As discussed in Episode #8, one of the biggest problems companies are facing today is the IT staffing shortage. Many rely on IT more and more to run their business, but there just aren’t enough IT professionals to fill the jobs.  The rush to the public cloud eliminated the jobs of a lot of talented IT administrators and managers.  Those people had the institutional knowledge that literally kept the lights on for their organizations on a day-to-day basis. Moving to the cloud didn’t eliminate the need for top talent, it actually exacerbated it.  Now IT professionals need to manage different things that are somewhat new to them and not entirely in their control.  More things to manage with less people to manage them eventually leads to employee burnout. Key employees working just about every night and weekend has led to a mass employee resignation. It’s not sustainable and it represents a growing crisis in the industry. In this episode, Host Paul O’Dell and CPP Director of Professional Services Mike Maher discuss how you can leverage IT managed services to truly provide the 24/7 high end technical experience your business requires without the employee burn out. They finish the episode with a review of the newly released prequel to the hit TV series, The Sopranos, “The Many Saints of Newark,” as only New Jersey natives can do.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

■          Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP Associates
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/

There is probably no bigger topic in the industry today then the impact ransomware and similar disasters are having on companies today.  In addition to attacks becoming more frequent and more sophisticated, ransomware attacks have also been spurred on by the mostly untraceable crypto currencies the cyber criminals are using to get paid. Unfortunately, the general consensus is that every company is vulnerable to attack. Ultimately, it only takes one mistake by a human, one click, one open email that snuck through, one USB stick left at a Starbucks, to break through and wreak havoc.  So, the question has moved beyond, “How do I avoid being attacked?” to “How quickly and effectively can I recover?”   Host Paul O’Dell, CPP Director of Professional Services, Mike Maher, and Eric Dougherty, SR Technical Partner Manager for Veeam, discuss the critical importance of Disaster Recovery, regardless of where your workloads reside.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

■          Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP Associates
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/

■         Eric Dougherty, SR Technical Partner Manager, Veeam
              LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edougherty/

Local businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

Eric – Station Taproom, Downingtown, PA (https://stationtaproom.com/ )

Mike – Mole Mole (Hooker Avenue), Poughkeepsie, NY (https://www.facebook.com/MolePoughkeepsie/ )

Paul – Sushi Lounge, Hoboken, NJ, (https://sushiloungenj.com )

If you are in and around the technology sector, you hear about two things every day.   Another technology hack and a shortage in IT staff. The third thing you hear about is another tool to help you solve problems, which leads to what we call “tool sprawl.” You have never-ending security threats which are the result of unmanaged infrastructure because of lack of staff and more tools than people in a lot of companies. The end result is a mess and a bad one. 

Today’s discussion will be centered around a way to get started to bring some normalcy to the IT Security/Operations (SecOps) issue.  We’ll introduce you to Tanium, which is a “Swiss Army Knife” that can end tool sprawl and allow you to regain control. Tanium calls it the power of certainty. 

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

•  Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP Associates
  • LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/
• Mr. Ashley McGlone – Technology Strategist, Tanium
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleymcglone/

Local businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

Ashley – Pizzaroni’s Pizza, Etna, OH  (https://pizzaronispizza.com/)

Mike – Thai Spice, Poughkeepsie, NY (http://thaispiceny.com/)

Paul – Fiori’s Deli (House of Quality), Hoboken, NJ, (https://foursquare.com/v/fiores-house-of-quality/4a1098a2f964a520e3761fe3)

Cloud technologies are becoming increasingly popular… and increasingly confusing as well. It’s hard to know the right move for your organization with the industry’s rate of change and advancement.  In this episode, host Paul O’Dell will cover all things hybrid cloud – public cloud, private cloud, Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, containerization of applications – and discuss the best way to know what is “cloud appropriate, right now,” and what should remain on premises (or in a hybrid cloud environment) based on your company’s unique needs. At CPP, it’s “Company First, not Cloud First.”

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

■          Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP Associates
             LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/

■          Rob Goldfinger, CPP Cloud Practice Lead
             LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-goldfinger/

 
Local businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

Rob - Kickys Restaurant, Aberdeen, NJ   

Mike - Adams Fairacre Farms, http://www.adamsfarms.com/ 

Paul - Urban CoalHouse Pizza and Bar, http://www.urbancoalhouse.com/

With so many options available today – on prem, cloud, hybrid, consumption-based – it’s hard to know where and how your workloads should reside. The expression, “Cloud First” is repeated over and over. But as host Paul O’Dell explains, CPP believes in “Customer First.” In other words, let’s first ask what are you looking to get from this cloud first vision? Scale, flexibility, performance, access, better security etc.? What are your requirements when it comes to industry compliance? What is your preferred cost model? In this episode, we’ll discuss how to achieve a true apples-to-apples comparison of all the options available, focusing specifically on mission-critical applications.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

