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At The Gilder Conference
I’ve arrived here in Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe at around 8AM. I haven’t been to Tahoe in 7 years and forgot how beautiful it is up here.
I had a whirlwind trip to get here. On my way to the airport, I squeezed in a quick visit at the Cycle Loft , the shop that sponsors the amateur racing team I ride with, NEBC. Why? Gregg LeMond, 3 time Tour de France Champion was in town. I had a chance to talk with him for about 10 minutes before running for my plane.
I left too late to get a flight to Reno, so I flew into SFO and drove up this morning. It was snowing at the top of Donner Pass on the way in.
The 8AM Net Neutrality debate just ended, and it was entertaining and informative. I’ll blog my notes at the next break. The conference appears to be very well organized and the location is spectacular.
Sitting at my table are two guys from Ez-Chip (LNOP). I’ll try and talk to them later to share perspectives on the NPU business (My previous thoughts on NPU’s here and here.)
I wanted the privledge of asking you a few questions regarding Ez_Chip?
What is your assesment of their offerings vs Xellerated and Bay on various metrics: Performance, Hardware, Tool Kit ex?
Do you concur with Burger regarding the NPU replacing the CPU in the accces market.(displacing Cisco for that matter)
What if any are your key drivers in the marketplace now which could affirm triple play has traction vs just a nice sounding phrase.
TEG
Not a privilege at all. Some would consider it a mistake.
I cannot make an assessment of LNOP vs. Xelerated. I can say that I have never heard of Bay winning anything big, though that is most likely because I don’t follow them.
I quite firmly DO NOT agree that the NPU is replacing anything in the access market. Non-programmable L2 switches are where the volume applications will go. NPUs will reside in the high-touch boxes.
Carriers inherently like to concentrate complexity. Thats why Redback BRAS boxes exist and the functionality isn’t built into every DSLAM.
If triple play means a subscriber gets all three services from one provider, then yes it is catching on but it is entirely a cable phenomena with the exception of Verizon. And Cable video (as well as VZ’s cable like implementation) doesn’t drive a lot of NPU demand.
The key driver is broadband use. Speeds and Usage are going up. A lot.
LNOP hosted a conference call for the first time this week. This is the ultimate sign that visibility is improving and that more volume shipments are expected.
JNPR sound really happy with the NP-2 while MRVL is taking NP-3 by the hand into Cisco’s next-gen routers and switches, to be announced next year.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a SPO in the coming months…
The sweet siren song of a good narrative is irresistible.
not every sweet siren leads to a crash ( only most of them….)
this time there is no need for beeswax.
… yes… because you appear to be strapped to the mast.