Network Break

NB514: Cisco, Juniper Announce New Switches; SolarWinds Goes Private in $4.4 Billion Buyout Feb 18, 2025

Take a Network Break! We start with some Red Alert vulnerabilities to get your blood pumping, and then dive into networking news. Cisco announces new data center switches with AMD Pensando DPUs that let you deploy security and other services directly on to the switch. Cisco ThousandEyes is previewing Traffic Insights, which correlates flow records... Read more »

NB513: UK Demands Apple Backdoor; AI Spending: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Feb 10, 2025

Take a Network Break! We start with some red alerts for Cisco ISE, Zyxel, Microsoft, and a Web manager suite called WeGIA. US senators and security experts sound the alarm about DOGE employees introducing security and stability risks in sensitive US government systems, security researchers demonstrate the effectiveness of supply chain attacks that start with... Read more »

NB512: US Objects to HPE-Juniper Wedding; Cheeky DeepSeek Freaks VCs Feb 03, 2025

Take a Network Break! The US Justice Department blocks the HPE-Juniper merger with a surprise lawsuit, DeepSeek shakes up the AI world, and Broadcom rolls out quantum-safe Fibre Channel controllers. Sweden seizes a vessel suspected of tampering with a subsea cable, a code update could make Linux significantly more power-efficient, and the WLAN market gets... Read more »

NB511: Cisco Sells Security Blanket for AI Nightmares; Stratoshark Captures System Calls Jan 28, 2025

Take a Network Break! We start with critical vulnerabilities affecting the Android OS, Cisco Meeting Management, and SonicWall, and then discuss a report that tens of thousands of Fortinet security appliances still haven’t been patched despite active exploits. Palo Alto Networks releases an open API to make it easier for developers to access Quantum Random... Read more »

NB510: CISA Says US Tech Inherently Insecure; AI Now Included in Google Workspace Jan 20, 2025

Take a Network Break! Guest co-host John Burke joins Drew Conry-Murray for this week’s analysis of tech news. They discuss a string of serious vulnerabilities in Wavlink Wi-Fi routers, Fortinet taking a one-two security punch, and CISA director Jen Easterly calling out US hardware and software companies for being “inherently insecure.” Microsoft and Google put... Read more »

NB509: FCC to Raise Funds for Rip-and-Replace of Chinese Telco Gear; Billionaire Space Race Takes Off Jan 13, 2025

Take a Network Break! We start with serious CVEs for Perl and Ivanti. On the news front, the FCC wants to license spectrum to raise money to help US telcos rip out Chinese network equipment–even though there’s no evidence Chinese equipment led to telco intrusions by Chinese attackers. Verizon boasts of 5.5Gbps download speeds on... Read more »

NB508: Google Serves Up Custom AI and Quantum Chips; Nokia Puts Muscle Behind SONiC Dec 16, 2024

Take a Network Break! This is our final show for 2024. We start with critical vulnerabilities in Ivanti and OpenWrt, and then discuss what effect a proposed bill from US Senator Ron Wyden would have on telecom security (short answer: more paperwork but unlikely to improve protection). Extreme Networks announces a new AI platform that... Read more »

NB507: Arista Announces Stackable Switches; FBI Recommends Encrypted Messaging Dec 09, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we warn of significant vulnerabilities in WhatsUp Gold and Cisco NX-OS. We also discuss US federal reaction to the penetration of US telco networks by Chinese state actors. These reactions include network and visibility hardening guidelines from CISA, the FBI (reluctantly) recommending the use of encrypted messaging apps, and... Read more »

NB506: Billions Flow for US Chips; FCC Lets T-Mobile, SpaceX Make Phone Calls from Orbit Dec 03, 2024

Take a Network Break! We’ve got a full menu for our post-Thanksgiving episode. We start with a host of critical CVEs affecting Veritas and a couple more for QNAP. Cisco announces EOL for two version of its ACI software, Verizon runs field trials for 1.6Tbps throughput in a single wavelength (with Ciena optical transceivers), and... Read more »

NB505: NetBox Makes Lateral Moves with New Products; Submarine Cable Cuts Raise Suspicions Nov 26, 2024

Take a Network Break! We start with a brief follow-up on our CVE coverage, and then dive into a serious one-two set of vulnerabilities being exploited in Palo Alto Networks software, VMware taking a second crack at patching a vCenter vulnerability, and notable CVEs in D-Link and HPC gear. An AI company loses a quarter... Read more »

NB504: Cisco Updates Licensing, Branding with Wi-Fi 7; Google Cloud To Require MFA Nov 18, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we get an update on SonicWall’s new firewall warranty. We also cover Cisco’s Wi-Fi 7 launch; in addition to new APs, Cisco also updates its branding and rolls out “simplified” licensing that bundles features you might not want. Aviatrix adds a PaaS option for its cloud networking software, but... Read more »

NB503: Apple Buys Stake in Satellite Telecom Company; Arista Enjoys AI Revenue Bump Nov 12, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a serious Cisco vulnerability, SonicWall offering a firewall warranty, and a security advisory from ID provider Okta. Apple buys a stake in a satellite telecommunications company, Lumen and Google team up on a joint networking/AI deal, and we check on financial results from Arista Networks, Extreme Networks,... Read more »

NB502: AWS Revenue Growth Lags Cloud Competitors; Microsoft Entra ID Forces MFA Nov 04, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss Google adding traffic shaping to its cross-cloud interconnect, Aviatrix bringing hybrid cloud transit to its cloud networking service, and Microsoft forcing MFA for Entra ID customers. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella forgoes $5 million in incentive pay for Microsoft security lapses, Extreme Networks adds new features to its... Read more »

NB501: Fortinet, Cisco Defects Being Exploited; FCC Wants Input on ISP Data Caps Oct 28, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss a new ZTNA offering from NaaS startup Alkira, a serious vulnerability in Fortinet’s management software under active exploit, and a less-serious vulnerability in Cisco security software that’s also being exploited. Gluware adds new AI copilots to its network automation software, a judge orders Broadcom to continue to... Read more »

NB500: SolarWinds and MacOS Vulernabilities Get Attention; Amazon Invests in Nuclear to Meet Power, Carbon Goals Oct 21, 2024

This week’s Network Break discusses a CISA warning that a serious SolarWinds vulnerability is being exploited, Microsoft turns the tables by discovering a MacOS vulnerability, and Amazon invests in small modular nuclear reactors to meet growing power demands and reduce carbon output. T-Mobile releases a new device using the 5G Reduced Capacity spec, Palo Alto... Read more »

NB499: Juniper Extending AI Umbrella to Security; Should We Regulate AI or AI Outcomes? Oct 15, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a new Juniper announcement and discuss how the company is bringing its security portfolio under its AI umbrella, Aryaka adding CASB to its SASE menu, and whether the FTC’s prescriptive security requirements for Marriott will actually lead to better security. Cisco invests in a GPU-as-a-Service startup, stealthy... Read more »

NB498: BlueCat Flows Into Network Performance With LiveAction Buy; T-Mobile Ordered to Appoint a CISO Oct 07, 2024

Take a Network Break! DDI specialist BlueCat is getting into network performance monitoring with its LiveAction acquisition, T-Mobile is ordered to spend almost $16 million to improve its infosec practices and get a CISO, and Cisco announced the end of life for its LoRaWAN IoT product line. Verizon recovers from a US-wide outage, security researchers... Read more »

NB497: Blocking AI Scraper Bots; HPE, Arista Reach for Bigger Slices of the Enterprise Oct 01, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss significant vulnerabilities in HPE APs and Cisco Catalyst 9K switches, the benefits of bug bounties, how HPE is adding third-party device monitoring to Aruba Central, and whether Arista can succeed at positioning CloudVision as a management platform for enterprise data center, campus, and WAN environments. Alkira’s cloud... Read more »

NB496: Nokia’s Enterprise Data Center Intentions; Are AI ChatBots Worth the Nuclear Waste? Sep 23, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss Microsoft’s proposed deal to buy power from the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, new APs and switches from Juniper Networks, and T-Mobile landing a customer driven by the network slicing capabilities of 5G. China disbands a botnet, Nokia takes on data center switch giants with a new... Read more »

NB495: Fortinet Customer Data Stolen; Boeing to Test Quantum Entanglement Networking Sep 16, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss the theft of 440Gbytes of customer data from a Fortinet cloud repository, how to think about resiliency after an AT&T network update kills access to Azure apps, and new troubleshooting features in Juniper Apstra. HPE goes to the bond market to raise as much as $6.5 billion... Read more »

NB494: AT&T Sues Broadcom over VMware Support; Verizon Spends $20 Billion for Frontier Sep 09, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover an AT&T lawsuit against Broadcom over changes to a support contract for VMware software, why Verizon is spending $20 billion to buy Frontier, and new critical security patches from Cisco. ASML, which makes the machines that make high-end computer chips, gets antsy over US restrictions to China.... Read more »

NB493: Cisco Acquires AI Startup to Police AI; Nvidia, Dell Ride GPU Profit Wave Sep 03, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a couple of listener FUs, and then dive into the news. Attackers exploit a zero-day in Versa to harvest credentials, AT&T agrees to a fine of nearly $1 million for a network outage that affected 911 calls, and Intel and Broadcom tout integrated optics for more broadband... Read more »

NB492: AMD Spends Big For Engineering Talent; FCC Cracks Down on AI-Faked Robocalls Aug 26, 2024

Take a Network Break! A US appeals court will let a privacy lawsuit against Google go forward, striking telecom workers are a reminder to test your resiliency planning, and AMD spends nearly $5 billion to acquire systems engineering talent from ZT Systems. Juniper Networks offers deep discounts and other enticements to get network engineers to... Read more »

NB491: Cisco Revenues Drop 10% in Q4; Texas Instruments Get $1.6 Billion for Chip Factories Aug 19, 2024

Take a Network Break! Hackers may have stolen millions of US Social Security numbers, HPE acquires a multi-cloud management company, and Cisco announces plans to lay off 7% of its employees. Pure Storage joins industry efforts to make Ethernet suitable for AI workloads by signing on to the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, Texas Instruments will add... Read more »

NB490: Google’s Post-Monopoly Options; Microsoft Flips Delta’s Legal Threats the Bird Aug 12, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a judge’s ruling that Google is monopolist and potential outcomes, the HPE/Juniper acquisition clearing regulatory hurdles, and Microsoft flipping the bird at Delta’s legal threats. HPE Aruba Networking adds NDR for IoT devices, Fortinet fortifies its DLP capabilities via acquisition, Azure lets you stack logs in different... Read more »

NB489: Shareholders Sue CrowdStrike; Intel to Fire 15,000 Employees Aug 05, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss a proposed class action lawsuit against CrowdStrike, while Delta investigates options to seek damages from CrowdStrike and Microsoft. Microsoft Azure goes down after a DDoS defense error, campus switch sales are forecast to drop significantly in 2024, and DigiCert warns customers that an error it made will... Read more »

NB488: CrowdStrike Bug Tester Was Buggy; Can Starlink Match US ISP Performance? Jul 29, 2024

Take a Network Break! We start with listener follow-up on CrowdStrike and Microsoft, and then examine a CrowdStrike incident review in which the security company says a bug in its content validator meant that a problematic update was mistakenly validated. An insurance company estimates the CrowdStrike Windows crash will cost the Fortune 500 about $5... Read more »

