Next week the Open Networking User Group meets for its fall conference in New York City. I am looking forward to learning how the SDN landscape is evolving and what is top of mind for IT architects and business leaders.

One hot topic across the board is digital transformation. It has become clear that the network has a key role in determining how quickly organizations can roll out new digital initiatives. Success will ultimately lead to competitive advantage and failure can lead to increased competition or extinction as we have seen with Uber vs Taxis, Netflix vs Blockbuster and Amazon vs Barnes and Noble.

So how will networking need to change so organizations can succeed with their digital transformation? In March, Cisco launched Digital Network Architecture (DNA) to provide IT organizations with a blueprint on how to build out their networks for the digital economy. Cisco DNA clearly outlines the business outcomes that networks will need to deliver:

These outcomes will require IT to ensure that their network architectures can support the following technologies -Automation, Analytics, Cloud Managed, Virtualization -while also being open and secure. IT will need to look at their networks holistically rather than as individual components e.g. branch, WAN, campus and data center. Today, solutions like SD-WAN and SDN have been targeted toward that WAN and data center. But what about the branch and the campus LAN? Networks that are 'Digital Ready' can no longer be built in silos. You have to look across the network from the user all the way to where applications are hosted in order for organizations to deliver better business outcomes that will accelerate their digital transformation.

If you are attending the ONUG fall conference, this is a quick overview of the activities Cisco will be participating in:

Day 1: Monday 24^thOctober

1. 12:40-1:40pm. The Lunch and Technology Showcase will give you an opportunity to see a demo of Cisco's SD-WAN and Branch Virtualization solutions, IWAN and Enterprise NFV
2. 1:30-1:40pm. . POC Theater. Liad Ofek, Director Product Management, will give an overview of Cisco's Enterprise NFV solution and how it will enable branch virtualization.
3. 3:10-3:40pm. 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. Tuesday 25^thOctober

1. 1:30-1:50pm. As part of the Luncheon Partnership series, Senior Network Engineer Chris Bregar, will be provide insights into how MTD Products is redesigning its WAN to help achieve its business goals.
2. 11:45-12:45pm. The Lunch and Technology Showcase will give you an opportunity to see a demo of Cisco's SD-WAN and Branch Virtualization solutions, IWAN and Enterprise NFV.
3. 4:10-5:10pm. Dave Ward, Cisco's CTO of Engineering and Chief Architect will participate in the ONUG Town Hall Meeting -Big Network Data Analytics.

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