The author, Erlend Bjørnson Barkbu, is a senior network and security architect with long experience designing, operating, and evolving large-scale enterprise and service-provider environments.
With a background spanning traditional networking, data center architectures, cloud platforms, and Zero Trust security models, the author works at the intersection of technology, organization, and risk. Much of the professional work involves translating complex technical realities into concepts that decision-makers can understand and act on.
The motivation for writing comes from a recurring observation: most technology problems are not caused by lack of skill or tools, but by unclear mental models. Systems fail, not because they are badly built, but because they are misunderstood.
This blog is an attempt to document those models, challenge outdated narratives, and offer clearer ways of thinking about networks as living, evolving systems rather than static infrastructure.