Routing & IP Networks

Gurudatt Shenoy, Senior Vice President of Data Center and Provider Connectivity at Cisco Systems, discusses how AI requires service provider networks that can manage high traffic volumes, performance-sensitive workloads, and secure traffic within sovereign boundaries. He explains that Cisco addresses these requirements through its new Cisco Silicon 1 technology and routing infrastructure systems specifically designed for AI-era demands.

Julius Francis, Senior Director, Product Marketing at HPE, explains how AI workloads are becoming distributed across multiple sites beyond traditional data centers, requiring robust networking infrastructure, and how HPE's integration with Juniper combines compute, storage, networking, and security capabilities including cloud-native routing in ProLiant servers for edge environments. He highlights opportunities for telecommunications providers to leverage their infrastructure for distributed AI interconnection and announces the SPX 12000 router, delivering over 500 terabytes per second in 32RU with 800 Gig capability and 1.6T readiness, featuring deep buffers, low latency, and line-rate security for hyperscalers, telcos, and cloud-scale enterprises.

Paul Savill, Global Practice Leader for Network and Edge Computing at Kyndryl, discusses the challenges enterprises face modernizing decade-old legacy MPLS networks to SDWAN, SASE, and zero trust architectures, including complexity, business process integration, and poor inventory records.

Rafael Francis, Senior Director of Product Line Management at Ciena, discusses how AI is changing networking as the market shifts from model training to inference, showcasing the company's routing portfolio for data center interconnection and coherent routing integration with optical capabilities. He also touches on automation and agentic AI.

Carsten Rossenhövel, Managing Director at EANTC, presents results from this year's multi-vendor interoperability event for transport and cloud networks, featuring 12 vendors and over 80 engineers conducting three weeks of testing that generated more than 1,900 test result pairs across segment routing, EVPN, time synchronization, orchestration, and use case blueprints.

Malake Abidar, Solutions Engineer, South EMEA at Keysight Technologies, discusses the company's participation in the annual EANTC transport and network cloud interop, where Keysight provides realistic traffic generation, protocol emulation, and performance validation across multi-vendor environments testing segment routing, EVPN, and advanced transport services.

Kishan Ramaswamy, Director, Product Management and Brendan Gibbs, Vice President, AI Routing & Switching Platforms at Arista Networks share their views on the impact of AI in the enterprise WAN and also touch on how Arista's cloud platform integrates AI capabilities for network troubleshooting and application management while supporting enhanced operations across wired and wireless environments.

Gina Nienaber, Senior Director of Products and Solutions at Ciena, outlines three central themes: network operations, IP Optical convergence, and transport technology migration to segment routing. She explains how Ciena focuses on AI-powered network management while supporting multi-vendor integration through interoperability testing.

Rafael Francis, Senior Director of Product Line Management at Ciena, outlines key findings, focusing on the shift from traditional MPLS to segment routing, IP optical integration, and AI applications. His analysis covers successful multivendor testing results and highlights Ciena's Navigator software and Blue Planet solutions for enhanced network operations and digital twin capabilities.

Tom Foottit, Director of Product Management, and Amish Servansing, Product Manager, at Cisco Systems, showcases advanced service assurance capabilities through provider connectivity and Crosswork solutions at MS World Congress, featuring a collaboration with Colt's IQET network. The presentation highlights how operations teams can monitor L3 VPN services and analyze network connectivity issues through weather map-style visualizations and detailed topology tracking across Europe.

Mirko Voltolini, VP Innovation at Colt, examines how enterprises are turning to internet underlay for their connectivity requirements, especially in multi-cloud and edge deployments supporting IT and AI workloads. He outlines a trategy of developing streamlined, distributed IP networks that emphasize cost efficiency and sustainability through routed optical networking technologies.

Juan Rodriguez, Senior Sales Engineer at DriveNets, shared insights on how AI and quantum computing will shape networking's future, while advising service providers on segment routing implementation and vendor relationships.

Carsten Rossenhövel, Managing Director of EANTC, leads a major multi-vendor interoperability showcase featuring 12 vendors and 123 devices, focusing on SRv6 networks. The result is an 84-test case report from EANTC that guides operators in technology implementation.

