Tech Bytes

On today’s Tech Bytes, we explore SR Linux, the network operating system developed by today’s sponsor Nokia. Why should you care about the network OS running in your data center? Nokia designed SR Linux to support automation, orchestration, and customization. We’ll dig into SR Linux’s support for YANG and gNMI and how that ties into... Read more »

Medical devices are an essential element of patient care. They’re also network-connected devices that need resilient connectivity and security. On today’s Tech Bytes we examine the challenges of supporting and securing connected medical devices, including threats, vulnerabilities, and regulatory frameworks. We’ll also discuss strategies and best practices to manage medical device risks and ensure the... Read more »

SecOps, NetOps, and help desks need integrated data, increased context, and the ability to quickly understand interdependencies in order to take on the complex tasks facing them. That’s why ThousandEyes is now integrated with Cisco Secure Access, Cisco’s SSE solution. Tune in to learn about ThousandEyes’ deeper visibility, system process metrics, streamlined test setup, and... Read more »

Hackers access a casino’s network through a fish tank thermometer. No, this isn’t Ocean’s Eleven, this is the reality of IoT/OT risks to enterprises today. Through its AI/ML-powered system, Palo Alto Networks takes a multi-pronged approach to these threats: Device identification, risk assessment, segmentation in zero trust policies, intrusion prevention, and automated security workflow. Kalyan... Read more »

Wi-Fi 7 is the latest iteration of the wireless standard from the Wi-Fi Alliance. Wi-Fi 6 brought significant increases in throughput and performance. Wi-Fi 6e made the 6Ghz spectrum available (at least in the US). What does Wi-FI 7 bring to the table, and is it worth going through an upgrade? Our guest is Chris... Read more »

Let’s say you’ve built a set of automations for your network infrastructure, and now you want teams or departments within your organization to use those automations. Our Tech Bytes sponsor NetOrca offers a service catalog that provides a simple front-end to make it easy for internal customers to come and consume those capabilities you’ve worked... Read more »

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk about accelerating dynamic content to improve application performance and the user experience. The increase of remote and hybrid workers, and more applications being delivered from the cloud, can complicate IT’s efforts to measure and improve application performance. Today’s sponsor, Palo Alto Networks, shares its approach to accelerating... Read more »

Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM) provides detailed visibility into end user device and application performance. On today’s sponsored episode, we talk with Palo Alto Networks about how it uses AIOps with ADEM to help IT and help desk teams quickly identify and respond to problems for a distributed workforce. We also discuss synthetic transactions, and... Read more »

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, sponsored by Fortinet, we dive into Fortinet Advisor. This is a new generative AI offering designed to act as an assistant to SoC analysts and security teams by providing context-aware event summaries, potential impacts, and recommended responses while also keeping humans in the loop. Episode Guest: Kevin Faulkner |... Read more »

Network automation takes a variety of forms, from individual scripts that handle specific tasks, to workflows that have to be orchestrated across multiple devices and systems. Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk with sponsor Pliant about its automation platform. Pliant helps you orchestrate across devices and domains with a low-code approach that uses... Read more »

Distributed Denial of Service attacks, or DDoS, have plagued the Internet for decades. And attackers are finding new ways to take advantage of higher levels of bandwidth and the ever-growing number of network-connected devices. Today on Tech Bytes, sponsored by Nokia, we’ll talk about what’s brewing on the DDoS front and how Nokia’s Deepfield is... Read more »

Network engineers have a good grasp on how to build data center networks to support all kinds of apps, from traditional three-tier designs to applications built around containers and microservices. But what about building a network fabric to support AI? Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, sponsored by Nokia, we talk about the special requirements... Read more »

On today’s Packet Pusher’s Tech Bytes podcast, sponsored by VMware, the conversation delves into HPE’s partnership with VMware, particularly around HPE Greenlake for VMware Cloud Foundation. HPE was recently recognized as VMware’s 2023 partner of the year. Today’s podcast features an interview with Frances Guida, Director, Compute Workload Solutions Product Management at HPE. The podcast... Read more »

AI is making its way into network operations, and on today’s episode, sponsored by Nokia, we talk about how Nokia has developed a ChatGPT-based application that runs on its SR Linux network OS. Network engineers can use this app to query about network state, ask troubleshooting questions, check configurations, search logs, and quickly sort through reams of documentation.

Today's Tech Bytes podcast explores custom silicon with sponsor Nokia. Nokia has recently launched its new FPcx chip for Nokia routers. We’ll talk about the features and capabilities in the new silicon, and the value to service providers and enterprises that custom silicon can bring.

