Take a Network Break And Get The Latest Networking News

On today’s Network Break we discuss a new IDC report that shows servers and storage systems based on Open Compute specs will generate almost $34 billion in revenue by 2024. Switching and routing revenue fell worldwide, according to Synergy Research. Cisco Systems has delayed its Cisco Live 2020 virtual event because, according to CEO Chuck Robbins “in light of recent events and the turmoil happening across the United States, we feel this is the right thing to do.” Robbins specifically called out the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others. VMware has acquired the malware sandbox maker Lastline, and Cisco has released a long list of bug and vulnerability fixes for IOS and IOS-XE.  Telegeography runs models to see if ditching MPLS really can cut 50% of WAN costs, and we ask if technology trade show awards matter to IT professionals. Sponsor: Service Express Service Express is a leader in third-party data center maintenance. Lower your support costs, extend the life of your hardware and save up to 70% on server, storage and network maintenance! Visit serviceexpress.com/packetpushers to learn more, and find out how you can win a $50 Amazon gift card. Tech Bytes: Fortinet Stay tuned after the news for a Tech Bytes conversation sponsored by Fortinet. We discuss an SD-WAN deployment with PAYOMATIC, a lending company.  We talk about how PAYOMATIC cut costs by migrating off MPLS, and how Fortinet Secure SD-WAN positioned the company to take advantage of new infrastructure options. Show Links: Worldwide Open Compute Project (Compute and Storage) Infrastructure Market Revenue Forecast to Grow at a 16.6% CAGR through 2024, According to IDC – IDC Worldwide Server and Enterprise Storage Systems Markets Will Decline in 2020, Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic, According to IDC – IDC Synergy Research: Ethernet Switch & Router revenues drop to 7 year low in Q1-2020 – Technology Blog Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins gives statement on Cisco Live 2020 – YouTube VMware Announces Intent to Acquire Lastline – VMware Lastline to be Acquired by VMware – Lastline Cisco Event Response: June 2020 Semiannual Cisco IOS and IOS XE Software Security Advisory Bundled Publication – Cisco Systems Cisco IOS Software for Cisco Industrial Routers Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerabilities – Cisco Systems Cisco’s warning: Critical flaw in IOS routers allows ‘complete system compromise’ –...

Take a Network Break! We start with some FU (follow up) from previous Network Break and Heavy Networking episodes, then dive into Cisco’s big ThousandEyes acquisition. We also tackle financial results from VMware, Dell Technologies, and HPE. Last but not least, scammers have targeted 5G fears with a bogus and extravagantly priced USB stick. Sponsor: Itential We’re sponsored in part today by Itential is intelligent automation for multi-domain and multi-vendor networks. Find out more on the Packet Pushers’ Heavy Networking episode 503 and at itential.com/packetpushers. Tech Bytes: Viavi Stay tuned after the news for a sponsored Tech Bytes conversation with VIAVI Solutions on using enriched flow data to improve network performance monitoring and threat management. Our guest is Warren Carson, Sales Engineer at VIAVI Solutions. Show Links: Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire ThousandEyes – Cisco Systems ThousandEyes + Cisco = A Thousand Times ThousandEyes – ThousandEyes Cisco Nears $1 Billion Takeover of Software Maker ThousandEyes – Bloomberg Seeding Your Company with Zero Dilution: Part 1 – Mohit Lad – Medium VMware News Innovation and Resiliency Drive Dell Technologies’ First Quarter Fiscal 2021 Financial Results – Dell Technologies HPE Reports Q2 Results – HPE Trading Standards squad targets anti-5G USB stick – BBC