Marc Bouteyre, Head of Virtualization at Ekinops, examines the growing convergence of networking and security solutions, noting strong international interest from UK and German markets beyond their French base.

Amir Zmora, Founder and CEO of flexiWAN, notes major changes in SASE market dynamics and vendor approaches. He emphasizes how customers are increasingly choosing flexible security implementations over single-vendor solutions, often selecting mixed deployments that combine edge and cloud security based on their specific needs.

Malake Abidar, Solutions Engineer for South EMEA at Keysight Technologies, shares how the Keysight team demonstrated networking, SASE, and AI capabilities. Through collaboration with EANTC, she presented comprehensive testing results for 5G design with SR-MPLS and SRv6 implementations.

Cyril Chouviat, Sales Manager at Lanner Electronics, presented their Intel Granite Rapids solution. Through partnerships with Sparkle and ARQIT, Lanner Electronics is expanding its network solutions portfolio while implementing secure encryption for European cable connections.

Daniel Bar-Lev, Chief Product Officer at MEF, presents insights on network-as-a-service programs and enterprise collaboration. He touches on new service performance monitoring and cybersecurity alert systems with industry partners.

Wim Henderickx, CTO IP Division at Nokia, discusses major industry trends including Quantum technology, Optical IP growth, and AI-driven networking advancements. His insights highlight the progression toward autonomous networks, comparing them to self-driving vehicles.

David Stokes, Head of IP Solutions & Portfolio Marketing at Ribbon, discusses key takeaways, including the adoption of pluggable optics in routers and the importance of network automation for IP and optical network convergence. He explains how the industry is moving toward a unified network resource model to support advanced services and AI deployments.

Ettore Pulieri, Product Manager at Sparkle, showcases the company's new Quantum Safe over Internet service, featuring network-as-a-service capabilities developed with key industry partners. The solution enables quantum-safe network deployment through standardized APIs.

Julius Francis, Senior Director, Product Marketing at Juniper, outlines how AI is reshaping networking through infrastructure requirements for AI systems and AI-powered networking solutions. He showcases how Juniper's Paragon portfolio uses AI capabilities to solve routing and WAN challenges.

Lisa Spelman, CEO of Cornelis Networks, discusses how companies struggle to extract sufficient value from their AI infrastructure investments, particularly regarding compute cycles, power efficiency, and data center space utilization to make their economic models viable. She explains that Cornelis Networks addresses these economic challenges by developing technology that increases GPU utilization and delivers enhanced performance, with their current 400 gig technology already providing ultraethernet compliance features like credit-based flow controls and adaptive routing.

Kishore Atreya, Sr. Director, Platform Product Management at Marvell, presents the company's co-packaged optics reference platform featuring a liquid-cooled 1 OU system with 16 6.4T light engines that integrate silicon photonics technology for electrical-to-optical signal conversion. He addresses the significant deployment challenge of managing over 36,000 fibers when scaling to 32 units per rack, emphasizing the need for industry solutions in backplane design and fiber routing for successful rack-level implementation.

Ian Alderdice, Physical and Link Layer Working Group Management Co-Vice Chair at OIF, presents CMIS, a management interface for pluggable modules through three demonstrations showing module support, multi-vendor optical management, and link training optimization. The demonstrations highlight CMIS' ability to provide standardized monitoring and alarm reporting across different vendor ecosystems, ensuring consistent parameter readings from single router environments to complex multi-vendor setups.

Shekar Ayyar, CEO of Arrcus, outlines three major AI infrastructure predictions for 2025, including a shift from training to inference and the deployment of AI models at network edges. His analysis highlights how Arrcus is developing intelligent networks with optimized channels for power and cost efficiency, while integrating security features directly into routing and switching infrastructure.

Gretchen Tinnerman, GM, US Telco, Media and Technology Market at Kyndryl, discusses how AI enhances operational efficiency in SASE and SD-WAN technologies through improved automation and service delivery. She highlights AI's role in optimizing data processing and routing across cloud environments, enabling organizations to maximize their network infrastructure investments.

Cory Weppler, Head of Technology Strategy for IP Network Automation at Nokia, explores the intersection of network automation and artificial intelligence, highlighting the need for autonomous networks to address modern complexities. He discusses the importance of having networks that can "sense", "think", and "act."

