Written by Amrit Hanspal, Sr. Product Manager, Service Provider Segment Lead, Network OS Tech Group

Cisco Live at Orlando in 2013 offers a host of opportunities if you are a service provider or a large enterprise that offers services to internal groups. Watch out for the following five key areas and the respective speaking sessions when it comes to software capabilities of the Routing & Switching platforms-(1) IPv6, (2) SDN, (3) Core IP & Optical, (4) Ethernet Access & Aggregation and (5) IP Routing.

IPv6

June 2012 officially marked the IPv6 Internet with the World IPv6 Launch led by the Internet Society. Within the first six months, IPv6 traffic broke the 1% threshold and established the fact that IPv6 had moved from an experiment to mainstream phase with US traffic approaching close to 3%. Join us for a discussion on where IPv6 is headed(Session ID: PSOSPG-1330)- new opportunities for IPv6 with Internet of Everything. We will be delighted to share our experiences deploying IPv6(Session ID: PNLCRS-2303)as our IPv6 gurus highlight deployment best practices and real-world challenges. For those of you in Networking, we got you covered with the Troubleshooting IPv6 session(Session ID: BRKRST-2304).

See full list at http://www.slideshare.net/getyourbuildon/ipv6-at-cisco-live-orlando

SDN-Software Defined Networking

The industry's latest buzzword is sure to mean different things to different folks. In true Cisco style, we will want to start you off with an understanding of the SDN use cases(Session ID: TECSPG-2667)and help you translate this into business benefits of simplified operations and accelerated monetization with the Cisco ONE framework. We will hold a panel session(Session ID: PNLRST-4007)where we look to answer your queries in an interactive format to highlight strategies on how to deliver on network programmability for your organization. Cisco ONE framework has a key building block in terms of OnePK -join us for an in-depth look at OnePK(Session ID: BRKCDN-1015)as well how to build applications that directly access Cisco Routers & Switches via OnePK(Session ID: BRKRST-2117).OpenFlow is a key component, that builds upon OnePK and is part of the Cisco ONE framework -an in-depth look at this emerging specification being developed by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is in order(Session ID: BRKRST-2051).The discussion around SDN is not complete till we add in the datacenter applicability -and we offer two very informative sessions. The first focuses on how we host Applications that utilize OnePK to communicate with Network elements such as routers & switches(Session ID: BRKARC-2012). The second session takes an architectural approach on how a tiered open API across functional blocks delivers on the promise of highly agile and automated next-gen datacenters(Session ID: BRKDCT-2314).

See full list at http://www.slideshare.net/getyourbuildon/one-pk-orlando

Core & Optical Transport

Core & Optical Transport is driven by the high rate of 100GE Optical interfaces market adoption. With greater bandwidth available, the need to use traffic engineering & resiliency mechanisms like MPLS TE & Fast Reroute respectively is key(Session ID: BRKMPL-2100). Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) has long been associated with the Optical world -join us for an exciting session that highlights how IP + Optical Integration with DWDM networks can benefit from the addition of GMPLS(Session ID: BRKMPL-3010).MPLS has come a long way since the late 1990s with the original intent of bringing the best of IP Routing and ATM -see where we are headed with an in-depth look at advanced topics(Session ID: BRKMPL-3101)that includes Unified MPLS, Transport Evolution & Layer 2 VPNs with PBB-eVPN/EVPN. Finally, please do join us for a highly interactive panel session on how 3 key offerings of MPLS -MPLS TE, MPLS TP and GMPLS -are integrated to enable Transport Evolution(Session ID: PNLSPG-3999).

See full list at http://www.slideshare.net/getyourbuildon/mpls-orlando

Ethernet Access & Aggregation

Ethernet Access & Aggregation represents a key focus area for Cisco's Service Provider offerings. Unification is a key theme as service providers look towards consolidating different subscribers over the same network. Start your journey with an intermediate level session focused on Layer 2 IP/MPLS VPNs(Session ID: BRKMPL-2101).Learn about building out Carrier Ethernet services with Cisco's Ethernet Virtual Circuit (EVC) capabilities(Session ID: BRKSPG-2204)and how to operate them in a closely related session focusing on Ethernet OAM(Session ID: BRKNMS-2202).With network convergence on Access & Aggregation comes the more stringent requirement of resiliency. Please join us in a fascinating session that brings together concepts that include Multiple Spanning Tree (MST), Resiliency Ethernet Protocols (REP) and Ethernet Ring Protection Switching with G.8032(Session ID: BRKSPG-2207).Peer into the future of Carrier Ethernet with us, in a session that focuses on Next Gen Layer 2 VPNs that are being standardized currently in IETF -Ethernet VPN (E-VPN) and Provider Backbone Bridging E-VPN (PBB-EVPN)(Session ID: BRKMPL-2333).

See full list at http://www.slideshare.net/getyourbuildon/ethernet-orlando

IP Routing

Lastly, it's worthwhile to put IP Routing in context -it is the heart and soul of networking; and Cisco's Service Provider software strategy is to enhance this area. Join us for a thought-provoking session on Cisco Performance Routing (PfR)  and learn how to incorporate real time routing adjustments with delay, loss, jitter, path availability & load distribution(Session ID: BRKRST-2362). Mobility is another buzzword in the industry currently -join us as we demystify concepts of IP address persistency in Mobile Cellular and Enterprise WLAN environments with a focus on seamless access, robust authentication and scalable architectures(Session ID: BRKRST-2370).Finally -BGP!  BGP is now the defacto standard for signaling protocol in a vast variety of Service Provider offerings -whether they are L3 VPNs or L2 VPN or Ethernet. We would love to have you in this discussion, where we will highlight BGP scalability, BGP PIC and 4 byte AS support.

See full list at http://www.slideshare.net/getyourbuildon/routing-protoc