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
Nov 20, 2023 • 39min
NB456: China Flexes Tech Muscles With 1.2Tb Backbone; Will CISOs Mitigate Risk Or Liability?
China demonstrates the strength of its home-grown technology industry by announcing a 1.2Tbit Internet backbone that stretches 3,000 kilometers, Fortinet warns of a 9.8 severity bug in its SIEM product, and Nvidia and Dell roll out ready-made models and infrastructure for enterprises to build their own generative AI apps. HPE Aruba Networking releases a new... Read more »
Nov 13, 2023 • 49min
NB455: Extreme Announces ZTNA Offering; Palo Alto Networks Spends Big On A Browser Startup
Extreme Networks is jumping into Zero Trust Network Access, Palo Alto Networks is reportedly spending more than half a billion dollars to acquire a corporate browser startup, and Forrester predicts as much as 20% of VMware’s customers may jump ship after the Broadcom acquisition completes. Arista touts a strong third quarter, while F5 forecasts a... Read more »
Nov 6, 2023 • 51min
NB454: Is Bad InfoSec Now Securities Fraud?
We discuss potential repercussions for security executives after the SEC charges Solar Winds’ CISCO with fraud, examine a new SD-LAN offering from Versa Networks that aims to integrate security controls into a campus fabric, and discuss a new open-source tool from Cloudflare for scrubbing sensitive authentication tokens from HAR files. Extreme Networks posts strong revenues... Read more »
Oct 30, 2023 • 54min
NB453: Cisco Invests In Quantum Networking; SmartNIC Sales Surge; Intel Unplugs Another Business
Today's episode includes Cisco patching a critical vulnerability affecting IOS-XE gear, startup Prosimo releasing a cost calculator to help network engineers track their public cloud networking costs, and Juniper integrating its SD-WAN to the AWS cloud WAN. We also cover Cisco's investment in a quantum networking startup, growing DPU sales, and Intel divesting from pluggable optical modules.
Oct 23, 2023 • 47min
NB452: Cisco Makes You Feel Vulnerable; Broadcom 25.6Tbps Routing ASIC Targets Custom Silicon; China Mandates IPv6
This week's IT news podcast covers a serious Cisco exploit against IOS XE, new firewalls from Juniper, Broadcom's hopes to capture the routing market with merchant silicon, more movement on restoring net neutrality in the US, and more.
Oct 16, 2023 • 45min
Network Break 451: Making A Ruckus About Wi-Fi 7; Arista Announces 25G Layer 1 Switches; AWS To Require MFA
This week's Network Break covers a new set of Layer 1 switches from Arista for high-frequency trading, Ruckus announcing a (pre-ratified) Wi-Fi 7 AP, and AWS planning to require multi-factor authentication starting in mid-2024. MGM Resorts says it will take a $100 million hit due to a security breach, the UK finally fines Equifax for a 2017 breach, and Broadcom may have cleared a China hurdle to its VMware acquisition.
Oct 10, 2023 • 56min
Network Break 450: Cisco, Nutanix Announce HCI Gear; HPE Aruba Releases Wi-Fi 6e Sensor; Amazon Ships Test Satellites Into Orbit
This week's Network Break covers new HCI gear from the Cisco/Nutanix partnership, a sensor to detect Wi-Fi 6e performance, Intel financial engineering, Amazon shipping test satellites for a space broadband service, and more IT news.
Oct 2, 2023 • 47min
Network Break 449: Amazon Invests $4 Billion In AI Startup; Will Small Modular Reactors Power Public Clouds?
Today's Network Break, with guest host Johna Till Johnson, discusses why Amazon is pouring $4 billion into a generative AI startup, Marvell's response to accusations of an NSA-friendly backdoor in older Cavium products, why Microsoft is investigating small modular nuclear reactors, Meta using public posts to train AI, and more tech news
Sep 25, 2023 • 31min
Network Break 448: Cisco Splashes Out $28 Billion For Splunk; OpenTofu Is Vegetarian Alternative To Terraform
On today’s Network Break, Greg Ferro is joined by guest co-host Brad Casemore. You can follow Brad on his blog Crepuscular Circus. Greg and Brad discuss new capabilities in Juniper’s Apstra data center automation software, Versa partnering with Intel to put security software on a NIC, and Cisco buying Splunk for $28 billion. The Linux... Read more »
Sep 18, 2023 • 42min
Network Break 447: Cisco Chases AI Ethernet Fabrics With New Silicon One ASICs; Nokia Announces Routers With Custom Silicon
Today on Network Break we get a plethora of networking news, including Cisco rolling out new custom Ethernet switch ASICs to compete for AI fabrics. Nokia announces new routers also boasting custom silicon, Intel makes noise about the Thunderbolt 5 connector, Marvell touts ASICs for automotive Ethernet, the AfriNIC registry goes into receivership, and more tech news.
