MPLS+SDN+NFV World Congress 2017 is just around the corner and I want to explain why I think this is a must-see event.

Simplification, automation and virtualization are words that have been used by marketers, like myself for years. I think we can all agree, at some point, for these words to become reality, the"software innovation rubber" must meet the road. Technology decisions must be made and deployments have to happen which utilize software innovations from vendors and OpenSource communities, in harmony, and only then, will provider networks transform to support the next wave of services.

Cloud-Scale Networking, Central Office Transformation, The Internet of Everything, Infinite Video, millions of applications driven through mobile devices and the ever changing enterprise landscape need to be supported. The puzzle pieces are many and the way we were building networks will not necessary work to support future needs. Does this mean our current networks are bad, or without value? Absolutely not!  After kicking the "technology tires" for years, it is clear network transformation is not easy and we can't transform on our own. We will transform together.

This is why if you are a network transformation junkie, there is no better place to be than at MPLS+SDN+NFV World Congress on March 21-24, 2017 at the Marriott Paris Rive Gauche Hotel and Conference Center.  Ask any previous attendee, and they will tell you the value of attending this event.

Why is this event so powerful? It's simple.This is the event where the "software innovation rubber" meets the road!

Industry experts from operators and vendors are under one roof for an entire week. They present real live use cases and technology demos.  They are honest about what works and what does not and this is based on real deployments in live networks.  Sometimes, conversations get interesting because the best of the best attend and there is no room for fluff or "belief system" based ideas without actionable outcomes to solve network transformation challenges.

Don't take my word for it, look at the below quote given last year at the conference by Stephane Litkowski from Orange Group. This was originally published in a blog by my colleague, Frederic Trate. See the entire blog here.

Stephane did in-depth testing of micro-loop avoidance code provided by Cisco and shared great insights at MPLS World Congress 2016.

This is what Stephane has to say about it at Cisco's Segment Routing software innovation:

"Customer expectations in term of quality of experience are growing with the criticality of their applications. As MPLS transport is the foundation of our services, we must make it the most efficient and robust, also because bad things can happen in a network and network must dynamically adapt without disrupting customer applications. In this area, micro-loops have always been a pain for networks by breaking fast-reroute or creating micro-congestions. Orange was interested in micro-loop prevention for many years by investigating, evaluating, implementing multiple solutions. But all those past solutions were only partial or too complex to be deployed in a live network. Now, thanks to the Segment Routing building blocks, we have the technology to easily build loop-free paths in the network in a simple way. We consider Segment Routing as an enabler to prevent micro-loops in IP/MPLS networks. We already evaluated Segment Routing micro-loop avoidance in our labs, showing impressive results: we will deploy it for sure!"

Powerful stuff!  The only question left on the table is... Why haven't you purchased your ticket to Paris yet? This is an event you don't want to miss!

Cisco Sponsored Activities at Conference:

Cisco's Pre-Conference Customer Network Transformation Workshop
March 20, 2017 from 1:30PM -5:30 CET, on Level -1 in Salon GHIJ.  Cisco Customers can register for the workshop here.

The agenda will cover software innovations in the following areas:

• EVPN
• Segment Routing
• Presentation by Bell Canada on Central Office Transformation
• Model-Driven Telemetry
• Automation with Network Services Orchestrator
• SD-WAN

Cisco Customer Reception
Monday, March 18, 2017 from 5:45 -8:00 P.M. CET at the R'Yves Restaurant at the Marriot, Level 2

Visit the Cisco Booth#312 to seeCisco IOS XR Software Innovations for Network Transformation.
This includes demonstrations of  Segment Routing, IPv6 Segment Routing, Model-Driven Telemetry, NFV Infrastructure (NFVi), Cisco Network Services Orchestration (Tail-F) and SD-WAN.

Schedule a private meetingthrough your account team with one of the many Cisco subject matter experts on site. If your account team is not available, you can stop by Cisco Booth#312 on-site at the show to schedule a private meeting.

For those of you who have not registeredfor the event please feel free to use Cisco's 35% off VIP discount code:CIS35vipenton2017

Cisco's Speaks Include:

• David Ward, Engineering CTO and Chief Architect -Keynote
• Carl Moberg, Technology Director -Orchestration-MPLS SDN Track
• Emerson Moura, Distinguished Systems Engineer-OpenSource Projects -OpenStack Track
• Charles Eckel, Engineering Technical Leader-Open Connectivity Use Cases -OpenStack Track
• Chris Lewis, Product Manager Engineering-Overlay VPN Evolution -SD-WAN Track
• Shelly Cadora, Principal Engineer-Telemetry -AI & Analytics Track
• Eric Vyncke, Distinguished Systems Engineer -IoT, Containers & Content - MPLS SDN Track
• Mark Townsley, Cisco Fellow-IPv6 -MPLS SDN Track
• John Evans, Distinguished Engineer-OSS Analytics -AI & Analytics Track
• Gabriele Maria Galimberti, Principal Engineer -Optical VPNs -Transport SDN Track

Please see full conference agenda for most recent information

We hope to see you in Paris!