divide between IT and Developer is getting smaller and smaller - you can now access the network through a series of APIs and an orchestration layer that make it easier to build and scale applications specific to your network. The two need to work together to be successful. We're making this happen today through what we call "Programmability," which enables developer access to data trapped in the network - without frustrating the network engineers who have to deal with the network intricacies (which is *not* an easy task). Essentially we're making it simple for developers to access this network data without mucking up the network.

Now, let's dive into an example.

Junos Space SDK is a toolkit for developers to build and deploy applications across their network. Easy enough. But what we're finding is that it's not taking months to build these applications anymore - it's taking a couple weeks. And these applications are pretty complex. By utilizing RESTful web services & APIs, developers are building faster and smarter apps - smarter because the application is able to access data from the network.

Here's a great example of one of our partners, Firemon, and what they've done with the Space SDK. Firemon has almost finished their security application that enables visibility for security breaches across the (your) entire network. It allows network security managers to see how attacks propagate through the network and show them where to stop attacks at the perimeter. Check it out here:

 

 

We have lots of amazing appplications that have been built with Junos Space SDK, and soon you'll see more of them.

If you'd like to start building or get our help doing so, just reach out to us at [email protected] - we've got a slew of experts ready to help you start developing.

For more information as always, ping me direct ([email protected]). I'd love to hear questions, feedback, and more.

/LC

 

Why Does Juniper Care about Developers?

Juniper = Networking, right? Well, that's not quite true anymore.

Juniper still offers lots of great networking equipment, but we've also been growing our software offerings for the past few years (albeit a bit quietly) and this year at JavaOne we really wanted to showcase what we're doing.

No longer does Juniper only = Networking, but Juniper also = better web applications for developers.

We call this "programmable networking" but I think of it more as intelligent development with a self-adjusting network to make your apps work/run better & faster and include more data that can provide your end-users with better experiences. Long-winded, but that's essentially what it means (no lingo there folks).

Why does this matter for you as a developer and how are we doing this?

Current situation:

• IT is transforming as technologies are increasingly moving to the cloud
• If you sit in IT, it's no longer just "good enough" to add value by saving money and optimizing equipment - you have to add value to your company.
• Good information is often stuck in silos - organizational and technology silos. From databases to networking boxes, good data is tough to get.
• The current offerings of developer tools out there now aren't *great* to get this data - cludgy, clunky, and hard to use.
• The pressure of changes to systems or applications to be built in days instead of weeks or months.

Juniper's vision for a programmable network is changing this. Let me explain how this applies to application developers:

• Juniper is essentially unlocking the network (black box) for developers to utilize data in their applications. This means better data. More real-time information. And better performance and end-user experience for applications (ie: faster, more personalized apps).
• We're decoupling software from systems - so you can go do what you want with previously unavailable data.
• With the IT situation outlined above, the goal is to make everything programmable - for developers to alter, utilize, build, export, etc - simply. RESTful APIs. New Protocols. And more intelligent tools that you actually already know how to use (ie: Eclipse IDE).
• We have a few tools, the Junos Space SDK and the Junos SDK - that offer APIs into these network elements for the data to be pulled out and utilized in your applications. 
• We're working with new protocols and standards to help drive programmability not only into the networking boxes but also into your applications. For example:
  • Applications that are aware of the network:  you can now utilize previously unavailable data from the network when building apps. You can now use code to make the network adapt to what you need for your app.
  • Networks that are aware of applications: Which path is the best for your app to go through the network to reach your end-user faster? How to do you load-balance traffic to make this happen? We're working on technologies that make this happen real time and with LOTS less work. Coding to use network value natively inside of applications.
    

Bottom line? You can now build what you want, with you want. With great tools. Potential has been fully unlocked. You have the keys to make better, more intelligent, and faster apps. Creativity is up to you.

For more details, check out our Slideshare account on how we're making this a reality.

We'd love feedback on what we're doing. What else can we do? How can we better help you build your applications?

You can always reach me at [email protected] - and for more info, follow us at @junosdeveloper for updated information on this.

Oh, and PS: We have something BIG coming in November. You'll have to wait to find out about that, but let's just say it ties LOTS of this together :)

/LC