Programming and API knowledge are common themes across SDN and “Open”. As we focus more on software, we will see a proliferation of APIs and a need to understand programming. An effective _hybrid_ engineer tomorrow will have both solid networking skills as well as an understanding of programmatic concepts. Keeping these technology and industry transitions in mind, Cisco Americas Partners Organization (APO) kicked off “Project Hybrid Engineer” this summer for Cisco Partners SEs with a focus on enhancing hands-on network programmability knowledge. This session highlights some of the key initiatives underway where APO is taking its experiences and enabling key Cisco Partners workforce for Cisco's Network Programmability solutions early on in the lifecycle. If you are a Cisco Partner, come and learn how you can benefit from “Project Hybrid Engineer” and get your workforce ready for this key technology transition.
3. IoT, IoE,
Fog
DC, Cloud,
SDx, NFV
DevOps , NP
Apps
Mobile Big Data,
Analytics
50B
Connected
Devices by
2020
80% of
enterprise
apps were
deployed in
the Cloud in
2014
300K apps
available in
2010–>2M+ in
2014
More data
created in
2012 than the
past 5000
years
Connected
devices
outnumbered
people in 2014
Pace of Change is Accelerating
4. Changing Role of IT
The Only Constant Is Change
Business Implications
Technology Transitions
Agility & Speed
Growth &
Innovation
Security &
Privacy
Mobile
DevOps, NP,
Apps
DC, Cloud,
SDx, NFV
New Business
Models
Experience
Expectations
Big Data,
Analytics
IoT, IoE,
Fog
7. App Developers don’t speak “network”!
App Developers and
Architects
Transactions
Network Teams
VLANs
Subnets
QoS
Ports
Developer and infrastructure teams must translate between disparate languages.
Queries
SLAs
Policies
Challenge (i.e. Opportunity): Need “common language”
13. Information
Architecture
Business
Architecture
Technology
Architecture
Roles required ( functional )
Business Consulting Specialist
Operational Process/ Workflow
Specialist
Business Consulting, Operational Processes
Evolved Skills Required
Application Design, Systems Integration,
DevOps
Network Design, Network Programmability, Cloud
Systems Integration Specialist Application Specialist
Product Specialist Domain Specialist
14. • Select leadership team to build evolution plan
• Members from both Sales and Operations
• Define Baseline
• Decide on roles needed to support desired business models
• Determine time frame to meet market and customer demands
• Build Recruitment plan for missing skills/roles
• Target Systems Integration Specialists and Application Specialists (In-Organic)
• Provide guidance to engineering management on key skills profiles
• Enhance Existing Engineer Skills
• Conduct engineering skills assessment “Software Skills” survey?
• Identify current skills gaps
Skills Evolution Roadmap
15. • Where should I start?
• Data Center, Cloud, SP, Collaboration, Enterprise Networking
• Startout with Data Center & Cloud
• Why? Evolve or Die : Fastest changing architecture
• Automate Everything DevOps Expertise?
• Execute the Plan
• Run as a dedicated program
• Need a Program manager to execute / track
• Possible collaboration and cross pollination with local universities
• Measure and improve the process
• Lessons learned : what works , what doesn't
• Incorporate and improve the overall process
• Incorporate the other architectures
Skills Evolution Roadmap Cont.
17. The “hybrid” Engineer
• Programming and API knowledge are common themes across key technology
transitions (Open, SDN, NFV, Cloud, DC, IoT, etc.)
• The ability to read and write code is not unique to a specific technology
• As we focus more on software, we will see a proliferation of APIs and a need to
understand programming and DevOps
• An effective engineer tomorrow will have both solid networking skills as well as an
understanding of programmatic concepts
18. “hybrid” Engineer Enablement Activities: Agile!
DevNet
Learning Labs, Skills
Surveys, Industry
Events .
Launched in Dec.
Python
Coursera 9-Week
Interactive Online
Course with Partner
Community Support
Hackathons
Hackathons
Contests at Partner
SE Event
Trainings, Rotations
& Certifications
DevOps, Network
Programmability,
L@C Webinars &
Specializations
Step
One
Step
Two
Step
Four
Step
Three
APO DevOps Forum
19. DevNet: 2014-2015
• Dedicated DevNet Zone @ TLC South Geekfest event in Jun
2014 for Cisco Partner developers and network engineers
• Pre-cooked DevNet API/Programming Learning Labs
• APO “Software Skills” Survey
• Industry events with Partner participation
Step
One
20. Python Interactive Course: 2014-2015
• 9 weeks Python course for Cisco Partners and APO SEs
• 1st Class: ~ 200 Cisco Partners and Cisco SEs enrolled
• 2nd Class: ~ 150 Cisco Partners and Cisco SEs enrolled
• Support Mailer
• Partner Support Community
• Weekly Support Calls
Step
Two
21. Hackathon @ Partners SE Events: 2014-2015
• APO’s “Hackathon in a Box”
• 12-24-48 hours hackathons
• 2 technology tracks: SDN/DC and Mobility/IoT
• 10 teams composed of 100 hackers
• 10 apps and scripts
• Hackers pulls all-nighters (Killer “App”: Pizza & Red-bull!!!)