Anil Varanasi, Co-founder and CEO of Meter, discusses the company’s vertically integrated approach to modernizing enterprise networking infrastructure. Meter aims to simplify network deployment by offering a full-stack hardware and software solution that combines routing, switching, and wireless capabilities.

Usman Javaid, Chief Products & Marketing Officer at Orange Business, outlines the significance of AI in enterprise digital infrastructure and introduces the Evolution platform to address key customer needs. He explores how AI enhances network optimization and caters to increasing AI traffic demands, envisioning future networks capable of intelligent routing and local inference based on application requirements.

Ray Mota, CEO and Principal Analyst at ACG Research, discussed the growing interest in quantum computing for security, increasing focus on segment routing, AI infrastructure, and Ethernet vs Infiniband.

Jahanzeb Baqai, Senior Director of PLM at Ciena, shares survey results showcasing the growing trend favoring segment routing and SRv6, and the acceptance of uSID/compressed SID in deployments.

Javier Benitez, Senior Network Architect at Colt, discusses AI in networking, the standardization of segment routing, and the development of intent-based networking.

Mirko Voltolini, VP Innovation at Colt, discusses Colt's global fiber network expansion (Lumen EU acquisition) and the integration of their IP network with new capabilities like SRv6 and automation. Colt is also developing a green connectivity solution.

Juan Rodriguez, Senior Sales Engineer at Drivenets, observes that disaggregation in networking is happening, and shares how they are helping customers address challenges on the journey.

Run Almog, Head of Product Strategy at Drivenets, discusses how the industry is showing interest in the disaggregated distributed chassis (DDC) solution as well as the emergence of SRv6.

Carsten Rossenhövel, CTO and co-founder of EANTC, discusses how the lab and 14 vendors came together to perform extensive testing of the latest advancements in networking. He also summarizes the findings from their 64-page report available on their website.

Amir Zmora, Founder and CEO of flexiWAN, speaks about AI/ML, network automation, and the concept of digital twins. He highlights that most companies are using AI for assistance and recommendations, not full network automation.

XiPeng Xiao, Lead of EU Standard & Industry Development at Huawei, notes the industry's shift in focus towards SRv6 technology and an increase in AI discussions during his 16th year at the Congress.

Maurice Abécassis, President and Co-founder of Innovetechs, commends Upperside Conferences for creating a platform that has become a reference for other shows. Maurice also discusses recent trends in networking.

Malake Abidar, Solutions Engineer for South EMEA at Keysight Technologies discusses Keysight's participation at the interop test at EANTC, and the recent introduction of their time sync analyzer.

Sven Freudenfeld, CTO of Telecom BU at Lanner Electronics, discusses developments in the carrier space: software-defined networking, AI, and automation, and the relevance to Lanner's hardware.

Wim Henderickx, Head of Technology and Architecture IP at Nokia, emphasizes the need for automation in the human-intensive network operations and the potential transition towards machine-assisted operations.

Heidi Adams, Head of Global Marketing for IP/Optical Networks at Nokia, discusses quantum safe networking and the use of AI in networking, along with the ongoing significance of DDoS protection.

Roland Thienpont, Director of the IP Division in Product Marketing at Nokia, highlights the value of the company's participation in the 25th edition of the MPLS event in Paris, citing detailed customer interaction and in-depth meetings.

David Stokes, Head of IP Solutions & Portfolio Marketing at Ribbon, emphasizes the event's focus on real operators' needs. He also touches on the shift from CLI to automation, the importance of cloud-native, and AI, ML, and big data analytics in networking.

Steve Douglas, Head of Market Strategy at Spirent, speaks about the evolution towards 400G Ethernet, network slicing for deterministic services, and evolution of data center fabrics to support AI processing, including use of ROCEv2.

Wanting Du, Data Analyst and Machine Learning Engineer at Swisscom, discusses her presentation on machine learning and anomaly detection. She also talks about the sense of community at the MPLS WC event.

Diego Lopez, Senior Technology Expert at Telefónica, discusses SDN, SRv6, and AI as key trends. He also predicts AI and SDN convergence with Quantum mechanisms in the next 5-6 years.

