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Also, I think Cisco paid over a billion for one mesh community network's project. I think a YC cofounder may have been involved in that project. Not sure. Its Cisco brand name is Meraki.
It appears portable autonomous networks (i.e. no telco needed) are useful and valuable for many, diverse reasons. I posit that if you can build your "no telco required" network from affordable parts and can get it to work consistently, then it has value, irrespective of whatever "intended uses" for it you might have in mind.
If I build a better LAN, it might be used by companies with high maintenance corporate networks, or it might be used by high scoring gamers at LAN parties. The LAN technology does not fundamentally change, only the usage.
However, your point is well taken. As far as buzzwords go, "mesh network" is not in the same league as "cloud computing". You will not see "mesh network" in Cisco's marketing.
But was this really a "pivot"? Or is this a case of a use (corporate LAN) that differs from the original one (community LAN): what I would call an "unintended use".
My idea of a "pivot" is something like when some young developers want to start a company that takes orders for food delivery over the web but then, after consulting with the older folks who would provide funding, decide instead to build a news commentary blog that functions like a forum. That sounds like more than a change of usage. It sounds like an entirely different program. But maybe not. Maybe the system they create for taking orders is more or less the same one they use for taking comments on news items.
Anyway, it's an interesting story and regardless of how the stuff is being used now, it was originally used for creating "mesh networks", a type of portable network that could run with a telco. Now it is used, by Cisco customers, for creating "distributed networks".
But, for example, Meraki products are used to create LAN's that have an OOB control plane. Correct? That sounds a lot like "supernodes", where Cisco runs the supernodes. Is that "traditional networking"?
I'm not clear on the exact definition of "mesh networking", but I think it implies forwarding data traffic. If so, that disqualifies Meraki. But I'm not sure of the purpose of your point (with which I agree) because I never used the terms "mesh networking" or "mesh technology".
For the record, I used the words "portable" and "no telco needed". In my mind, this encompasses more than just "mesh networks".
For best UX, set your "Referrer:" header to google.com
Also, I think Cisco paid over a billion for one mesh community network's project. I think a YC cofounder may have been involved in that project. Not sure. Its Cisco brand name is Meraki.
It appears portable autonomous networks (i.e. no telco needed) are useful and valuable for many, diverse reasons. I posit that if you can build your "no telco required" network from affordable parts and can get it to work consistently, then it has value, irrespective of whatever "intended uses" for it you might have in mind.
Of course, I could be wrong.