Got this response to my Stretched Layer-2 Revisited blog post. It’s too good not to turn it into a blog post ;)

Recently I feel like it's really vendors pushing layer 2 solutions, rather than us (enterprise customer) demanding it.

I had that feeling for years. Yes, there are environment with legacy challenges (running COBOL applications on OS/370 with emulated TN3270 terminals comes to mind), but in most cases it’s the vendors trying to peddle unique high-priced non-interoperable warez.

As example Cisco have been really aggressively pushing us to buy into their SDA solution.

Most of networking could be simplified and commoditized, and that scares the hell out of every vendor that hasn’t refocused on streamlined logistics, or decided to refocus on new stuff. They could either compete on price, or try to apply another layer of high-perceived-value abstraction on top of the commoditized infrastructure – in Cisco’s case ACI or SDA on top of data center or campus switches.

It’s a bit ironic that I first heard about Crossing the Chasm at a Cisco conference when they were still somewhere between innovators and early adopters phase, and now the full implication of the tail of the technology adoption lifecycle is biting them. They should have known better.

It currently seems to rely mostly on VXLAN overlays that let you stretch layer 2 domains. The selling point being you can click buttons in a GUI and just pretend its magic and not a layer 2 overlay.

To be honest, it’s not exactly layer-2 overlay, but mostly an IP mobility solution using interesting control plane, but that’s beyond the point.

I was told by someone from Cisco "you don't need to worry about what it's doing"... which sort of translated to "shut up and buy it".

In other words: stay on the left side of the Dunning-Kruger diagram, so you’ll be completely locked into what we’re doing. Oh, and maybe you won’t notice the guy behind the curtain, or how good (or not) we are when it’s time to fix the mess.

Large layer 2 domains are something we've been slowly moving away from for years, we no longer have the same reliance on layer 2 connectivity in the majority of the campus. Most of our legacy applications are long gone and in recent times we've been trying to ensure no "lazy" application are purchased.

Good for you. It’s so nice to see someone moving in the right direction.

Unfortunately, based on what I’m seeing the majority of enterprise environments happily prefer taking the blue pill and ignoring their competitors going in the right direction. Guess what – so did Barnes & Noble when Amazon was a tiny speck on the horizon. It seems they managed to recover from that blunder; others might not be so fortunate.