Paul Gampe, CTO of Console Connect, highlights the influence of AI on carrier networks, particularly in driving the need for data migration or repatriation. He cites the effectiveness of Console Connect's product, Cloud Router, in enabling direct connection between hyperscalers and handling the complex task of moving large amounts of data, as demonstrated in a case of moving 5 petabytes of data from Amazon to Google.

The Ethernet Alliance's OFC 2024 booth showcases Ethernet’s versatility and reliability at speeds of up to 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The booth demonstrated a wide range of switches, routers, interconnects and interfaces including OSFP, QSFP-DD, QSFP, and SFP pluggable form factors. Dave Estes shares an overview.

Sanjay Kumar, VP of Products and Marketing at Arrcus, introduced the company's solutions for enhancing AI and 5G capabilities for network operators, including data center solutions — a network fabric overlay FlexMCN and SRv6 mobile user plane (MUP) technology developed for SoftBank Mobile. Kumar also highlights ArcIQ, a solution offering end-to-end network visibility, and discussed the role of 5G as a transport mechanism for AI and ML workloads, emphasizing the company's commitment to optimizing GPU utilization, minimizing latency, and reducing total cost of ownership.

Weixiao Liu, CEO of NetElastic, predicts that fiber will disrupt hardware-based routers, especially access routers, and advocates for software-defined routing solutions like vbng and CGN routers. Liu asserts that these software-defined routers, which run on commodity hardware and offer cost-effective scalability, are the optimal choice to meet the increasing demand for servers and bandwidth in the Access Network.

Tom Foottit, VP Products from Accedian, explains how Accedian's partnership with Cisco can improve network performance assurance. The video provides details on: - Integration between Accedian and Cisco Crosswork for automation and assurance - Utilizing SRv6 data and performance data for better network correlation - Successful implementation with service provider customer Colt

Phil Banh, Sr Solutions Architect from Arrcus, explains what makes SRv6 uSID the future of scalable networking solutions: - High customer interest in #SRv6 and uSID scalability - Successful interoperability testing of SRv6 uSID with six other vendors in Berlin

Jean-Marc Uzé, VP Sales Engineering from Augtera Networks explains: - AI's increasing role in network operations - Innovative ideas for AI implementation in the industry - The importance of collaboration and rich discussions at conferences like MPLS World Congress 2023

Jahanzeb Baqai, Senior Director PLM from Ciena, discusses: - The introduction of Ciena's new WaveRouter for converged optical solutions, which has received tremendous customer response - Importance of network slicing in maintaining end-to-end SLA guarantees

What's new in the world of SDN, SRv6, and clock synchronization for 5G networks? Carsten Rossenhövel, Managing Director from EANTC, provides details on the 2023 interop test between multiple networking vendors: - Significant advancements in SRv6 technology: With eight vendors participating, five of them testing together for the first time, innovations like uSIDs and advanced traffic engineering scenarios were evaluated. - Focus on optimization, scaling, and operational efficiency: Mature technologies like EVPN over VXLAN, MPLS, and SRv6 are being optimized for better performance and ease of use in real-life network operations. - Innovations in clock synchronization for 5G use cases: With a focus on open front-haul scenarios and the need for precise synchronization, class D clocks demonstrated impressive precision, even in complex chains.

Gerhard Wieser, VP Automation from Elisa Polystar (CEO of Frinx.io prior to their acquisition) discusses: - Elisa Polystar's dedication to service assurance automation, closed-loop, and orchestration, built on a foundation of successful acquisitions and Elisa's own experience as a mobile operator. - Their comprehensive package of service assurance, transport automation, RAN automation, fault automation, and data operations, offering a compelling solution for customers. - The Elisa Polystar platform, which combines best-in-class products and experiences to help customers with service assurance automation, orchestration, and closed-loop processes.

How can automation and orchestration enhance enterprise connectivity? In the video, Stefan Walraven, CEO of Inmanta answers the question by covering: - Importance of time to market: How automation helps enterprises achieve secure and reliable connectivity when and where they need it. - Network as a service (#NaaS): Why #automation and orchestration are essential for delivering network on demand. - Intent-based approach: How Inmanta's unique method ensures a smooth transition from one stable state to another, providing better results.