• Two winning teams, one from each track
• Yield unique solutions to monetize!
Step
Three
22. ACI Partner Rotation Program : 2014-2015
• APO team in collaboration with the ACI Engineering team has
launched a two weeks ACI Partner Rotation Program
• Selected Partner SEs will work on-site with ACI Engineering
team on application development and integration
• Enabling Partners to build DevOps practices and add
programmability to their portfolio of skills and yield unique
solutions to monetize!
Step
Four
(a)
Open
Source Open APIs
RESTful APIs
( XML / JSON )
PowerShell /Python
Clients
23. Trainings, Certifications, Roadshows: 2014-2015
One day online course Technical Webinars NP Designer NP Engineer
Step
Four
(b)
• Network Programmability (NP) Specialist Certifications
• Business Application Engineer
• NP Developer, NP Designer, NP Engineer
• One day Prerecorded Online Video Course
• Introducing Network Programmability Fundamentals
• Technical Webinars
• 10 Sessions/3,820 Registrations/4.47CSAT
• 8 City Roadshow with over 300 participates
Business App Engineer
https://learningnetworkstore.cisco.com/skillsoft/introducing-network-programmability-fundamentals-ctod-sdn-1-0-017141
https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/learning_center/sdn_live_seminars
http://ecmx-wip.cisco.com/web/learning/certifications/specialist/index.html#net
24. • APO Partners & Cisco Collaboration Platform & Community
• APO Partner DevOps and Application Development Event
• June 7, 2015, San Diego, CA
• A showcase for Cisco & Partner based integrated solutions, integrated suite of
tools, DevOps and application Sandboxes and support capabilities
• Keynotes, Panel Discussions, Breakouts, Workshops, Hackathons
APO DevOps Forum: 2015 Kick-off!
27. Key Takeaways
• Continue to promote learning and development of programmatic skills and
build out a diverse group of “hybrid” engineers
• Continue to encourage development of programming, automation, scripting,
virtualization, and Linux/OS skills across teams
• Make sure skills are being grown across technology teams
• As we have seen, these open and SDN technologies will touch multiple
areas
• Grow teams around skills (organically vs. In-organically)
• Make sure new hiring is done considering the upcoming set of open and SDN
technologies
• Not everyone needs to be a developer, but having programming skill is an
important asset
• Continue to fold new technology introductions into training programs
28. Complete Your Online Session Evaluation
Don’t forget: Cisco Live sessions will be available
for viewing on-demand after the event at
CiscoLive.com/Online
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29. Continue Your Education
• Demos in the Cisco campus
• Walk-in Self-Paced Labs
• Table Topics
• Meet the Engineer 1:1 meetings
• Related sessions
More businesses and organizations are seeking technology solutions to solve their important challenges.
And as more people, processes, data and things become connected, the pace of change is accelerating.
These network-centric trends are creating challenges and opportunities for customers and for Cisco. Consider:
50B connected devices by 2020 (Telefonica I&D 2011 and Cisco Visual Networking Index 2012)
80% of Ent apps deployed in the cloud in 2012 (IDC Predictions press release: http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23177411)
300K apps available in 2010; market grew to 2 million available mobile apps in 2012 (IDC and Deloitte Predictions: IDC: http://www.idc.com/about/viewpressrelease.jsp?containerId=prUS22617910§ionId=null&elementId=null&pageType=SYNOPSIS and Deloitte TMT Predictions: http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GX/global/industries/technology-media-telecommunications/tmt-predictions-2012/telecommunications/e6d1068df67a4310VgnVCM1000001a56f00aRCRD.htm#.UXQwLIIiHKg )
More data created in 2012 than the past 5000 years; 4 exabytes of unique information generated in 2012; more than the previous 5000 years combined (Source: Telefonica I&D 2011)
Connected devices will outnumber people by 2014; There will be over 10 billion mobile-connected devices in 2017, including machine-to-machine (M2M) modules-exceeding the world's population at that time (7.6 billion). (Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2012–2017)
Traditional networks don’t understand relationships between end points (servers) and the services that govern those relationships (firewalls, load balancers, etc),
- it only understands relationships between traditional network constructs – vlans, subnets, ports, etc.
Often it’s not even clear which shared networking components a given app depends on, creating problems for troubleshooting and assessing the impact of planned maintenance (change control expected impact assessment).
If we look FAST IT transformation from EA angle then it becomes apparent a broader set of skill sets will be required that spans from Processes , Governance, Application Architecture and Technology solutions as well as Systems Integration and Operations and Management .
Business level consulting, CXO level business and technology mappings .. Also another breed of skills is operational and workflow processes skills which is a different set of skills requiring knowledge of operations frameworks such as ITIL, eTOM etc .
