The Hedge

By Russ WhiteTechnology

The Hedge episodes

February 27 Hedge 297: MPLS
Has MPLS really “died” because of SD-WAN services? Scott Robohn joins Tom and Russ to talk about the past and future of MPLS.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-297.mp3

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53 min
February 20 Hedge 296: AS-SETs
AS-SETs (not that kind) were originally designed to simplify filtering at eBGP peering points–but they seem to have gone horribly wrong. Job Snijders and Doug Madory join Tom and Russ to discuss the history, use, problems, and (hopeful) demise of AS-SETs.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-296.mp3

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50 min
February 13 Hedge 295: Specialization

Should network engineers focus on specializing in one technology, vendor, or solution, or should they think about building a diverse skill set? Eyvonne, Tom, and Russ discuss the advantages of each, how these options relate to the future of network engineering, and skill diversification.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-295.mp3

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39 min
February 05 Hedge 294: Resource Constrained Environments

The future of network design and architecture is–based on current trends–is going to be working with and around resource constraints. How would resource constraints impact the way we design and manage networks? Mike Bushong joins Tom, Eyvonne, and Russ to ponder network engineering in a resource constrained world.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-294.mp3

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49 min
January 23 Hedge 293: Moore’s Law
Is there an interaction between Moore’s Law and network computing? If so, what is the relationship? How do advances in silicon capabilities and network speeds and feeds rely and drive one another. Geoff Huston joins Russ on this episode of the Hedge to look at a bit of the history.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-293.mp3

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52 min
January 17 Hedge 292: Data Center Costs
The cost of building and maintaining a data center is rising rapidly–and not just in financial terms. George Michaelson joins Tom and Russ to discuss the wider costs of data centers.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-292.mp3

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54 min
January 08 Best of the Hedge 9: Ethics in IT

Nash King (@gammacapricorni) joins Russ White and Tom Ammon in a wide ranging discussion of ethics in IT, including being comfortable with standing up and saying “no” when asked to do something you consider unethical and the virtue ethic.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-009.mp3

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32 min
December 18, 2025 Hedge 291: The Assault on Standards
As the Internet centralizes and gets “big,” standards are often being sidelined or consumed. What are the possible results of abandoning standards? Is there anything “normal network engineers” can do about it?

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-291.mp3

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24 min
December 12, 2025 Hedge 290: The Amoeba and the Mathematician
In this Hedge roundtable, Eyvonne, Tom, and Russ discuss The Amoeba and the Mathematician

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-290.mp3

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27 min
December 05, 2025 Best of the Hedge: Hedge 6 on DoH (Part 2)
In this episode of the Hedge, Geoff Huston joins Tom Ammon and Russ White to finish the discussion on the ideas behind DNS over HTTPS (DoH), and to consider the implications of its widespread adoption. Is it time to bow to our new overlords?

This is part two of a two part series. This is a “best of the Hedge” repost.

https://media.blubrry.com/hedge/content.blubrry.com/hedge/hedge-006.mp3

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28 min