Why Adaptive is the biggest story in networking
The long-desired goal of network automation is coming closer to reality. Joe Cumello explains why autonomous networking alone is not enough, and introduces Ciena’s Adaptive Network™, which combines the right mixture of automation, intelligence, and scale that allows network operators to adapt in today’s constantly-shifting ecosystem.
By Joe Cumello – Next-gen, intelligent, flexible, automated, agile, optimized, programmable, elastic.
Our industry has been using these words for years to describe the end game for networks. With Ciena’s recent 25-year anniversary, we’ve been spending quite a bit of time looking back at the early days – and it seems like the entire industry has been using these aspirational network descriptions for as long as there have been networks.
Maybe 2018 is the year “aspirational” starts to become “actuality.”
Like no other time in our industry’s history, a collection of technologies and advancements is bringing the long-desired goal of a more automated network closer to reality.
And none too soon. Make your way out of the marketing slideware and into the cold reality of real network operations, and most service providers will tell you that much of their process is still too manual, with multiple network-management systems that require spreadsheets and offline planning tools to make even the simplest changes to the network.
Network operators do need greater automation to cope with the harsh realities of today’s environment. But “full automation,” or so-called “autonomous networking,” isn’t the complete answer they are seeking, because it’s now clear that today’s environment isn’t the same one they will face tomorrow. In this constantly-shifting ecosystem, automation alone will always have to be revised and reset.
It is with this challenge in view that Ciena brings the Adaptive Network to our customers. more>
Related>
By Clare O’Hagan – At a time of when 87% of the world’s student population is affected by COVID-19 school closures, UNESCO is launching a 
ITU News – Cars are becoming increasingly automated. Drivers already benefit from a wide range of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), such as lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, collision warning, and blind spot warning, which are gradually becoming standard features on most vehicles.
By Patricia Bower – New bandwidth-intensive content and applications, along with a massive proliferation of connected devices, will place heavy demands on communications networks going forward. To prepare for this, providers must transform their networks though the implementation of new hardware and software solutions. The 
By Amit Sachdeva – There was a time when any talk of a new car among enthusiasts or potential buyers revolved around engine power, fuel efficiency and the sleek design and finish.
By Joe Marsella – After years of hype, I think it’s fair to say that 5G is here. Initial deployments are underway around the world. There’s genuine excitement for a new generation of applications that exploit the massive end-to-end performance gains that 5G will provide across the mobile network. From AR/VR to IoT to gaming to streaming, our industry will push 5G technology to its limits to give consumers and businesses rich and rewarding digital experiences.
By Houlin Zhao – At ITU, we are working hard with partners across the world to ensure the trusted, safe and inclusive development of AI technologies — and equitable access to their benefits. That is why we organize the annual AI for Good Global Summit, the leading United Nations summit on how to harness the power of AI to improve lives worldwide.
By Jacob Beningo – The IoT has grown to the point that everyone and their brother is in the process of connecting their products to the Internet. This is great because it opens new revenue generating opportunities for businesses and in some cases completely new business models that can generate rapid growth. The problem that I am seeing though is that in several cases there seems to be little to no interest in securing these devices.
By Vinicius Santos – Legacy business models are disappearing fast, making us almost forget about how things were implemented just a few years ago. The video streaming business is less than ten years old and physically traveling to a store to rent a hard copy of a movie seems like ancient history. Most of us can barely remember when we had to save essential files on in-house data centers servers instead of somewhere in the cloud. Even sharing data using thumb drives is becoming rather “unusual.”
