Network AF

Phil Gervasi, Kentik's Head of Technical Evangelism stops by Network AF today to speak with host Avi Freedman about all things network observability and to recap their experiences at Cisco Live. Phil was a network engineer for 15 years prior to switching to marketing and finding his way into technical evangelism. In this conversation the two focus on building a foundation for data mining and collecting information that could better inform network intelligence and insights from observability platforms like Kentik.

Highlights of today's conversation include:

• [01:23] Avi and Phil discuss highlights from Cisco Live
• [03:35] Everybody is doing observability
• [04:57] Actionable insights
• [06:00] Bridging the gap with education and interest in networking
• [08:18] Network operations-focused innovation
• [10:45] How the industry is assisting engineer operations and architecture
• [12:48] Correlation and machine learning
• [16:19] Telemetry, ML, AI, and marketing fluff
• [22:23] Collecting telemetry and solving difficult problems with automation in a multi-vendor environment
• [26:29] Life Cycle Automation
• [28:53] Building a foundation for intelligence and observability
• [33:03] What Phil is looking forward to next year at Cisco Live

Network AF welcomes Doug Madory back to the podcast to discuss current events, including Russia invading Ukraine, and recent internet-related issues in Syria and Egypt. Doug is Kentik's Director of Internet Analysis, and uses BGP and traffic data to write about happenings with networks on a worldwide scale. Together with Kentik CEO and show host Avi Freedman, the two dive into the real-world implication of geopolitical events on the state of networking.

Highlights of today's conversation include:

• [01:35] The current situation in Ukraine
• [05:30] Route-jacking, forcing traffic through unknown infrastructure
• [09:24] What internet activity looks like in Ukraine now
• [12:09] Egypt and the cable "cutting" event, discussing submarine consortium cables
• [17:37] The paths of submarine and overland circuit connections, how it impacts the flow of internet access across countries
• [22:20] Connectivity can be much more network topological than geographically topological
• [25:36] Syria and shutting down the Internet as the new norm

Chairman and Co-Founder of Scorbit, Jay Adelson, sits down with Network AF host Avi Freedman to talk about his history as a serial entrepreneur. Jay founded Equinix, Revision3, Opsmatic, and was the CEO of Digg. Throughout the conversation Jay and Avi touch on problems founders encounter, and discuss their mutual joy for gaming.

Highlights of the conversation include:

• Imposter syndrome and working at DEC
• Server evolution, power efficiency, and presentation
• How not to build a data center
• Terminating a cross connect and turning off service for Australia by accident
• Equinix during its hyper-growth phase
• Richard Clarke and peering
• The Forrest Gump of the Internet
• Amazing that the internet and the human body work at all
• Emergent behavior and the case of HD DVDs
• An evolution of the anarchy started by the internet
• Scorbit, gaming, and problem solving in pinball
• Advice and lessons to a young Jay

Co-founder and CEO of Deft, Jordan Lowe stops by Network AF to talk to host Avi Freedman about all things IT infrastructure. Previously known as ServerCentral, Deft continues to innovate on its services to make managing IT infrastructure a better experience for the business and those who run it.

Highlights of the conversation include:

• ServerCentral and being one of the first providers to combine domain names and web hosting for customers
• Challenges in the networking business throughout Jordan's career, and the complexity of it all
• How automation differs from 20 years ago when ServerCentral began
• The challenges of running a network
• Simplicity and reliability in the context of cloud native thinking
• How Deft divides responsibilities between teams for cloud networking and network ops
• The need for automation, and checks and balances for maintaining operations
• The reason Deft uses its own global nLayer
• Packet destiny and public peering
• What emerging and interesting tech Jordan is interested in that is coming down the road
• Hype around SDN and SD-Wan
• The evolution of Edge computing, and cloud architecture's ability to deploy easily

Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Unitas Global, Grant Kirkwood, joins Network AF to discuss motivations for starting the company and where they're at currently. Avi and Grant talk about what it is like to be a service provider and a solution provider (MSP) in one, and how it plays into what Avi calls the APIfication of networks and IT strategy. Topics throughout the conversation include:

• Non-software enterprise companies and whether or not they'll adopt more interest in peering
• Donut Peering and creating better interconnection
• Building reliable and resilient networks for edge computing
• Unitas' growth and how Grant thinks about building networking skills internally
• Looking for people to join the team who are curious

Network AF host and Kentik CEO Avi Freedman discusses data analysis and trends in understanding online activity with David Belson. David is Cloudflare's Head of Data Insight, where he helps the organization communicate information about the internet such as outages and changes in protocol adoption.

Throughout the conversation the two discuss:

• Dave's beginning in networking and his role at BBN
• Data analysis growth from the early internet
• Helping people learn skills through product education
• Tracking the digital footprint of online activity
• Advice for communicating and building media relationships

Bill Marantz joins Avi and Network AF to discuss how his team uses open source and automation technologies. The two also discuss mentorship and recruiting during rapid stages of company growth, and touch on problem solving in networking without a technical background.

Ilissa Miller, CEO of iMiller Public Relations, joins Network AF to talk about her start working in infrastructure communications, and her advice for companies interested in engaging more with her customers and media. She talks about challenges on the people side of public relations, competitive differentiators of great PR professionals, and lessons learned in running her business.

Dave Schaeffer, founder and CEO of Cogent Communications, discusses his path in networking and the innovations that have propelled their ISP to success. In this episode Avi and Dave touch on:

• The differences between developing a product and a business
• Focusing on the product and knowing when to pivot to new ideas
• Raising investor money and the dynamics it creates
• The decreasing costs of internet service and Cogent's role in creating affordable access
• How COVID-19 has impacted culture and operations at Cogent
• Hiring practices when looking for early career vs senior employees
• Dave's advice for his younger self

On this episode, Avi talks with longtime friend Jezzibell Gilmore. Jezzibell is the Chief Commercial Officer at PacketFabric, and works toward revenue goals. She and Avi discuss:

• How Jezzibell entered the networking industry after not enjoying the world of law
• Moving into operations and deployment at Akamai and then transitioning to enterprise
• Differences between enterprise and service provider
• The networking community, bringing people in and developing their skills