Back in March, the issue was raised whether disaggregation — decoupling network software from hardware for lower cost, choice and flexibility — could play in the enterprise as well as the service provider realm.

The answer, judging by recent events, is that it can. But currently to a lesser extent than it does with service providers, which will still reap most of the benefits of initial enterprise deployments.

Announcements by Pica8, Ciena and AT&T that they plan to offer bare metal and white box switches, and virtual network functions as customer premises equipment, do signal that enterprises are indeed a target for disaggregation. But penetration is currently limited to CPE supplied and managed by service providers for the purpose of connecting that enterprise to its service network.

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