Tom Gillis, VMware & Tom Burns, Dell EMC | VMworld 2019

Tom Gillis, SVP & GM, Networking & Security, VMware & Tom Burns, SVP & GM, Networking & Solutions, Dell EMC, talk with Stu Miniman & John Troyer at VMworld 2019 from Moscone North in San Francisco, CA.

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Dell EMC: Expect big changes as software eats networking

Software is eating networking, and it’s about time. Software-defined networking, network virtualization, software-hardware disaggregation, and intent-based networking are creating a nimbler network for multicloud. They’re changing the experience of networking end users and making new operating models possible.

Traditional networking methods — like Multiprotocol Label Switching and traffic backhauling are fading away, according to Tom Gillis (pictured, left), senior vice president and general manager of networking and security at VMware Inc.

Standards of measuring network performance are shifting too. “Networking has changed,” Gillis said. “It’s no longer about speeds and feeds. It’s about availability and simplicity.”

That essentially means raising networking to the software layer with automation, networking as code, SDN, etc.

SD-WAN takes it all the way to end users
Software-defined wide area networking is one new technology that is changing how people think about networking.

“It fundamentally changes the experience for the end user. And there’s not a lot of networking products that do that,” Gillis said. “I meet customers that are like, ‘This thing is magic. You plug it in and all of a sudden streaming just works.'”

The SD-WAN market is growing — depending on whom one believes — at 50% to 100% per year, according to Gillis. It is touted as a solution to a number of difficult modern IT problems. “SD-WAN plays a critical part as one of the stepping stones as it relates to creating the environment for … multicloud,” Burns said.

It’s a major piece in VMware and Dell EMC’s multicloud vision. The companies just announced worldwide shipment of Dell EMC SD-WAN solutions powered by VMware and Smart Fabric Director, which integrates with VMware’s NSX network virtualization.

As the network becomes increasingly software-defined, we may see methods of configuring and operating it never before possible, according to Gillis.

“I think we’re going to see a rapid change in networking over the next 12, 18 to 24 months,” Burns added.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the VMworld event. (* Disclosure: Dell Technologies Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)