Epik Mellon - the QA Cafe Podcast

In this episode, I talk with long time friend and colleague Alexandre Martins of Automa Networks in São Paulo, Brazil, about the broadband knowledge gap, the complexity of this little box we call “Wi-Fi Router” and what operators can do to get out of their own way as bandwidth alone isn’t a place to grow.

In this episode, Randy Krull brings me up to speed on the state of television in a world of streaming and cable-cutting. We chat about local channels, licensing, fragmented user experiences, and the future of content distribution. 

In this episode, I sit down with Peter Mackenzie, a Wi-Fi training guru with MQ Training Services, about the excitement of wireless technology, the necessity of community, protocol analysis and magic. 

In our 50th episode, I chat with John Barlow from Consult.Red, who, like many of us, came into the industry because of where their passions took them. He’s started his own podcast called “Simply Connected” and we discuss our work on the smart home, smart CPE, and why our industry is so fun. 

Direct from the 2025 Hong Kong Broadband Forum meeting, Peter and I chat about the global impact of standards, how it relates to the open-source community and prpl Foundation, and how what makes networks go is the people and relationships behind them.

In this episode, I chat with Donovan Smith of Open Network Technical Solutions, who has 20 years of experience helping ISPs deliver successful service, especially Tier 2 and Tier 3 operators in the Caribbean. We talk about what users want, the power of the “quality of experience” view, and what operators can do to be successful. 

I was able to get the illustrious Dave Taht back on the show, where we talk about how things have changed for networking even in the last year, the importance of redundant systems, and the “perfect storm” required for technology advancement and adoption. Also recorded from his boat, as the first ever podcast recorded over Starlink. 

In this episode, I got to sit down with Marcel Sponder from Vodafone, who has been working directly on the new services operators offer subscribers, most notably Vodafone’s Secure Net. We chat about how cool it is to see one’s own work benefit millions of people, the things made possible by more powerful home gateways, and more. 

I was very excited for this episode! I got to chat with Chris LaPré from the CSA, one of the leaders behind the Matter protocol that is unifying the smart home. We talk about how he got into the business, how the smart home market has evolved, and what providers and end-users can expect to make this stuff actually work together.

In this first episode of 2025, you experience my FOMO of missing out on CES firsthand. Instead, I live vicariously through Ken Pyle, who got to experience the very broad spectrum of the latest technology at CES, from smart home to localized nuclear power plants.

A handful of people, maybe fewer, understand pcaps like Chris Greer. There are a handful that are responsible for making the Internet work through that understanding, too. In this episode, I chat with Chris about the state of packet-level analysis, how important it is to successful problem solving, and why anyone can - and should - start looking at pcaps.

At the Broadband Forum Fall 2024 meeting in San Diego, I got to sync up again with Paul Keator from DISH Networks, one of the people in the “room where it happened” when we decided to make the podcast. We chat about how the industry has changed and a bunch of best practices that operators of all sizes should consider when building out their networks for the future.

I finally got to chat with Dmitri Vellikok, VP of Embedded Security at F-Secure, who have found a sorely needed niche in providing network security solutions to the broadband and mobile consumer market through ISPs. We talk about the risks posed to consumers, what people are doing about it, and that all-important home gateway!

Back in the studio, Bob Carrick and I talk about the tradeshow circuit, the struggles and opportunities of tier 2/3 operators, and how most broadband users just need a great service experience at all levels.

In this episode, we were on the floor of Network X 2024 in Paris! I got to sit down with Peter Steinhaeuser, CEO at embeDD Gmbh, and Mika Lehtinen, Research Director at F-Secure, to talk about the history and future of the home gateway, the security threats that target them, and what companies and open-source communities are doing about it. 

In this episode I got to sit down with Michael Shaw of Axiros NA, a long time friend and one of the people I consider “most interesting people in the world,” on how everything you learn in life, from anywhere, will prepare you for a career in networking (and then some!)

Our first ever live stream episode from Durham, NH, at the UNH InterOperability Laboratory. Tim and I talk about the 20th anniversary of TR-069, why collaborating with other engineers matters, and what things look like for the future of the home network.

In this episode I set down with QA Cafe’s Tom Peterson, the working hands behind most of our network analysis solutions including CloudShark and Packet Viewer, about how network packets are how we learn how things work, how they solve problems (especially in cybersecurity), and what 20 years in technology looks like.