Gallons of virtual ink have been committed to virtual paper in the last few days with regards to Cisco’s lawsuit against Arista Networks.  Some of it is speculating on the posturing by both companies.  Other writers talk about the old market vs. the new market.  Still others look at SDN as a driver.

I didn’t just want to talk about the lawsuit.  Given that Arista has marketed EOS as a “better IOS than IOS” for a while now, I figured Cisco finally decided to bite back.  They are fiercely protective of IOS and they have to be because of the way the trademark laws in the US work.  If you don’t go after people that infringe you lose your standing to do so and invite others to do it as well.  Is Cisco’s timing suspect? One does have to wonder.  Is this about knocking out a competitor? It’s tough to say.  But one thing is sure to me.  Cisco has effectively killed the command line interface (CLI).

“Industry Standards”

EOS is certainly IOS-like.  While it does introduce some unique features (see the NFD3 video here), the command syntax is very much IOS.  That is purposeful.  There are two broad categories of CLIs in the market:

• IOS-like – EOS, HP Procurve, Brocade, FTOS, etc
• Not IOS-like – Junos, FortiOS, D-Link OS, etc

What’s funny is that the IOS-like interfaces have always been marketed as such.  Sure, there’s the famous “industry standard” CLI comment, followed by a wink and a nudge.  Everyone knows what OS is being discussed.  It is a plus point for both sides.

The non-Cisco vendors can sell to networking teams by saying that their CLI won’t change.  Everything will be just as easy to configure with just a few minor syntax changes.  Almost like speaking a different dialect of a language.  Cisco gains because more and more engineers become familiar with the IOS syntax.  Down the line, those engineers may choose to buy Cisco based on familiarity with the product.

If you don’t believe that being IOS-like is a strong selling point, take a look PIX and Airespace.  The old PIX OS was transformed into something that looked a lot more like traditional IOS.  In ASA 8.2 they even changed the NAT code to look like IOS.  With Airespace it took a little longer to transform the alien CLI into something IOS-like.  They even lost functionality in doing so, simply to give networking teams an interface that is more friendly to them.  Cisco wants all their devices to run a CLI that is IOS-like.  Junos fans are probably snickering right now.

In calling out Arista for infringing on the “generic command line interface” in patent #7,047,526, Cisco has effectively said that they will start going after companies that copy the IOS interface too well.  This leaves companies in a bit of conundrum.  How can you continue to produce an OS with an “industry standard” CLI and hope that you don’t become popular enough to get noticed by Cisco?  Granted, it seems that all network switching vendors are #2 in the market somehow.  But at what point does being a big enough #2 get the legal hammer brought to bear?  Do you have to be snarky in marketing messages? Attack the 800-pound gorilla enough that you anger them?  Or do you just have to have a wildly successful quarter?

Laid To REST

Instead, what will happen is a tough choice.  Either continue to produce the same CLI year and year and hope that you don’t get noticed or overhaul the whole system.  Those that choose not to play Russian Roulette with the legal system have a further choice to make.  Should we create a new, non-infringing CLI from the ground up? Or scrap the whole idea of a CLI moving forward?  Both of those second choices are going to involve a lot of pain and effort.  One of them has a future.

Rewriting the CLI is a dead-end road.  By the time you’ve finished your Herculean task you’ll find the market has moved on to bigger and better things.  The SDN revolution is about making complex networks easier to program and manage.  Is that going to be accomplished via yet another syntax?  Or will it happen because of REST APIs and programing interfaces?  Given an equal amount of time and effort on both sides, the smart networking company will focus their efforts on scrapping the CLI and building programmability into their devices.  Sure, the 1.0 release is going to sting a little.  It’s going to require a controller and some rough interface conventions.  But building the seeds of a programmable system now means it will be growing while other CLIs are withering on the vine.

It won’t be easy.  It won’t be fun.  And it’s a risk to alienate your existing customer base.  But if your options are to get sued or spend all your effort on a project that will eventually go the way of the dodo your options don’t look all that appealing anyway.  If you’re going to have to go through the upheaval of rewriting something from the ground up, why not choose to do it with an eye to the future?

Tom’s Take

Cisco and Arista won’t be finished for a while.  There will probably be a settlement or a licensing agreement or some kind of capitulation on both sides in a few years time.  But by that point, the fallout from the legal action will have finally finished off the CLI for good.  There’s no sense in gambling that you won’t be the next target of a process server.  The solution will involve innovative thinking, blood, sweat, and tears on the part of your entire development team.  But in the end you’ll have a modern system that works with the new wave of the network.  If nothing else, you can stop relying on the “industry standard” ploy when selling your interface and start telling your customers that you are setting the new standard.