Intel delays next GPU Max until 2025

A significant change to Intel's high performance computing roadmap gives competitors AMD and Nvidia plenty of time to grab market share.Intel has a pair of processors called CPU Max and GPU Max. Both feature high bandwidth memory (HBM) on the die which greatly increases performance. The successor to the GPU Max, known as Rialto Bridge, was due later this year or early next year.Instead, Intel cancelled Rialto Bridge, and its successor – Falcon Shores – isn't coming until 2025. Longer term, Intel plans to have one processor, called an XPU, that will combine CPU and GPU cores on one die, but that will come after Falcon Shores.To read this article in full, please click here

Heavy Networking 669: Graphiant’s Network Edge Service Rethinks SD-WAN (Sponsored)

On today's Heavy Networking, sponsor Graphaint is here to discuss how it's rethinking SD-WAN using a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) model to help customers consume WAN connectivity instead of setting up and operating a WAN for themselves. Graphiant combines SD-WAN mainstays such as multiple connection options and traffic policies based on applications and performance, without the operational overhead of SD-WAN tunnels. We dive into the how and why in this episode.

Heavy Networking 669: Graphiant’s Network Edge Service Rethinks SD-WAN (Sponsored)

On today's Heavy Networking, sponsor Graphaint is here to discuss how it's rethinking SD-WAN using a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) model to help customers consume WAN connectivity instead of setting up and operating a WAN for themselves. Graphiant combines SD-WAN mainstays such as multiple connection options and traffic policies based on applications and performance, without the operational overhead of SD-WAN tunnels. We dive into the how and why in this episode.

The post Heavy Networking 669: Graphiant’s Network Edge Service Rethinks SD-WAN (Sponsored) appeared first on Packet Pushers.

US-China chip war to hit affiliates of server maker Inspur

In a move that highlights how the ongoing US-China chip war is disrupting the global semiconductor supply chain, the US is taking measures to address a gap in restrictions imposed on Chinese server maker Inspur Group that leaves US companies free to continue supplying Inspur’s affiliates, of which there are dozens, according to a report by Bloomberg.Inspur sells servers targeted at AI and big data workloads, and does business worldwide, including in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.To read this article in full, please click here

US-China chip war to hit affiliates of server maker Inspur

In a move that highlights how the ongoing US-China chip war is disrupting the global semiconductor supply chain, the US is taking measures to address a gap in restrictions imposed on Chinese server maker Inspur Group that leaves US companies free to continue supplying Inspur’s affiliates, of which there are dozens, according to a report by Bloomberg.Inspur sells servers targeted at AI and big data workloads, and does business worldwide, including in the US, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.To read this article in full, please click here

The Dangers of Knowing Everything

By now I’m sure you’ve heard that the Internet is obsessed with ChatGPT. I’ve been watching from the sidelines as people find more and more uses for our current favorite large language model (LLM) toy. Why a toy and not a full-blown solution to all our ills? Because ChatGPT has one glaring flaw that I can see right now that belies its immaturity. ChatGPT knows everything. Or at least it thinks it does.

Unknown Unknowns

If I asked you the answer to a basic trivia question you could probably recall it quickly. Like “who was the first president of the United States?” These are answers we have memorized over the years to things we are expected to know. History, math, and even written communication has questions and answers like this. Even in an age of access to search engines we’re still expected to know basic things and have near-instant recall.

What if I asked you a trivia question you didn’t know the answer to? Like “what is the name of the metal cap at the end of a pencil?” You’d likely go look it up on a search engine or on some form of encyclopedia. You don’t know Continue reading

Technology Short Take 166

Welcome to Technology Short Take #166! I’ve been collecting links for the last few weeks, and now it’s time to share them with all of you. There are some familiar names in the links below, but also some newcomers—and I’m really excited to see that! I’m constantly on the lookout for new sources (if you have a site you think I should check out, hit me up—my contact info is at the bottom of this post!). But enough of that, let’s get on with the content. Enjoy!

Networking

Deploying firmware at Cloudflare-scale: updating thousands of servers in more than 285 cities

Deploying firmware at Cloudflare-scale: updating thousands of servers in more than 285 cities
Deploying firmware at Cloudflare-scale: updating thousands of servers in more than 285 cities

As a security company, it’s critical that we have good processes for dealing with security issues. We regularly release software to our servers - on a daily basis even - which includes new features, bug fixes, and as required, security patches. But just as critical is the software which is embedded into the server hardware, known as firmware. Primarily of interest is the BIOS and Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), but many other components also have firmware such as Network Interface Cards (NICs).

As the world becomes more digital, software which needs updating is appearing in more and more devices. As well as my computer, over the last year, I have waited patiently while firmware has updated in my TV, vacuum cleaner, lawn mower and light bulbs. It can be a cumbersome process, including obtaining the firmware, deploying it to the device which needs updating, navigating menus and other commands to initiate the update, and then waiting several minutes for the update to complete.

Firmware updates can be annoying even if you only have a couple of devices. We have more than a few devices at Cloudflare. We have a huge number of servers of varying kinds, from varying vendors, spread Continue reading

What is power over Ethernet (PoE)?

Power over Ethernet (or PoE) is the delivery of electrical power to networked devices over the same Ethernet cabling that connects them to the LAN. This simplifies the devices themselves by eliminating the need for an electric plug and power converter, and makes it unnecessary to have separate AC electric wiring and sockets installed near each device.Many enterprises have come to rely on PoE to bring electricity over existing data cables to Wi-Fi access points, firewalls, IP phones, and other infrastructure throughout their networks.To read this article in full, please click here

F5 BIG-IP HA LTM in Azure

This post goes through the deployment of a HA pair of F5 BIG-IP LTMs in Azure. Like with most vendors the F5 solutions is documented as part of ARM templates, I personally prefer to pick these things apart and first build them manually to better understand what is going on under the hood. A more cynical person may suggest they do this on purpose to try and hide all the fudges needed to make their solution work in a public cloud.

Hedge 169: Network Address Translation with Steinn

Network Address translation is one of those phrases that strikes fear into the hearts of some network engineers … and joy into the hearts of others! Steinn Bjarnarson joins us to discuss the history of NAT, its uses, its misuses, and how NAT fits into the big picture of network design today. Steinn just finished writing a paper on the history of NAT.

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Saving commands to a file using Ctrl-x-e

One very interesting trick that you may not know is that you can type a line of text (presumably a command) on the Linux command line and immediately save it to a file by pressing just three keys. The editor that will open up will depend on your $EDITOR setting that you can view using the command shown below:$ echo $EDITOR nano If you prefer to use a different editor, use a command like this before typing or moving back to the command that you want to save:$ export EDITOR=vi And don't forget to save this change to your .bashrc (or other start-up file) if you want to make this change permanent. For example:To read this article in full, please click here