• Roan Low, Senior Architect with Syntax. Leader in hybrid delivery of ERP applications like SAP, Oracle and JD Edwards. 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-balcar-805248a/
  • Website: https://www.vmware.com/
• Tom Jensen, Senior Consultant and Practice Leader of Infrastructure Anywhere Practice 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomgjensen/

Local Businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

Van's Frozen Custard & Burgers, East Dundee, IL (Roan Low)

Friends & Company, Madison, CT (Tom Jensen)

Rice Shop, Hoboken, NJ (Paul O’Dell)

Just as we were starting to wrap our heads around the size and scope of the SolarWinds attack from 2020, the Colonial Pipeline cyber-terror breach steps in to give us yet another wake-up call. This time, almost half of the entire U.S. Eastern Coast was impacted, as fuel supplies were halted for more than a week while the pipeline operator was negotiating ransomware with the cyber-criminals.  In this episode, host Paul O’Dell and CPP Director of Professional Services, Mike Maher, break down the attack itself, as well as the aftermath. From there, they outline specific measures that every company should take to secure their infrastructure and the valuable assets – customer data, trade secrets, financial accounts, etc. --- contained therein.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

■          Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP Associates
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/

Local Businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests

Samuel Sweets, Rhinebeck, New York (Mike)

Quality Greens Kitchen, Hoboken, New York (Paul)

The “d” in dHCI stands for “disaggregated” but it could just as easily stand for “disruptive” because it is truly a game changer. How does dHCI differ from standard hyperconverged architectures? In this episode, host Paul O’Dell and CPP Director of Professional Services Mike Maher, do a deep dive in the hyper-converged infrastructure space, comparing and contrasting HCI and dHCI solutions from HPE (SimpliVity), Nutanix and VMware (vSan). It’s an unbiased, insider’s perspective that will provide great listening value to any organization looking to do more with less when it comes to their IT stack.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

■          Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP Associates
LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/

 Local businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

LePetit Bistro, Rhinebeck, New York (Mike)

Quality Greens Kitchen, Hoboken, New York (Paul)

On December 6, 2020, a massive security breach was discovered by SolarWinds, a software company whose Orion application is used by 33,000 organizations nationwide (including federal agencies) to manage their IT operations. This “supply chain” attack went undetected for more than nine months. Once discovered, it was revealed that the breach went as far as the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Treasury, in addition to more than 18,000 commercial companies.  Industry experts are continuing to assess how wide and deep the impact of this attack was, and what can be done to guard against future attacks of this kind.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

• David Balcar, Security Strategist for VMware 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-balcar-805248a/
  • Website: https://www.vmware.com/
• Dylan O’Connell, Solution Architect, Hewlett Packard Enterprise 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylan-o-connell-20929989/
  • Website: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/home.html
• Steve Scarola, Security Practice Lead at CPP Associates 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-scarola-53380613/

Local Businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

Shanes Texas Pit, Hampton, NH (David)

Swadist Indian Restaurant, Jersey City, NJ (Dillon)

Tabor Pizzeria, Morris Plains, NJ (Steve)

Alessio's, Hoboken, NJ (Paul)

In this episode, we hear from David Aldorando, Director of IT infrastructure for Post University, a Connecticut-based university providing quality education to more than 10,000 onsite and online students a year. In March of 2020, Post had to quickly respond to government mandated shutdowns without compromising students’ ability to complete their semester. With the help of CPP Associates, the university was well positioned to provide consistent and secure connectivity and support for their student body and faculty, while lending their physical facilities to house first line responders who were brought in from other states.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

■ David Aldorando, Director of IT Infrastructure, Post UniversityWebsite:  https://post.edu/

■ Mike Maher, Director of Professional Services, CPP AssociatesLinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmaherny/

Local Businesses that received a “shout out” from today’s guests:

Sushi House, Poughkeepsie, NY (Mike)

Dunya's International Market, Waterbury, CT & Maggie McFly's, Middlebury, CT (David)

Onieals, Hoboken, NJ (Paul O’Dell)

As the post-COVID world starts to come into focus, businesses must start thinking about how they can enable a smart approach to back to work and also be sure that whatever decisions are made now are not lost costs once the coronavirus is in the rearview mirror.  There are a myriad of challenges both macro and micro.   What are the strategies companies are deploying and what are the tactics enabling them?   This episode features Matias Klein, CEO of Kognition, a developer of a game-changing cyber/physical enterprise AI platform that automates security, compliance, workplace safety and other high-value business operations.

Host:  Paul O’Dell, Partner, CPP Associates

Special Guests:

• Matias Klein, CEO of Kognition 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matiasklein/
  • Website: https://kognition.ai
• John Duffy, Chief Technologist of CPP’s AI and Business Intelligence Practice Called Data Intelligence 
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-duffy-1168621/