Network Break
Packet Pushers
Network Break keeps you informed with fast, focused analysis of IT news, products, tech trends, and business outcomes. Blending sharp commentary with a touch of humor, hosts Drew Conry-Murray & Johna Till Johnson sift through the weekly landslide of press announcements, product launches, financial reports, and marketing decks to find the stories worth talking about. You come away with the information and context to make smart decisions in your organization and career … all in the span of a (longish) coffee break.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 6, 2023 • 34min
Network Break 420: Cisco, HPE Buy Security Startups; Can We Finally Hold Vendors Responsible For Software Defects?
Take a Network Break! We begin with some FU on what constitutes on-prem and off-prem, and then dive into news. Cisco and T-Mobile are partnering on 5G gateways, Cisco Webex is getting installed as a feature(?) in Mercedes E-Class cars, and Cisco is buying multi-cloud security startup Valtix. Valtix offers firewalling, IPS, a cloud Web... Read more »
Feb 27, 2023 • 46min
Network Break 419: HPE Buys Athonet For Private 5G; Exit Public Cloud, Save Millions?
Is the private 5G market big enough to justify HPE's acquisition of Athonet? Is saving money worth retreating from public cloud? Why are organizations still getting bit by basic cloud misconfigurations? Will an appetite for AI deliver results for Nvidia? We explore these and other questions in the latest Network Break podcast.
Feb 21, 2023 • 41min
Network Break 418: Avaya Goes Chapter 11 Again; Cisco, Arista See Revenues Rise
This week's Network Break looks at who takes a haircut in Avaya's Chapter 11 restructuring, GoDaddy's ongoing security issues, new photonics from Nokia, a huge quarter for Arista and more tech news.
Feb 13, 2023 • 52min
Network Break 417: Zoom Chief Raises Bar For CEO Pay Cuts; Fortinet Rolls Out New Firewall Chips
Take a Network Break! On this week's episode we discuss new chip hardware from Fortinet, Extreme integrating its SD-WAN into its network fabric, the US and UK governments sanctioning members of the Trickbot malware gang, more tech layoffs, why tech CEOs should feel more financial pain, and more.
Feb 6, 2023 • 44min
Network Break 416: Ericsson Flogs 5G Network Slicing For Laptops; Microsoft Loads Work Drudgery Onto ChatGPT
On this week's Network Break we examine Ericsson's push for 5G network slicing on laptops, Microsoft injecting ChatGPT into Teams to do the grunt work, financial results from Juniper and Amazon, and more tech news.
Jan 30, 2023 • 48min
Network Break 415: WAN Update Severs Microsoft Cloud Services; Intel To Wind Down Network ASIC Biz
Take a Network Break! This week we discuss new capabilities in Juniper's Astra data center automation software; a major Microsoft outage that affected Outlook, Teams, and more; reports that Intel will discontinue selling the Tofino programmable ASIC; a heap of financial results; and more.
Jan 23, 2023 • 25min
Network Break 414: 230 Juniper Vulnerabilities, Should Cisco Patch An EOL Router, T-Mobile Takes Weeks To Spot Breach
On today's Network Break podcast we cover a raft of Juniper vulnerabilities, whether Cisco should patch serious vulnerabilities in end-of-life products, a big T-Mobile breach, Avaya dealing with significant debt, sweeping rounds of layoffs, and more IT news.
Jan 16, 2023 • 41min
Network Break 413: 800G Switches, Intel’s Big Hopes For 4th-Gen CPUs, And Reading Cyber Insurance Fine Print
Take a Network Break! This week's episode covers a bunch of tech news including Arista rolling out a heap of new switches, Intel pinning its comeback hopes on newly released Xeon CPUs, a serious exploit of a Fortinet SSL VPN vulnerability, Dell pulling away from China-made chips, and more.
Jan 9, 2023 • 46min
Network Break 412: IT Spending, ChatGPT, Cloud Repatriation And Other 2023 IT Speculations
Take a Network Break! For our first show of 2023 we skip the news to spend some time speculating on technologies and trends that may influence IT and networking in the coming year, including the influence of AI, machine learning, and ChatGPT in tech; data center network automation; cloud repatriation; and more.
Dec 12, 2022 • 41min
Network Break 411: Cisco Revamps Certification Schedules; FTC Says Game Over For Microsoft’s Activision Bid
Take a Network Break! On today's episode we cover a new certification roadmap from Cisco, speculate on the future of corporate office space, and delve into an FTC lawsuit that aims to stop Microsoft's $69 billion purchase of game developer Activision. We also cover Broadcom financial results and space networking stories from Apple and SpaceX.
