# Emulating Oxide: How Faux Can You Go?

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2026-09-11
- Length: 1h 24m
- Episode: 19
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/4810d351

## Summary

Steve Karam, Andrew Stone, and Rain Paharia from Oxide Computer Company explain how their emulation environment, VOXEL, accelerates the development of rack-scale hardware and multi-rack software. They detail the use of SoftNPU to emulate Tofino switches and an emulated Service Processor (SP-EMU) to run stock Hubris firmware, allowing them to test complex scenarios like Trust Quorum and system updates without physical hardware. The team highlights how this high-fidelity virtualization, combined with a new commissioning API, has unblocked critical engineering work and enabled rapid iteration on their Helios host infrastructure.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=0) Introduction: Steve Karam, Andrew Stone, and Rain Paharia at Oxide
- [5:16](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=316) The Origin of VOXEL and the Problem with Physical Racklets
- [13:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=799) VOXEL Architecture: Rust, Snapshots, and SP-EMU
- [29:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=1753) Multi-Rack Networking: SoftNPU, DDM, and Virtual Cabling
- [47:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=2860) The Commissioning API and Progenitor Integration
- [57:45](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=3465) Using LLMs to Build and Debug Emulators
- [1:16:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go#t=4604) Product Assurance and the Value of VOXEL for Engineering

## Topics

- [Embedded firmware](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/embedded-firmware)
- [Wireless & RF](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/wireless-and-rf)
- [Debugging & failure analysis](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/debugging-and-failure-analysis)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- VOXEL (product)
- SoftNPU (product)
- Tofino (chip)
- Gimlet (product)
- Sidecar (product)
- Hubris (product)
- Helios (product)
- Falcon (product)
- Omicron (product)
- Propolis (product)
- Wicket (product)
- Dendrite (product)
- Maghemite (product)
- Crucible (product)
- Nexus (product)
- SLED agent (product)
- Trust Quorum (product)
- DDM (product)
- BGP (product)
- P4 (product)
- STM32 (chip)
- Claude (tool)
- LLM (tool)
- Rust (tool)
- Dropshot (tool)
- Progenitor (tool)
- Illumos (other)
- Solaris (other)
- Intel (company)
- Barefoot (company)
- Oracle (company)
- GitHub (company)
- Amazon (company)
- Red Sox (company)
- Jays (company)
- Ken Burns (other)
- John Boy (other)
- Kevin (other)
- Paulina (other)
- Eric Austin (other)
- Ryan Goodfellow (other)
- Robert (other)
- Ben Stoltz (other)
- Eliza (other)
- Trey (other)
- Garrett Gayoros (other)
- Gergely Orosz (other)
- Cliff Biffle (other)
- Andrew Stone (other)
- Rain Paharia (other)
- Steve Karam (other)
- Bryan Cantrill (other)
- Adam Leventhal (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Simulating Embedded Hardware with Michael Gielda](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2020-11-30-simulating-embedded-hardware-with-michael-gielda) (The Amp Hour)
- [342: That Girl's Brain](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2020-08-27-342-that-girls-brain) (Embedded.fm)
- [#021: Hardware at Software Speed: How BootLoop Is Bringing AI to the Bench for Firmware Teams](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/coredump-sessions/2026-03-25-021-hardware-at-software-speed-how-bootloop-is-bringing-ai-to-the-bench-for-firm) (Coredump Sessions)
- [266: Drive off the End of the Universe](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2018-11-01-266-drive-off-the-end-of-the-universe) (Embedded.fm)
- [433: Getting Mad About Capes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2022-11-03-433-getting-mad-about-capes) (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/2026-09-11-emulating-oxide-how-faux-can-you-go. 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.