Learn The Business

If you’ve worked in networking long enough, you’ve probably had this thought during a company all-hands: “This isn’t for me. Bunch of Kool Aid. Just let me get back to doing my job.” But that attitude WILL hurt your career. Not because leadership needs your applause, but because those meetings tell you what the businessContinue reading “Learn The Business”

What is BGP?

TL;DR BGP wins in modern networks because it scales policy, not topology. Use communities to encode intent once and enforce it at the right boundaries; use iBGP with route reflection to distribute reachability cleanly; and reserve local-pref as your go-to knob for deterministic traffic engineering. For overlapping IPs (hello, mergers), communities plus a staged renumber/NATContinue reading “What is BGP?”

Inside the Consulting Engineer Role

In the latest episode of The Art of Network Engineering, we pulled back the curtain on a role that many in the industry admire—but few truly understand: the Consulting Engineer (CE). Joined by Nokia’s Principal Consulting Engineer Colin Doyle and CE Jared Cordova, we explored the nuances of this unique position that blends deep technicalContinue reading “Inside the Consulting Engineer Role”

Bridging the Divide Between Developers and Network Engineers

In a recent episode of The Art of Network Engineering podcast, hosts Andy Lapteff and Jeff Clark welcomed Erika Dietrick—known online as “Erika the Dev”—to tackle a long-standing cultural and technical divide in IT: the disconnect between network engineers and software developers. Erika, a former Developer Advocate at Cisco with roots in both software developmentContinue reading “Bridging the Divide Between Developers and Network Engineers”

The Resistance to Network Automation: Understanding the Psychological and Practical Barriers

Network automation has long been heralded as the game-changer that would revolutionize networking. It promises easier management, fewer errors, and more time for strategic, high-value work. Yet, despite these clear advantages, adoption rates remain surprisingly low, with estimates hovering around just 20-30%. Why is this shift, which seems so inevitable, still met with such resistance?Continue reading “The Resistance to Network Automation: Understanding the Psychological and Practical Barriers”

Ethernet vs. InfiniBand: The Battle for AI Networking Supremacy

As artificial intelligence (AI) advances at a frantic pace, so do the demands placed on network infrastructure. The age-old debate between Ethernet and InfiniBand is taking center stage once again, particularly as AI workloads push the boundaries of performance, scalability, and efficiency. In our latest podcast episode, industry experts dive into this very topic, exploringContinue reading “Ethernet vs. InfiniBand: The Battle for AI Networking Supremacy”

Network Engineering 2.0: Adapting to Automation, AI, and Cloud

In our latest podcast episode, we listen in on the (PA)NUG podcast panel of William Collins, Andy Lapteff, Ned Bellavance, and Drew Conry-Murray, as they dive deep into the evolving world of network engineering, a field that has undergone transformative changes in recent years. With rapid advancements in technology, especially in cloud computing and automation,Continue reading “Network Engineering 2.0: Adapting to Automation, AI, and Cloud”

Meter: fast, reliable, and secure networks (Sponsored)

When setting out to build Meter, one thing was abundantly clear: the industry didn’t need another point solution. Instead, we wanted to build an incredibly performant, reliable, and secure networking solution, with zero upfront costs or licensing fees. This structure ensures our incentives are tightly aligned with our customers’ — because we’re taking on theContinue reading “Meter: fast, reliable, and secure networks (Sponsored)”