I didn't say a lot about the Tofino security appliance, yet it has incredibly vast applications.
For example, an integrated asic version of it could be super to include within wireless transmitters. Every networked device in the plant network should have one sitting in front of it. That's a bunchaton of devices.
In addition, every Point-of-Use terminal everywhere in the world needs one...actually two, because the terminal needs one, and the card swiper needs one.
Every ATM in the world needs one. Period.
Why didn't Cisco think this up first?
It is because of the huge difference between the enterprise IT world and the plant IT world.
The basic mission of enterprise IT is to save the server, and the data. If a peripheral device causes a problem, the answer is to pull it off the line.
In process automation, we take the opposite view-- the devices are more important than the servers. We can't take a device that is working correctly offline just because it appears to be fouling up the network...we need that device for local control.
Interesting product-- maybe a category killer-- and the Byres have it patented.
In three years, the Tofino tail may be wagging the MTL dog.
