Kentik

<p>In today's episode of Network AF, Avi interviews Hank Kilmer, Vice President of IP Engineering at Cogent. The two discuss Hank's career running major internet backbones, how he got into networking in the late 80's, and his thoughts on mentorship in the networking community.</p>

Hank Kilmer joined Cogent in 2011 and serves as Vice President of IP Engineering. Prior to joining Cogent, Mr. Kilmer held positions with UUNET (now Verizon), Sprint, Digex/Intermedia and Metromedia Fiber Networks/Abovenet where he was Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations. Most recently, Mr. Kilmer was President of Terrapin Communications, Inc., a small consulting firm which focused on network consulting and technical strategy development for companies like GPX, Airband, and Switch and Data (now part of Equinix).

Hank Kilmer

Vice President of IP Engineering, Cogent

In today's episode of Network AF, Avi interviews Hank Kilmer, Vice President of IP Engineering at Cogent. 


Networks and interconnectivity with Hank Kilmer

In today's episode of Network AF, Avi interviews Hank Kilmer, Vice President of IP Engineering at Cogent. The two discuss Hank's career running major internet backbones, how he got into networking in the late 80's, and his thoughts on mentorship in the networking community.


Network AF Podcast

More From Avi

<p>Network AF is a journey of super-nerd proportions into the world of networking, cloud, and the internet. Avi Freedman, self-described internet plumber and podcast namesake, hosts top network engineering experts from around the world for in-depth, honest, and freewheeling banter on all-things-network — how-tos, best practices, biggest mistakes, war stories, hot takes, rants, and more.</p>

Network AF

Cogent Communications

Intro/Overview of Episode

Hanks background

How Hank entered Networking

Taking a special interest in interconnectivity

Mentorship and Communication

Learning by failure and breaking infrastructure

Cogent's infrastructure presence

Customer configurations and system behaviors

Building redundancies

The size of Cogent's networking teams

Cogent's design predictability and consistency

The evolution of Cogent's backbone

Interacting, listening, and getting consensus

How to bring people into the networking community

The hobbyist era and tribal knowledge

Advice to younger self