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Two competitors deciding to stop fighting and build together always raises one question: what changes for the customers the next morning. We start with the BT and Verizon International joint venture and dig into what a shared global network footprint could mean across SD-WAN, MPLS, Ethernet and cloud connectivity, including the uncomfortable parts like orchestration changes, duplicated POPs and the possibility of forced migrations. If you run global sites, this is the kind of deal that can quietly reshape your WAN roadmap.

Then we shift to the money and physics behind the cloud: Virginia’s new per kilowatt-hour data center electricity tax. It sounds small until you apply it to hyperscale consumption, and the inclusion of self-generated power closes an obvious workaround. We talk through why Northern Virginia’s data center corridor matters, how policy spreads state to state, and why the “they’ll just pass the cost on” argument is less theory than a pricing strategy you eventually see in your cloud bill.

From there, it’s security and governance: the White House post-quantum cryptography executive order and the accelerating reality of quantum risk, including “harvest now, decrypt later.” We connect PQC deadlines to refresh cycles, vendor readiness, and the practical work of migrating both infrastructure and applications. We also hit identity head-on with Cisco’s plan to bring identity lifecycle security into Splunk’s agentic SOC, because non-human identities and AI agents are changing what least privilege even means.

We close with the growing pattern of government intervention in frontier AI models and what it does to businesses building on specific model capabilities. If you found this useful, subscribe, share the show with a friend and leave a review so more people can find it.

Check out the Monthly Cloud Networking News
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fkBWCGwXDUX9OfZ9_MvSVup8tJJzJeqrauaE6VPT2b0/

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Network automation doesn’t fail because engineers can’t code. It fails because teams can’t turn one-off wins into a repeatable way of operating. We sit down with Scott Robohn of Solutional, co-founder of the Network Automation Forum and one of the people behind Autocon, to unpack why Autocon keeps growing and why a “production-first” mindset changes the entire conversation.

We talk about what makes the Autocon room feel different from traditional tech conferences: a grassroots vibe, a tough selection process that rewards what’s actually running, workshops that go deep, and a culture where it’s safe to share what broke. Scott also highlights a leadership track idea that hits home for working engineers: automation only scales when we can explain outcomes, costs, risk reduction, and why the business should tolerate early stumbles.

Then we get real about AI in NetOps. LLMs can speed up scripting, summarize telemetry, and help teams prototype faster, but that doesn’t magically create maintainable enterprise automation. We dig into the gap between step one and step three, why workflow discipline matters, and how spec-driven development and test-driven development make AI-assisted work safer. We also connect the dots to security automation, SOC versus NOC adoption, and the emerging “security for AI” problem where policy alone is not a control.

If you’re thinking about Autocon 6 in Tucson (November 16 to 20), Scott shares what to expect and how to plug into the community. Subscribe, share this with a teammate who owns change management, and leave a review with your biggest automation hurdle.

Connect with our guest:
Scott's LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottrobohn/

Network Automation Forum
https://networkautomation.forum/

Solutional
https://solutional.com/

Check out the Monthly Cloud Networking News
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fkBWCGwXDUX9OfZ9_MvSVup8tJJzJeqrauaE6VPT2b0/

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We react to the biggest stories from Cisco Live, focusing on why Cloud Control and Multi-Cloud Fabric could simplify how teams manage multi-domain infrastructure. We also unpack the Mythos export control shockwave and the growing backlash to AI data centers as efficiency claims collide with real community costs. 

• Cloud Control as a manager of managers, bringing consoles, telemetry, and logs closer together 
• Early-stage reality of “unified” platforms, plus the longer-term need for a shared policy engine 
• AI Canvas and cross-product troubleshooting, pulling signals without console hopping 
• Multi-Cloud Fabric as network as a service for branches, data centers, and multi-cloud connectivity 
• Mythos 5 rollout frustrations for security workflows and why guardrails changed user experience 
• Export controls and the fallout for foreign nationals, partners, and even internal teams 
• Glasswing, vulnerability discovery, and the open question of how much better Mythos really is 
• Bug bounty economics, including the reported cost per bug and what that means for incentives 
• AWS water efficiency claims, plus why water and energy constraints still drive public resistance 
• AI spend whiplash, cloud-era déjà vu, and why capacity keeps running into physics 

Check out the Monthly Cloud Networking News
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fkBWCGwXDUX9OfZ9_MvSVup8tJJzJeqrauaE6VPT2b0/

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A $435 million all-cash acquisition doesn’t happen just to add another logo to a portfolio. We break down why Lumen is buying Alkira to become the control plane for cloud connectivity, and what that signals about where multicloud networking is headed. Alkira’s POP-based backbone and marketplace approach made cloud interconnect feel like a service. Plug that into a telco-sized footprint and you can imagine faster turn-ups, better orchestration, and smarter last-mile connectivity. You can also imagine a lot of painful integration work and real uncertainty for current Alkira customers.

Then we pivot to something every engineering leader should be thinking about: what happens when your team depends on AI coding tools and the quality quietly drops. Anthropic’s Claude Code post-mortem is refreshingly candid, but it raises the bigger question we can’t ignore anymore: what’s the service level agreement for model “reasoning,” coding intelligence, and reliability, and what recourse exists when the output isn’t what you paid for?

We also cover a new wave of supply chain attacks, where compromised packages can ride trusted pipelines, hunt for AI and cloud credentials in local dev directories, and self-replicate fast. And we end with the physical side of the cloud: a data center water controversy that shows why communities are pushing back as AI infrastructure scales.

If you found this useful, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review. What story should we dig into next month?

Check out the Monthly Cloud Networking News
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fkBWCGwXDUX9OfZ9_MvSVup8tJJzJeqrauaE6VPT2b0/

Visit our website and subscribe: https://www.cables2clouds.com/
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If you still picture “hackers” as hoodie stereotypes and fast typing in a dark room, this conversation resets the story with real, practical detail. We sit down with Kyle Winters from Learn with Cisco to define ethical hacking and penetration testing the way security teams actually use it: as a sanctioned, scoped way to think like an attacker so you can fix weaknesses before a real threat actor finds them. The heart of the episode is simple: defence tools are not enough unless you test them with an offensive mindset.

We dig into how red team, blue team, and purple team workflows differ, when black box testing beats white box testing, and why rules of engagement matter when a scan can lock accounts, crash fragile IoT devices, or disrupt business critical apps. Kyle also shares a hands on learning path through Cisco Networking Academy (NetAcad), including a free ethical hacking course with labs, a mock pen test flow, and Capture the Flag challenges on Cisco U that lead to a non expiring certificate. We also touch on Cisco Talos and why threat intelligence and community training help close the cybersecurity skills gap.

Then we pivot to AI security and the uncomfortable truth: generative AI makes phishing, deepfakes, and voice impersonation more convincing, and agentic tooling can automate parts of exploitation faster than many teams expect. At the same time, AI adds a brand new attack surface, from prompt injection to unsafe chatbot connections into databases, which is why AI red teaming, OWASP style LLM risk thinking, zero trust, and least privilege are becoming core security skills.

Subscribe for more practical cybersecurity conversations, share this with someone learning ethical hacking, and leave a review. What worries you most about AI in security right now?

Connect with Our Guest:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-m-winters/

Check out the Monthly Cloud Networking News
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fkBWCGwXDUX9OfZ9_MvSVup8tJJzJeqrauaE6VPT2b0/

Visit our website and subscribe: https://www.cables2clouds.com/
Follow us on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/cables2clouds.com
Follow us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@cables2clouds/
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cables2clouds
Merch Store: https://store.cables2clouds.com/
Join the Discord Study group: https://artofneteng.com/iaatj