Take a Network Break! A consortium of telecom operators and Facebook have announced plans to lay 37,000 kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable around Africa, Cisco rolls out version 5.0 of its ACI platform with new features for service providers, and Intel buys Rivet Networks for high-performance Wi-Fi. Google and Apple release software to public health authorities to track Covid-19 exposure, Juniper touts its Mist Wi-Fi as a contact tracer, and Chrome version 83 comes with DNS over HTTPS. The FCC doubts Starlink can meet broadband requirements to get federal funding for rural broadband, Gluware is now available in Azure, and AT&T gets spanked by a U.S. advertising association for misleading consumers about its 5G capabilities. Sponsor: Service Express Service Express is a leader in third-party data center maintenance. Lower your support costs, extend the life of your hardware and save up to 70% on server, storage and network maintenance! Visit serviceexpress.com/packetpushers to learn more, and find out how you can win a $50 Amazon gift card. Tech Bytes: Silver Peak Stay tuned after the news for a Tech Bytes conversation. Silver Peak is the sponsor, and they’ve sent customer SolarWinds to share how the company boosted VoIP performance, improved end user experience, and saved big money on its WAN costs by deploying SD-WAN. Show Links: Building 2Africa, a transformative subsea cable to better connect Africa – Facebook Meet the partners – 2Africacable.com Facebook is Building an Underwater Cable Around Africa to Bolster the Continent’s Internet Access – Grit Daily News Facebook 2Africa – Why Aren’t Telcos Doing This? – Packet Pushers Facebook, telcos plan subsea cable to connect Africa, Middle East and Europe – Reuters Faster Internet Coming to Africa With Facebook’s $1 Billion Cable – Bloomberg Telegeography Submarine Cable Map – Telegeography Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI) 5.0 for the Changing World – Cisco Systems ACI Release 5.0 New Features – Michael’s personal Blog Intel Acquires Rivet Networks, Boosting Intel’s Wi-Fi Offerings for PC Platforms – Intel Newsroom

Take a Network Break! On today’s show we cover Dell Technologies’ announcement of a supported SONiC network OS distro, a reminder from Mellanox that they’ve been supporting SONiC before it became cool, and Microsoft’s acquisition of Metaswitch Networks. VMware buys Kubernetes security platform Octarine and announces an integration deal with SIEM vendors, U.S. President Donald Trump extends a ban on U.S. companies buying products from Huawei or ZTE (but we can still sell them components), and Cisco reports a tough third quarter. Links to all these stories are below. Sponsor: Unimus Unimus is an easy to use Network Automation and Configuration Management solution. Find out more on how you can start automating your network in under 15 minutes at unimus.net/packetpushers. Show Links: Dell Technologies and SONiC: Open Source Networking That Checks All the Boxes – Direct2DellEMC Dell Technologies Delivers the Power of Open Source Networking to Help Automate and Simplify Data Centers – Dell Technologies Mellanox Integrated SONiC Open Networking Solution – NVIDIA Blog Microsoft has announced an agreement to acquire Metaswitch Networks – Metaswitch Networks Microsoft announces definitive agreement to acquire Metaswitch Networks, expanding approach to empower operators and partner with network equipment providers to deliver on promise of 5G – Microsoft Microsoft has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Affirmed Networks! – Affirmed Networks Microsoft announces agreement to acquire Affirmed Networks to deliver new opportunities for a global 5G ecosystem – The Official Microsoft Blog VMware to Acquire Octarine to Boost Kubernetes Runtime Security – The New Stack VMware Advances Intrinsic Security Strategy at Connect 2020 Announcing Intent to Acquire Octarine to Expand Workload Security Solution into Kubernetes and Creation of Next-Gen SOC Alliance – VMware