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.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk about techniques to improve user experience and application performance while also securing end users, applications, and devices. Our sponsor is Palo Alto Networks and we’ll talk about how Palo Alto Networks is integrating technologies such as Remote Browser Isolation and application acceleration into Prisma Access, their cloud-delivered security offering.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, we talk with sponsor Palo Alto Networks about SD-WAN for retail locations. From securing payment card data to supporting customer Wi-Fi to connecting a multitude of IoT devices, a secure, reliable WAN is a must for retail. We talk with Palo Alto Networks about how SD-WAN can help retail locations get and keep shoppers in stores.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, we talk with sponsor Palo Alto Networks about SD-WAN in healthcare markets. The healthcare sector has stringent requirements around the privacy and security of patient information, but clinics also need reliable and robust performance. We discuss how SD-WAN can help meet all these requirements.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we discuss the Network Automation Forum (NAF) and its inaugural independent conference--AutoCon 0. The networking industry has been taking about automation forever, but most engineers and organizations don't get much beyond a few scripts. The Network Automation Forum wants to change that by serving as a salon where enterprises, service providers, and vendors can talk openly about what works, what doesn't, and how to advance the state of the art.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk about monitoring network and application performance. Our sponsor is Catchpoint, and they’ve sent a customer, StackPath, to talk about using Catchpoint in production. This includes real-time BGP monitoring and Catchpoint’s observability network that lets you test networks and applications from multiple vantage points, and instant tests when you need immediate data.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we get into Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM). DEM goes beyond traditional SLAs by offering more precise measurements of network and application performance as experienced by end users, and can provide detailed measurements to help network engineers identify and respond to problems. We talk with sponsor Fortinet about how it delivers DEM.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we explore Secure Web Gateways with sponsor Palo Alto Networks. Secure Web Gateways sit between users and Web traffic to enforce policies around Web and application access and inspect traffic for malware. We talk with Palo Alto Networks about customer challenges with secure Web gateways, innovations in Prisma Access Cloud Secure Web Gateways, and more.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk about traffic replication in SASE environments. Our sponsor is Palo Alto Networks, and they’ve added a new capability in Prisma Access that lets you replicate and then store traffic sent to the Prisma Access cloud service. That replicated traffic can then be used for deep packet analysis, forensics, or network analysis. We’ll talk about how Prisma Access replicates traffic, use cases, and more.

In today’s Tech Byte, we’ve got Cisco ThousandEyes sharing new product capabilities, including ThousandEyes on Meraki MX and Webex RoomOS devices and faster insights into the root cause of problems your users are calling to complain about. We also discuss the recent acquisition of SamKnows, which gives ThousandEyes deeper visibility into ISPs.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, we explore the concept of sovereign clouds with sponsor VMware. Sovereign clouds provide the agility and scale of the cloud while ensuring data resides in a specific country or geography and meets area requirements for security and privacy. We speak with Tietoevry, one of the first VMware partners to offer major sovereign cloud solutions for its Nordic clients.

Today’s Tech Byte is a discussion on Nokia’s Photonic Service Engine (PSE) optics. Release 6 of its PSEs promises huge changes to DWDM Edge by bringing coherent optical DWDM circuits directly to your Nokia routers and switches. No more costly DWDM shelves and transponders just to terminate a tail circuit, reducing lead times and providing more options for resilience.

SD-WAN provides new options for connecting branch locations to your headquarters, SaaS, and cloud applications. But SD-WAN is about more than just connectivity, Palo Alto Networks offer an application fabric. Learn more in this episode.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we explore the branch of the future with sponsor Palo Alto Networks. We talk about how SD-WAN and SASE come together with Digital Experience Management (DEM) to meet the challenges of security, cloud, and hybrid work at the branch.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we pull back the covers on SASE, or Secure Access Service Edge. Fortinet is our sponsor. One important concept to grasp around SASE is that it’s as much an architecture as it is a product. It requires planning and foresight to put the pieces together and operate them. We talk with Fortinet about the elements of its SASE offering and what a typical customer engagement with SASE looks like.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we speak with sponsor Pica8 about how whitebox networking gives engineers the flexibility to choose the hardware and software that best meets their campus needs. Because Pica8’s network OS can run on multiple hardware platforms, engineers can overcome challenges including supply chain disruptions, end-of-life hardware, and security events.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk with Nokia about 800G Ethernet. Nokia is deploying 800G Ethernet routing to customers (primarily hyperscalers and providers). We examine the drivers of 800G, and how Nokia balances performance with efficiencies for power and density. Our guest from Nokia is Igor Giangrossi, Sr. Director, Consulting Engineering - Webscale Segment.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we discuss multi-cloud deployments and supporting hybrid workers with VMware’s Workspace ONE. We’re sponsored by VMware, and we talk with VMware partner ITQ. Our guest is Johan Van Amersfoort, Technologist Digital Workspace and AI from ITQ.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we dive into gNMIc with sponsor Nokia. gNMIc is open-source software you can use to configure devices and collect device telemetry. It can output telemetry to InfluxDB, Prometheus, and SNMP traps. Nokia has contributed gNMIc to the OpenConfig project. We talk with gNMIc creator Karim Radhouani, Technology and Architecture Consulting Engineer at Nokia, about why he developed the tool and how customers are using it.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, sponsored by Palo Alto Networks, we get into Secure Access Services Edge (SASE), which combines SD-WAN with cloud-delivered security services. You can integrate parts from different vendors, but Palo Alto Networks is here to make a case for why you might want to consider a single-vendor approach.