NB487: The BSODs Strike Back; SolarWinds Sorta Dodges SEC Bullets Jul 22, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover the CrowdStrike/Microsoft patch debacle, why SolarWinds isn’t entirely out of trouble following a judge’s dismissal of most–but not all–of an SEC lawsuit, and why an AT&T breach revelation highlights third-party risk. Juniper announces an AI infrastructure testing lab and enhancements to its capabilities to operate AI infrastructure,... Read more »

NB486: Chrome Ditches Entrust Certs; Do AI Stocks Mirror the DotCom Bubble? Jul 08, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover why the Google Chrome browser won’t trust a set of Entrust digital certificates come November and what you should do about it, an emergency security patch from Juniper, and the reasons why France’s Competition Authority is scrutinizing Nvidia. A roaming provider in the EU says a massive... Read more »

NB485: A Final FU for Greg Jul 01, 2024

Greg Ferro bids farewell to Network Break, and Drew Conry-Murray and Johna Till Johnson bid farewell to Greg. Of course, the podcast must go on, so we also cover some tech news. First, Nokia acquires optics maker Infinera, Broadcom brings new features to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), and campus switch sales drop. A Microsoft subsidiary... Read more »

NB484: HPE, Nvidia Cozy Up on AI Infrastructure; Norway Uncovers Rare Earth Elements Motherlode Jun 24, 2024

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 »

NB483: Cisco Hopes To Be Ikea For AI Infrastructure; Is Anyone Besides Nvidia Making Money From AI? Jun 17, 2024

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 »

NB482: HPE Launches Enterprise Private 5G; Arista Creates Agent for NVIDIA SmartNICs Jun 10, 2024

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 »

NB481: HPE Unloads BSS/OSS Tools; Multi-National Force Busts Botnets Jun 03, 2024

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 »

NB480: New Dell Switch Targets Ethernet AI Fabrics; Nvidia Net Income Leaps 628% May 27, 2024

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 »

NB479: Solar Storm Survival; Cisco’s Sinking Revenue Doesn’t Dampen Wall Street May 20, 2024

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 »

NB478: More AI Assistants Emerge; Dell Tracks Hybrid Workers’ Office Attendance May 13, 2024

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 »

NB477: Arista Assembles Switch-Based Microperimeters; FCC Wants More Money for Telcos Dumping Huawei Gear May 06, 2024

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 »

NB476: IBM Buys HashiCorp; Running Data Centers With Vegetable Oil? Apr 29, 2024

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 »

NB475: Cisco Hypes Hypershield; Broadcom Tries To Clarify VMware Strategy Apr 22, 2024

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 »

NB474: Intel Strikes Back In GPU Wars; The Fork Is Strong With Valkey Apr 15, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we start with some FU on Intel drivers, and how FISA affects people outside (and inside) the US. In the news we cover Intel’s rollout of new XPU silicon and associated software as it tries to make up ground against Nvidia’s AI dominance, Zscaler’s acquisition of a microsegmentation startup... Read more »

NB473: Duty To Report (Your Breaches); Intel Foundry Biz Loses $7 Billion Apr 08, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we start with some FU on Juniper’s Mist AI, the ConnectWise vulnerability, and the 25th anniversary of the Cisco Cat6. The US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has proposed new rules that require organizations to report security incidents within 72 hours and ransomware payments within 24 hours. Intel... Read more »

NB472: HPE Adds GenAI to Aruba Central; Intel Eager to Slurp Billions in Subsidies Apr 01, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we try to peel back the layers on HPE’s announcement about new GenAI capabilties in Aruba Networking Central, parse Broadcom’s touting of its AI credentials, and feel conflicted about Intel sucking up billions in taxpayer dollars. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix dangles a $4 billion investment promise to the... Read more »

NB471: Nvidia Unveils 800G Ethernet, InfiniBand Switches For AI Fabrics; ‘Ghost Jobs’ Haunt Job Boards Mar 25, 2024

Take a Network Break! Nvidia announces new 800G switches, one for Ethernet and one for InfiniBand, for building AI fabrics. Nvidia also announces an “AI supercomputer,” a rack-scale pre-built bundle of Nvidia GPUs and CPUs connected via InfiniBand switches. The NaaS startup Meter announces new campus switches and what it calls a “digital twin” capability,... Read more »

NB470: NetBox Labs Adds On-Prem Support; ASML Vs. The Netherlands Mar 18, 2024

This week on Network Break we discuss a new on-prem version of NetBox Labs’ source-of-truth software with enterprise support, why Selector AI is adding an LLM to its operations and observability product, and whether a new Web application firewall from Cloudflare can protect LLMs against malicious prompts. Viavi Solutions consolidates the network testing space with... Read more »

NB 469: Arista Debuts Network Observability Service; Startups Aim To Break Nvidia’s AI Chip Grip Mar 11, 2024

This week we discuss a new network observability offering from Arista that integrates network telemetry with application data, why startups such as Groq and Taalas think they can break Nvidia’s grip on the AI chip market, and how Microsoft is hedging its LLM bets. Amazon goes nuclear with the purchase of a reactor-powered data center... Read more »

NB 468: Broadcom Checks SASE Box; Spirent Announces AI Traffic Emulator For Ethernet Networks Mar 04, 2024

Take a Network Break! Johna Till Johnson joins as guest host while Greg Ferro enjoys some time off. We start with follow-up regarding damage to subsea cables in the Red Sea, and then dive into news. AT&T deals with the fallout of a major US outage, Vodafone also suffers outages in the UK, and Elisa... Read more »

NB467: More AI Assistants Emerge; Nvidia’s AI Goldmine Spurs New Competitors Feb 26, 2024

Take a Network Break! This week we cover financial results from Palo Alto Networks (good, but next quarter’s softer forecast resulted in a drubbing), Cisco (not good), and Nvidia (so good that Wall Street is nervous about how long the party’s gonna last). Prosimo and Nokia have announced generative AI assistants that claim to help... Read more »

NB466: Identifying The Most-Hated ISP; Should AI Write Your Security Policies? Feb 12, 2024

Take a Network Break! We start with an FU on return-to-office policies, and then dive into some announcements from Cisco Live in Amsterdam. Cisco is rolling out rack and blade servers with Nvidia Tensor chips, and Cisco is adding new features to its Digital Experience Monitoring capabilities. Verizon hopes to utilize its MPLS network as... Read more »

NB465: Dell Terminates VMware Resale Deal; Return-To-Office Orders Backfire Says Study Feb 05, 2024

This week on Network Break we discuss Dell terminating its resale agreement of VMware as Broadcom looks to streamline OEM agreements, a new Wi-Fi AP and cloud-managed switches from Extreme, and the fits and starts in US chip manufacturing. A new study finds Return-To-Office (RTO) mandates don’t improve productivity or company performance, but do drive... Read more »

NB464: Juniper Begins AI Push Into The Data Center; VMware Customers Confront Higher Prices Jan 29, 2024

This week we discuss new products from Juniper including synthetic testing software for its Mist wireless networks and its first step toward integrating its Apstra data center software with AI. VMware clarifies its product strategy as customers face rising prices, and undersea cables in the Red Sea face potential threats. Nokia and Chinese mobile device... Read more »

NB463: Cisco Buys eBPF Startup For Cloud-Native Networking; Gartner Forecasts $5 Trillion In IT Spending Jan 22, 2024

This week’s Network Break examines why Cisco bought eBPF startup Isovalent (hint: it’s about cloud-native networking), why Broadcom is cranking up pressure on VMware resellers and customers (hint: it’s about money), and why Google Cloud is sort of dropping fees for customers who want to exit the cloud (hint: it’s about getting out ahead of... Read more »

NB462: HPE Spends $14 Billion For Juniper Networks; Starlink Tests SMS Via Satellite Jan 15, 2024

Take a Network Break! On today’s show we spend most of the episode talking about HPE’s $14 billion bid for Juniper Networks. We discuss reasons for the deal, product overlap, potential upsides, challenges to integrating these two companies and their product lines, and more. We also talk about a successful test by Starlink to send... Read more »

NB461: 2024 Trends – AI Beyond LLMs, Cisco Vs. Everybody, Next-Gen IT Workers, And More Jan 09, 2024

Take a Network Break! We start the new year by examining major themes and trends that we think will affect IT and networking in 2024. Topics include: AI beyond LLMs Whether open source can remain a viable model in a predatory tech environment Cisco vs. everybody Why IT can’t ignore geopolitics for strategic planning What... Read more »

NB460: VMware Ditches Perpetual Licenses; GenAI Is Coming To Network Ops Dec 18, 2023

Broadcom’s VMware has announced an end to perpetual licensing, network automation provider Anuta Networks is adding generative AI capabilities to its Atom platform, and high-end firewall revenues dip but campus switch sales soared in Q3 2023. The Open Networking Foundation, which oversaw open projects around software-defined networking, is closing its doors and folding its projects... Read more »

NB459: IBM Aims To Own The Quantum Realm; Amazon Hitches A Ride With SpaceX Dec 11, 2023

IBM has announced a new quantum processor and modular quantum computer in an effort to own the next generation of computing, Cisco unveils an AI assistant to help you untangle firewall rules, and Marvell debuts new DPUs for switches, firewalls, and other networking devices. The MEF looks for ways to stay relevant in the broadband... Read more »

NB458: Broadcom Debuts On-Chip Neural Net, Lays Off VMware Staff; Okta Breach Gets Worse Dec 04, 2023

Broadcom’s latest Trident ASIC will include a neural net inference engine on the chip that can analyze traffic and take action in the packet pipeline, but it’s up to customers to build rules and signatures based on their own training data. Broadcom has also announced it will lay off approximately 1,300 VMware employees. Identity provider... Read more »

NB457: Broadcom, VMware Tie The Knot; Nvidia SuperNICs Target AI Ethernet Acceleration Nov 27, 2023

Now that Broadcom’s $69 billion VMware acquisition is complete, will Broadcom invest more in VMware to compete in multi-cloud or settle for profitable revenue collection from existing customers? Nvidia debuts a SuperNIC designed to accelerate Ethernet to support AI workloads and announces partnerships with server makers to bundle its NIC in an AI Ethernet stack.... Read more »

NB456: China Flexes Tech Muscles With 1.2Tb Backbone; Will CISOs Mitigate Risk Or Liability? Nov 20, 2023

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 »

NB455: Extreme Announces ZTNA Offering; Palo Alto Networks Spends Big On A Browser Startup Nov 13, 2023

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 »

NB454: Is Bad InfoSec Now Securities Fraud? Nov 06, 2023

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 »

NB453: Cisco Invests In Quantum Networking; SmartNIC Sales Surge; Intel Unplugs Another Business Oct 30, 2023

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.

NB452: Cisco Makes You Feel Vulnerable; Broadcom 25.6Tbps Routing ASIC Targets Custom Silicon; China Mandates IPv6 Oct 23, 2023

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.

Network Break 451: Making A Ruckus About Wi-Fi 7; Arista Announces 25G Layer 1 Switches; AWS To Require MFA Oct 16, 2023

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.

Network Break 450: Cisco, Nutanix Announce HCI Gear; HPE Aruba Releases Wi-Fi 6e Sensor; Amazon Ships Test Satellites Into Orbit Oct 10, 2023

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.

Network Break 449: Amazon Invests $4 Billion In AI Startup; Will Small Modular Reactors Power Public Clouds? Oct 02, 2023

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

Network Break 448: Cisco Splashes Out $28 Billion For Splunk; OpenTofu Is Vegetarian Alternative To Terraform Sep 25, 2023

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 »

Network Break 447: Cisco Chases AI Ethernet Fabrics With New Silicon One ASICs; Nokia Announces Routers With Custom Silicon Sep 18, 2023

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.

