Next in Tech

So many of our perspectives on technology are driven by end user studies and numbers can be informative, but there can be much more to the story. The in-depth interviews that are part of much of the study work we do can offer nuance and Amy Hedrick, who manages this process, discusses the insights with host Eric Hanselman. The real world thoughts on current technology and its transitions can aid planning and decision making. Join the 451 Alliance for more:  https://www.451alliance.com/

While the surge of interest in the last few months around generative AI might make this all seem new, we’ve been tracking attitudes about AI for a number of years and see interesting transitions in thoughts and perceptions of respondents. Sheryl Kingstone and Alex Johnston return to the podcast to explore trends in attitudes about AI with host Eric Hanselman. Strong generational differences exist in sentiment and a surprising uptick in the number of people using it and the frequency of use.

Generative AI is creating many challenges in the infrastructure that supports it. Nick Patience and Dan Thompson return to discuss these impacts and what they’ll be talking about at the Hosting and Cloud Transformation Summit with host Eric Hanselman. Significant increases in power demand are creating a “Virginia Paradox” with local grid impacts. The shift from training to massive amounts of inference could only exacerbate things. Join us at HCTS to hear more! https://www.spglobal.com/hctsny

For over 15 years, the Hosting and Cloud Transformation Summit has been a forum for sorting out the complexities of digital infrastructure and this year it’s back in person and in New York City on October 10th. Brian Partridge and Kelly Morgan join host Eric Hanselman to talk about the latest in edge computing and M&A activity in the datacenter world. Both areas are undergoing tremendous change and you can find out more about HCTS here: https://spglobal.com/hctsny

Managing complex application environments successfully requires not only insights into both application behavior and the infrastructure that’s supporting them but also the ability to correlate all of that data. Analyst Mike Fratto returns to the podcast to explore observability, an approach to effectively managing new application patterns that steps beyond traditional methods. From the cloud native world, it’s gaining wider traction and simplifying operations with observability pipelines.

The last month has seen larger players in digital infrastructure make the case for their views on how it should be built and what’s needed to embrace generative AI. Jean Atelsek, Melanie Posey and Henry Baltazar return to the podcast to look at what was pitched at VMware Explore, Google Cloud Next and other recent industry events. Access to data is a key decision point, but many are still wrestling with cloud operating models. Fundamental questions on managing compliance concerns loom large.

The explosion of interest in generative AI is impacting many things, including datacenters, with some identifying a new beast in the AI datacenter. Analyst Dan Thompson returns to sort out what’s real and what’s “AI washing”. There are increasing demands being placed by AI and power densities in datacenters have already been increasing. More efficient design, liquid cooling and better air handling may hold off the need for magic sauce to meet AI’s needs today, but the future is uncharted.

The last few quarters of the merger and acquisition markets have not been great, but the few green shoots of spring have turned into a blossom or two. The winds are blowing both hot and cold and analyst Melissa Incera returns to explore what these lumpy conditions are creating with host Eric Hanselman. Emerging markets, such as private 5G are getting active, strategic acquirers are getting their pencils out, but private equity is still wrestling with the realities of higher interest rates.

As the idea of cloud moves into its third decade, do we still need to be thinking about cloud as a special concept in technology infrastructure? On the one hand, cloud technologies have become better understood and might even be considered boring, but it’s also the place where the latest technologies are available on demand. Research director Melanie Posey returns to the podcast to sort out how we should be thinking about what has become a reasonably mature resource with host Eric Hanselman.

In one of the faster swings of the technology pendulum, semiconductors are back in a very bright spotlight. John Abbott returns to discuss the phoenix-like rise of high-performance silicon devices, like GPUs, with host Eric Hanselman. New architectures aim at challenges presented by generative AI and large language models (LLM). Performant access to larger volumes of data is pushing levels of integration and chipset approaches. The ecosystems to support them are ever more critical.