The Fat Pipe - Most Popular Packet Pushers Pods

Ever wonder what network operations are like inside a colocation facility? Today we talk with Scott Brookshire, CTO of OpenColo. Scott shares his journey into networking, how OpenColo was founded, and the evolution of the company from a few servers to a significant data center operation. We delve into what it means to run a... Read more »

The line between switches and routers can get a little blurry. On today’s N Is For Networking, we try to clear things up. We start by defining what a router and switch are, and then provide some historical and technical context to better understand the differences. Then we discuss how modern switches have evolved to... Read more »

Let’s talk about how AI affects the developer experience, particularly for open source tools such as Terraform. We’re joined by guests Welly Siauw and Tyler Lynch to examine a project that leverages AI to automate the generation of documentation and examples for AWS Terraform providers. We delve into the iterative development process with AI, the... Read more »

How big is the network security market? Is it growing? How is that growth measured? What effect is SASE having on security spending? Will security products or security operators get more effective thanks to AI? We put these and other questions to Mauricio Sanchez. He’s Sr. Director, Enterprise Security and Networking at the Dell’Oro Group, a... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we start with a couple of follow-ups and a Red Alert, and then jump into tech news. Cisco and Nvidia team up to put Cisco ASICs and the Nexus NOS into Nvidia Ethernet switches, the market reads tea leaves as Microsoft walks away from data center capacity, and Juniper... Read more »

In our conversation today with CTO Cameron Daniel of Megaport, we discuss their global WAN architecture, PoPs, use cases, the Megaport Cloud Router, and more. Megaport is our sponsor today. It’s accurate to describe Megaport as providing Network-as-a-Service. Megaport’s automated connectivity solutions enable rapid provisioning of circuits, contrasting sharply with traditional telcos. The discussion also... Read more »

We’re back with the third and last (for now) installment of our spanning tree series. Today’s episode includes an explanation of spanning tree versions, 802.1D, 802.1w, 802.1s, and their practical implications for network design. The discussion then turns to BPDU guard for preventing loops and ensuring rapid connectivity. Bonus material on why you should or... Read more »

What does it mean for a network engineer to develop a product mindset? And what does a product mindset have to do with network automation? Guest Peter Sprygada connects these concepts in today’s episode of Total Network Operations, sponsored by Itential. Peter says that as an organization advances its network automation capabilities, the impetus shifts... Read more »

On today’s episode, we get a reality check on all the hype surrounding AI with guest Phil Gervasi. Phil provides background on Large Language Models (LLMs) and their applications, as well as the current state of AI technology. We also delve into practical use cases for AI in network operations, from AI as an assistant... Read more »

Certifications are a fact of life in a technical career. They can also provide a pathway to help you earn new roles, sharpen your skills, and boost your salary. On today’s Packet Protector we look at security certifications for beginners, experienced professionals, and advanced practitioners. This episode was inspired by a LinkedIn post by Ethan... Read more »