Packet Pushers

Heavy Networking

Heavy Networking is an unabashedly nerdy dive into all things networking. Described by one listener as "verbal white papers," the weekly episodes feature network engineers, industry experts, and vendors sharing useful information to keep your professional knowledge sharp and your career growing. Hosts Greg Ferro, Ethan Banks and Drew Conry-Murray cut through the marketing spin to explore what works—and what doesn't—in networking today, while keeping an eye on what's ahead for the industry. On air since 2010, Heavy Networking is the flagship show of the Packet Pushers podcast network.

Author

Packet Pushers

Category

Technology

Podcast website

packetpushers.net

Latest episode

Jun 26, 2026

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Episodes

Heavy Networking 632: How Juniper’s RAN Intelligent Controller Enables 5G Automation (Sponsored) 27.05.2022

Today's Heavy Networking dives into the automation and orchestration of 5G networks with sponsor Juniper Networks. We discuss Juniper's RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), Service Management and Orchestration (SMO), how Juniper works with the Open RAN ecosystem, and more. Our guest is Constantine Polychronopoulos, Vice President of 5G and Telco Cloud at Juniper Networks.

Heavy Networking 631: Saying No 20.05.2022

On today's Heavy Networking we talk about why it's important to say "No" when someone tries to put more work on you than you can handle. Guest Tom Hollingsworth wrote a controversial blog post entitled “No Is A Complete Sentence” about how to say "No," to even when it's hard to do. We talk about the nuances of this stance, the risks you take when you do, time management, balancing workloads, and m...

Heavy Networking 630: Palo Alto Networks Introduces Okyo Garde And SD-WAN Bandwidth On Demand (Sponsored) 13.05.2022

Today's Heavy Networking podcast explores two new offerings from sponsor Palo Alto Networks. First is Okyo Garde, a home wireless mesh appliance to connect and secure remote workers while reducing the management burden from IT. We also discuss a new licensing program to make provisioning bandwidth for branch and remote offices for Prisma SD-WAN simpler and more flexible.

Heavy Networking 629: The State Of Data Center Fabrics In 2022 06.05.2022

Today's Heavy Networking dives into data center fabrics with guest Russ White. We discuss just what makes a data center fabric, why the industry relies too much on BGP, fabric alternatives and options, the future of data center fabrics, and more. Russ is a network architect, author, and instructor.

Heavy Networking 628: Pluribus Extends Its SDN Fabric To SmartNICs/DPUs 29.04.2022

On today's sponsored Heavy Networking podcast we talk to Pluribus Networks. Pluribus can extend networking and security services directly to smartNICs/DPUs via its Unified Cloud Fabric to improve performance, visibility, and security. We talk with Mike Capuano and Alessandro Barbieri from Pluribus on how it all works.

Heavy Networking 627: Network Automation As A Business Culture 22.04.2022

The business benefits of network automation are sometimes lost in discussion about technology and tools. Guest Tim Fiola joins this episode of Heavy Networking to discuss how to engage the business at a cultural level so that network automation is properly embraced and supported by management.

Heavy Networking 626: Choosing The Right Silicon For The Job (Sponsored) 15.04.2022

Today's Heavy Networking, sponsored by Juniper, dives into the custom vs. merchant silicon debate. Juniper makes the case for its Trio 6 ASIC in MX routers. We get into the specifics of Trio 6 capabilities, examine the needs of the multi-service edge, and discuss the technology and business cases for custom hardware.

Heavy Networking 625: Home IoT Networking At Scale 09.04.2022

Today's Heavy Networking dives into home IoT at scale. We’re going to get into the weeds with two network engineers who’ve gone way beyond lighting and a few smart plugs in their home automation setup. We'll talk devices, protocols, security, and more.

Heavy Networking 624: Solving Network Problems With Opmantek’s NMIS (Sponsored) 01.04.2022

On today's sponsored Heavy Networking we speak with Opmantek, a FirstWave company. Opmantek's NMIS is a suite of network monitoring applications for managing fault, performance, configuration, compliance and automation. It supports multi-vendor, multi-tenant and multi-server solutions. We discuss the latest features and real-world use cases.

Heavy Networking 623: Growing From Junior To Senior Engineer 25.03.2022

Today's Heavy Networking is a roundtable conversation about career growth. Maybe your title is junior engineer, but you want to be a senior engineer. Be careful what you wish for! Maybe your title is junior but you feel you’re doing the job of a senior. Are you really? How would you justify this to your manager? We address these and other questions and issues including certs vs. experience, paying...

Heavy Networking 622: Intel’s Smart Edge Brings The Cloud To The Edge (Sponsored) 18.03.2022

In today’s sponsored Heavy Networking show with Intel, we dive into recent Intel silicon announcements that are impacting how networking services will be delivered in the years to come. The edge of the network is set to change thanks to modern CPUs that accelerate network functions including packet processing and security. Joining us is Intel's Jeni Panhorst, Vice President & General Manager,...

Heavy Networking 621: Get Scalable Network Automation With Itential (Sponsored) 11.03.2022

On today's Heavy Networking, sponsor Itential joins us to discuss how you can deliver a scalable and sustainable network automation system for your enterprise. Our guest is Peter Sprygada, VP of Product Management at Itential.

