Cisco Podcast Network

Ian's got two bone-to-pick this week: a guy lifting in slides, and a CVS receipt that could legitimately double as a scarf. Kat's here to talk him down from both grievances, and once she does, they pivot to something actually important: why all the shiny AI everyone's losing their minds over still needs boring old networking underneath it.

Here's the thing: you can't train a world-changing model without connecting thousands of GPUs, and you can't connect them without infrastructure. Ian and Kat break down exactly what Cisco's doing behind the scenes—the plumbing that lets hyperscalers actually scale their AI. Kat brings her MBA playbook (outcome-based partnerships, the whole deal), Ian keeps it real with the "networking is just invisible plumbing" bit, and honestly, they might've never sounded more like themselves. Turns out all the AI hype in the world doesn't matter if the pipes aren't working

To check out those networking solutions Cisco has, click here: https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/solutions/small-business/networking/index.html#tabs-7edb32179e-item-d43da2dc1e-tab

In the pluggable optics industry every next generation is led by countless presentations and proposals at standards bodies meetings along with lots of lab development and testing behind the scenes. Right now the industry has its sights set on 3.2 terabit transceivers with 400 Gb per electrical lane. All those meetings and all that testing are happening as we speak.

Today I am joined by John Calvin, Strategic Planner and Datacom Technology Lead at Keysight.

John has been bridging the measurement science gaps of emerging telecom and datacom development efforts for 20 years. He has chaired multiple physical layer interoperability working groups and is currently serving as a contributing member to IEEE 802.3, OIF-CEI, InfiniBand, and PCIe development efforts. John holds a BSEE from Washington State University, and his graduate level studies are in signal processing from Stanford University.

In Episode 66 we continue our conversation with John. We get into the signal-integrity and connector challenges engineers face when pushing Ethernet to 400 gigabits per lane.

John has very generously made himself available for your follow-up questions. You can find him at IEEE 802.3 technical forums or you can email him at john.calvin@keysight.com.

Please follow the Cisco Podcast Network on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! Better yet, leave a review on Apple podcasts. Remember you're listening to the Cisco Optics Podcast, which is part of the Cisco Podcast Network where you can find other great Cisco podcasts too.

If you want to listen on a website, go to optics.podcastpage.io.

We also have educational videos on youtube. Just go to youtube.com and search on Cisco Optics.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics

Intro music
Music by Sergio Prosvirini from Pixabay

Outro music
Dreamers by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com
Royalty Free Music by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Ian is flying solo BUT is joined by LinkedIn expert Darren McKee this week—founder of 531 Social and Darren McKee Co.

Darren's been posting on LinkedIn almost every single day since March 2020, and yeah, he's got the receipts. He walks us through his journey from mail carrier and pizza guy to building a sales career that actually stuck, and spoiler: the daily posting thing actually worked.

But here's where it gets weird: sometimes carefully researched posts tank while a random rant about a key fob blows up. We're talking hundreds of thousands of impressions. Why? And more importantly—why do comments help more than posts? Darren breaks down the cold DM playbook (hint: don't be that guy), and explains why he treats content like a rap album: most tracks won't chart, but you keep making them anyway because you never know which will be a hit. If you've ever stared at a LinkedIn draft and thought "Does anyone actually want to read this?"—this one's for you.

If you liked this episode, and are interested in signing up for Darren's next cohort you can sign up here: https://darrenmckee.co/

Host and guest Evan Mintzer (Director of Production Infrastructure, Customers Bank) discuss how banks build digital resilience through network design, redundancy, data visibility and governance. The episode covers practical challenges around third-party services, AI-assisted monitoring, and making sure critical systems keep money flowing.

Key topics include the balance between automation and human oversight, the importance of shared ownership of data across teams, regulatory pressures (FFIEC, DORA), and the need for accurate documentation and tools like machine data lakes to gain context and control.

The main takeaway: protect customer trust by combining the right technologies, operating-model integration and people — focusing on visibility, quick reaction, and sensible investments in security and automation.

This episode explores how AI agents, network sensors, and cloud-managed Meraki solutions are transforming workplaces across industries—from stadiums and events to critical infrastructure.

Leaders share real-world use cases on security, hybrid work, real-time visibility, and practical deployments that balance automation with human oversight.