Take a Network Break! NVIDIA bolsters its Mellanox purchase by adding Cumulus Networks to its shopping list, Innovium announces a 25.6 Tbps ASIC, and Arista says it will support the SONiC network OS on certain switches. The International Space Station gets a space laser for networking, Zoom acquires Keybase to boost its encryption chops, and a new 5G organization forms to lobby the U.S. government to protect its members from Huawei. Last but not least, Arista Networks and Fortinet report Q1 2020 financial results. Sponsor: Service Express Service Express is a leader in third-party data center maintenance. Lower your support costs, extend the life of your hardware and save up to 70% on server, storage and network maintenance! Visit serviceexpress.com/packetpushers to learn more, and find out how you can win a $50 Amazon gift card. Tech Bytes: Megaport Stay tuned after the news for a sponsored Tech Bytes conversation with Megaport. Megaport provides global cloud connectivity, data center interconnect, and Internet exchange peering. We talk about the services Megaport offers and how the company can support your remote-work needs. Show Links: NVIDIA to Acquire Networking Software Trailblazer Cumulus – NVIDIA Blog Innovium Introduces TERALYNX® 8, World’s Highest Performance Programmable Switch for Data Center Networks with 25.6 Tbps throughput and support for 112 Gbps SerDes I/O – Innovium Arista Extends Open Cloud Networking Software Leadership – Arista International space station connects 100Mbps symmetric space laser ethernet using Sony optical disc tech – The Register Small Optical Link for International Space Station (SOLISS) Succeeds in Bidirectional Laser Communication Between Space and Ground Station – Jaxa Zoom Acquires Keybase and Announces Goal of Developing the Most Broadly Used Enterprise End-to-End Encryption Offering – Zoom “Zoom acquiring a failed startup originally doing encryption which pivoted to a crypto currency ponzi scheme and claiming this will make Zoom security better is about as on point for 2020 as ever.” – Kyle Mestery via Twitter Keybase joins Zoom – Keybase Open RAN Policy Coalition Launches To Advance Open And Interoperable Solut...

Take a Network Break! NVIDIA completes its Mellanox acquisition, SpaceX announces dates for private and public beta testing of its satellite-based Internet service, and Cumulus releases version 3.0 of its NetQ management software. Cisco offers replacement ASAs for devices with a faulty hardware component; ICANN squashes the sale of the .org domain to a private equity firm; and Juniper, Microsoft, and Amazon announce financial results. Links to our coverage are below. Sponsor: InterOptic Take control of your optics purchases with InterOptic. You can get the same, if not better-performing optical transceivers, tested and designed by engineers who truly understand the specifications that are critical to your network–at a fraction of typical OEM costs. Get more information at interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Show Links: NVIDIA Completes Acquisition of Mellanox, Creating Major Force Driving Next-Gen Data Centers – NVIDIA SpaceX Applies for a Constellation Re-Design and Announces Beta Test Dates – CircleID Cumulus Networks Moves Beyond Network Visibility With the Addition of Lifecycle Management – Cumulus Networks Modernizing your network has never been easier with Cumulus NetQ Lifecycle Management – Cumulus Networks Field Notice: FN – 70476 – ASA5508 and ASA5516 Security Appliances Might Fail After 18 Months or Longer Due to a Damaged Component – Hardware Upgrade Required – Cisco ICANN Board Withholds Consent for a Change of Control of the Public Interest Registry (PIR) – ICANN Statements in Response to April 30, 2020 Decision from ICANN – Internet Society ICANN finally halts $1.1bn sale of .org registry, says it’s ‘the right thing to do’ after months of controversy – The Register Juniper Networks Reports Preliminary First Quarter 2020 Financial Results – Juniper Networks Earnings Release FY20 Q3 – Microsoft Amazon.

Take a Network Break! The US Federal Communications Commission opens the 6Ghz band to unlicensed use, including Wi-Fi; Arista upgrades its wireless software to enable app ID and enhance performance; and Cisco and Google announce a forthcoming partnership on SD-WAN for Google Cloud. Google launches a remote access product for enterprises, Juniper and T-Systems partner on an SD-WAN and security service, and the multi-cloud networking startup Aviatrix announces a new visibility product. ISC2 still requires in-person exams for the CISSP and other certifications, AT&T undertakes a $6 billion cost-cutting program, Travelex goes up for sale, and Google will put requirements in place for advertiser verification. As usual, you can find links to all these stories below. Sponsor: InterOptic It’s time to take control of your optics purchases with InterOptic.  You can purchase the same, if not better-performing optical transceivers, tested and designed by engineers who truly understand the specifications that are critical to your network–and at a fraction of typical OEM costs. Get more information at interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Tech Bytes: AppNeta Stay tuned after the news for a sponsored Tech Bytes conversation with AppNeta on IT accountability in the age of network transformation. In the cloud age, when IT owns less and less of application delivery, we’ll talk about how IT can deliver clear, measurable value to the business. Show Links: FCC Opens 6 GHz Band to Wi-Fi and Other Unlicensed Uses – Federal Communications Commission BIB092 – 6Ghz Wireless Spectrum, Unlicensed Access with US FCC – Packet Pushers The FCC ratified Wi-Fi 6E this morning – Ars Technica Wi-Fi 6E isn’t here yet—but Broadcom is clearly banking on it – Ars Technica Arista Delivers Cognitive WiFi for Collaboration, Video and Chat Applications – Arista Next Generation Cognitive Networking – Arista Cisco and Google Cloud Partner to Bridge Applications and Networks: Announcing Cisco SD-WAN Cloud Hub with Google Cloud – Cisco Modernize Enterprise Networking with Cisco SD-WAN and Google Cloud – Google Keep your teams working safely with BeyondCorp Remote Access – Google

