In this episode we discuss whether a switch can achieve desired state without needing a complete reboot on every config change.

Remember the episode where we analyzed Juniper acquiring Apstra? Well Michael Bushong, VP of Datacenter at Juniper, was the brains behind that idea - he had a listen to the episode and reached out to have a chat. We had a great time with Mike and talked about of course the acquisition but much more including where AI/ML fits in the network, network disaggregation, SONiC, SmartNics... have a listen!

We're back for part 2 with Rob Shakir. In this episode we hear from Rob on his reasoning for developing and using gRIBI rather than leveraging the likes of PCEP. We also chat about the various ways of collecting information from the network to make traffic engineering decisions - BGP-LS anyone?

Finally we were able to put this together! Rob joins us and shares his wisdom and insight in a two part series where we discuss OpenConfig, gNMI, gNOI, PCEP, gRIBI, P4...and more! Tune in for a lengthy but awesome discussion.

Special thanks to Rob for recording this a second time as we were not able to release the first recording we did due to some audio issues.

Continuing in our network automation mini-series we start looking tools and frameworks - today its NAPALM. Join us for a look into what NAPALM is and brings to the table.

Yikes a couple weeks and no podcast, really sorry about that, have a listen to find out why...But we're back with some interesting news in Juniper acquiring Apstra - what does Apstra bring to the Juniper table? What happens when you throw SONiC in the equation?

Network Automation...a very large topic...so large in fact that we're going to do a series within a series on this, automation inception if you will. In this episode we cover the areas of networking where automation can and probably should be applied - we don't talk specific tools or frameworks quite yet, but rather network automation philosophy.

In this episode of Expedited Forwarding we look into what 128 Technology does, who they were and who they may be under Juniper. We also discuss AMD's latest acquisition of Xilinx, will they now be able to compete with Intel and Nvidia in the DC? Finally we touch on Marvel acquiring Inphi.

We're back with an episode of Best Effort! In this episode we address the history and differences between NETCONF and gNMI as programmatic interfaces into a NOS. This was a topic brought to us by a couple of listeners of our BE: Data Models episode, hope you enjoy it!

Two firsts in this episode. Firstly its a new series! Assured Forwarding is a series where we will try and help you be the best interviewee possible for your dream networking job! Secondly (firstly 2?) we have our first guest! In this episode we talk to Ramzi from We The Sales Engineers. Ramzi hosts his […]

Join us as we discuss the importance and need for data models from your favorite network operating system. OpenConfig anyone?

In this episode we discuss the merits of a centralized vs distributed control plane in our networks. Should we be running a hybrid approach on our devices? If distributed, what protocols or communication channels should we be using? Join us and let us know what you think! Apple GoogleSpotifyStitcher (To be updated)Castbox Hosts: Bruce Wallis […]

BE: Best Effort is a new series we're starting . We've recorded a few Expedited Forwarding episodes where we discuss some of the latest news in the networking industry. Best Effort is more broad, one of us picks a topic and we just shoot the shit about it - really our Best Effort.


For this episode we discuss what the term 'open' means in the networking industry - from it being overused by marketing teams to how it should be defined.

Lets be honest neither Bruce or myself knew who Awake or Netrounds were, or what they did…but apparently Arista and Juniper did, so much so they decided to spend some money on acquiring them!

Nvidia has gone on a purchasing spree in the last year or so, from Mellanox to Cumulus and now ARM - we try and decipher what it all means...what does it mean...wow double rainbow...er sorry Nvidia.

In this episode we discuss the idea of cloud hosted management systems for on premise infrastructure. Arista has recently announced Cloudvision As A Service, hosted by Arista - come hear our thoughts on this news and where the industry may be heading!