NANOG 94: Networking in the Mile High City

Key Takeaways from NANOG 94 in Denver

The North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG) conference returned for its 94th iteration from June 9-11, bringing the brightest minds in network engineering to the heart of Denver, Colorado. Hosted at the Sheraton Denver Downtown, the event provided a forum for discussion, collaboration, and education on the most pressing issues and exciting innovations shaping the internet today. I had the privilege to attend and participate so in this blog I will provide an overview along with my key takeaways.

A Venue with Altitude

The Sheraton Denver Downtown offered a fitting backdrop for the conference, with its central location providing easy access to the city’s attractions. The hotel’s spacious conference facilities comfortably accommodated the hundreds of attendees, fostering an environment of both formal learning in the presentation halls and informal collaboration in the hallways and social spaces. It was exciting to see over 800 people registered for and participating in a NANOG. The proximity to the 16th Street Mall and other downtown landmarks allowed for a seamless blend of conference sessions and networking opportunities in the Mile High City.

Hot Topics on the Agenda: AI, Security, and Automation

The agenda was packed with timely and critical topics, with a clear focus on the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence on network infrastructure. The keynote address by John White of US Signal, titled Data Centre Futures: Scaling the Backbone of Tomorrow’s Digital World, set the tone for the conference. If you have not heard John speak, you are really missing out. He is an engaging public speaker and the attendees always learn something from his talks. John’s presentation delved into the immense challenges and opportunities presented by the explosive growth of data centers drive by AI compute. He emphasized the need for innovative scaling strategies and the growing importance of open-source solutions in the data center.

Security was another dominant theme woven throughout the three-day event. A notable fireside chat featured Matthew Stith of Spamhaus and Paul Vixie of AWS Security, who provided invaluable insights into the operational frameworks and trust models essential for threat intelligence and infrastructure protection. Their discussion highlighted the critical collaboration between cloud providers and security vendors in mitigating abuse and securing increasingly complex systems.

Presentations on Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) security, the deployment of Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), and the nuances of routing security underscored the industry’s collective effort to build a more resilient and trustworthy internet. The ARIN’s RPKI Trust Anchor Demystified talk by Mark Kosters of ARIN offered a good education on how ARIN has architected and build their RPKI system to be scalable and resilient. This is foundation on which the RPKI system in North America is build.

Network automation is undeniably a critical area of focus for the NANOG community. Sessions have delved into the transformative use of large language models (LLMs) for network troubleshooting, exemplified by Ryosuke Sato from NTT Data, who showcased how multi-agent LLM configurations can drive autonomous decision-making in complex network environments. The conference also facilitated insightful discussions on zero-trust architectures within telecom networks and highlighted the substantial benefits of open-source routing tools. Alongside this, my colleague, Doug Madory, from Kentik presented on The Scourge of Excessive AS-SETs. AS-SETs were ingeniously designed to enable operators to filter incoming BGP prefixes at the edge of their networks. However, over time, an overwhelming amount of unnecessary data has infiltrated these AS-SETs, rendering them ineffective for most networks.

Hands-On Learning

NANOG has always been more than just a series of presentations, and NANOG 94 was no exception. The popular Hackathon provided a hands-on environment for attendees to tackle real-world routing and automation challenges, fostering a spirit of collaborative problem-solving. In addition, AWS offered an IPv6 Clinic on Wednesday and Route 128 provided a workshop titled, The Easy Way to IPv6 – IPv6 Migration for Enterprises. There were plenty of opportunities to get your hands on the keyboard and learn something new.

Community Building

The Beer ‘n Gear social event offered a relaxed setting for vendors and attendees to connect and discuss the latest hardware and software innovations. And of course, the SWAG giveaways did not disappoint. Nokia raffled off some Raspberry PIs with ContainerLab already loaded on them and ready for folks to get labs spun up.

The conference also continued its commitment to fostering a more inclusive and welcoming community. The Women in Tech mixer provided a valuable networking opportunity for women in the industry to connect and share their experiences. For newcomers, a dedicated session and the friendly Ambassadors helped ease them into the NANOG community.

Looking into the Future

From the cutting-edge discussions on AI’s impact on the data center to the foundational work of securing the internet’s routing infrastructure, NANOG 94 in Denver was a testament to the collaborative spirit and technical expertise that drives the internet forward. Attendees left the Mile High City with new knowledge, strengthened connections, and a renewed sense of purpose in building a more robust and secure internet for all.

This blog post provides only a snapshot of the key highlights and themes from NANOG 94. For more detailed information about the conference, including session recordings and presentations, please visit the official NANOG website or check out the NANOG channel on YouTube.