# Potpourri: Product, Platform, Paravirtualization

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2022-09-06
- Length: 1h 49m
- Episode: 26
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/1ba5b018

## Summary

Brian, Adam, Josh, Rick, and other Oxide Computer Company founders discuss the architectural decisions behind building a rack-scale computer from the board up, including the choice to integrate a custom P4-based switch and use a cable backplane to avoid the pitfalls of commodity networking. They recount technical challenges such as the NCSI protocol's security flaws, the decision to abandon the Tock OS in favor of Hubris, and the complexities of managing distributed block storage and live VM migration. The conversation also covers their approach to open source, specifically the values mismatch with OpenTitan, and the product management philosophy of solving acute pain points before building tooling.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization#t=0) Introduction and Book Discussions
- [6:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization#t=418) Joyent's Acquisition Talks with RIM
- [27:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization#t=1668) Network Storage and VM Abstraction
- [1:03:36](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization#t=3816) Open Source Strategy: Tock and OpenTitan
- [1:18:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization#t=4730) Architectural Challenges: NCSI and Switch Integration
- [1:35:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization#t=5750) Product Management and Future Roadmap

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Sourcing & supply chain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sourcing-and-supply-chain)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)
- [Open-source hardware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/open-source-hardware)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Oxide Computer Company (company)
- Joyent (company)
- RIM (company)
- Amazon EBS (product)
- Tock (other)
- Hubris (other)
- OpenTitan (product)
- P4 (chip)
- Quanta (company)
- Ceph (product)
- OpenStack (product)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [342: That Girl's Brain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-08-27-342-that-girls-brain) (Embedded.fm)
- [Finding Hardware Flaws with Laura Abbott](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2022-05-23-finding-hardware-flaws-with-laura-abbott) (The Amp Hour)
- [Open Source Projects Overview: Laptop and Raspberry Pi CM4 Module](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/ontrack/2024-05-29-open-source-projects-overview-laptop-and-raspberry-pi-cm4-module) (OnTrack)
- [An Interview with Rick Altherr](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2017-08-29-an-interview-with-rick-altherr) (The Amp Hour)
- [479: Make Your Voice Heard](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2024-06-13-479-make-your-voice-heard) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2022-09-06-potpourri-product-platform-paravirtualization. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.