Network AF Avi Freedman

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 DECServer evolution, power efficiency, and presentationHow not to build a data centerTerminating a cross connect and turning off service for Australia by accidentEquinix during its hyper-growth phaseRichard Clarke and peeringThe Forrest Gump of the InternetAmazing that the internet and the human body work at allEmergent behavior and the case of HD DVDsAn evolution of the anarchy started by the internetScorbit, gaming, and problem solving in pinballAdvice 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 customersChallenges in the networking business throughout Jordan's career, and the complexity of it allHow automation differs from 20 years ago when ServerCentral beganThe challenges of running a networkSimplicity and reliability in the context of cloud native thinkingHow Deft divides responsibilities between teams for cloud networking and network opsThe need for automation, and checks and balances for maintaining operationsThe reason Deft uses its own global nLayerPacket destiny and public peeringWhat emerging and interesting tech Jordan is interested in that is coming down the roadHype around SDN and SD-WanThe 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 peeringDonut Peering and creating better interconnectionBuilding reliable and resilient networks for edge computingUnitas' growth and how Grant thinks about building networking skills internallyLooking 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 BBNData analysis growth from the early internetHelping people learn skills through product educationTracking the digital footprint of online activityAdvice for communicating and building media relationships