Over The Edge

How will we feed the growing population while making agriculture more sustainable? 

In this episode, Bill sits down with Vikram Adve, to discuss. Vikram is an Illinois Grainger Engineering professor in the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and Director of the AIFARMS National AI Institute for Agriculture.

Vikram highlights the growing importance of digital agriculture, and how data and technology will play crucial roles in addressing global food production challenges, sustainability, and climate resilience. He also discusses AI's pivotal role and offers insights into optimizing machine learning at the edge.
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“The sustainability and the environmental constraints that we have to impose to increase productivity is a very, very difficult set of challenges. And so technology is becoming increasingly important in order to meet those challenges."

“All of these technologies are becoming important because agriculture faces some major challenges worldwide. Probably the biggest and simplest one to understand is that we have to increase food production over the next 25 to 30 years by as much as probably 60 percent.”

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Timestamps: 
(01:30) How Vikram got started in tech 

(03:37) Defining digital agriculture 

(07:14) How does AI impact sustainability?

(19:51) Optimizing machine learning in agriculture 

(31:30) Near data processing 

(37:34) The future of data processing at the edge 

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Edge Solutions | Dell Technologies

What’s the real state of AI adoption, and how can edge computing play a crucial role in driving innovation? In this episode, Bill is joined by Nick Brackney, Senior Consultant of Generative AI Messaging at Dell. Nick has 20 years of experience across a variety of technology domains, spanning startups, tech giants and consulting work. The two discuss the true state of AI adoption and how inferencing and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) will unlock new business opportunities at the edge.

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“I think AI is going to be synonymous with edge at some point, right? It's going to be that the only applications out there are AI-enabled applications.”

“Especially for the folks here who like the edge, RAG is the only way to do real-time, because fine-tuning, there's always going to be this delay. If I want to take my data from the edge, and I want to retrain my machine, that's going to take cycles, hours of GPU time to do. But if I want to just side load it into the generative AI using RAG, that could be instantaneous.”

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Timestamps: 
(01:10) How Nick got started in tech 

(04:09) What is the state of AI adoption?

(09:48) Understanding Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)

(14:11) Generative AI at the edge

(23:57) Achieving results with custom models

(24:41) Applications and benefits of synthetic data

(32:44) Advancements in chip development

(38:20) AI, PCs, and the tech refresh cycle

(40:07) Data sovereignty and edge AI

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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How will AI at the edge reshape how we interact with our devices? In this episode, Bill sits down with Nicole Reineke, Distinguished Product Manager - AI Strategy at N-able to dive into the future of AI, discussing distributed AI, the shifting interaction paradigm and the future of large action models. Nicole argues that this is the most exciting time in edge device management in her career, diving into how AI can revolutionize device management, drive creativity, and spark business innovation.

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“This is seriously the most exciting time in edge device management that I've ever witnessed. And I've been in edge device management for three decades.”

“You have this offline capability that understands and can control all of your device behavior and can understand your intent or your natural language request. And it's going to completely change the paradigm of how our devices operate. It's going to change how we interact with them.  It's going to be huge and it's going to be fast.”

“Large action models… can be seen as an extension of a language model. It's the ability to take a set of inputs and use those inputs to create a trigger and that trigger can perform an action against something.”

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Timestamps: 
(01:40) How Nicole got started in tech 

(06:27) Edge devices and the shifting interaction paradigm

(18:03) Distributed AI and its implications 

(23:29) Role of humans in AI and automation

(27:12) Choosing the right AI model for your data

(34:40) What's the next great skill in AI? 

(38:10) Ways to stay ahead

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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What is the future of private wireless and what role will the edge play? In this conversation, Bill sits down with David de Lancellotti, Executive Vice President - Global Head of Enterprise Campus Edge Business at Nokia to discuss private wireless in depth. The two dive into different use cases, across stadiums and manufacturing, and discuss when private wireless could be preferable to 4G, 5G or WiFi. 

“There's a lot of customers that need privatization…. I don't think commodity is such a bad word  in the sense that at some point, I really see it coming, where, whether it's a brownfield or a greenfield application that you're building for, a port, mine, stadium, what have you, that private network is just like one of the boxes you check.”