Network Break 446: Microsoft’s Series Of Unfortunate Events; Huawei’s 7nm Chip Gives US The Middle Finger Sep 11, 2023

This week on Network Break we dig into Microsoft's post-mortem of an attack that led to the theft of emails from multiple US government agencies, discuss Huawei rolling out a new 7nm chip despite US trade restrictions meant to thwart advanced chipmaking, examine a Cisco and Nutanix team-up, and more tech news.

Network Break 445: Juniper Pairs With ChatGPT, Microsoft To Unpair Teams In The EU Sep 05, 2023

Today on Network Break we discuss Juniper integrating ChatGPT with its AI digital assistant, Microsoft's plan to unbundle Teams in the EU to fend off regulators, financial results from soon-to-be-paired Broadcom and VMware, a 5G follow-up, and more.

Network Break 444: NVIDIA Mines GPU Gold; VMware Wants To Sell You Private AI; SUSE Prepares To Go Private Aug 28, 2023

Take a Network Break! On today's episode we discuss two announcements from VMware Explore 2023: a private AI offering, and a revamped NSX for public and private cloud networking. We also discuss recent rule changes at the SEC that require public companies to disclose material security incidents in a timely manner, NVIDIA's huge revenue results, SUSE going private, and more tech news.

Network Break 443: Nuclear DCs, Mobile Cars, Fibrechannel, Open Source And Cheese Aug 21, 2023

We’ve got more durm and strang in open source license debate, cars that don't work wihtout a network, something mumble something Fibrechannel, a security acquisition by Check Point, cheesy microchips and more.

Network Break 442: HashiCorp Swaps Open Source For BSL; Open Enterprise Linux Goes After RHEL Aug 14, 2023

Today on Network Break we discuss big moves in open source, including HashiCorp switching from an open source license to "business source" and Red Hat competitors banding together to offer an alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). We also discuss Google's odd attempt to get employees back to the office by charging them to stay at an on-campus hotel.

Network Break 441: AWS Makes You Pay For IPv4; Superconductor Claims Meet Resistance; An Ultra Ethernet Q&A Aug 07, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss new charges for IPv4 addresses being levied by AWS, Cisco's acquisition of a BGP monitoring service, and financial results for a host of tech companies. We also speak with J Metz, the Steering Committee Chair of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium to learn more about the organization's goals; and examine the efforts to investigate claims of a breakthrough in superconducting research.

Network Break 440: Broadcom Releases SONiC-Friendly Trident; Senator Requests Investigations Into Microsoft’s Shoddy Security Jul 31, 2023

On this week's Network Break we discuss a new Broadcom ASIC, a request from US Senator Ron Wyden to three US agencies to investigate Microsoft for sloppy security practices, an Intel pledge to add AI to all its platforms, Juniper financial results, and more IT news.

Network Break 439: Ethernet Gets Ultra Injection For AI; Huawei Climbs The Patent Charts Jul 24, 2023

This week on Network Break we discuss the launch of the Ultra Ethernet Consortium and its intention to revamp Ethernet to support AI and HPC workloads. We also cover NOS startup Arrcus pulling in a $65 million series D round, Fortinet launching big-iron firewalls, Huawei flexing its patent muscles in 5G and wireless, and more tech news.

Network Break 438: Intel Abandons NUC; EU Blesses Broadcom/VMware Union; Microsoft Joins SSE Race Jul 17, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss Intel walking away from the NUC PC, Microsoft rebranding Azure AD and launching an SSE offering, and Microsoft Exchange Online getting hacked. We also cover the EU's conditional approval of Broadcom's VMware acquisition, why Wireshark needs your help, and more IT news.

Network Break 437: Ethernet Turns 50; TSMC Imports Workers For Arizona Fab; BT, HPE Partner On Managed LAN Jul 10, 2023

On today's Network Break, Greg Ferro wishes Ethernet an unhappy birthday, HPE and BT want to manage your LAN, TSMC brings in Taiwanese workers to build new fabs in Arizona, Nokia touts new Fixed Wireless Access milestones, and more IT news.

Network Break CCCCXXXVII: Summer Holiday Special! Jul 03, 2023

This bonus episode of Network Break discusses a new free tier of Prosimo's multi-cloud networking offering, the latest ThousandEyes acquisition, new SEC problems for SolarWinds, and a million-dollar refrigerator.

NB436: Cisco AI Silicon, DEM. HPE Greenlake AI LLM. FCC Talks Bandwidth Caps. Jun 26, 2023

Cisco announces AI Networking versions of SIlicon One ASICs and buys another DEM business. HPE Greenlake adds AI LLM. FTC talks bandwidth caps. Google accusing Microsoft of monopolistic behaviour. We laughed.

NB435: Your FUs, VMware takeover, DPU News and Cooling is Toxic Jun 19, 2023

FU, vendors co-operating ? Google ditches something, Quantum computing, the state of AMD DPUs. Finally liquid cooling is toxic due to PFAS are 'forever chemicals'.

Network Break 434: Cisco Licensing To Get Simpler, Bluecat Buys Again, Hashicorp Money Problems, and Itential Pops A Release Jun 12, 2023

Take a Network Break: Drew is on holiday (again) and Ethan shows up. Who knew he was still around ? We start with FU, Cisco Live was underwhelming announcing a new focus simplicity and that customers hate their licensing, Bluecat spends again, Hashicorp gets a financial slapping, Itential ships a new version and Quantum Space Networking.

Network Break 433: NVIDIA Melds Switches, DPUs For AI Networking Fabric; FTC Says Amazon Ring Employee Spied On Female Customers Jun 05, 2023

This week's Network Break discusses a new Google offering to interconnect public clouds, NVIDIA's platform for AI networking fabrics using Ethernet switches and DPUs, and Cisco's latest security acquisition. We also cover Riverbed getting a new private equity owner, Amazon paying a pittance to the FTC to settle allegations of customer privacy violations, and more tech news.

Network Break 432: DriveNets Aims To Make Ethernet AI-Friendly; China Goes Eye-For-An-Eye With US Over Tech Bans May 30, 2023

This week we discuss a new offering from DriveNets that aims to make Ethernet more suitable as a network fabric for AI workloads, why the EU slapped Meta with a $1.3 billion fine, and a new offering from Extreme Networks that lets you manage Extreme gear in the cloud or from on-prem, China banning Micron, and more IT news.

Network Break 431: Juniper NAC Emerges From The Mist; New Google TLDs Are A Bad Idea May 22, 2023

This week's Network Break looks at a new Network Access Control (NAC) offering from Juniper, plus a ChatGPT integration with Juniper's Marvis. Google debuts new Top-Level Domains that have security experts worried, Cisco reports a robust Q3, Broadcom tries to assuage EU regulators about its VMware acquisition, and more tech news.

Network Break 430: Cisco Viptela Customers Have A Certifiably Bad Day; IT Crimes And Punishments May 15, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we cover some follow-up on Lumen. Then we dive into a massive Cisco blunder that let a digital certificate expire on some models of the Viptela SD-WAN appliance, causing device failures. Extreme Networks release a new Wi-Fi 6e AP and core and aggregation switches, a Ubiquiti employee who stole... Read more »

Network Break 429: Palo Alto Previews Azure Firewall; White House Chases AI Horse After It Escapes Barn May 08, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss a new Azure-native cloud firewall from Palo Alto Networks, why pharma giant Merck might be owed a big settlement from its cyber-insurers, and why HPE wants to simplify its branding. Lumen offers 400G IP transit ports, the US White House announces actions to promote safe, responsible AI; Versa Networks rolls out zero trust for remote and campus users, and Rogers teams up with SpaceX to allow SMS messaging via satellite.

Network Break 428: Arista Announces Cloud-Based NAC; Is Google Cloud Finally Making Money? May 01, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss a new NAC solution from Arista Networks, a new version of Central from HPE Aruba, and the latest version of NetBrain. We also cover a new XDR offering from Cisco, Google Cloud's quarterly financial results, Microsoft entanglements with EU and UK regulators, and more tech news.

Network Break 427: Prosimo Launches Cloud-Native Networking Suite; Broadcom Stitches New Jericho ASIC For AI-Friendly Network Fabrics Apr 24, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we cover new cloud networking capabilities from Prosimo, discuss Broadcom's latest version of the Jericho ASIC which is being positioned for network fabrics for AI workloads, and explore the latest version of the open-source Dent network OS. We also cover financial results from F5, Starlink price cuts, and more tech news.

Network Break 426: NetBox Labs Raises $20 Million; Intel Foundry, Arm Team Up To Make SoCs Apr 17, 2023

This week's Network Break discusses NetBox Labs's $20 million funding round and why it spun itself out of NS1's IBM acquisition, Intel Foundry and Arm teaming up on SoC manufacturing, why Amazon sees headwinds for public cloud spending (and why the opportunity is still huge), how the juice-jacking threat got hyped, and more tech news.

Network Break 425: Microsoft Adds Security Copilot To AI Squadron; Samsung Stung By ChatGPT Leaks Apr 10, 2023

This week's Network Break examines Security Copilot, the latest AI-infused assistant in Microsoft's growing arsenal; discusses optical advancements from Arelion and Infinera that sent 400Gb wavelengths over 1,800 kilometers; examine a news report that claims Tesla workers shared "highly invasive" images recorded by vehicle cameras; plus even more tech news.

Network Break 424: Amazon Invites Devs To Its Sidewalk Wireless Network; OneWeb Readies Global Satellite Internet Service Apr 03, 2023

On today's Network Break podcast we cover Amazon opening its Sidewalk low-power IoT wireless network to developers, Cisco putting the expiration date on Prime Infrastructure, HAProxy adding QUIC support in its enterprise load balancer, Huawei touting revenue stability, and more IT news.

Network Break 423: Arista Woos Large Enterprises With New SD-WAN Router; Google Breaks Glass Enterprise Mar 27, 2023

This week's Network Break covers Arista's new WAN routers that get the company into the SD-WAN market, debates whether Aryaka targeting SMEs is a sign of problems or opportunity, and discusses an update on the size of the SASE market. We also look at an HPE acquisition, the use of exploding USBs to target journalists, space networking, and more.

Network Break 422: Microsoft Tasks Copilot To Do Your Drudge Work; Cisco Debuts A New Learning Platform Mar 20, 2023

On this week's Network Break podcast we examine Palo Alto Networks adding AI Ops to its SASE offering, and Microsoft Copilot bringing AI into its suite of Office tools. The Ethernet Adapter market grew 22% in 2022, but not because more NICs were sold; we discuss the real reasons and cover more tech news.

Network Break 421: Huawei Is Both In And Out Of German Networks; Hot-Desking Rubs Hybrid Workers Wrong Mar 13, 2023

Take a Network Break! On today's episode we discuss a record quarter for switch sales, examine Germany's mixed signals about allowing Huawei gear in its networks, and debate whether employees' frustration over Google's desk-sharing plan is just entitled whining or a legitimate complaint. Plus more IT news.

Network Break 420: Cisco, HPE Buy Security Startups; Can We Finally Hold Vendors Responsible For Software Defects? Mar 06, 2023

Take a Network Break! We begin with some FU on what constitutes on-prem and off-prem, and then dive into news. Cisco and T-Mobile are partnering on 5G gateways, Cisco Webex is getting installed as a feature(?) in Mercedes E-Class cars, and Cisco is buying multi-cloud security startup Valtix. Valtix offers firewalling, IPS, a cloud Web... Read more »

Network Break 419: HPE Buys Athonet For Private 5G; Exit Public Cloud, Save Millions? Feb 27, 2023

Is the private 5G market big enough to justify HPE's acquisition of Athonet? Is saving money worth retreating from public cloud? Why are organizations still getting bit by basic cloud misconfigurations? Will an appetite for AI deliver results for Nvidia? We explore these and other questions in the latest Network Break podcast.

