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Ifeanyi Otuonye was a decorated track and field athlete at Kansas State and even competed professionally. Then he made the leap to a Technical Account Manager role at Amazon Web Services. Alexis and Kevin sit down with Ifeanyi to discuss the difficulties of that career change. Ifeanyi explains why he chose cloud engineering, what he... Read more »

Eric sits down with two graduates from the CU Boulder Networking Engineering Master’s Program to discuss what they learned during their time in the program and how that translated into real world opportunities and experiences. They also offer some invaluable career advice from the “seven plus one” formula and the value of asking “dumb questions.”... Read more »

In this episode, we sit down with Adam Zimman, author and VC advisor, to explore the world of progressive delivery and why shipping software is only the beginning. Adam shares his fascinating journey through tech—from his early days as a fire juggler to leadership roles at EMC, VMware, GitHub, and LaunchDarkly – and how those... Read more »

Keith sits down with old friend Jussi Kiviniemi, CEO of Hamina, to unveil their new product: The Hamina Clip. Together they discuss this new wireless survey device, including its portable design, its price point, and its ability to help you perform surveys and create heat maps without a floor plan. They also compare it to... Read more »

OAuth is a widely used authorization (not authentication) protocol that lets a resource owner grant access to a resource using access tokens. These tokens define access attributes, including scope and length of time. OAuth can be used to grant access to human and non-human entities (for example, AI agents). OAuth is increasingly being abused by... Read more »

Are there some things that can come off your strategic planning radar for IT and cybersecurity in 2026? If you ask AI, you’ll get some surprising answers. Johna and John take a critical look at this AI-generated list to see which ones may or may not be “solved enough” to fall off the strategic planning... Read more »

Today on the podcast, data protection. There’s always been a tension between the need for companies to share data, whether among coworkers, partners, or customers; and the need to protect data, whether it’s for security, privacy, compliance, and so on. That tension existed before AI, but the rise of third-party and external AI tools has... Read more »

Take a Network Break! We start with a Red Alert in Oracle’s WebLogic Server Proxy Plugin for Apache or IIS, which has a severity score of 10. In the news, Fortinet warns that attackers have found a new exploit path against previously-patched vulnerabilities, Microsoft 365 services suffered an outage, and ServiceNow inks a deal with... Read more »

What is the real-world impact of AI on network operations? Drew and Ethan have a chat with Carlos Pignataro, Founder & Principal at Blue Fern Consulting, to cut through the AI hype machine. Carlos offers a thoughtful, balanced take on where the industry is headed, and where it’s missing the mark. Together they discuss Intent-Based... Read more »

Thinking of setting up an IPv6 lab this year? Our hosts dive into a major update on building and testing modern IPv6 networks, focusing on the game-changing “IPv6-mostly” architecture. They break down the essential components you need to get this working, including DHCP Option 108 and the nitty gritty of client support. In this episode,... Read more »

Go beyond the basics to understand the mechanics that keep your default gateway from becoming a single point of failure. Ethan and Holly demystify Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), which helps provide network redundancy. They break down everything from the VRRP election protocol to the protocol’s unique communication methods. They also look back at previous... Read more »

Ned and Kyler sit down with industry analyst Jon Collins for a fun and free-ranging discussion that covers everything from the changing landscape of software engineering to the importance of good architecture (physical and digital). They tackle the pros and cons of “Vibe Coding” as well as the “Augmentation Gap”, the idea that AI tools... Read more »

In this sponsored episode, Eric sits down with Lee Peterson, VP of Product Management for Secure WAN, at Cisco. Together they discuss how Cisco Unified Branch is helping organizations scale, automate, and secure their distributed environments. They also define the Branch Network, discuss the major challenges facing network teams, and walk through Cisco’s vision of... Read more »

Is AI just a fad or is it fundamentally changing Wi-Fi operations? Keith sits down with Robert Boardman to discuss the reality of AI-augmented Wi-Fi engineering. Robert describes AI as a tool, and explains how it can be useful for automating monotonous tasks and proactive troubleshooting. They also explore the human factor and how experience... Read more »

The start of a new year is a good time to assess what’s important. We’ve gathered some Packet Protector listeners to talk about their security priorities for 2026 in a roundtable discussion with hosts JJ and Drew. We talk about key risks for 2026, whether those risks have changed since last year, use cases for... Read more »

Take a Network Break! This week we start with follow-up from a perhaps not-so-red Red Alert, and then cover two very-red Red Alerts. On the news front, Ruckus Wireless gets a new parent company, and sources say Extreme Networks may be interested in bringing Ruckus into its fold. AT&T rolls out an IoT management offering,... Read more »

Ethernet is everywhere. Today we talk with one of the people responsible for this protocol’s ubiquity. Doug Boom is a veteran of the Ethernet development world. His code has helped landers reach Mars, submarines sail the deep seas, airplanes get to their gates, cars drive around town, and more. Doug walks us through the origins... Read more »

Are you an AI skeptic or an enthusiast? Ethan and Drew sit down with Igor Tarasenko, Senior Director of Product Software Architecture and Engineering at Equinix, to break down the reality of AI in the network. In this sponsored episode, Tarasenko discusses why APIs are the new CLI, the critical need for observability in AI,... Read more »

Is it possible for IT professionals to remain technical when moving into roles that expand influence, scale, and reach? Matt Starling, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Ekahau and co-founder of the WiFi Ninjas podcast, joins Alexis and Kevin to share how your career can evolve beyond on-call operations without losing the technical core. His... Read more »

Eric Chou is joined by Dr. Levi Perigo, Scholar in Residence and Professor of Network Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. They discuss Levi’s non-traditional career path from being in the network automation industry for 20 years before shifting to academia and co-founding QuivAR. Levi also dives into the success of the CU Boulder... Read more »