These are the roles that we think that our organization needs to evolve to , this is our future state …
Buysiness ARchitecture
Systems Integration Specialist – business :
- Responsible for analysis, design and implementation of solutions which enable existing and new applications and custom built systems
- Sample technologies and methods worked on include service-oriented-architecture (SOA), Business Process Management tools (BPM), Enterprise Service Buses (ESB), etc.
Business Process/Workflow Specialist:
- Responsible for analysis, design and implementation and refinement of operational processes and workflows which support existing and new applications and custom built systems.
- Sample processes and workflows include Change Management, Problem Management ( ITIL) and Strategy, Infra & Product domain models from eTOM. etc
Information Architec
Platform Specialist – e,g. unified framework , services catalog / ucsd .. .openstack .. Apic integration w/ EN module ( Cloud + Element
Application Specialist - Application architecture
Technology Architecture :
Prod Specialist , e,g, UCS expert e.g. CSE ( general portfolio , )
Domain Specialist SE e.g. Firewall / Security : VSG , ASA , VFW … don’t need to be expert in the product rather than the domain and functional blocks ( e,g, an existing TSA ) ..
Bettter way to evolve . Organic + In organic growth.
Upleveling internal skills and bringing in talent from outside .
Application specialist : General application architect role where person understands the applications and how these applications can use the infrasructur
System Integration specialist :
Based on the business requirements . Not all CSE’s need to be assigned to this .. People leading this ( APO-STC ) should have MBO’s . We also need to look at people who have some thses pre-requisites already like the development background and they just need a bit of a direction rather than full blown hand holding .. These people that we id via the baseline exercise may understand what the software selling models are , how to structure licensing , ELA’s etc.
Asks/Recommendations are in Orange
Nirav’s recommended person : Dipen Shah
The priority list will change depending on technology space however I have tried to categorize skills here.
Python (Across the board)
Puppet/Chef (DC)
REST API/XML/JSON (DC)
Shell Scripting/BASH (DC)
Cobbler/CFEngine (DC)
Linux (Ubuntu/RedHat) (DC/Cloud)
JAVA (DC/NMS/Collab/Security)
Openstack (DC/Cloud)
OpenDaylight (DC/Cloud)
XMPP/Jabber
C
Python is a table stake. Every engineer needs to have a basic working knowledge of it .. and this is why we have chosen as “de-facto”.
Python, Chef, Puppet, CFEngine, and Cobbler (in this order) are also big in the DC space, but not seen in a lot of other technology areas right now. For instance, sys-admins like Puppet (declarative language) and programmers prefer Ruby (Chef is written using Ruby and Erlang), however in most of the cases programmers do not deal with network device automation, so IMHO, Puppet makes more sense. However, one interesting point to keep in mind that N9K (standalone chassis) support Chef instead of Puppet. You might think why is that, it was due to their beachhead customers and their preference and maybe because of better Chef documentation. This is the reason I have given Chef higher priority than Puppet.
REST API/XML/JSON form a good basis for a number of technologies and pervasive where it’s used. For instance, the ASR1K support RESTful interface. We have XML support in our Nexus series as well as some XML/NETCONF support in IOS. JSON is the data encapsulation language du jour on the internet. This is the reason I have this category higher in the priority list.
Linux is everywhere, too. Some Linux/UNIX/Shell knowledge as we will see software and Linux appliance based software become more prevalent in each technology. For instance, OnePK can be distributed on an Ubuntu-based VM.
Java is somewhat important from the point of view that we have a number of applications that use it. Understanding how to read Java code, stack traces and understand the semantics of the Java language help to make engineers in the NMS, voice apps, and security spaces better troubleshooters (and I'm sure in other technologies, too), however I do not see it as a high priority in APO or Partner SE community.
Openstack is obviously big in the DC and Cloud spaces. It pretty much lives there with the exception that we have VIRL/CML on the horizon, and it will use Openstack under the covers. That said, the level of Openstack customization will probably be low to non-existent, so engineers working on Cloud technologies may handle it like any of our other products that use Open Source software.
Opendaylight (ODL) is also big in DC space and Cisco is committed to it with our “platinum level” contributions at ODL. You may also know that we have standardized on three Cisco SDN controllers (APIC-DC, APIC-EM and ODL). Working knowledge of ODL and OF would be critical.
XMPP/Jabber towards the end in the priority list. For instance, XMPP will be getting bigger from the point of view that it is being seen as a good M2M protocol and something of interest for the IoT space. But that is likely going to be a bit down the road. Our engineering working in IoT space may keep a tap on this.
C programming is included given that the onePK APIs will support it. In Services it would be somewhat high given that our NOSes are built using C and Services engineers working on CATS, RP, and LAN SW technologies tends to read that code to effectively troubleshoot problems on those platforms. For APO and Partners SEs, I would not worry about it.
So bottom line, I would probably have the priority you see here for the DCN/Cloud space, but for other technology areas, I would keep it general and adjust things up and down to make sure there is proper coverage.