Network Break 418: Avaya Goes Chapter 11 Again; Cisco, Arista See Revenues Rise Feb 21, 2023

This week's Network Break looks at who takes a haircut in Avaya's Chapter 11 restructuring, GoDaddy's ongoing security issues, new photonics from Nokia, a huge quarter for Arista and more tech news.

Network Break 417: Zoom Chief Raises Bar For CEO Pay Cuts; Fortinet Rolls Out New Firewall Chips Feb 13, 2023

Take a Network Break! On this week's episode we discuss new chip hardware from Fortinet, Extreme integrating its SD-WAN into its network fabric, the US and UK governments sanctioning members of the Trickbot malware gang, more tech layoffs, why tech CEOs should feel more financial pain, and more.

Network Break 416: Ericsson Flogs 5G Network Slicing For Laptops; Microsoft Loads Work Drudgery Onto ChatGPT Feb 06, 2023

On this week's Network Break we examine Ericsson's push for 5G network slicing on laptops, Microsoft injecting ChatGPT into Teams to do the grunt work, financial results from Juniper and Amazon, and more tech news.

Network Break 415: WAN Update Severs Microsoft Cloud Services; Intel To Wind Down Network ASIC Biz Jan 30, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss new capabilities in Juniper's Astra data center automation software; a major Microsoft outage that affected Outlook, Teams, and more; reports that Intel will discontinue selling the Tofino programmable ASIC; a heap of financial results; and more.

Network Break 414: 230 Juniper Vulnerabilities, Should Cisco Patch An EOL Router, T-Mobile Takes Weeks To Spot Breach Jan 23, 2023

On today's Network Break podcast we cover a raft of Juniper vulnerabilities, whether Cisco should patch serious vulnerabilities in end-of-life products, a big T-Mobile breach, Avaya dealing with significant debt, sweeping rounds of layoffs, and more IT news.

Network Break 413: 800G Switches, Intel’s Big Hopes For 4th-Gen CPUs, And Reading Cyber Insurance Fine Print Jan 16, 2023

Take a Network Break! This week's episode covers a bunch of tech news including Arista rolling out a heap of new switches, Intel pinning its comeback hopes on newly released Xeon CPUs, a serious exploit of a Fortinet SSL VPN vulnerability, Dell pulling away from China-made chips, and more.

Network Break 412: IT Spending, ChatGPT, Cloud Repatriation And Other 2023 IT Speculations Jan 09, 2023

Take a Network Break! For our first show of 2023 we skip the news to spend some time speculating on technologies and trends that may influence IT and networking in the coming year, including the influence of AI, machine learning, and ChatGPT in tech; data center network automation; cloud repatriation; and more.

Network Break 411: Cisco Revamps Certification Schedules; FTC Says Game Over For Microsoft’s Activision Bid Dec 12, 2022

Take a Network Break! On today's episode we cover a new certification roadmap from Cisco, speculate on the future of corporate office space, and delve into an FTC lawsuit that aims to stop Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of game developer Activision. We also cover Broadcom financial results and space networking stories from Apple and SpaceX.

Network Break 410: AWS Previews Secure Remote Access; Broadcom Promises Not To Raise VMware Prices Dec 05, 2022

On today's Network Break we discuss new AWS previews for secure remote access and for connecting applications and services across VPCs. We also discuss a serious outage at Hive Social, Open RAN 5G coming to fighter jets, a promise from Broadcom not to raise prices if the VMware acquisition goes through, and more IT news.

Network Break 409: Regulators Tap Brakes On Broadcom, VMware; Google Settles Location Tracking Charges For $392M Nov 28, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast discusses UK and EU regulators wanting a closer look at Broadcom's VMware acquisition, Google settling with 40 US states over location tracking charges, and the FCC publishing responses from the 15 biggest US mobile providers regarding customer geolocation data tracking, plus even more IT news.

Network Break 408: Arista Launches Network Automation Pipeline; Palo Alto Targets Software Supply Chain Security Nov 21, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a new continuous integration pipeline from Arista Networks to support network automation, Cisco's intention to open a new silicon design center in Spain, and Apple spending $450 million to support emergency text messaging using satellites. We also discuss Palo Alto Networks spending $195 million for Cider Security, financial results, and more.

Network Break 407: VMware Buys Startup For SD-WAN Client; Zoom Meetings At The Movies? Nov 14, 2022

This week's Network Break covers several announces from VMware Explore including a new SD-WAN client. ASIC-maker Marvell goes after industrial networks with new silicon, Cisco announces the curtain falling on several ISR router models, and SolarWinds settles with the SEC. Zoom and the AMC movie theater chain partner on an offering to hold big meetings at the movies, and Starlink announces it will slow customer speeds if they cross a 1TB cap.

Network Break 406: Gluware Adds API Modeling To Network Automation; Arista Revenues Rise Nov 07, 2022

This week's Network Break covers new features in Gluware and Aviatrix, new servers from HPE, and new partner specializations from Cisco. We also cover financial results from Fortinet and Arista and Russian threats against commercial satellites.

Network Break 405: Tech And Geopolitics Collide; Juniper Posts Record Q3 Results Oct 31, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss a trio of stories at the intersection of tech and global political power struggles. Plus, startup Versa Networks lands $120 million investment in a pre-IPO round, and tech companies including Juniper Networks, Intel, and Google/Alphabet release financial results.

Network Break 404: Episode Not Found Oct 24, 2022

This week the Network Break covers new SASE capabilities from Fortinet, new 800G hardware from Cisco that uses its homegrown ASIC, and an app from RSA for smart phones that can disable authentication if the app detects malicious behavior. Plus we cover new initiatives from the Open Compute Project, disaggregated Wi-Fi, and more tech news.

Network Break 403: Startup Hedgehog Fuses SONiC And Kubernetes; Google, Intel Launch Mount Evans SmartNIC Oct 17, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a lot of news including a new SONiC startup, Cisco and Microsoft teaming up on collaboration, new hardware from Google and Intel, a new SOC from Palo Alto Networks, space networking, and more.

Network Break 402: Ex Uber Exec Guilty Of Breach Coverup; Startup Promotes Decentralized Cellular Networks Oct 11, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast discusses new security capabilities from Aryaka, a Cisco/Microsoft partnership, the guilty verdict for Uber's former CSO, a startup tackling decentralized cell networks, and more tech news.

Network Break 401: Google Teases Multi-Gig Home Broadband; New USB Cables Use Slightly Less Plastic Oct 03, 2022

Today's Network Break covers three Google stories including Google Fiber's ambitions for multi-gig Internet and the killing of Stadia. We also discuss a rise in firewall sales, using plant-based materials in USB cables, and more IT news.

Network Break 400: Ex-Cisco CEO Launches Network Startup; The Persistence Of Floppy Disks Sep 26, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast covers a startup backed by ex-Cisco CEO John Chambers, US federal agencies wanting service providers to get serious about BGP security, SASE growing 30% in a quarter, a thriving floppy disk business, and more IT news.

Network Break 399: Apstra Goes Freeform For DC Automation; Arista Launches Encryption-Friendly Routers Sep 19, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast covers new capabilities for data center automation in Juniper Apstra, new encryption-friendly Arista routers, and why climate change risks should factor into your IT planning. The startup Veego is pitching an end user experience app to ISPs, the Google spin-out Aalyria looks to build networks using free-space optics, and Microsoft announces Azure Orbital Cloud Access that uses Starlink to connect remote sites to Azure.

Network Break 398: New Broadcom Trident Chip Supports Threat Analysis; Startup Challenges SD-WAN, MPLS Sep 12, 2022

Today's Network Break podcast examines a new Broadcom switch ASIC that can support threat analysis, a startup that's challenging the SD-WAN and MPLS markets, Apple's new partner for an emergency SMS service that uses satellites, a great quarter for data center switch revenue, and more IT news.

Network Break 397: VMware Aria Sings Multicloud Management; NVIDIA Ordered To Stop Selling AI Chips To China Sep 06, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast tackles space weather, new products from VMware, a significant firewall vulnerability, an order barring NVIDIA from selling certain chips to China, and more tech news.

Network Break 396: T-Mobile, SpaceX Strike Internet Deal; Meta Settles Tracking Suit; Dell Notches Record Quarter Aug 29, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast explores SpaceX and T-Mobile partnering to provide satellite-based Internet service (though it's going to take awhile), a new co-packaged optics switch from Broadcom, a whistleblower taking Twitter to task for poor security and a relaxed approach to spam, Dell financial results, and more tech news.

Network Break 395: Broadcom Ships 51.2Tbps ASIC; Extreme’s New AP Goes Outdoors; Lloyd’s Rethinks Cyber Insurance Policies Aug 22, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast drills into features in Broadcom's newest Tomahawk ASIC, a new Wi-Fi 6E from Extreme for outdoor use, and a $262 million infusion for the startup DriveNets. We also cover serious Apple vulnerabilities, why Lloyd's is rethinking cyber insurance for state-sponsored attacks, Cisco financial results, and more.

Network Break 394: New IP Infusion NOS, Cisco Breached, WLAN Gear Backlogged To 2023 Aug 15, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast covers tech news including IP Infusion's 6.0 release of its OcNOS network OS, the intersection of politics and supply chains, Cisco's breach by the Lapsus group, Starlink getting rejected by the FCC for subsidies, and more.

NB393: Arista buys Pluribus, More Supply Chain, Space Networking Slows & DECnet Death Aug 08, 2022

Summer can be slow but there is news!

Network Break 392: Aruba Upgrades AIOps; Intel Suffers A Tough Quarter Aug 01, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast looks at new AIOps capabilities in Aruba Central, new cloud security tools from Fortinet, financial results from Juniper Networks and Intel, a connected scarf for soccer fans, and more tech news.

Network Break 391: IT Spending To Rise; Rating Your Emotional Response To Vendor Products Jul 25, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover new DLP capabilities from Cato Networks, updates to the open-source Cilium project for your eBPF and service mesh needs, why Cisco is streamlining how partners can offer Webex as a managed service, and more IT news coverage.

Network Break 390: New Juniper Access Switch; Intel To Hike Prices Jul 18, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast discusses new switch hardware from Juniper, the underwhelming outage response by Canadian ISP Rogers, and why SASE growth is exploding. Intel is said to be raising prices across a variety of chips, a security researcher has demonstrated a replay attack that can open and start Honda vehicles, and more.

Network Break 389: Alleged IT Fraudsters Indicted; HPE Floats GreenLake Private Cloud Jul 11, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover two separate indictments against alleged schemers who sold counterfeit Cisco gear and pirated Avaya license keys. We also cover new products from Juniper Networks, VMware, and HPE. Meanwhile Starlink targets maritime vessels with a satellite broadband offering.

Network Break 388: Cloudflare Diagnoses Widespread Outage; EU Pumps Brakes On Broadcom/VMware Jun 27, 2022

Today's Network Break podcast discusses new SASE features from Cloudflare, a Cloudflare outage and its post-mortem, why EU regulators want a closer look at Broadcom's proposed VMware acquisition, and more IT news.

Network Break 387: Cisco Goes All-In On Cloud; Covid And Tech Conferences Jun 20, 2022

Today's Network Break podcast surfs a tidal wave of announcements from Cisco Live 2022, discusses Juniper Networks calling an end to several routers, and looks at the potential impact of Covid and in-person tech events.

