Tech Field Day Podcast

Watch the Presentations from Mobility Field Day here.

One of the most anticipated features of Wi-Fi 7 isn’t ready for the public. Worse yet, it may never deliver on the promise of fast, reliable wireless connectivity. In this episode, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Allyn Crowe, Peter Mackenzie, and Chris Reed as they discuss the way that multi-link operation (MLO) has been included in the specification for Wi-Fi 7 yet not quite implemented. They highlight the technical difficulties of deploying such a complicated protocol and how vendors are trying to squeeze every drop of performance out of their hardware. They wrap up with advice on whether or not to plan your next deployment around a technology that isn’t quite ready yet.

Host:

Tom Hollingsworth

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/tom-hollingsworth/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/networkingnerd

Panelists:

Allyn Crowe, Principal Engineer at Nexum

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/allyn-crowe/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allyn-crowe/ Peter Mackenzie, Cofounder of Wi-Co

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/peter-mackenzie/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenziewifi/Chris Reed, Principal Consultant at Verizon

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/chris-reed/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thecmreed/

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Learn More from the AI Infrastructure Field Day Presentations

AI demands specialized data center designs due to its unique hardware utilization and networking needs, which require a new type of infrastructure. This Tech Field Day Podcast episode features Denise Donohue, Karen Lopez, Lino Telera, and Alastair Cooke. Network design has been a consistent part of the AI infrastructure discussions at Tech Field Day events. The need for a dedicated network to interconnect GPUs differentiates AI training and fine-tuning networks from general-purpose computing. The vast power demand for high-density GPU servers highlights a further need for different data centers with liquid cooling and massive power distribution. Model training is only one part of the AI pipeline; business value is delivered by AI inference with a different set of needs and a closer eye on financial management. Inference will likely require servers with GPUs and high-speed local storage, but not the same networking density as training and fine-tuning. Inference will also need servers adjacent to existing general-purpose infrastructure running existing business applications. Some businesses may be able to fit their AI applications into their existing data centers, but many will need to build or rent new infrastructure.

Host

Alastair Cooke, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Panelists:

Karen Lopez

Lino Telera

Denise Donohue

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Learn more about Tech Field Day at Cisco Live!Modern networking is being disrupted in the data center but user-facing networking has largely stagnated. Users are getting slightly faster connections but everything feels mostly the same. In this episode, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Sam Clements and Ed Weadon as they discuss innovation in the edge of the network. They talk about how companies like Cisco have been trying to bring users into the modern era. They talk about the centralization of management in the cloud and how competition has driven those moves. They also look ahead to Cisco Live and discuss the releases they would most like to see at the event.

Host: Tom Hollingsworth

Panelists:

Sam Clements

Ed Weadon

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Learn More about Cloud Field Day 23

Keeping every application and every scrap of data on the public cloud becomes very expensive; we need to improve our cloud economics. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Vriti Magee, Mitch Lewis, and Alastair Cooke. The belief that data is the new oil has led many companies to retain every piece of data they generate, often in object storage on public cloud platforms. The continuous growth of this data leads to a growing bill from the cloud provider, often with no clear plan in place for recouping the value of the money spent. Generative AI requires training data, which is another reason to retain everything; again, there needs to be value returned to the business. New designs for cloud applications must include data management and managed retention as key criteria. Sustainable, honest designs that enable business change are vital for delivering value back to the business.

Host

⁠Alastair Cooke⁠, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Panelists:

Mitch Lewis

Vriti Magee

Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠on the podcast page of the website⁠⁠⁠⁠.

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Event Page: https://techfieldday.com/event/xfd13/

Compliance reinforces the state of security in your organization. However, compliance in and of itself is not security. In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Jack Poller and Milou Meier as they discuss the nuance between securing your organization and ensuring compliance. They discuss the challenges with audits and the “checkbox” mentality that has become common. They also discuss how organizations face different challenges globally and how you can help ensure that you aren’t being exposed to problems in the future.

Host: Tom Hollingsworth, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/tom-hollingsworth/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/networkingnerd/

Panel

Milou Meier

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/milou-meier/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milou-lammers-meier-9815824b/

Jack Poller

Tech Field Day: https://techfieldday.com/people/jack-poller/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackpoller/

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Learn More about Catchpoint at Cloud Field Day

Your Internet Application is full of unknowns, which will affect its performance and availability for your customers. This episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast features Catchpoint CEO and co-founder Mehdi Daoudi, Eric Wright, Jon Myer, and Alastair Cooke. Internet applications are seldom self-contained, relying on other web services for specialized functions and needing responses from the services before a final response to a user. Functions such as DDoS protection, tracking, embedded advertising, and other valuable services enable faster application feature development, but at what cost? Any delayed response from these services can slow down your application for your users, leading to dissatisfaction, even when your servers perform beautifully. Remember that the services you choose to use may, in turn, use other external services. Catchpoint champions user-centric monitoring and Internet Performance Monitoring (IPM) to complement existing APM tools. Visibility of issues outside your data center is vital to identifying issues before they become helpdesk tickets or application outages. If this Tech Field Day Podcast episode piques your interest, watch the Catchpoint appearance at Cloud Field Day on YouTube.