Take a Network Break! Tech Field Day and GestaltIT founder Stephen Foskett stops by to provide guest commentary and analysis. Nvidia gets clearance to move forward on its Mellanox acquisition, GitHub adjusts its prices, and startup Alkira rolls out a multi-cloud networking offering. Facebook cancels company events until June 2021; the IETF provides assessment criteria on whether to hold its upcoming meeting in Madrid, Spain; Cisco rolls out online testing for networking and DevNet certifications, and Unicode 14.0 gets delayed for half a year. Get links to all these stories below. Sponsor: InterOptic It’s time to take control of your optics purchases with InterOptic.  You can purchase the same, if not better-performing optical transceivers, tested and designed by engineers who truly understand the specifications that are critical to your network–and at a fraction of typical OEM costs. Get more information at interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Tech Bytes: Forward Networks Stay tuned after the news for a sponsored Tech Bytes conversation with Forward Networks on network verification, how it differs from legacy networking monitoring, and where the technology is headed. Show Links: Nvidia-Mellanox Deal Finally Gets China’s Approval – EE Times FAQ about changes to GitHub’s plans – GitHub Alkira Introduces First On Demand Multi-Cloud Network, Deployed in Minutes – Alkira Facebook To Cancel Company Events With Over 50 Attendees Until June 2021 – Forbes Assessment criteria for decision on in-person/virtual IETF 108 – IETF Get Cisco certified and Cisco DevNet certified today with new online testing – Cisco Unicode 14.0 Delayed for 6 Months – Unicode

Take a Network Break! Grab a virtual donut, sit back and relax, and take a journey with us through Elysian fields of tech news analysis. We’ve got stories today on Cisco, VMware, a new PCAP appliance, and more! Headlines: Cisco has announced it will acquire Fluidmesh, a privately held company that specializes in wireless backhaul for industrial use cases. Cisco did not disclose the acquisition price. VMware has announced version 3.0 of NSX-T, its SDN software platform. The latest version includes NSX Federation, which allows you to create separate NSX domains within a data center, or from a data center to the public cloud. Startup Cato Networks has secured $77 million in a Series D funding round, bringing total investment in the cloud-based SD-WAN/security company to $202 million. It’s been 51 years since the first IETF RFC was published. The RFC describes some general agreements on how hosts and Interface Message Proccessors, which are proto-routers, would communicate. The 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium has put out a press release to announce it is rebranding to become the Ethernet Technology Consortium. It also announced an 800GbE spec. LiveAction has released a new packet capture appliance that can capture up to 40Gbps of packets. The appliance is the LiveCapture 3100, a 2RU appliance with options for 64 or 128TB storage capacity and 192 GB of memory. A Russian telecom provider redirected thousands of Internet traffic routes through its systems last week, affecting traffic from giants such as Google, Amazon, and Cloudflare. Following in the footsteps of other tech events, Microsoft has announced that all of its events will be online only until July 2021. Juniper Networks is extending the expiration date of its professional certifications by six months. Any certification that has expired or is set to expire between March 1st and September 30th of 2020 will automatically be extended by 6 months from its expiration date. Sponsor: InterOptic It’s time to take control of your optics purchases with InterOptic. You can purchase the same, if not better-performing optical transceivers, tested and designed by engineers who truly understand the specifications that are critical to your network–and at a fraction of typical OEM costs. Get more information at interoptic.com/packet-pushers. Tech Bytes: Silver Peak Join us after the news to hear how the country’s largest wholesale grocer is improving application performance and getting happier customers with SD-WAN from sponsor Silver Peak. Show Links: Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire Fluidmesh Networks – Cisco Newsroom VMware Surpasses Major Virtual Cloud Network Milestones – VMware Newsfeed Cato Networks Secures $77 Million Investment in Largest Funding Round Yet – Cato Networks RFC 1 – Host Software – IETF 25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium Rebrands to Ethernet Technology Consortium; Announces 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Specification – Ethernet Technology Consortium LiveAction Unveils New 40 Gig LiveCapture,