Network Break 386: Extreme Debuts SD-WAN, Digital Twins; Cisco Launches SASE Service Jun 13, 2022

This week's Network Break kicks off with listener FU and then dives into new SD-WAN and AIOps offerings from Extreme Networks. Cisco announces a SASE service and hints at a broader cloud security strategy. Arista adds to its Layer 1 switch portfolio while Ericsson and BT team up on private 5G in the United Kingdom.

Network Break 385: VMware, Juniper Release New Security Tools; Judge Orders IBM To Pay BMC $1.6 Billion Jun 06, 2022

Today's Network Break podcast discusses a new threat analytics product from VMware, new security features from Juniper's cloud-delivered security service, a report from Morgan Stanley on why the big network vendors are chasing the enterprise campus, and more IT news.

Network Break 384: Broadcom To Buy VMware; DuckDuckGo Slammed For Microsoft Tracking Deal May 31, 2022

On today's Network Break we dig into Broadcom's proposed acquisition of VMware for about $61 billion. We also cover a serious VMware vulnerability that is being exploited in the wild, and criticism of DuckDuckGo for a deal with Microsoft that allows some data to be collected from the privacy browser. We also cover the latest financial results from Dell Technologies and Broadcom.

Network Break 383: Cyber Insurers Realize Customers Have Terrible Security; F5’s Big Vulnerability May 23, 2022

This week's Network Break discusses a new threat containment feature from Rubrik to prevent companies from re-infecting themselves via compromised backups. F5 has released patches for a serious vulnerability in its Big-IP load balancer, cyber insurers raised premiums by as much 92% last year, and more IT news.

Network Break 382: Intel Charts DPU Roadmap; Juniper Brings Contrail SDN To Kubernetes May 16, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast discuss Intel's roadmap for its Infrastructure Processing Units (IPUs). We get more insight into Nokia's deal to provide hardware for Azure, and examine why Juniper has extended its Contrail SDN platform to Kubernetes (hint: because of the cloud). Plus Cisco releases new Wi-Fi capabilities.

Network Break 381: TLS Vulnerability Affects Aruba, Avaya Switches; Cisco Teases Predictive Networks May 09, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover a vulnerable implementation of a TLS module that affects switches from HPE Aruba and Extreme Networks' Avaya brand, Cisco teases a forthcoming technology called Predictive Networks that promises analytics and automated problem-solving, Fortinet announces new firewalls, and more IT news.

Network Break 380: BT, Toshiba Trial Quantum Key Distribution; Juniper Expands Free Cert Training May 02, 2022

This week's Network Break discusses quantum key distribution, a startup getting millions to develop an enterprise SONiC distribution, Juniper expanding free cert training, quarterly financial results, and more tech news.

Network Break 379: Nokia Goes SONiC For Microsoft Data Centers: Comcast Tests Hollowcore Fiber Apr 26, 2022

This week's Network Break podcast discusses Nokia deal to sell switch hardware to Microsoft running the SONiC network OS. We also cover Dell's 4.0 release of its Enterprise SONiC distribution, a test of hollowcore fiber optics by Comcast, the British government making rules about watching TV in self-driving cars, and more tech news.

Network Break 378: Barracuda Gets A New Owner; Intel Buys Ananki For Private 5G Apr 18, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover several acquisitions including Barracuda Networks being bought by KKR, SailPoint being picked up by Thoma Bravo, Perforce buying Puppet, and Intel snapping up Ananki to get into the private 5G market. Plus more tech news.

Network Break 377: AMD Buys Pensando; IBM Mainframe Marches On With z16 Apr 11, 2022

This week's Network Break discusses AMD's $1.9 billion bid for Pensando, why Juniper is partnering with Synopsys on silicon photonics, a new application access control feature from Cato Networks, and a new mainframe from IBM and a new lawsuit against it. Plus more tech news!

Network Break 376: Aruba Automates Overlays; Arista CUEs Up Branch Networking Gear Apr 04, 2022

Today's Network Break examines new network fabric automation capabilities from Aruba, new network and security gear from Arista that opens up brand new markets for the company, a cloud-native firewall for AWS from Palo Alto Networks, an update on an attack against a satellite network, and more tech news.

Network Break 375: Aruba Networks Dives Into GreenLake; Okta Pins Incident On Outsourcer Mar 28, 2022

Today's Network Break discusses Aruba Networks moving closer to HPE GreenLake with a new reseller-focused way to sell network gear, how data center design hampered fire fighting at an OVHcloud facility, Okta's response to a January security incident, Intel's request for US government dollars, and more IT news.

Network Break 374: Pluribus Extends DC Fabric To NVIDIA DPUs; Intel Buries Three FPGAs Mar 21, 2022

In this week's Network Break we discuss Pluribus porting its network OS to NVIDIA DPUs, why Intel is pulling the plug on three FPGA cards in its portfolio, the debut of a network operations startup that draws from multiple data sources to help NetOps teams troubleshoot problems faster, and more IT news.

Network Break 373: Google Buys Mandiant To Bolster Security Ops; Network OS DENT 2.0 Released Mar 14, 2022

Today's Network Break examines why Google spent billions of dollars to acquire Mandiant for security ops, the latest release of the DENT network OS, NVIDIA's software revenue strategy, and more tech news.

Network Break 372: VMware Enhances Container Security; Google Summons Workers Back To The Office Mar 07, 2022

This week on Network Break we discuss VMware enhancing its Carbon Black software with container runtime security, Google telling employees to return to the office starting April 4, and Broadcom taking in $7.7 billion in revenue in Q1 2022. We also discuss security attacks affected hit Toyota and Viasat and more IT news.

Network Break 371: Arista Turns Campus Switch Into NDR Sensor; Mikrotik Puts A Router On A PCIe Card Feb 28, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we examine how Arista is turning a campus switch into a sensor for network detection and response, a new PCIe card from Mikrotik running router software, a Dell/Marvell partnership on hardware for Open RAN gear, Cisco and Dell financial results, potential equipment danger from solar flares, and more.

Network Break 370: Juniper Acquires NAC Startup; Intel Buys Semiconductor Foundry Feb 22, 2022

This week's Network Break dives into a trio of acquisitions by Juniper, Intel, and Akamai; new security features from Gigamon and Aviatrix; big financial gains for Arista; and more tech news.

Network Break 369: Cisco SD-WAN Ramps Up Webex, Microsoft 365 Access; Pluribus Adds Virtual Packet Broker Feb 14, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we cover Cisco’s SD-WAN getting users to cloud services such as Webex and Microsoft 365 faster; as well as new capabilities in Pluribus’s Netvisor network OS including container visibility, a virtual packet broker, and flow tracking. Contamination at chip fabs affects flash memory production, plans are afoot for a... Read more »

Network Break 368: Juniper, Cato Advance Cloud-Based Security Offerings; Citrix Gets Acquired Feb 07, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week’s tech news includes new cloud-delivered security services from Juniper Networks and Cato Networks, new firewall hardware from Fortinet, prognostications on the campus switch market, Cisco teasing a private 5G service, and more.

Network Break 367: New Custom ASICs For Juniper Routers; Regulators, NVIDIA Arm Wrestle Jan 31, 2022

This week's Network Break looks at new router silicon from Juniper, why NVIDIA's acquisition bid for Arm is running into headwinds, a new LiveAction service that inspects encrypted traffic for threats, financial results from Juniper and Extreme, and more tech news.

Network Break 366: Microsoft Spends $68.7 Billion On Games; Wi-Fi 7 On The Horizon Jan 24, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we examine the drivers behind Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of gaming company Activision Blizzard, Juniper integrates its SD-WAN portfolio with Mist Cloud, and Wi-Fi 7 emerges on the horizon. Cisco announces a new Catalyst switch for industrial use cases, Telia Carrier rebrands, and JP Morgan Chase discloses tidbits about its IT strategy.

Network Break 365: Salesforce Forces Multi-Factor Authentication; FAA Implements 5G Buffer Zones Jan 17, 2022

This week on Network Break we discuss why Salesforce is requiring multi-factor authentication from customers starting in February 2022, examine an SFP module that comes with a tiny computer running Linux, highlight the vast gap between cloud hype and cloud spending compared to traditional IT gear, and cover more IT news.

Network Break 364: Oracle Acquires Federos For Network Assurance; Google Snags Security Startup Siemplify Jan 10, 2022

Take a Network Break! This week we examine Oracle's purchase of network assurance vendor Federos, discuss why Cisco has added a service mesh manager to its Intersight Kubernetes service, explore why some users are frustrated with a crypto-miner in NortonLifelock's anti-virus software, and cover more tech news.

Network Break 363: Broadcom Buys AppNeta For Experience Monitoring; Cloudflare Offers New Firewall Service Dec 13, 2021

This week's Network Break asks whether Broadcom's acquisition of AppNeta, which offers SaaS-based digital experience monitoring, is a good fit. We look at new features in the SONiC network OS, dive into a new firewall service available from Cloudflare, and more IT news.

Network Break 362: AWS Announces Private 5G Service; FTC Says No To Nvidia’s Arm Grab Dec 06, 2021

Today's Network Break covers two AWS announcements including a private 5G offering and new networking service, discusses why the FTC is against Nvidia acquiring Arm Holdings, examines a new security feature in Aviatrix, and more tech news.

Network Break 361: US Government Targets Spyware Maker; Ericsson Spends $6.2 Billion For Vonage Nov 29, 2021

In this week's Network Break we discuss how an Israeli spyware maker ran afoul of the US government, why Ericsson is dropping $6.2 billion in cash for Vonage, new IPv6 subnets available in AWS, and more tech news.

Network Break 360: Facebook Chooses Cisco ASIC For OCP; Apple To Allow Limited Self-Service Repair Nov 22, 2021

This week's Network Break podcast examines why Facebook has chosen Cisco and Broadcom ASICS for new Open Compute Project switch designs, Apple will allow self-service repair of two iPhone models, Fortinet partners with Azure on SD-WAN and firewalls, Cisco and NVIDIA announce quarterly earnings, and more tech news.

Network Break 359: Arista Increases Its 400G Switch Portfolio; Nvidia Accelerates InfiniBand Nov 15, 2021

This week's Network Break examines new 400G switches from Arista, discusses the Wi-Fi Alliance's certification program for the HaLow long-range low-power standard, targets key Nvidia announcements, catches up on the latest in space networking, and more IT news.

Network Break 358: Unpacking Juniper’s Strategic Objectives; Intel Details New Infrastructure Chip Nov 08, 2021

This weeks' Network Break discusses Juniper's Analyst & Influencer day plus a new Wi-Fi 6E announcement. Intel is teaming up with Google to develop a chip for offloading network, security, and storage jobs from the CPU (but Intel won't call it a DPU). And the FCC revokes authorization for China Telecom to operate in the United States.

Network Break 357: Switchless Networking? Startup Rockport Says Yes; ISPs Monetize Customer Surveillance Nov 01, 2021

Take a Network Break! This week we discuss how startup Rockport Networks brings switchless networking to the data center. The FTC says ISPs are amassing and monetizing sensitive customer data. Cisco unveils new routing silicon, Juniper sees revenues rise and income fall, and more tech news.

Network Break 356: Aruba Beefs Up ToR Switch With DPUs; VMware Stands Free Oct 25, 2021

This week on the Network Break podcast we discuss a new ToR switch from Aruba that includes built-in silicon to offload security and network services. Dell Technologies says the VMware spin-off will be complete by November 1st, and SASE startup Cato Networks raises $250 in an F round of funding.