Arista Networks has announced two hardware WAN routers, the 5510 and the 5310, which are targeted at branch, edge, and remote sites. The routers run EOS with a full routing stack. The new hardware can run as standard routers, or be used for SD-WAN with all the features you’d expect, including support for multiple links and app identification. Ethan Banks and Drew Conry-Murray share what they learned in a briefing with the company and debate the strategy behind Arista's entry into the SD-WAN market.

Today's Tech Bytes podcast gets into network automation with sponsor BackBox. BackBox’s approach to automation is to focus on network engineers and integrate automation with how they already do their jobs. BackBox works with more than 180 network and security vendors.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we’re talking about OpenTelemetry with sponsor Cisco ThousandEyes. OpenTelemetry is an open collection of tools, APIs, and SDKs to help share telemetry data among different monitoring and analysis platforms to improve data correlation and visibility. ThousandEyes, the first network visibility platform to support OpenTelemetry, joins the podcast to discuss how it works, use cases, and more.

Today's Tech Bytes podcast dives into the notion of applying Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to users on campus as well as remote workers. Our sponsor is Fortinet and we discuss bringing ZTNA to users on prem, as well as IoT devices.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk about Event Handler, a new automation feature in Nokia’s SR Linux network OS that lets you automatically run scripts to fix problems when an event occurs. Nokia is our sponsor, and our guest is Roman Dodin, Product Line Manager at Nokia.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we’re talking about cloud migration and operating in a multi-cloud environment. We’re sponsored by VMware and we’re speaking with Expedient, a VMware partner. Expedient is also a cloud service provider and runs 14 data centers across the US. Our guest is Bryan Smith, CEO at Expedient.

On today's Tech Bytes podcast we discuss security reconnaissance with sponsor Fortinet. We drill into FortiRecon, a service that can provide critical information, personalized for your organization, about potential threats to company assets, employees, and customers.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we explore sponsor Fortinet’s Secure Access Service Edge, or FortiSASE, offering, including the FortiClient agent, what cloud-delivered security services are available, SASE use cases, and more. Our guest is Nirav Shah, VP of Products at Fortinet.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we explore two outages of big-time cloud applications with sponsor ThousandEyes, a Cisco company. These outages share a common thread, in that the network was up and the applications were reachable, but problems on the backend meant the applications weren’t available. We discuss what happened and offer takeaways to minimize business disruptions.

Today’s Tech Bytes podcast, sponsored by VMware, dives into VMware’s vSphere+. vSphere+ allows you to operate your on-prem workloads and infrastructure as if they were a public cloud. It supports VMs and Kubernetes, and provides admin, developer, and add-on services delivered via SaaS.

On today’s Tech Bytes podcast, sponsored by VMware, we explore a real-world SD-WAN deployment. A customer in the automotive industry needed a better way to share large CAD files among global sites, and its MPLS network wasn’t cutting it. The company also wanted to lower WAN costs while improving performance of business apps. We talk with Coevolve, a VMware partner, on how Coevolve helped the automotive company deploy and operate a global SD-WAN from VMware that increased bandwidth by a factor of 10 and cut costs by as much as 40 percent.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast, we’ll be investigating Secure Access Service Edge, or SASE, including the current state of the market and how SASE is evolving. We’ll also look at how sponsor Juniper Networks is moving into the SASE space. Our guest is Kate Adam, Sr. Director of Security Product Marketing at Juniper Networks.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we’re talking SD-WAN. We dive into new features and capabilities in Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN, including new security and segmentation features, licensing options, and more. Our sponsor is Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

Today on the Tech Bytes podcast we talk about how to use out-of-band management for daily networking tasks, not just when there’s a problem or crisis. Our sponsor is Opengear and we’re joined by Ramtin Rampour, Solutions Architect, to talk about use cases including zero touch provisioning, configuration, and more.

The Tech Bytes podcast welcomes sponsor LiveAction, which provides network visibility and NDR products for network engineers. We’ll get an overview of LiveAction’s portfolio and take a closer look at new security capabilities in its ThreatEye Network Detection and Response product.