Kubernetes is all about sharing machines between the applications, so understanding how they communicate is essential. The first important element to understand is that every Pod gets its own IP address. This means you do not have to create links between the Pods and also negates the need to map host ports to container ports, as is done in the Docker networking model. Pods can now be treated very similarly to VMs or physical hosts with respect to naming, port allocation, load balancing, migration and more. Read article

The more choice we have, the less satisfied we become however we do need choice to feel freedom and autonomy when decision-making. This is known as the paradox of choice and rings true when buying a packet of crisps (or chips for my US friends), one of Heinz’s 57 varieties or selecting a NOS that best suits your needs. Consumer choice in this sphere is essential as every network requires something a little different to suit their very specific environmental demands. It is this choice that has driven creation, innovation, price and also keeps everyone in this market on their toes. Innovate or die was the cry! Read article

We interviewed Mike Capuano, CMO of Pluribus Networks, at the OCP Summit in San Jose earlier this year. Mike talks about simplifying the software-defined data center, using a combination of their Netvisor ONE and Adaptive Cloud Fabric to enable programmability and lower capital and operating costs by leveraging white box economics.

Billy Connolly, the Scottish comedian, laughing at his father for losing his glasses again jokingly told him about an article he had read for a prescription car windscreen. His father thought this would be the greatest thing since sliced bread and wanted one immediately. Now, imagine the vision as this vehicle approaches and a man with a head the size of a small asteroid is looking at you. Or the confusion of a new owner as he drove off into a lamppost!! My point is we have to careful when looking at things we are told will change our lives for the better. We have all heard the buzz around 5G so let’s have a look and see if it’s a prescription windscreen or our generation’s sliced bread. 

Container platforms and Cloud Native are the talk of the town, with Kubernetes, or k8s as it is stylized, recently being crowned the victor in the bloody but aptly named ‘Container Wars’. The white flag of surrender for management and orchestration was raised by Docker which now supports Kubernetes natively. Docker is still the container engine of choice though. This means that most Cloud Native systems are going to contain both platforms in a complementary fashion.

We had the pleasure of interviewing Brian at the OCP Summit in San Jose, this March. Hot off the press - Brian comments on Cumulus's joint announcement with Facebook & Edgecore about the release of Facebook open modular switch for data centers, describing its features and benefits in depth. Brian also tackles the question of how to solve the challenges of deploying on commodity hardware. Read article