Network Break 355: Azure Brags About DDoS Protection; Marvell Hitches Ride With Dent Network OS Oct 18, 2021

Today on the Network Break, we discuss Marvell's choice of the Dent network OS for its Prestera silicon, Microsoft shares details about how its Azure cloud service thwarted a 2.4Tbps DDoS attack, a researcher shares details on snooping data from a copper patch lead, and other tech tidbits.

Network Break 354: VMworld’s Constipation, Facebook Footgun, Marvell 5nm DPUs Oct 12, 2021

This week on Network Break, VMware disgorges a slew of announcements at VMworld 2021, Facebook shoots itself in the foot with BGP and DNS bullets, Marvell announces new silicon for Data Processing Units (DPUs), and more tech news analysis.

Network Break 353: New Juniper Chassis Tops 400G; Akamai Spends Big Money On Microsegmentation Oct 04, 2021

This week's Network Break talks about a new data center chassis from Juniper, why Akamai spent $600 million to buy security company Guardicore, what happened to Zoom's big acquisition of a contact center company, and more tech news.

Network Break 352: Nokia Announces 800G Routing Silicon; Pica8 Enticingly Prices Its Campus Controller, Switches Sep 27, 2021

This week's Network Break podcast discusses Nokia's new beefed-up routing silicon, how Pica8 is pursuing campus switching with a controller/switch pricing bundle, and the latest critical security patches from Cisco. We also look at the latest ransomware attacks against US agricultural companies, a MacOS bug, and more tech news.

Network Break 351: Juniper’s Wired Campus Fabric Challenges Cisco; More Azure Holes Revealed Sep 20, 2021

Today's Network Break podcast discusses Juniper's new wired campus effort and how it leverages Mist Cloud for to help automate its campus fabric, a new set of Azure vulnerabilities, robust SD-WAN growth with the biggest players reaping most of the rewards, free space optics for hard-to-wire regions, and more tech news.

Network Break 350: Intel Pledges Billions For European Chip Factories; Facebook Reveals New Data Center Design Sep 13, 2021

This week's Network Break podcast wonders what Intel wants in return for a multi-year, multi-billion pledge to build European chip factories, marvels at Facebook's newly revealed data center designs, analyzes Comcast's Masergy acquisition, and more.

Network Break 349: T-Mobile Fails To Protect Millions Of Customer Records; Ciena Buys Vyatta Router Sep 07, 2021

Today's Network Break podcast opines on why Ciena acquired the Vyatta router from AT&T (and why AT&T wanted to sell), how T-Mobile failed current and former customers via a breach that exposed sensitive details on millions of people, financial results from HPE and Dell Technologies, and more.

Network Break 348: Ransomware Bedevils Cyber Insurance; TSMC To Raise Chip Prices Aug 30, 2021

This week's Network Break examines how ransomware has insurers rethinking premiums and coverage limits, discusses the pros and cons of ISPs sharing flow records with security companies, digs into Arista's efforts to tackle the router market, pontificates on TSMC chip price hikes, and more tech news analysis.

Network Break 347: Cisco Acquires Container App Monitor; Intel Unwraps Mount Evans IPU Aug 23, 2021

It's the Network Break! This week we analyze Cisco's $500 million acquisition of a container-based and serverless application monitor, Intel's announcement of Mount Evans, an Infrastructure Processing Unit (IPU) for network and storage offload, and more tech news. Guest analyst Johna Till Johnson, CEO and founder of Nemertes Research, joins Greg Ferro.

Network Break 346: Extreme Gets SDWAN, Huawei Struggles and SpaceX Swarms Aug 16, 2021

The world of virtual donuts is supply constrained. Extreme Networks finally gets SDWAN buying Ipanema from Infovista at a bargain price. Research firms that does the numbers Dell'oro pitches that Education and Government markets will be spending big on WiFi6E - we aren't so sure that campus spending will be big just some spending but Dell'oro told us that government economic stimulus is the driver. Most will focus on distributed work. Huawei posted 29% revenue reduction as the trade sanctions impact their overall business. A reminder that political solutions are slow if you have to make plans. And in space networking, SpaceX acquires pico-satellite company Swarm for IOT networking.

Network Break 345: Marvell Acquires High-End Ethernet ASICs; Arista CEO Says Component Shortage ‘Worst I’ve Seen’ Aug 09, 2021

This week's Network Break podcat discusses Marvell's Innovium buy and its impact on the high-end Ethernet market, new Juniper security software for applications, Arista financial results and component concerns, and more IT news.

Network Break 344: Zoom Expands Into Contact Center Biz; Will Devs Choose Cloudflare’s Green Compute? Aug 03, 2021

Zoom buys its way into the contact center biz with the $14.7 billion purchase of Five9, Extreme announces Wi-Fi 6E APs, Cloudflare debuts Green Compute for scheduled workloads, and IT vendors report strong quarterly financial results. We analyze these stories and more IT news on today's Network Break podcast.

Network Break 343: Ericsson, Verizon Ink $8.3 Billion 5G Deal; Intel Reports Flat Revenues Jul 26, 2021

This week on the Network Break we examine an $8.3 billion 5G deal between Ericsson and Verizon, Microsoft's CloudKnox purchase to bolster cloud permissions management, research into microprocessors on flexible materials, Intel's underwhelming financial results, and more IT news.

Network Break 342: SolarWinds Back In Security Hot Seat; In Defense Of The Fax Machine Jul 19, 2021

Today's Network Break podcast delves into security issues at SolarWinds and SonicWall, discusses a new network offload capability between NVIDIA and Palo Alto Networks, comments on Japanese bureaucrats who refuse to give up their fax machines, and more tech news.

Network Break 341: Ransomware Clobbers Kaseya Customers; HPE Buys Zerto For Cloud Data Protection Jul 12, 2021

This week Network Break examines the fallout of the Kaseya breach, HPE's acquisitions of Zerto and Ampool to extend the value of its Greenlake platform, and Fortinet's purchase of a secure software development tool. We also discuss FTC accusations against Broadcom and what a court ruling could mean for Netflix and other content providers in South Korea.

Network Break 340: Marvell Challenges NVIDIA With 5nm DPU; Startup WiteSand Tackles Multi-Vendor Campus Network Management Jul 06, 2021

This week's podcast asks how many Data Processing Units (DPUs) the market can support, discusses a startup that wants to manage your multi-vendor campus network from the cloud, explores new security capabilities in Forward Networks' network verification software, and more tech news.

Network Break 339: HPE Raises The Stakes On Its GreenLake Strategy; Windows 11 Injects Itself With Teams Jun 28, 2021

Take a Network Break! We discuss how HPE raises the stakes on its GreenLake hybrid cloud strategy with new features, look at new products from Aruba Networks, review the latest changes in Windows 11, and more tech news. Guest commentator Tom Hollingsworth brings the virtual donuts this week.

Network Break 338: Breach In Progress? Gigamon Operators Are Standing By; IEEE Finalizes New Ethernet Standard Jun 21, 2021

Gigamon adds a human touch to a new SaaS NDR offering, the IEEE finalizes 802.3cu for faster speeds over single-mode optical fiber, US service providers roll out managed SASE services, and more IT news in this week's Network Break podcast.

Network Break 337: Hey, You Dropped Some Bitcoin; Fastly Recovers From Outage…Fastly Jun 14, 2021

On this week's Network Break deployment of virtual donuts and tech commentary, Fastly takes out much of the Web but recovers quickly, AWS suffers an outage at a German data center, US law enforcement reclaims a large chunk of Bitcoin ransom, Bosch unveils a new fab to make silicon wafers for automotive chips, and more.

Network Break 336: Cisco Announces Cloud ACI And More; Amazon Borrows Wi-Fi Without Asking Jun 07, 2021

Cisco debuts Cloud ACI to unify segmentation policies on prem and in the public cloud, Amazon will activate an opt-out mesh network using your Ring and Echo devices, Microsoft buys an IoT security company, and more tech news in this week's Network Break podcast.

Network Break 335: Cyber Insurance Premiums Climb; Aruba To Debut Wi-Fi 6E AP Jun 01, 2021

Today's Network Break discusses rising cyber insurance premiums and how wider insurance adoption might affect the security market. We also discuss a forthcoming Aruba AP that uses newly available spectrum, a new packet broker from Extreme with a programmable ASIC, Juniper's Apstra 4.0 release, and more IT news.

Network Break 334: Palo Alto Unveils New Security Gear; Arista Saves Time With Lowest-Latency Switch May 24, 2021

This week's Network Break covers new firewalls & other security products from Palo Alto Networks, discusses Arista's lowest-latency switch (now with EOS), reviews financial results from Cisco and Palo Alto, and explains why Microsoft is making Internet Explorer go away (just not entirely).

Network Break 333: Cisco Acquires Optical Controller Software; DarkSide Gang Gets The Spotlight May 17, 2021

This week's Network Break covers a pair of Cisco acquisitions, new path analysis capabilities from NetBeez, how the DarkSide ransomware gang is getting the spotlight, sleazy behavior from US broadband companies, and other tech news.

Network Break 332: Juniper Teases SASE Offering; IBM Gets Small With 2nm Chip May 10, 2021

Today's Network Break covers IBM's new 2nm chip process, Juniper's first step toward a SASE offering, whether secondary markets for network gear might be an option for companies dealing with supply chain shortages, and more tech news.

Network Break 331: Proofpoint Goes Private In $12 Billion Deal; Defense Dept. Unveils IPv4 Address Cache May 03, 2021

Guest analyst Johna Till Johnson, CEO and Founder of Nemertes Research, joins the Network Break to discuss a variety of IT news including the rising price of copper, Proofpoint going private in a $12.3 billion deal, why the US Defense Department suddenly began advertising a huge block of IPv4 addresses, and space networking.

Network Break 330: VMware Stitches Together A SASE Offering; Nvidia’s Arm Purchase On Hold Apr 26, 2021

This week's Network Break podcast examines VMware's new SASE offering for the distributed workforce, Nvidia's Arm-based accelerators, why the United Kingdom de-accelerated Nvidia's Arm acquisition, new routers from Juniper Networks, and more nerdy IT news.

Network Break 329: Dell, VMware Consciously Uncouple; Aruba Networks Lives On The Edge Apr 19, 2021

This week's Network Break podcast examines Dell's plans to spin off VMware for a healthy dose of cash, reviews Aruba Networks' Atmosphere keynotes, and dives into NVIDIA announcements around SmartNICs/DPUs and an AI security framework. We also cover a whopping-big acquisition by Microsoft, and what a drought in Taiwan means for the silicon supply chain.

Network Break 328: Arista CloudVision Adds Config Workflow Automation; Innovium ASICs Embrace SONiC Apr 12, 2021

On this week's Network Break we cover Arista's careful steps into automation, new support for SONiC from Innovium, a cash injection for whitebox NOS maker Pica8, a startup tackling cloud infrastructure and application experience, and why you can blame cosmic rays the next time there's a network problem.

Network Break 327: Cisco Embraces As-A-Service Procurement; Will Amazon Make Its Own ASICs? Apr 05, 2021

Today's Network Break sifts through the most interesting news from Cisco Live 2021 including an as-a-service procurement model, support for biometric-based authentication, integrating ThousandEyes and AppDynamics, and more. We also examine reports that Amazon is designing its own switch ASIC, and discuss new research on harvesting power from 5G electromagnetic waves.

Network Break 326: Cloudflare Announces New WAN Services; Intel’s Turnaround Roadmap Mar 29, 2021

Can Pat Gelsinger refloat the Intel container ship? Is Cloudflare's new magic WAN service all that new? What's behind the Fortinet/Linksys partnership? Is a tweet really worth $2.9 million? This week's Network Break podcast ponders these and other tech questions, plus listener FUs.

