ONUG is here again and next week I will be heading to San Francisco to participate in the Spring conference. This will be the fourth ONUG conference I am attending and it has been fascinating to see the event evolve from defining the SD-WAN business requirements, and expanding to Cloud, Security and Analytics -all new topics at the Spring event.

The key behind all of these technologies is digital transformation and I believe that this will continue to be the main driver for network innovation. Cloud applications, more mobile devices and IoT are challenging existing network designs and forcing organizations to think of the network more holistically while ensuring their users and data are secure.

So what does a digital-ready network look like? While SDN has been about a software driven approach to networking, it has also resulted in more automation capabilities that can help free up the time IT spends managing and operating their networks. More programmability allows organizations to tap into the intelligence within the network and create more business value. Lastly in order for networks to become more proactive and resolve issues before they occur, analytics will be key to making networks smarter.

I hope to see these topics and more discussed at the conference. If you are attending the ONUG spring conference, this is a quick overview of the activities Cisco will be participating in:

Day 1: Tuesday 25^thApril

12:20-1:20pm. The Lunch and Technology Showcase will give you an opportunity to see a demo of Cisco's SD-WAN and Branch Virtualization solutions

2:05-2:50pm. Open SD-WAN OSE Exchange Update. Steve Wood, Cisco's Principle Architect will give an update on the work he is doing to drive open standards into SD-WAN working group.

Day 2: Wednesday 26^thApril

12:30-1:30pm. The Lunch and Technology Showcase will give you an opportunity to see a demo of Cisco's SD-WAN and Branch Virtualization solutions

2:30pm. POC Theater. Kishan Ramaswamy, Cisco Senior Product Manager, will give an overview of Cisco's Enterprise NFV solution with Intelligent WAN and how it will enable the branch for digital.

3:45-4:15pm.  Jaeson Schultz,  Cisco Talos Technical Architect will participate in the panel on Security Threats and Vulnerabilities in a software defined world.

4:35-5:30pm.Dave Ward, Cisco's CTO of Engineering and Chief Architect will participate in the ONUG Town Hall Meeting -The New Vendor/Buyer Role

I look forward to seeing you there. For those of you who can't attend in person, follow me on twitter @ghodgaonkar for updates.