“More than one utility in California had to literally shut off the grid. They had to turn people down to make sure that these wires that would, because of wind, knock a wire down and start a fire.  So what if that wire broke? And what if, by the time it hit the ground, it knew to turn itself off?”

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Timestamps: 

01:05 How David got started in tech

02:03 Defining Campus Edge and understanding private wireless

07:44 Worker safety and applications

14:41 The challenges of global projects 

16:26 Private 4G/5G vs. Public Networks

26:40 Private wireless in stadiums

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Edge Solutions | Dell Technologies

AI is revolutionizing building energy management. In this episode, Bill sits down with Jean-Simon Venne, Co-Founder and CTO at BrainBox AI at BrainBox AI about their cutting-edge AI solutions for energy efficiency. They dive into current AI challenges, the critical need for defining AI's purpose, and the impact of predictive and preemptive control. Additionally, they discuss how to balance AI power consumption with efficiency gains.

Key Quotes:

“The bottleneck is now on your capacity to find the right mix of technology to assemble a new solution.”

"You could very rapidly deploy AI in thousands and thousands of buildings, without any bottleneck, and get the first layer of 20, 25 percent energy reduction.”

“I think where the future is going in terms of optimizing is not only the building at the building level but optimizing the behavior of the building. So the grid could be optimized.”

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Timestamps: 
(01:48) Jean-Simon's career journey

(04:22) Current bottlenecks in AI

(07:07) Bias in AI models

(13:22) Understanding the complexities of building operations

(20:44) Factors influencing AI predictions

(25:20) Energy consumption in buildings

(28:12) Clustering buildings for grid optimization

(35:00) Developing specialized LLMs for building management

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Edge Solutions | Dell Technologies

5G technology is revolutionizing enterprise computing by enhancing data movement and connectivity. In this episode, Bill sits down with Jim Brisimitzis, Founder and General Partner at 5G Open Innovation Lab, to explore his career from Nortel to Microsoft and the transformative potential of 5G technology. Jim discusses the evolution of private 5G networks, enterprise use cases, and the critical role of connectivity in driving innovation.

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 “My belief is this moment of AI, the evolution of 5G, the emergence of private networks, and edge as opportunities is truly a transformation point for the industry.”

“The network is evolutionary, but the use cases on the backend of those networks that they're now enabled is revolutionary.”

“I've seen these major waves of technology evolutions that got me really excited about 5G and Edge.”

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Timestamps: 
(02:00) Jim’s career journey

(05:48) What is the 5G Open Innovation Lab?

(19:41) Private 5G vs. Wi-Fi in Enterprises

(25:02) The private 5G network: Evolutionary or revolutionary?

(31:42) Automation and workforce resistance

(34:30) Addressing the silver tsunami

(37:02) The role of technology in knowledge transfer

(40:26) Jim’s key lessons learned

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Edge Solutions | Dell Technologies

How will progress at the edge change our homes, cars and the electrical grid? In this conversation, Bill sits down with Kai Hackbarth, Senior Tech Evangelist at Bosch Global Software Technologies for a wide ranging discussion around Kai’s work at the OSGI foundation, and the complexities of smart homes, smart vehicles and the challenges posed to the electrical grid. 

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“Electricity is not the answer for cars. to call it like this. So, if everybody drives an electric vehicle, no grid can manage this.”

“The grid was never designed for renewable energy sources.”

“I think hydrogen will come, right? It's not yet ready for cars”

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Timestamps: 
(00:00) How Kai got started in tech 

(06:28) Kai’s definition of edge 

(13:06) Smart homes and smart assisted living facilities

(20:39) Kai’s work with the OSGI

25:29 Challenges and innovations in smart grid technology

28:49 The future of electric and hydrogen vehicles

32:51 Software-defined vehicles and industry challenges

39:00 Developments in edge tech and sustainability

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Edge Solutions | Dell Technologies

Organizations need access to digital infrastructure and communications networks to leverage AI in a cost effective way. In this episode, Bill sits down with Greg Cudahy, Global Leader of TMT and Global Industries AI Leader at EY, to discuss digital infrastructure in an emerging AI world. The two talk about the judgment calls we will have to make about AI and how culture impacts AI use.

