When VMware entered the production data center it was the beginning of a massive IT disruption with profound implications for careers, vendors and the next tech innovation cycle, driven by deep reductions in network operating expenses and equally uplifting increases in network flexibility and intelligence. 

VMware set the stage for the multibillion dollar system virtualization category by allowing operating systems and applications to be easily set up and moved on top of commodity server hardware.  They automated systems that had been requiring ever increasing amounts of manual labor as data centers grew ever more complex by creating an abstracting layer between software and hardware.

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The much anticipated divorce between Cisco and HP that was announced in recent weeks is a harbinger for the network equipment industry.  Note Alexander Wolfe’s comments from his Wolfe’s Den blog:

Cisco has made what can only be characterized as an aggressive move emphasizing its strategic surge from a networking-centric vendor into a unified computing powerhouse.

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HP joins the infrastructure 2.0 conversation as IT and network automation pressures build.  We celebrate the brilliant telephone operator comedy of Lily Tomlin with a photo courtesy of YouTube.

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A reduction in the operating expense of networks could vastly expand the market for network solutions that are easier to manage, more powerful and connect ever larger populations of systems and endpoints.  Enterprises will be forced to automate or outsource to those who do.

This new network will be all about availability, flexibility and economy and will set the stage for a new resurgence in network spending and the rise of network software.

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Last week I heard Sun Microsystems Cloud CTO Lew Tucker predict that IT expenses would increasingly track to the cost of electricity.  “Lew’s Law” (as described to a room of thought leaders) is a brilliant theorem that weaves a microcosm of IT trends and recent reports into a single and powerful concept.

Lew’s Law is a powerful idea whose time has come, with profound and far reaching impacts, including the automation of the network.

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