Network Break 325: VMware Buys API Security Startup; Gartner Bullish On SONiC Network OS Mar 22, 2021

This week's Network Break podcast discusses VMware's purchase of API security startup Mesh7, looks at a new security option for third-party Web components from Tala Security, and analyzes why Gartner is so bullish on the SONiC network OS. We also speculate on motivations behind Google's real estate spending spree, and hand out a nice selection of virtual donuts.

Network Break 324: Cisco ASIC Hits 25.6Tbps; AWS Extends VPC Flow Logs For Better Visibility Mar 15, 2021

This week's Network Break discusses new ASICs from Cisco, new metadata fields in AWS VPC flow logs, a cloud visibility fabric from packet broker specialist Gigamon, lessons from a data center fire, and more tech news.

Network Break 323: Google To Swap 3rd-Party Cookies For Cohorts; Attackers Exploit On-Prem Exchange Mar 08, 2021

This week's Network Break checks the fine print on a Google pledge to phase out third-party cookie tracking, examines a serious attack against Microsoft Exchange servers, dives into HPE's latest financial results, and analyzes more tech news.

Network Break 322: Juniper Mist-ifes 128 Technology; US Telcos Spend Big For 5G Spectrum Mar 01, 2021

On today's Network Break we discuss a slate of Juniper announcements around new integrations with its Mist platform, plus new switches. HPE acquires a SaaS company for controlling cloud and infrastructure costs, US telcos spend $81 billion on spectrum for 5G, and we dive into the latest round of financial results from SolarWinds, VMware, and Nutanix.

Network Break 321: Palo Alto Buys Bridgecrew For IaC Security; Azure Steps Up Its Firewall Game Feb 22, 2021

Today's Network Break discusses an acquisition by Palo Alto Networks that targets the security of Infrastructure as Code, a souped-up firewall for Microsoft Azure, a new private cloud option from Dell, commentary on the wisdom--or lack thereof--about gathering in person in Barcelona for a wireless convention, and more tech news.

Network Break 320: Juniper Rebrands Service Provider Automation Offerings; Fortinet Gets SASE With Latest OS Feb 16, 2021

This week's Network Break dives into Juniper reorganizing and rebranding automation products as the Paragon portfolio, new SASE and ZTNA capabilities from Fortinet, the rise of cyber-insurance premiums, an HPE server getting launched into space, and more tech news.

Network Break 319: Arista Unveils Zero Trust Offering; Google Searches For Cloud Profits Feb 08, 2021

Take a Network Break! This week we start with a couple of follow-ups, and then dive into the week's news. Arista Networks announced a Zero Trust offering that has room to grow, Google's Stadia game streaming service shuts down its in-house game development studio, AWS and Google Cloud announce their financial results, and more tech news.

Network Break 318: Cisco Unveils New Catalyst Hardware; Internet Sleuth Uncovers Global IPv4 Misuse Feb 01, 2021

Today's Network Break explores new Catalyst hardware and micro switches from Cisco, a new security offering from Fortinet that combines endpoint security with cloud analytics, an Internet sleuth tracking IPv4 shenanigans, financial results from Juniper and F5, and a whopping big investment for routing startup DriveNets.

Network Break 317: Citrix Bets The House On SaaS Collaboration; AWS Forks Elasticsearch Jan 25, 2021

Today's Network Break examines Citrix's multi-billion bet on a SaaS collaboration acquisition, a fight over the Elasticsearch project where everyone gets a black eye, Red Hat's sop to everyone angry about CentOS, a pair of dangerous Cisco SD-WAN bugs, and more IT news.

Network Break 316: New CPU CEO Bids VMware Adieu; NSA Says Check Your DoH Jan 19, 2021

This week's Network Break opines on the breach of Ubiquiti customer data via a third-party cloud service, Pat Gelsinger's appointment to the CEO role at Intel, and the NSA offers advice for enterprises on deploying DNS over HTTPS (DoH). We also cover how a chip shortage is stalling auto production and more tech news.

Network Break 315: Pluralsight Sold For $3.5 Billion; Dent NOS Hitchhikes To The Edge Jan 12, 2021

This week's Network Break discusses the jaw-dropping $3.5 billion purchase of Pluralsight; welcomes a new network OS to life, the universe, and everything; debates whether ICANN was cautious or tardy in implementing DNSSEC for gTLD name servers, catches up on the SolarWinds hack, and more tech conversation.

Network Break 314: Juniper Buys Apstra For IBN; Aruba Targets The Data Center With Fabric Software Dec 14, 2020

Today's Network Break analyzes Juniper's acquisition of Intent-Based Networking startup Apstra, HPE's Aruba targets the data center with new switches and fabric software, and the US FTC sues Facebook for violating anti-trust laws. We also cover new products from Arista, Aryaka, and Gluware, a trio of Cisco acquisitions, and more tech news.

Network Break 313: Salesforce Snaps Up Slack; HPE To Decamp For Houston Dec 07, 2020

This week's Network Break analyzes the implications of Salesforce's Slack acquisition, discusses why HPE is moving its HQ to Houston, new ASICs from Broadcom, the distastefulness of Dell selling security add-ons for its supply chain, the shakiness of IETF funding, and more tech news.

Network Break 312: AWS Kneecapped By Kinesis; Linux Unlikely For Apple M1 Nov 30, 2020

The latest Network Break episode explores AWS's pre-Thanksgiving outage and the lack of fallout, discusses a new AWS firewall service, reports on why Linus Torvalds isn't holding his breath on seeing Linux run on Apple's new M1 SoC, covers the latest tech financial results, and more.

Network Break 311: Apstra Gets Loud About SONiC; VMware Sinks More Hooks Into Networking Nov 23, 2020

Each week Network Break runs vendor press releases through our patented ML algorithms to strip out the marketing & buzzwords. It doesn't leave us much to work with, but we do our best. Today's episode covers Apstra's IBN support for the SONiC NOS, IBM's purchase of APM newcomer Instana, VMware's furthering of its networking ambitions, a startup building 5G chips for the edge, and more.

Network Break 310: Kemp Acquires Flowmon; Networking Startup Isovalent Nabs $29 Million VC Bucks Nov 16, 2020

This week's Network Break discusses a serious flaw in some Aruba switches, why Kemp acquired Flowmon, what makes a networking startup worth a $29 million investment, what Extreme Networks is up to with its AWS Outpost competitor, how Cisco is spinning a tough financial quarter, and more tech news.

Network Break 309: Arista Rolls Out New Campus Switches; Financial Reporting Roundup Nov 09, 2020

Guest commentator Johna Till Johnson, CEO of Nemertes Research, brings her analytical eye to this week's Network Break. Coverage includes new Arista campus switches, a Dutch telco shutting down legacy TDM systems, Google Chrome getting its own certificate store, and a massive Bitcoin seizure.

Network Break 308: AMD Gobbles Xilinx, Marvell Chops Inphi. Its SmartNIC DPU Week Nov 02, 2020

This week Network Break is about silicon companies Marvel and AMD bulking up to fight competition. Cisco ships a SmartNIC, Catchpoint releases new features and Space Networking.

Network Break 307: Cisco Launches Catalyst 8000 Edge Routers; Juniper Spends $450 Million For 128 Technology Oct 26, 2020

Today's Network Break covers new SD-WAN routers from Cisco, a giant Juniper acquisition, new WIPS capabilities from Extreme, the United States' anti-trust lawsuit against Google, Intel selling its NAND business, and Space Networking!

Network Break 306: Cloudflare Launches Secure NaaS Offering; SonicWall Vulnerability Affects Nearly 800,000 Devices Oct 19, 2020

Today's Network Break examines a new security service from Cloudflare, a SonicWall vulnerability that affects a massive number of its appliances, a fresh funding round for networking startup Alkira, and more nerdy networking news.

Network Break 305: NVIDIA Unfolds DPU Roadmap; IBM Spins Off Managed Infrastructure Biz Oct 13, 2020

Today's Network Break analyzes NVIDIA's new roadmap for DPUs (also known as SmartNICs), IBM's spin-out of its managed infrastructure business, new security features from Juniper, a whopping judgement against Cisco for patent violations, and more.

Network Break 304: The VMworld 2020 Roundup; Arista Acquires Awake Security Oct 05, 2020

Keith Townsend stops by Network Break to lend analysis and commentary on our review of the biggest announcements to come out of VMworld, including Project Monterey and the SaltStack acquisition. We also discuss new products from Arista, acquisitions by Arista and Juniper, Google joining the Linux Foundation's LF Networking, and more.

Network Break 303: Ericsson Acquires Cradlepoint For WAN Connectivity; HPE/Silver Peak Deal Closes Sep 28, 2020

Today's Network Break starts with follow-up to correct a few items, and then dives into Ericsson's Cradlepoint acquisition. On the acquisition front, HPE finalizes its Silver Peak purchase, Kentik adds synthetics to its visibility platform, Cisco bets on a live, in-person event in 2021, and more tech news.

Network Break 302: Nvidia Bids Billions For Arm; VMware Melds Kubernetes With vSphere Sep 21, 2020

It's a baker's dozen of tech news in today's Network Break episode. We analyze Nvidia's $40 billion bid for Arm, Broadcom's banishment of Cumulus, vSphere's Kubernetes injection via Tanzu, a new hardware strategy from Extreme, new products from Palo Alto and Juniper, and more!

Network Break 301: Samsung Dials Up A 5G Contract; Broadcom Announces Fast, Power-Efficient New Jericho Chip Sep 14, 2020

Network Break analyzes Samsung's multi-billion 5G contract from Verizon, a new Jericho ASIC from Broadcom, the insiders driving Zoombombing, the persistence of DDoS attacks, and more tech news.

Network Break 300: Cisco Mixes Microservices And SD-WAN; Broadcom Rolls Out Gen7 Fibre Channel Switches Sep 08, 2020

Network Break dives into a new Cisco project that ties microservices to SD-WAN, a CenturyLink outage, new vulnerabilities in IOS-XR, Broadcom's new Gen7 Fibre Channel switches, and more IT news.

Network Break 299: Cisco Acquires Audio Filter BabbleLabs; Apple Update Hits Facebook In The Ads Aug 31, 2020

Today's Network Break shares listener follow-up, then dives into a new Cisco acquisition of an audio company; discusses how Facebook is responding to an Apple update that will hurt a part of Facebook's business; covers financial results from HPE, VMware, and Nutanix; and more tech news.

Network Break 298: Arista Launches CloudVision As A Service; Cisco, Megaport Partner On SD-WAN Aug 24, 2020

Take a Network Break! Pass around the virtual pickles as we delve into Arista's new SaaS version of CloudVision, Cisco and Megaport's SD-WAN partnership, new Intent-Based Networking features from Apstra, and more tech news.

Network Break 297: Juniper Rolls Out New WiFi 6 APs; Security Spending Is Pointless (Mostly) Aug 17, 2020

The latest Network Break podcast debates whether security spending is worth it, discusses new APs from Juniper, reviews two new startups, analyzes Cisco's latest financial reports, and more tech news.

Network Break 296: Cisco Acquires Video Analytics Company; F5 Gear Targeted By Botnet Aug 10, 2020

The latest Network Break podcast examines Cisco's acquisition of Modcam for video analytics, discusses how the Mirai botnet takes advantage of vulnerable F5 load balancers, reviews financial results from Extreme and Arista, and tackles even more IT news.