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“The people part of generative AI is every bit as important to get traction as the technology is.”

 “All the forecasts are saying that roughly 75 percent of the data over the next 10 years that we see, that's acted upon for AI or any other business use, is going to come from edge computing. It's a groundswell. This is a huge trend.”

“As edge computing rises, you're creating more points of entry for bad actors. So the importance of cyber has never been higher.”

“Moving all this data that AI requires means huge investment in communications networks, even more than we've got today…. People don't think about moving the data. They think about what I'm going to do with it. They don't think about what this gigantic swell of volume of data is going to go….Enabling communications infrastructure has got to be a priority for virtually every nation state right now.”

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Timestamps: 
(01:25) How Greg got started in tech

(09:38) AI shifting from a feature/function to a focus business outcome 

(14:35) Bespoke models at scale 

(19:00) What bandwidth do we allow AI to work within?

(32:59) How corporate and geographic cultures impact the use of AI 

(34:46) Navigating regulation and security concerns with AI at the edge 

(41:29) The need to invest in communications networks to move data

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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“How can you take the trust that you have in the data center when you deliver data, and how can you stretch that from the far edge, to a gateway, to an edge server, to the core, to the cloud?” Steve Todd, Fellow & VP of Data Innovation and Strategy at Dell Technologies, predicted 25 years ago that the problem of data trust on the edge would be important today. In this conversation, he discusses the long process behind building a solution. 
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“The light bulb went on; there's an intersection, I believe, between distributed ledgers and delivering trusted data.” 

"The other thing I think that is happening at just the right time, is the importance of AI, the importance of model building and deployment of inference towards the edge. Everybody's investing in that right now and there hasn't been a corresponding level of investment into knowing that the data is trustworthy."

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Timestamps: 
(01:35) How Steve got started in tech and his career journey 

(08:16) The intersection between distributed ledgers and delivering trusted data 

(11:04) How can you take the trust you have in the data center and stretch it to the edge? 

(14:11) The power of open sourcing Project Alvarium, a community building Data Confidence Fabric

(22:11) How did Steve predict this need years ago? 

(29:43) What does Steve see coming next? 

(34:35) What is the Hedera network? 

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Connect with Steve Todd on LinkedIn

Bumpy Landing: Distributed Ledgers In A Centralized World 

Building Data Confidence at the Edge

Are we in the age of bespoke models? How long will that last? In this conversation, Bill sits down with Jaxon Repp, Field CTO at HarperDB, a globally-distributed edge application platform. They discuss solutions to managing distributed data, customized AI models and bringing the east of cloud to the edge. 

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“I think that we are in the age of bespoke models now. But I think like all things, unless you're flying a remote drone armed with missiles, you probably will be able to make do with a model that just handles the basics.”

“There's a lot of upside to still having the horsepower to do the cool things and not necessarily pushing out all the way to the edge.”

“If I can train on a set of averages, some sort of compressed nature, I can dramatically reduce the amount of data that I have. If I can train on summaries as well as I can train on the raw data, then I'm not going to hold on to that raw data for anything other than, you know, super emergency cases.”

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Timestamps: 
(01:17) How Jaxon got started in tech and to HarperDB

(07:25) Determining product market fit 

(13:18) How do we bring the ease of cloud to the edge? 

(18:37) Solutions to distributed data 

(25:50) The future importance of bespoke models 

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Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com/edge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.

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Over the Edge is hosted by Bill Pfeifer, and was created by Matt Trifiro and Ian Faison. Executive producers are Matt Trifiro, Ian Faison, Jon Libbey and Kyle Rusca. The show producer is Erin Stenhouse. The audio engineer is Brian Thomas. Additional production support from Elisabeth Plutko.

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Follow Bill on LinkedIn

Connect with Jaxon Repp on LinkedIn