Take a Network Break! Palo Alto Networks plunks down $420 million to buy SD-WAN vendor CloudGenix, Zoom copes with security and privacy problems, and Cisco Webex announces it will automatically adjust or turn off video based on network quality. Cisco has announced the dates for a virtual version of Cisco Live, BlueCat tracks an increase in DNS over HTTPS (DoH), and Google suffered a short outage due to router issues (not capacity problems). Cloudflare rolls out a free DNS filtering service for families, HPE recommends a firmware upgrade to prevent certain families of SSD drives from bricking, and the space networking startup OneWeb prepares a bankruptcy filing. Finally, AWS announces you can take certification exams from home with an online proctor, and PluralSight makes all of its courses available for free for the month of April. Sponsor: ThousandEyes Today’s show is sponsored by ThousandEyes. TE gives you performance visibility from every user to every app over any network, both internal and external, so you can migrate to the cloud, troubleshoot faster and deliver exceptional user experiences. Sign up for a free account at thousandeyes.com/packetpushers and choose a free ThousandEyes t-shirt. Tech Bytes: Oracle Stay tuned for a Tech Bytes conversation on SD-WAN with sponsor Oracle. We’ll discuss how Oracle’s SD-WAN enables and supports multi-cloud management, failsafe network automation, more secure connections, and application fluency. Show Links: Palo Alto Networks Announces Intent to Acquire CloudGenix to Extend The Industry’s Most Comprehensive Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform – Palo Alto Networks Network Break 254: Amazon Develops Wireless Gadget Protocol; Mellanox Gear Harmonizes With SONiC – Packet Pushers Zoom iOS app quietly sending data to Facebook, even if you have no account [Update: Fixed] – 9to5Mac What You Should Know About Online Tools During The COVID-19 Crisis – EFF Ex-NSA hacker drops new zero-day doom for Zoom – TechCrunch Zoom Lets Attackers Steal Windows Credentials, Run Programs via UNC Links – Bleeping Computer A Message to Our Users – Zoom Blog Zoom Privacy Policy – Zoom The Facts Around Zoom and Encryption for Meetings/Webinars – Zoom Zoom Sued f...

Cisco and Arista agree to stop arguing about the command line for five years. Neither side got what they wanted which is a sign of a good legal settlement. Cisco ships Viptela SD-WAN and it will run on existing models of ASR/ISR routers which is excellent news for customers. Here's hoping that Cisco spent time on code quality and reliaability. Lets Encrypt is now in all the browsers as a root certificate instead of cross-signed by an intermediary.

Listen to the latest Network Break podcast for analysis on big acquisitions from Cisco and Arista, the latest IaaS market share numbers, Google's reportedly censor-friendly search app, and more tech news.

The latest Network Break podcast analyzes Google's embrace of hybrid cloud, Gigamon's Icebrg acquisition for security analytics, a scrapped Qualcomm deal, and more tech news.

Today's Network Break podcast tackles Amazon in the enterprise, Big Switch's new VPC capability, and more tech news analysis with guest John Fruehe

Today's Network Break analyzes Broadcom's surprising bid for CA, Intel's eASIC purchase, a mysterious new venture from Viptela's founders & more tech news