Stuff like this probably isn't the most common, but I'd love to start digging around topics like storage, networking, security, etc. enough to understand why the work of the startups in the space is important.<p>Are there any recommended readings, sites, books, communities that are recommended?
It's not really clear what you're looking for. I mean the scale at which a startup will be working will be more technical than what a lay person will usually be exposed to. See Perlis's Epigram 48.<p>'Real time' discussion of the topics you mention is occurring in various StackExchange sites and artifacts are being produced on Github and similar repositories because most of what is happening in those spaces is happening as open source. And most of it is based on things that have been happening in open source since the days of 386BSD or so.<p>Now if you really want a visceral understanding of what a startup might be able to sell, buy four Raspberry Pi's and a switch and a book on Linux and try to make it do something interesting that uses all four nodes of the mini network. You'll find, that like a Facebook relationship, it can be complicated and like a real relationship it's a multi-year project.<p>Good luck.