SolarWinds TechPod

Paul Guido has worn several hats during his IT journey. But now he’s made the leap from deep-dive individual contributor to managing teams of the same kind of IT pros he was (and still is). There are lessons in that journey – not just for IT practitioners considering the next step of their career, but also managers who came to the job from a different (and non-technical) direction. We sit down with Paul to find out what insights and advice he has to help managers do a better job of leading their IT teams. 

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

Hang around with IT folks for anything longer than your typical stand-up meeting and you’re likely to hear some variation of “Managers! Am I right?” Snark aside, as folks who design, deploy, and maintain monitoring solutions, we’ve got a choice: we can continue to dismiss and diminish people who don’t know about our discipline; or we can take the time to educate and inform them. 

It’s in this spirit we are building spaces—from THWACK forums to conference talks to this podcast—created geared to answering the technical questions managers—those folks who both lead and represent the boots-on-the-ground monitoring engineers—might have.  

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

What drives technology innovation? 

In the second part of our conversation with Dr. Robert Metcalfe, the co-founder of Ethernet and internet pioneer explains the relationship between innovation and freedom/prosperity, the importance of fostering an environment for technology innovation, and why he’d like to be known as more than “the father of Ethernet.”

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

Dr. Robert Metcalfe is arguably one of the most influential pioneers of modern technology. In this episode of TechPod, the award-winning engineer relives the critical events that led to the invention of Ethernet and the development of Metcalfe’s Law. He also discusses the difference between invention and innovation, driving adoption of new technology, and the business landscape that helped form the internet as we know it today. 

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

The recent SUNBURST cyberattack reveals new threats to the supply chains fueling today’s businesses. SolarWinds® and FireEye have raised the alarm for leaders everywhere to reexamine their security, to prepare for threats, and to raise the standards of the supply chains on which they rely. 

Join this episode of TechPod for a compelling discussion between SolarWinds President and CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna and FireEye CEO and Board Director Kevin Mandia, hosted by SolarWinds Head Geek™ Thomas LaRock. These leaders will share their unique insight into how organizations around the world should be thinking about securing their supply chains from highly sophisticated and targeted cyberattacks. 

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved. 

The recent SUNBURST cyberattack on the SolarWinds software build environment is a concerning new reality for the software industry, representing the increasingly sophisticated actions by outside nation-states on the supply chains and infrastructure on which we all rely. SolarWinds® is committed to sharing our learnings about this attack broadly given the common development practices in the industry and our belief that transparency and cooperation are our best tools to help prevent and protect against future attacks. 

Join us as SolarWinds SVP, Engineering Lee McClendon, KPMG Director of Cyber Security Services Caleb Queern, and Head Geek™ Thomas LaRock discuss how SolarWinds is prioritizing security in its software build environment, and what the entire industry can learn about next-generation software development. 

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

Organizations were stopped in their tracks when the cyberattack occurred. When you’re focused on taking the right actions to protect your environment, your users, and your entire enterprise, solid counsel and assistance is critical. How do you get back to business?  

Join SolarWinds® President and CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Head Geek™ Thomas LaRock, and our key partners Greg Fetterhoff (Monalytic) and Bill Fitzpatrick (Loop1) as they share stories from their engagements with SolarWinds customers answering the challenge of the cyberattack—and getting back to business. From U.S. governmental agencies, to the Fortune 500, and all around the globe, they’ve helped clarify the confusion and focus on the future. 

Sudhakar will share an overview of the Orion® Assistance Program SolarWinds created to: 

• Help customers get upgraded and updated 
• Get professional consulting help at no cost to them 
• Put our customers first 

Greg will cover experiences from the federal government and enterprise level customers, and Bill will share stories from commercial customers around the globe. Both will address: 

• Considerations for companies responding to this cyberattack 
• What organizations have in common 
• The timeline to get back up and running 

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

Companies must change the way they operate to combat increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks across ever-expanding attack surfaces. What we learn from one attack can help us protect against the next. Because the next attack is always on the horizon. What should you do to raise your defenses? 

SolarWinds President and CEO Sudhakar Ramakrishna and cybersecurity expert and Krebs Stamos Group Founding Partner Alex Stamos discuss our plan for a safer SolarWinds and customer community – grounded in principles you can follow to secure your enterprise.  

 Sudhakar addresses the steps SolarWinds is taking to:  

• Further secure our internal environment 
• Enhance our product development environment 
• Ensure the security and integrity of our software 

Part of that work is drawing on the experience of cybersecurity experts like Alex – founder of the Stanford Internet Observatory, and recognized security technologist – who led security teams at Facebook and Yahoo through significant security challenges and continues to do so for companies like Zoom and SolarWinds. 

Alex details what you can learn from this most recent cyberattack – and others like it – to change how your organization operates.  

• Learn to audit your cloud trust relationships
• Learn to build for code integrity
• Learn to centralize your monitoring to accelerate detection and speed response
• Learn to document network dependencies to better control access
• Learn to enhance permission rules and risk-based authentication 

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

The relationship IT professionals have with upgrades can sometimes only be described as “fraught.” Reasons range from the cost in terms of time and lost opportunity to “nothing in that update seems very exciting.” Of course, the benefit often exceeds the effort needed. In this episode, Head Geeks® Chrystal Taylor and Leon Adato are joined by SolarWinds® Sales Engineering Manager Mike Driskell to make the case for upgrading regularly.

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2021 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

Last month we celebrated IT Pro Day, a holiday designed to recognize tech pros and the work they do. As everyone was challenged with navigating 2020’s evolving landscape, IT pros kept users and teams afloat. Much like the changes evidenced this year, we also added a new twist to IT Pro Day’s festivities – awards! Beyond the well-deserved nominations and celebrations, we wanted to learn more about the experiences that shaped our participants.

In this TechPod, SolarWinds Head Geek Liz Beavers will be joined by IT Pro Day winner, Meka Egwuekwe, IT Mentor of the Year. Listen as Liz and Meka reflect on the importance of mentorship in the IT community, how he navigated the pandemic, and the lessons he’s carrying into the future.  

This podcast is provided for informational purposes only. © 2020 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.