Network Break 295: Arista CloudEOS Edge Joins Multi-Cloud Portfolio; Juniper Announces AI-Powered WAN Assurance Aug 03, 2020

Today's Network Break podcast explores a new multi-cloud offering from Arista, Juniper's WAN Assurance service that leverages Mist AI, and Marvell's Ethernet ASIC line. We also discuss financial results from Juniper, A10 Networks, and F5, plus a space networking update and more.

Network Break 294: Fortinet, Arrcus Target Multi-Cloud Networking; Innovium Rakes In More ASIC Funding Jul 27, 2020

Today's Network Break analyzes multi-cloud networking announcements from Fortinet and Arrcus, discusses additional venture funding for ASIC-maker Innovium, looks at more consolidation in the SD-WAN market, and debates whether "Internet" should be capitalized.

Network Break 293: HPE Acquires Silver Peak; Dell Teases VMware Sale Jul 20, 2020

Today's Network Break scrutinizes HPE's big payout for Silver Peak and Dell's plans for a possible sale of VMware. We also discuss new capabilities in VMware Cloud on AWS, a new synthetic monitoring service from Kentik, how NIST thinks "giga" is pronounced, and more.

Network Break 292: Nokia Debuts SR Linux Network OS; AT&T, Cisco Team Up On SD-WAN Jul 13, 2020

On today's Network Break we discuss Nokia's new network OS, examine a Cisco/AT&T partnership on SD-WAN, and analyze Google's pullback from a cloud venture in China. We also cover a new video codec and an image format that will save bandwidth, the rise of online learning, and what Uber's Postmates acquisition can tell us about IT startups.

Network Break 291: F5 Patches Severe Vulnerability; Senate Bill Aims To Weaken Encryption Jul 06, 2020

Today's Network Break podcast discusses critical security patches from F5 and Palo Alto Networks, examines the implications of a Senate bill that targets encryption, and dives into VMware's latest acquisition. We also explore a new space-oriented business unit at AWS and more tech news analysis.

Network Break 290: HPE Unveils Edge-To-Cloud Strategy; Anuta, Juniper Partner On Automation Jun 29, 2020

Take a Network Break! We cover HPE's virtual Discover event, including news on Greenlake and Ezmeral. LiveAction extends its portfolio with cloud monitoring, Anuta and Juniper partner around network automation, VMware releases a private beta of VMC on Oracle Cloud, and more tech news.

Network Break 289: Cisco Live 2020, Palo’s ML, HPE Edge Telco and more Jun 22, 2020

Cisco Live Virtual topics so SecureX, Webex Collaboration and the "Connected Experience" (even if we don't really know what that is). Palo Alto gets machine learning features into the latest PAN-OS release for malware scanning, automated rule creation and more. HPE get Edgey with Telco plus more on Zoom security tradeoffs.

Network Break 288: Aruba ESP Senses Opportunity At The Edge; Intel Wrestles With New Chip Attacks Jun 15, 2020

Take a Network Break! Aruba targets the enterprise edge with Aruba ESP and AI, Intel grapples with new attacks against secure enclaves in its chips, and MIT walks away from negotiations with an academic publisher over open access to journals. Three tech companies rethink the sale of facial recognition technology to U.S. police forces, the Wi-Fi Alliance praises the FCC Chair, and more tech news and commentary.

Network Break 287: Open Compute Infrastructure Makes Its Mark; Cisco Live Postponed Jun 08, 2020

Today's Network Break podcast discusses the growth of the infrastructure market based on Open Compute specs, the decline in switch and routing revenues, Cisco postponing its 2020 Cisco Live virtual event, VMware's latest acquisition, and more tech news.

Network Break 286: Cisco To Acquire ThousandEyes; The Return Of Follow Up Jun 02, 2020

Take a Network Break! We start with some FU (follow up) from previous Network Break and Heavy Networking episodes, then dive into Cisco's big ThousandEyes acquisition and financial updates.

Network Break 285: 37,000 Kilometers Of Undersea Cable Coming To Africa; Cisco Announces ACI 5.0 May 25, 2020

Lots to cover in this week's Network Break podcast, including a consortium of telcos and Facebook laying new undersea cable in Africa, new features for service providers and enterprises in Cisco's ACI 5.0, why Intel bought Rivet Networks, software and Wi-Fi for contact tracing, AT&T getting called on misleading 5G advertising, and more.

Network Break 284: Dell Technologies Announces SONiC Distro; Microsoft Acquires Metaswitch Networks May 18, 2020

Today's Network Break asks if enterprises want a supported SONiC network OS, Microsoft acquires Metaswitch Networks, VMware buys Kubernetes security platform Octarine, Cisco announces quarterly results, and more tech news.

Network Break 283: NVIDIA Acquires Cumulus Networks; Innovium Announces 25.6 Tbps Switch ASIC May 11, 2020

Today's Network Break analyzes NVIDIA's purchase of Cumulus Networks, boggles at Innovium's announced 25.6Tbps ASIC, and parses why Arista will support the SONiC network OS on its switches. We also cover a new 5G lobbying organization, Zoom's Keybase acquisition, financial results, and more tech news.

Network Break 282: NVIDIA Completes Mellanox Acquisition; SpaceX Sets Date For Satellite Internet Beta Testing May 04, 2020

The latest Network Break podcast examines NVIDIA's just-completed Mellanox acquisition, beta testing dates from SpaceX, the latest version of Cumulus Networks' NetQ management software, plus quarterly financial news for Juniper, Microsoft, and Amazon

Network Break 281: FCC Opens 6Ghz Band For Unlicensed Use; Arista Boosts WLAN Software Apr 27, 2020

The FCC makes swathes of new spectrum available for Wi-Fi, Arista upgrades its WLAN software, Cisco and Google announce plans to partner on an SD-WAN solution for Google Cloud, Google rolls out a remote access product for the enterprise, and more tech news analysis on today's Network Break podcast.

Network Break 280: Nvidia Advances Mellanox Acquisition; Startup Alkira Tackles Multi-Cloud Networking Apr 20, 2020

Take a Network Break! We discuss Nvidia clearing a major hurdle to its Mellanox acquisition, GitHub changes its pricing, the startup Alkira tackles multi-cloud networking, and more tech news analysis. Our guest commentator is Stephen Foskett, founder of Tech Field Day and GestaltIT.

Network Break 279: Cisco Acquires Fluidmesh; VMware NSX 3.0; MS Events Virtual Until July 2021 Apr 13, 2020

Take a Network Break! Grab a virtual donut, sit back and relax, and take a journey with us through Elysian fields of tech news analysis. We’ve got stories today on Cisco, VMware, a new PCAP appliance, a Tech Byte from sponsor Silver Peak with their SD-WAN customer C&S Wholesalers, and more.

Network Break 278: Palo Alto Buys SD-WAN Maker CloudGenix; Zoom Gets Called On Security, Privacy Problems Apr 07, 2020

Our weekly installment of tech news analysis includes Palo Alto's $420 million purchase of CloudGenix, Zoom's very bad week for security and privacy, Cisco Live going virtual, updates on professional development opportunities, and more on Network Break from the Packet Pushers.

Network Break 277: Juniper’s Mist Systems Announces Premium Analytics; Cato Launches Clientless Remote Access Mar 30, 2020

Today's Network Break podcast examines a new analytics service from Juniper's Mist Systems for engineers and lines of business, a new clientless remote access service from Cato Networks, the impact of increased traffic on Facebook and cloud services, how co-lo sites are restricting physical access, and more.

Network Break 276: Cisco Extends Certification Renewals; EU Asks Streaming Services To Reduce Bandwidth Mar 23, 2020

On today's Network Break we check in on the health of the global Internet as more and workers go remote, Cisco extends the lifetime of professional certs, the EU asks streaming services to throttle back on bandwidth, some debt-laden tech companies see share prices plunge, and more.

Network Break 275: Aruba Bridges 5G And Wi-Fi; VMware Embraces K8s With Tanzu, vSphere 7 Mar 17, 2020

On today's Network Break we discuss potential impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on Internet loads, conferences and events, VPNs and working from home, and other tech areas. We also examine Aruba's new Air Pass and Air Slice offerings, drill into VMware's massive Tanzu and vSphere 7 releases, a WatchGuard acquisition, and more. Guest pontificator Ned Bellanvance comes along for the ride.

Network Break 274: Let’s Encrypt Revokes Millions Of Certificates; Microsoft Pitches SMB Over QUIC Mar 09, 2020

Let's Encrypt revokes millions of digital certs, Microsoft proposes SMB over QUIC for file access without a VPN (and an easier way to get through firewalls), big vendors offer extended free trials of conferencing software for companies considering remote work, Microsoft pays hourly workers full salaries during work slowdowns, and more. We analyze these and other stories on the latest Network Break podcast.

Network Break 273: Fortinet Pits Deep Learning Appliance Against Malware; Nokia ‘Reviews Options’ As Earnings Struggle Mar 02, 2020

Take a Network Break. This week's IT news analysis covers a new anti-malware appliance from Fortinet, VMware security software for data centers and clouds, Nokia's efforts to buy time as it gets its 5G house in order, and financial results from multiple vendors.

Network Break 272: Dell Technologies Sells RSA; Nubeva Cracks TLS 1.3 With Out-Of-Band Decryption Feb 24, 2020

The latest Network Break podcast analyzes Dell Technologies' sale of its RSA business unit; what sponsor cancellations at the RSA Conference might mean for large tech events going forward; Arista Networks' financial results; new capabilities in products from ExtraHop, Nubeva, and Spirent; and more tech news.

Network Break 271: Global Espionage Agita Kicks Up A Notch; Forescout Gets Bought For $1.9 Billion Feb 18, 2020

Take a Network Break! Global espionage tensions ratchet up between the United States and China, the CIA is revealed to have owned a company that sold doctored cryptography systems to allies and adversaries, VMware adjusts its licensing, and more tech news. Guest analysts Keith Townsend and Ned Bellavance step in for a vacationing co-host.

Network Break 270: Google Reports Cloud Revenues; HPE Acquires Cloud Security Startup Scytale Feb 10, 2020

Take a Network Break! Google breaks out cloud revenue for the first time, Cisco tackles significant CDP vulnerabilities, HPE buys a cloud security startup, the Trump administration ponders an all-American 5G, and more tech news.

Network Break FU Special Edition 001 Feb 08, 2020

It's an all-FU Network Break where we share follow-ups from listeners about our commentary and analysis. No news, no ads--just us responding to you responding to us.

Network Break 269: Apstra Enhances Intent-Based Data Center Capabilities; Cisco Brings Kubernetes To Hyperflex HCI Feb 03, 2020

Today's Network Break reports on Apstra's latest software release for Intent-Based Networking, Cisco rolls out new products including Kubernetes on Hyperflex, VMware layoffs get social media attention, and the United Kingdom lays down the rules for Huawei gear in its telecom networks. We also review financial results for several big tech companies.

Network Break 268: VMware Acquires Nyansa; Microsoft Plans To Hijack O365 Browser Search Jan 27, 2020

Today's Network Break dives into VMware's Nyansa acquisition, the implications of 3G's expiration date, Microsoft's plans to insert Bing as the default search engine in Chrome browsers for an upcoming Office 365 release, financial results from Intel and IBM, and more.

Network Break 267: Equinix Buys Packet For Bare Metal; Google, Verizon Flirt With Privacy Jan 20, 2020

Today's Network Break podcast analyzes Equinix's acquisition of Packet, privacy announcements from Google and Verizon, a US Senate proposal to spend a billion dollars on 5G, and more tech news.

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