Eli Karpilovski, CEO of InsidePacket, explains how service providers can enhance their network offerings for enterprise customers by: - Leveraging network-as-a-service (#NaaS) solutions to automate networks and provide seamless connectivity - Enabling application observability and other essential tools for enterprise customers - Reducing costs and opening new revenue streams by utilizing commodity off-the-shelf hardware

Michel Gosse, co-founder and partner director of Upperside Conferences and Kireeti Kompella, SVP & CTO platform systems at Juniper Networks thank attendees and invite everyone to join the MPLS World Congress next year (2024) on its 25th Anniversary.

Why is Segment Routing v6 (SRv6) becoming a major trend in the networking space? Sven Freudenfeld, CTO Telecom BU from Lanner, explains: - How he's seeing growing adoption of the IPv6 Segment Routing protocol - Lanner's Involvement in multiple projects focusing on SRv6 - How he expects to have more conversations with customers around SRv6

Roland Thienpont, Director IP Division Product Marketing from Nokia explains: - Why he's excited to be at MPLS WC with detailed in-depth customer discussion - How they are showcasing 800G, FP5 silicon, DeepField DDoS, and automation technologies - How he's seeing strong customer engagement and expectation to return next year

James McInroe, Head of Marketing from Nuage Networks, explains how SD-WAN and MPLS work together to enhance enterprise networking. He covers how: - SD-WAN is gaining interest as a complementary service to MPLS, driving global enterprise networking - Vendors are exploring ways to offer managed SD-WAN alongside MPLS for enterprise customers - The integration of SD-WAN and MPLS can provide more efficient and flexible networking solutions

How will BT upgrade their core network to support 400 gigabits and beyond? In this video, Russell Davey, Distinguished Engineer and Principal Network Architect from BT, explains the different options they are considering. Here are the top three talking points from the video: * With the advancement of coherent WM transceivers, it's now possible to put them in a plug that can be directly connected to a router, instead of using a separate transponder card. * BT is considering two options for upgrading their core network: continuing to use rodems and transponders, or putting the WDM optics into the router and going hop by hop through all the routers down the length of the country. * The best option for a particular route will depend on bandwidth and distance, and BT plans to deploy all the options over the next year or so before picking the best one. Overall, the video provides valuable insights into how BT plans to upgrade their core network to support faster speeds and stay ahead of the curve.

Henry Wu, Technical Director at Broadcom, unveils the Qumran3D, the industry's first 5-nanometer 25.6 terabit router chip, offering up to 66% power savings and 80% router space reduction. The device, designed to combat cybersecurity threats, supports high-speed, high-density port interfaces up to 800GE leveraging best-in-class 100Gb/s PAM-4 SerDes. The design also enables massive on chip forwarding databases, eliminating the need for companion devices

Radha Nagarajan, SVP and CTO of Optical and Cloud at Marvell, highlighted the company's new 800 Gbps ZR/ZR+ coherent pluggable module designed to enhance data center connectivity by converting a switch or router into a transport platform. The module, which leverages Marvell's capabilities at 800 gig, including the DSP, high-speed TIAs, drivers, and silicon photonics, enables a single fiber capacity of 25.6 terabits between data centers, facilitating larger data aggregation.

As we look ahead to the future of routing and switching in 2023, how will telcos and cloud operators integrate their infrastructure? Are we headed to a big mash-up? Here are 3 predictions from Arrcus’s Shekar Ayyar .

The bigger play associated with the SD-WAN market is the introduction of AI operations into the WAN equation. Jeff Aaron, VP of Enterprise Marketing at Juniper Networks, talks about the transition from the traditional WAN routing world, through the SD-WAN delivery model, to a new way of delivering WAN services called the AI-driven WAN.

Spectrum Enterprise, a part of Charter Communications, recently introduced a Managed Network Edge (MNE) service based on the Cisco Meraki cloud-based platform. Bob Schroeder, VP Product Management & Marketing, Spectrum Enterprise, talks about the new MNE base solution, which includes Managed Routing, Security, proactive monitoring, 24/7/365 support, service level agreements (SLAs) and professional installation.

Network functions in the NGCO require high throughput, low-latency, and deterministic behavior which general-purpose CPUs cannot always deliver. Ethernity provides data path offload on its FPGA SmartNIC, accelerating mobile and fixed networks to meet next-generation requirements and offering complete switch-router capability on a NIC.