This panel, featuring Shazia Hasnie and other industry leaders, explored the timeline and impact of SDN/NFV transformation. They concluded that while current networks are connectivity-centric with static, closed, and hardware-dependent infrastructure, evolving networks will be service-centric. This new model enables abstraction, multi-vendor interoperability, and on-demand, pay-per-use services. A key insight is that delivering innovative, dynamic services is impossible without full end-to-end automation across the service lifecycle. Tomorrow's network will be driven by applications, reshaping itself on demand—fundamentally changing networking from providing connectivity to supporting applications.

Panel Discussion
Carrier Network Virtualization Conference, Palo Alto, California
December 2014