Network Break
Packet Pushers
Network Break keeps you informed with fast, focused analysis of IT news, products, tech trends, and business outcomes. Blending sharp commentary with a touch of humor, hosts Drew Conry-Murray & Johna Till Johnson sift through the weekly landslide of press announcements, product launches, financial reports, and marketing decks to find the stories worth talking about. You come away with the information and context to make smart decisions in your organization and career … all in the span of a (longish) coffee break.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 24, 2024 • 1h 9min
NB484: HPE, Nvidia Cozy Up on AI Infrastructure; Norway Uncovers Rare Earth Elements Motherlode
Take a Network Break! We start with a longish round of FUs, and then dive into news. HPE announces HPE Private Cloud, which includes software, switches, and GPUs from Nvidia for building out infrastructure to support AI workloads. HPE also announced KVM virtualization for HPE Private Cloud. We debate whether Britian’s anti-trust inquiry to the... Read more »
Jun 17, 2024 • 1h 4min
NB483: Cisco Hopes To Be Ikea For AI Infrastructure; Is Anyone Besides Nvidia Making Money From AI?
Take a Network Break! We start with an announcement from Greg about his impending retirement. After we dust ourselves off from that, we pivot to this week’s tech news. Fortinet acquires a company to bolster its offering in securing cloud deployments and workloads, Cisco announces an Ikea-like kit to build AI infrastructure on prem, and... Read more »
Jun 10, 2024 • 56min
NB482: HPE Launches Enterprise Private 5G; Arista Creates Agent for NVIDIA SmartNICs
Take a Network Break! Johna fills in for Drew for a second week. We start with a follow-up on last week’s take on HPE and 5G. With this week’s HPE announcement that it’s launching Aruba Networking Enterprise Private 5G, we see that its offloading of OSS/BSS was to streamline, not a step away from its... Read more »
Jun 3, 2024 • 42min
NB481: HPE Unloads BSS/OSS Tools; Multi-National Force Busts Botnets
Take a Network Break! Johna fills in for Drew this week. We start with HPE adapting to the 5G market and unloading BSS/OSS tools to HCLTech. Dell financial results suggest AI problems. ISP Windstream replaces 600,000 routers destroyed by malware. France, Germany and the Netherlands lead the largest-ever police action against botnets with the help... Read more »
May 27, 2024 • 38min
NB480: New Dell Switch Targets Ethernet AI Fabrics; Nvidia Net Income Leaps 628%
Take a Network Break! Lots of hardware news in today’s episode. We start with a new data center Ethernet switch from Dell designed to accelerate workloads on AI Ethernet fabrics. Public cloud networking startup Alkira raises $100 million in funding. Broadcom announces a 400G NIC that targets AI workloads, and Allegro Packets announces a 400G... Read more »
May 20, 2024 • 42min
NB479: Solar Storm Survival; Cisco’s Sinking Revenue Doesn’t Dampen Wall Street
Take a Network Break! This week we discuss what IBM and Palo Alto Networks get out of a deal for Palo Alto Networks to buy the SaaS version of the QRadar SIEM from IBM, why LogRhythm is merging with Exabeam, and how Google is positioning its latest AI chip to take on the Nvidia juggernaut.... Read more »
May 13, 2024 • 41min
NB478: More AI Assistants Emerge; Dell Tracks Hybrid Workers’ Office Attendance
Take a Network Break! We begin the episode with some follow-up on edge AI chips, whether Packet Pushers should start a dedicated AI channel, and a clarification on AWS and VMware. On the news front, we discuss the soft launches of AI assistant from Extreme Networks and Gluware, and a new virtual appliance for Cisco’s... Read more »
May 6, 2024 • 0sec
NB477: Arista Assembles Switch-Based Microperimeters; FCC Wants More Money for Telcos Dumping Huawei Gear
Take a Network Break! This week we cover a new microsegmentation offering from Arista, new GenAI assistants from Fortinet, and a GenAI firewall from Versa Networks to monitor and report on how organizations are using generative AI tools and applications. AWS will stop selling VMware Cloud on AWS (but you can still get it through... Read more »
Apr 29, 2024 • 1h
NB476: IBM Buys HashiCorp; Running Data Centers With Vegetable Oil?
Take a Network Break! We welcome guest commentator Kyler Middleton of Day Two Cloud to discuss the IBM/HashiCorp deal, then pivot to new Wi-Fi 7 APs from HPE Aruba Networking, and discuss why a data center builder in Ireland is constructing a power generation plant alongside the generator–and powering it partly with vegetable oil. Noncompete... Read more »
Apr 22, 2024 • 1h 1min
NB475: Cisco Hypes Hypershield; Broadcom Tries To Clarify VMware Strategy
Take a Network Break! This week we cover Hypershield, a new Cisco security product that uses technology from its Isovalent acquisition. We parse a blog from Broadcom CEO Hock Tan on the company’s VMware strategy, and discuss China’s latest counter-punch in its tech infrastructure fight with the United States. A KPMG survey reveals that executives... Read more »
