EP 482 | JUNE 10, 2024

HPE Launches Enterprise Private 5G; Arista Creates Agent for NVIDIA SmartNICs

We cover: HPE Aruba Networking announces Enterprise Private 5G. Cisco's invests in AI companies. Alkira, a NaaS compnay, raises $100m in Series C funding. Nvidia's promotes its Spectrum SN5600 Ethernet switch and the NVIDIA BlueField-3 SuperNIC for upcoming 800 Gbps and 1.6Tbps networking speeds. Arista announces a remote AI agent hosted directly on an NVIDIA BlueField-3 SuperNIC. Arm Holdings CEO manifests it will gain 50% of the Windows PC market. Vista Equity writes off Plurasight’s value of $3.5 billion. And Australia's Medisecure is hacked. | LISTEN NOW

JUNE 10, 2024

NaaS by Meter: Next-gen Hardware, Software, and Operations

When a network for a new location needs to come online, networkers are faced with a predictable (and painful) to-do list: deal with ISPs, design and implement floor plans, obtain hardware, configure devices, etc. Meter’s Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is here to take care of all that for you. Meter’s CEO Anil Varanasi joins the show to discuss their comprehensive offering that includes hardware, software, and operations. Wait, operations, too? Yes. Essentially, you give Meter the physical address of the new location, and they set everything up. You log into a nice observability and management dashboard. You proceed from there to do the network engineering work you love with all the tedious bits taken care of by Meter. Anil also talks about Meter’s hardware buyback program and simple-to-understand billing system. | LISTEN NOW

EP 029 | JUNE 11, 2024

COWs, COLTs, and WOWs

Natural disaster responders, large event planners, and rural kids trying to do their homework all have something in common: they need a little extra help to get connected. COWs, COLTs, and WOWs can do just that. Mark Houtz joins Keith Parsons to explain how and why COW operators do what they do. First, he explains the acronyms: Cellular on Wheels/Wings (COW), Cellular on Light Transit (COLT), and Wireless on Wheels/Wings (WOW). Then Mark considers making a COW, including whether to choose private cellular (CBRS), Wi-Fi, or point-to-point links. By the end of the episode, you’ll be tempted to make your own car into a COW. | LISTEN NOW

EP 018 | JUNE 11, 2024

RSA Recap, Including a View from the Event SOC

Drew and JJ have recovered from the overstimulation of the RSA expo floor and are ready to discuss their takeaways from the conference. They discuss the surprising emphasis on microsegmentation and storage backups, and the not-so-surprising focus on IoT security and AI-assisted products. They also pull back the curtain on what the conference’s own SOC saw on the very, very open network: NSFW sites, light corporate espionage, nation state activity, dating apps, Bitcoin mining, and a deer hunting camera. All this, plus a look at the latest cybersecurity headlines. | LISTEN NOW

EP 065 | JUNE 12, 2024

When the Cloud was Born

In part two of Scott Robohn’s interview, Scott tells us about his experience starting his own business and co-founding the Network Automation Forum and the AutoCon conference series. He describes the strong desire among many engineers to drive network automation forward, and how AutoCon creates a community to help make that happen. He and Eric also discuss the flip side of network automation, as many network engineers are afraid of what automation might do to their livelihoods. Eric and Scott consider how to address that fear and how to create a culture that embraces uncertainty and progress. | LISTEN NOW

EP 153 | JUNE 13, 2024

Leveraging ICMPv6 to Troubleshoot Network Issues

If you don’t blame “destination unreachable” messages on DNS servers, are you even a real network engineer? All joking aside, Johannes Weber joins the show today to teach us how to use ICMPv6 to troubleshoot network issues, pinpointing if the problem is within your network or outside of it. He walks us through identifying possible attacks, widespread manufacturer issues, sequence timing with firewalls, and, yes, problems rooted in DNS servers. Johannes even gives us exactly what to type into Wireshark (and tshark) to capture and analyze the necessary ICMPv6 data from non-client, non-server routers. | LISTEN NOW

EP 738 | JUNE 14, 2024

Reducing Complexity With Fortinet’s Unified SASE

Fortinet’s Unified SASE provides consistent security controls and policies both for traditional campuses and the hybrid workforce.. Nirav Shah joins us to explain how Fortinet is positioned to do this: a foundational software developed for 20 years, a network of over 140 POPs, a security lab with over 1,000 researchers, continuous ZTNA verification proxies, and SASE connection options that include a unified agent, secure web gateway, SD-WAN tunnel for private access, and even a Fortinet AP. All this, plus maintaining user experience quality. Don’t believe it? Don’t worry, Nirav has customer stories. | LISTEN NOW