I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 62, we continue our conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We get into smart NICs and future growth affecting optics.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 62. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (4/5)

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that AI has been steadily changing the world, but did you know that optics is a key part of its hardware infrastructure? To explain it, fortunately we have a seasoned product manager who knows both the switching side and the optics side. Lucky for us, he sits next to me at the office and agreed to chat about it.

In Episode 63, we conclude our conversation with Paymon Mogharabi, Senior Product Manager at Cisco’s Optics team, also known as the Transceiver Modules Group. We continue with the constraints to consider when designing AI cluster racks and optics choices for them.

Paymon Mogharabi is a networking industry and Cisco veteran of nearly three decades with Electrical Engineering degrees from UC Irvine and USC. After starting at Cisco as a Technical Assistance Center engineer, he became a Technical marketing Engineer for Cisco's Catalyst switches. He then took product management positions for Cisco's Edge Services Router, Nexus data center switches, and UCS server products. He is now a Senior Product Manager in Cisco's Transceiver Modules Group and has sat next to me for the past 7 years, focusing on data center applications.

Related links
Cisco Optics-to-Device Compatibility Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/ 
Cisco Optics-to-Optics Interoperability Matrix: https://tmgmatrix.cisco.com/iop 
Cisco Optics Product Information: https://copi.cisco.com/ 

Additional resources
Cisco Optics Podcast: https://optics.podcastpage.io/ 
Blog: https://blogs.cisco.com/tag/ciscoopticsblog 
Cisco Optics YouTube playlist: http://cs.co/9008BlQen 
Cisco Optics landing page: cisco.com/go/optics 

Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team | https://www.free-stock-music.com/artist.fsm-team.html
Upbeat by Mixaund | https://mixaund.bandcamp.com


Cisco Optics Podcast Ep 63. Why some optics are good for AI and some aren’t (5/5)

Kat flexes her security knowledge. Ian digs in on some issues facing SMBs today, and a state of the union for security as it stands. Also...we share how many of our passwords are compromised, and apparently Kat has been breached before. Not good! 

Learn more about Cisco's solutions for SMBs: www.cisco.com/c/en_uk/solutions/…mall-business.html

404 Script Not Found: Cybersecurity

AI, brought to you by two people who use too much ChatGPT (but not on our work computers). Ian and Kat dig into if AI is making us dumb, how it can be implemented for businesses and where we think it is going, all while trying to not get too doom and gloom. 

"AI isn't going to replace people, but people who use AI are going to replace people who don't"

Learn more about Cisco's solutions for SMBs: www.cisco.com/c/en_uk/solutions/…mall-business.html

404 Script Not Found: AI?

We start with a recap of Ian's trip to Japan (spoiler: it was awesome). 

We then get to discussing Webex backgrounds with some very serious opinions - are you a virtual background person?

We wrap up by identifying ways to create balance at work, especially at a company that is heavy on meetings. Also, we definitely don't want to return-to-office, but we do want to see people in person (trust us, this makes sense). All in all, a great, somewhat off the rails episode! 

Learn more about Cisco's solutions for SMBs: www.cisco.com/c/en_uk/solutions/…mall-business.html


404 Script Not Found: Working in Tech

Full disclosure: Ian sounds like he is underwater (but is just stuffed up). Not all heroes wear capes.

We jump in by discussing how AI is changing the eComm game. Then discuss the need for making eComm in the channel more prevalent and easier, utilizing what we see in B2C. 

We wrap up with Kat's questionable relationship with sales (and tee up a future episode). Another (mildly) educational, but very fun episode! 

404 Script Not Found: eComm

In this episode, we receive Regis Baudin, Technical Leader for the CXLabs department in Europe. He is responsible for the operations of the biggest lab of the continent (Cisco has bigger labs in the US and Bangalore) and explains to us what are the challenges of hosting a gigantic lab where hundreds or thousands of engineers come to reproduce customer issues.

Cisco Tech Stories - ep22 - Breaking (CX) Lab

Kat is back from her wedding, and everyone is circling back with her, which begs the question: do you reply to sales reps who slide into your LinkedIn DMs? What about cold emails?

Ian shares a tip to help filter out spam on LinkedIn, and maybe even make your profile more memorable. 

We then try to figure out how spam filters work before coming up with some solutions of our own...sorry if you are in purgatory! 

If you want to learn more about Cisco's solutions for SMBs like email security: www.cisco.com/c/en_uk/solutions/…mall-business.html



404 Script Not Found: Gaslighting LinkedIn

Kat is an Oura Ring snob, and thinks Apple Watches are "trash," while Ian is #TeamAppleWatch.

We then get into voice memos and how many texts the average person we get each day (turns out Ian needs more friends)! 

We wrap up talking VR goggles and glasses, and how we think it may be a bridge too far, even if the Webex roadmap has a lot of cool stuff in it like holograms! 

If you want to learn more about Cisco's solutions for SMBs like email security: www.cisco.com/c/en_uk/solutions/…mall-business.html

404 Script Not Found: Wearable Tech

We're handing out tariffs, but not the kind you think! This episode is all about things we don't like at work, and thus wish we could tariff. From wearing many hats to meetings after hours, we run the gamut of everything that irks us at work. Follow along at home, and let us know what you would tariff! 

This episode does NOT contain political views, stances or commentary on the actual tariffs (we promise).

If you came to listen to this episode to learn something about Cisco's solutions for small and medium businesses (which we really did not cover in this one), you should check them out here: https://www.cisco.com/site/us/en/solutions/small-business/index.html#tabs-a107e9a621-item-6caff3e5bb-tab

404 Script Not Found: That's a Tariff

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