Catchpoint Representative:

Mehdi Dauodi, Cofounder and CEO, Catchpoint

Host:

⁠⁠Alastair Cooke⁠⁠, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Panelists:

⁠Eric Wright⁠, Chief Content Officer, GTM Delta

Jon Myer, Chief Content Creator, Myer Media

Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast ⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠ and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes ⁠⁠⁠on the podcast page of the website⁠⁠⁠.

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Learn More about Infoblox at Cloud Field Day

Managing hybrid-cloud networks is complex due to differing architectures and naming between on-premises and the multiple public cloud platforms. This Tech Field Day Podcast episode features Glenn Sullivan, Senior Director of Product Management at Infoblox, Eric Wright, and Alastair Cooke. Each public cloud has a unique management console and network management paradigm; none provides deep integration with each other or with on-premises networking. It is left to individual customers to assemble a jigsaw of pieces into a coherent whole. Customers may not plan to use multiple public clouds, but through different project requirements or mergers and acquisitions, most large organizations find themselves in a hybrid multi-cloud environment. Combining fast-changing public cloud applications with on-premises applications further complicates network management, requiring an automation-based approach. Infoblox UDDI (Universal DNS, DHCP, and IPAM) provides a consistent, automatable interface to manage and operate basic network infrastructure across all enterprise locations. UDDI includes bi-directional operation where changes using cloud-native consoles are visible in UDDI and vice versa.

Guest:

Glenn Sullivan, Senior Director of Product Management at Infoblox

Host:

⁠Alastair Cooke⁠, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Panelists:

Eric Wright, Chief Content Officer, GTM Delta

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Learn More about Mobility Field Day 13

Modern Wi-Fi connections rely on more than just raw throughput to measure performance. The complexity of wireless as a medium makes the user experience more varied and creates difficulties in troubleshooting. In this episode, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Keith Parsons, Rocky Gregory, and Ron Westfall as they discuss the state of Wi-Fi and how performance works. They talk about the challenges with properly designed wireless networks and how data sheets make assumptions about the environment. They also discuss user expectations for performance and how workflows involve many moving parts that can impact overall user experiences.

Host:

⁠Tom Hollingsworth, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Panelists:

Ron Westfall, Research Director at The Futurum Group

Rocky Gregory, Principal Architect at EVOTEK

Keith Parsons, Managing Director at Wireless LAN Professionals Conference

Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast ⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠ and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes ⁠⁠on the podcast page of the website⁠⁠.

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Register for Qlik Connect: https://www.qlikconnect.com/

AI ought to be able to help businesses derive value from their data, but not all AI applications have a solid foundation. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast looks forward to Qlik Connect 2025, featuring delegates Gina Rosenthal and Jim Czuprynski discussing the importance of data with Nick Magnuson of Qlik and host Stephen Foskett. Last year Qlik introduced Answers, a RAG AI product that delivers intelligence from unstructured data. This year we expect to see much more integration with structured data, analytics, business intelligence, and agentic AI, as Qlik's customers seek to deliver innovative solutions. Mature organizations are focused on building a solid governance foundation for their data, ensuring responsible and ethical use in AI applications. The advent of agentic AI raises more concerns, as autonomous agents are empowered to take action without human involvement. Responsible use must include strict limits and human supervision to make sure AI agents remain controlled. We're looking forward to customer stories, technical takeaways, and maybe some new product introductions at Qlik Connect this year!

Qlik Representative: Nick Magnuson, Head of AI at Qlik

Host: Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day

Panelists:

Gina Rosenthal, Founder of Digital Sunshine Solutions

Jim Czuprynski, Chief Storyteller at Zero Defect Computing

Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast ⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠ and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes ⁠⁠on the podcast page of the website⁠⁠.

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Learn more about AI Infrastructure Field Day 2

Mature technologies deliver business value by integration into boring production applications, so AI needs to be boring. This Tech Field Day Podcast episode features Max Mortillaro, Guy Currier, Jay Cuthrell, and Alastair Cooke. AI has frequently been in the public news, many organizations are busy building AI infrastructure and pipelines, and vendors have tagged their applications with AI to ride the hype. Yet, business value is usually delivered in applications that serve customers rather than generating headlines. The first steps towards AI being a functional but boring part of production applications have emerged, with interoperability mechanisms like MCP and A2A are vital steps towards pervasive AI. Options for Small Language Models (SLM) are opening up more cost-effective use of generative AI, while predictive AI continues to be the standard boring production AI. Data and output safety are other areas for development; avoiding GenAI hallucinations, model poisoning, and data leakage is vital for AI to become boring. Eventually, Generative AI will be as invisible and valuable in mainstream business applications, leading to a return on all the current investments.

Host:

Alastair Cooke, Tech Field Day Event Lead

Panelists:

Guy Currier, Chief Analyst at Visible Impact

Jay Cuthrell, Chief Product Officer at Nexustek

Max Mortillaro, Head of Research at Osmium Data Group

Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast ⁠on X/Twitter⁠ or ⁠on Bluesky⁠ and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes ⁠on the podcast page of the website⁠.

Follow ⁠Tech Field Day⁠ for more information on upcoming and current event coverage ⁠on X/Twitter⁠, ⁠on Bluesky⁠, and ⁠on LinkedIn⁠, or ⁠visit our website⁠.