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Dijkstra’s algorithm won’t be replaced in production routers any time soon
Systems Approach Researchers have found a new approach to finding shortest paths, but it's complex
Networks10 Feb 2026 | 40
Systems Approach
Systems Approach is a monthly syndicated column by computer networking experts Bruce Davie and Larry Peterson. They cover a range of topics from IT network resiliency to setting up small-cell 5G networks.
TLS 1.3 includes welcome improvements, but still allows long-lived secrets
Systems Approach Tricky tradeoffs are hard to avoid when designing systems, but the choice not to use LLMs for some tasks is clear
Networks04 Dec 2025 | 1
Networking students need an explanation of the internet that can fit in their heads
Systems Approach Networks have changed profoundly, except for the parts that haven’t
Networks13 Nov 2025 | 54
BGP’s security problems are notorious. Attempts to fix that are a work in progress
Systems Approach Securing internet infrastructure remains a challenging endeavour
Networks27 Aug 2025 | 15
DNS security is important but DNSSEC may be a failed experiment
Systems Approach Nobody thinks of running a website without HTTPs. Safer DNS still seems optional
Networks25 Jul 2025 | 46
To progress as an engineer career-wise, become a great communicator
Systems Approach It'll even help you develop technical skills
CxO18 May 2025 | 35
BROADER TOPICS
What does it mean to build in security from the ground up?
Systems Approach As if secure design is the only bullet point in a list of software engineering best practices
CSO02 Feb 2025 | 12
Contrary to some, traceroute is very real – I should know, I helped make it work
Systems Approach Gather around the fire for another retelling of computer networking history
Networks14 Dec 2024 | 76
Will passkeys ever replace passwords? Can they?
Systems Approach Here's why they really should
Security17 Nov 2024 | 122
Um, what ever did happen with network automation?
Systems Approach Is it lingering somewhere between fusion power and self-driving cars?
Networks17 Jun 2024 | 10
Forget the AI doom and hype, let's make computers useful
Systems Approach Machine learning has its place, just not in ways that suits today's hypesters
Software25 Apr 2024 | 60
Security is hard because it has to be right all the time? Yeah, like everything else
Systems Approach It takes only one bottleneck or single point of failure to ruin your week
CSO25 Feb 2024 | 28
How not to write about network security – and I'm speaking from experience
Systems Approach At least it's no longer an afterthought
Networks01 Feb 2024 | 20
NAT, ATM, decentralized search – and other outrageous opinions from the 1990s
Systems Approach The predictions that turned out correct ... and the ones we wished were right
Networks29 Dec 2023 | 58
Open source work makes me appreciate software testing. It's not an academic exercise
Systems Approach Literally...
Devops07 Nov 2023 | 18
How TCP's congestion control saved the internet
Systems Approach We guess it's OK it did
Networks24 Sep 2023 | 49
Why securing East-West network traffic is so important – and how it can be done
Systems Approach You don't want to hand your datacenter over to an intruder quite so easily
Networks16 Aug 2023 | 15
It's time to mark six decades of computer networking
Systems Approach As we yearn for a return to a truly decentralized internet
Networks28 Jun 2023 | 91
Building your own private 5G is as easy as Wi-Fi
Systems Approach YMMV. Hold onto your hats, we're diving into network technicals today
Networks25 Apr 2023 | 24
With Mastodon, decentralization strikes back
Systems Approach ActivityPub isn't just what we've been doing over the Christmas break
Software01 Jan 2023 | 64
If you need a TCP replacement, you won't find a QUIC one
Systems Approach But we can say what this upcoming protocol is good for
Networks07 Oct 2022 | 19
The internet's edge routers are all so different. What if we unified them with software?
Systems Approach Wouldn't it be nice to have the features you want, rather than accept whatever's bundled by suppliers
Networks26 Aug 2022 | 33
You're not wrong. The scope for quantum computers remains small
Systems Approach Perhaps a QC can help us work out why we'd want a QC
Science21 Jul 2022 | 15
Zero Trust: What does it actually mean – and why would you want it?
Systems Approach 'Narrow and specific access rights after authentication' wasn't catchy enough
Networks30 Jun 2022 | 10
How to explain what an API is – and why they matter
Systems Approach Some of us have used them for decades, some are seeing them for the first time on marketing slides
Devops25 May 2022 | 21
Remember the hype for NFV? Whatever happened with that?
Systems Approach A technical deep-dive with a networking guru who was there
Networks04 May 2022 | 3
The time we came up with a solution – and found a big customer problem
Systems Approach A fascinating firsthand retelling of the technical history of MPLS
Networks02 Mar 2022 | 6
You should read Section 8 of the Unix User's Manual
Systems Approach And see the importance of open and accessible operations
Devops09 Feb 2022 | 80
What is Magma? An open-source project for building mobile networks
Systems Approach Amar and Bruce explain how cloud native principles can be applied to wireless connectivity
Networks28 Dec 2021 | 6
SmartNICs, IPUs, DPUs de-hyped: Why and how cloud giants are offloading work from server CPUs
Systems Approach Where this technology grew from, and what it offers you
Networks24 Nov 2021 | 7
Everything you wanted to know about modern network congestion control but were perhaps too afraid to ask
Systems Approach In which a little unfairness can be quite beneficial
Networks27 Oct 2021 | 6
Here's an idea: Verification for computer networks as well as chips and code
Systems Approach What tools are available? What are the benefits? Let's find out
Networks23 Sep 2021 | 8
It's time to decentralize the internet, again: What was distributed is now centralized by Google, Facebook, etc
Systems Approach The idea was to remove central points of failure, not introduce them
Networks11 Aug 2021 | 69
What is GitOps? This is the technical introduction you've been looking for
Systems Approach If you need to get your head around the concept of configuration-as-code, start here
Devops13 Jul 2021 | 30
What’s the big deal with service meshes? Think of them as SDN at Layer 7
Systems Approach A technical yet demystifying dive into networking tech you can’t avoid
Networks25 Jun 2021 | 2
Security is an architectural issue: Why the principles of zero trust and least privilege matter so much right now
Systems Approach We need to solve underlying problems, not increase complexity with point fixes
Networks27 May 2021 | 17
Biting the hand that feeds IT
