| website | https://www.systemsapproach.org/books/ |
| newsletter | https://systemsapproach.org/newsletter |
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| tech rag | https://www.theregister.com/Tag/Systems%20Approach |
RE: https://assortedflotsam.com/@technewsbot/116281074470580558
I suspect the actual reason for this is in the second half of the sentence:
"... or receive an exemption from the Pentagon or Homeland Security Department."
We've seen this administration use approval processes to extract all kinds of concessions out of companies; see its use of approval over mergers to get media companies to do its bidding.
From our perspective the good news is that we finally have a handle on the questions "what is special about data center networking" and "what does networking for AI look like" although we have also opened up a bigger set of questions that we need to keep exploring as we push on with the new edition. Further details here:
https://systemsapproach.org/2026/03/23/convergence-takes-off-in-the-datacenter/
/FIN
This topic continues to drive plenty of research (especially as the drawbacks of PFC are now pretty apparent). AI workloads continue to demand low latency and minimal packet loss, including at the extreme tail as that impacts training performance.
Two examples from last year's SIGCOMM conference:
Falcon: A Reliable, Low Latency Hardware Transport
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3718958.3754353
Revisiting RDMA Reliability for Lossy Fabrics
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3718958.3750480
4/n
As we continue revising our textbook for its 7th edition, we have turned our attention to "datacenter networking". As people with a lifelong focus on the Internet, it has been an interesting challenge to answer the question of "what's different about the datacenter". We think we are starting to get to the bottom of this, and we trace it back to the special-purpose networks that were originally built for high-performance computing applications, now getting a big boost from AI-related workloads. Our latest newsletter has the details:
https://systemsapproach.org/2026/03/23/convergence-takes-off-in-the-datacenter/
🧵 1/n
“Current #EncryptionTechnology relies on complex mathematical combinations, but many #scientists believe that the arrival of #QuantumComputers will make this insecure.
By contrast, #Bennett and #Brassard's theory - known as #BB84 - shows that any attempt to hack or copy their #quantum #encryption #key changes the very behaviour of its elements, making replication impossible.”
#TuringAward / #computing <https://bbc.com/news/articles/c7474004g01o>
The Gigabit testbed initiatives were spread around the country. Ours was known as Aurora after we added IBM to our initial set of collaborators. It was through Aurora that Bruce and Larry were introduced and starting working together on Gigabit NICs and the host software to support them. And from there we moved on to writing books, and here we are 35 years later, still going.
Rob Ricci
☮ ♥ ♬ 🧑💻