Heavy Networking 620: High Frequency Trading And Big Data Network Design 04.03.2022

Network design for high frequency trading and big data networks is the topic of today’s Heavy Networking. If you’re interested in what it’s like to carefully manage data center latency and maintain your sanity in a zero downtime environment, this is your show. Our guests are are Jeremy Filliben and Marc Washco of Jump Trading.

Heavy Networking 619: Pluribus Empowers NetOps With Kubernetes Network Visibility (Sponsored) 25.02.2022

Today's sponsored Heavy Networking dives into the latest features from Pluribus Networks, including Pluribus KubeTracker, which correlates containers with applications, maps hosts to the network fabric, and more. We also cover FlowTracker and a virtualized packet broker service. Our guest is Alessandro Barbieri, VP Product Management at Pluribus.

Heavy Networking 618: Building Virtual Networks With Console Connect (Sponsored) 18.02.2022

On today’s Heavy Networking episode we talk with sponsor Console Connect, which provides software-defined interconnections for enterprises and service providers. Guests Paul Gampe and Jay Turner dig into the Console Connect catalog, including Internet On-Demand, CloudRouter, and some of the interesting partner integrations that provide unique connectivity options.

Heavy Networking 617: Go Vs. Python For Network Engineers 11.02.2022

Today's Heavy Networking makes the case for why network engineers should consider using the Go language instead for their automation needs. Guest Darren Parkinson makes a strong argument for adding Go to your tool kit.

Heavy Networking 616: Do We Need An SMTP Alternative? TMTP And MNM Are Here To Find Out 04.02.2022

The SMTP protocol isn't broken, but email kinda is. Spam, phishing, and other unwanted messages are easy to deliver and harder to stop. On today's Heavy Networking we discuss TMTP and mnm, a proposed new protocol and client that aim to preserve the benefits of email while eliminating vulnerabilities and offering a better experience. Our guest is Liam Breck, creator of TMTP and mnm.

Heavy Networking 615: Optimize User Experience With Palo Alto Networks’ ADEM (Sponsored) 29.01.2022

How do you know your remote workers are having good performance--a good experience--using the applications they need to get their work done? Today we drill into Autonomous Digital Experience Management (ADEM) with sponsor Palo Alto Networks, including how ADEM works, the benefits of real-time and synthetic monitoring, how ADEM integrates with SASE, and more.

Heavy Networking 614: eBPF, Cloud-Native Networking, And Other Modern Networking Trends 21.01.2022

Today's Heavy Networking gets deep in the guts of what’s going on with all the modern trends in networking: cloud-native, containers, eBPF, Kubernetes, DPUs, and so on. Guests Brent Salisbury and Dave Tucker give their insider’s view of developments in cutting-edge networking tech. You’ll walk away with a better idea of what to pay attention to in the months and years to come.

Heavy Networking 613: Deploying An Active-Active Data Center Network For Private Cloud (Sponsored) 14.01.2022

This Heavy Networking episode focuses on building a data center fabric. Pluribus Networks is our sponsor. Pluribus brought along a customer to talk about their active/active DC deployment. We’ll get into stretching layer 2 safely, Pluribus's L3 capabilities, operational concerns of active/active when the DCs are many hundreds of miles apart, and the pressure of delivering customer-facing services...

Heavy Networking 612: Cloud-Native Kubernetes Networking For CSPs (Sponsored) 11.01.2022

Heavy Networking explores big ideas around service provider and cloud provider network services in 2022, both how they collide and are complementary. Our sponsor is Juniper Networks. We also get an update on Juniper’s Contrail product, a software-defined networking platform that now includes native integration with Kubernetes.

Heavy Networking 611: Data Center Networking And Observability In 2022 (Sponsored) 17.12.2021

As we approach the end of 2021, it's informative to look back at how much change has gone on in the industry. One of the biggest transitions we've seen in enterprise networking has taken place in the data center. Software-defined approaches that emerged over the past decade have matured and are being deployed in production. On today's Heavy Networking, we talk with Juniper Networks in a sponsored...

Heavy Networking 610: Network Automation With Nautobot 10.12.2021

On today's Heavy Networking we discuss a Nautobot, an open-source software tool that can serve as a source of truth for network automation. We explore how Nautobot works, what it's used for, how it ties in with Python and Ansible, major features, and more.

Heavy Networking 609: Innovation Or Stagnation – A Year-End Networking Review 03.12.2021

Today's Heavy Networking considers the current state of networking technologies and the networking market. We debate whether we've seen any significant innovations over the past year, if the industry has stagnated, or if we're simply trying to stay on top of disruptions caused by cloud, Covid, and the erosion of traditional network boundaries. We also discuss how network engineers and the industry...

Heavy Networking 608: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About NAC (And Then Some) 26.11.2021

Today's Heavy Networking goes deep on Network Access Control (NAC) for wired and wireless networks. Our guest is Arne Bier, a Senior Consulting Engineer and CCIE. We hit a bunch of topics including MAC authentication bypass, client certificates, EAP methods, and more. We also discuss reasons why NAC is worth deploying despite the effort.

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