Can software-defined networking truly drive scalable agility in enterprise information technology? This was the primary topic discussed at this week’s Open Networking Summit 2017, hosted by The Linux Foundation, in Santa Clara, California. During theCUBE’s live broadcast from the event, our analysts took some time to break down key insights, exploring innovations in open networking and orchestration and the future of Software-Defined Networking.

“I am here to check out the buzz to see if this stuff is actually happening. And I think we heard this morning that it has happened,” said Scott Raynovich (@rayno) (pictured, right), guest host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, and founder and analyst at Futuriom Research.

Raynovich and theCUBE co-host Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick) (pictured, left) analyzed the event news, as well as spoke about their interview with Martin Casado, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and an SDN pioneer. Casado talked about the evolution of the product and how it has hit $1 billion of revenue.

The analysts discussed AT&T Inc.’s announcement regarding white box switching and the release of its open-source software platform that powers its SDN. The benefits are a uniform open network that will power Internet of Things in the future.

Raynovich believes the live production white box system is significant for the industry. He explained that instead of taking proprietary hardware, third-party vendors can use the chips from AT&T with an outsourced manufacturer to create their own boxes and use the new open-source platform to load their software.

“This is an interesting development, because it means the network operators has now become their own integrator. It looks like they are becoming the integrators themselves, buying the pieces, what they need in gluing it all together — much the way Google built their network,” he said.

And speaking of Google Inc., another innovator in SDN, the analysts talked about how the company built its entire system on SDN technologies. The latest announcement is the release of  Espresso, a Software-Defined Networking stack, which allows third-party internet service providers to use the network to offer services to their customers.

So what do the incumbents in the industry have to monetize?

“They absolutely have to focus on software because the hardware is becoming commoditized … emphasis on software, and they have to make this transition to integrate more open-source technologies, said Raynovich.

He believes that the operators are still going to need partners. And customers are still going to need service and support along with the services that go along with installation of the hardware and software.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Open Networking Summit.

Photo: SiliconANGLE