As part of my role as a Technical Director, one of my tasks is to attend events and hear from the community about the challenges they have and to hear from tech vendors about how they are fixing them.

However, every now and again one of the things that happens is someone presents something that introduces me to a whole new challenge that I'd never considered.

That happened at a recent User group event, where Francesco Giarletta of Avanite to discussed the mysterious world of the webcache and the vast array of web data that lives within it!

He shared how this cache, alongside the amount of web tracking data that is dropped down onto your systems via web browsing (regardless of browser), can have significant and unexpected consequences.

So it seemed only fair to ask Francesco to come onto the show and introduce you all to this often unconsidered world.

In this episode, we look at the problem of webdata, the kind of information that websites collect about us, the unknown amount of data that they drop onto our machines, from cookies to the tracking information that Windows keeps about our web whereabouts.

We look at the impact of this tracking on both system performance and maybe more importantly security.

Francesco shares some of the security impacts and how they can potentially expose us to the risk of breach, from the storing of unencrypted user credentials, to how this data that we don't fully understand can expose us to regulatory infringement.

Finally, we share some ideas on how you can start to deal with the problem and how Avanite maybe able to help.

Enjoy the show.

Full show notes can be found here https://wp.me/p4IvtA-1tI

As the world continues to "transform" and be more digitally driven, then the inevitable also has to happen, systems that support our day to day processes start to become outdated, inefficient and ineffective for a world that needs to move more quickly and in different ways.

One such innovation that is gathering momentum is the use of blockchain and it is starting to have a major disruptive impact on the way many traditional transactions are done.

If you are like me and interested in the technology and would like to know more, then maybe this week's podcast episode is for you as I'm joined by Ian Moore to provide a beginners guide to blockchain, a blockchain 101 no less.

During our conversation, he introduces us to the importance of ledgers, how the four key blockchain tenants of consensus, provenance, immutability and finality are allowing blockchain transactions to be quick, secure and trusted.

We also discuss how the speed of digital transformation is demanding improvement in speed and efficiency and how transactions that used to take weeks are no longer acceptable as blockchain takes those long slow processes and does them almost instantly.

Ian also shares some great use cases, as well as outlining the basic requirements needed for a blockchain, we wrap up by discussing possible futures uses for this technology approach and how blockchain will do for transactions what the Internet has done for communications.

Ian provides a great introduction to blockchain and you can follow him on twitter @Ian_DMoore.

I hope you enjoyed the show.

Full show notes are here - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1ty

Sharing our data is an important part of our day to day activities, be that for analysis, collaboration or system development, we need to be able to share data sets.

However, this need to share has to be balanced with our needs to maintain the security of our data assets.

How do we address the problem and maintain that balance?

One answer is data anonymization and that is the subject of this week's show, as I'm joined by Harry Keen, CEO and founder of anon.ai.

In our wide-ranging discussion, we explore the part anonymization plays in compliance and protection and why the difficulty of current techniques means that we often poorly anonymize data, or we are not even bothering.

We explore why anonymization is so difficult and how solutions that can automate and simplify the process will make this important addition to our data security toolkit, more accessible to us all.

Harry provides some great insights into the challenge and some of the ways to address it.

Next week I'm joined by Ian Moore as we take a Blockchain 101, to ensure you catch that episode why not subscribe to the show? you can find us in all the usual podcast homes.

Until next time, thanks for listening.

For full shownotes... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1sJ

It's not news to anyone listening to this show that the challenge around the security of our data and systems is a substantial one. Our technology seems to be under constant threat, from external hackers, to insiders, from targeted attacks to malware finding its way randomly onto our systems and causing havoc and all of this before we look at increased regulation and compliance demands.

The ever-increasing threat has led to us looking to technology to help protect our systems, however this has now led to its own problems, with many of us investing in numerous platforms and tools which has created a huge sprawl of solutions, that do not interact, all have their own consoles and all are presenting us with alerts and notifications that we then expect our already stretched IT function to understand and act upon.

It is this problem that has inspired this series of Tech Interviews episodes looking at the security challenge.

In this first show, I'm joined by Valory Batchellor of IBM as we discuss their immune system approach.

We explore the current and evolving threat, the challenges presented by multiple, disjointed security tools and we also discuss the future and how machine learning and artificial intelligence could give us an infinite amount of security analysts, working on an infinite amount of security problems, with unlimited resources!

Valory provides some fantastic insight with a real enthusiasm and obvious expertise for her subject, so enjoy the show as we look to "secure all of the things".

Next week I'm joined by Harry Keen from anon.ai as we look at data anonymization and the part it plays in data security.

To catch that show, why not subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher.

Thanks for listening

Full show notes are here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1si

Over the last couple of episodes, we've had some interesting round-ups from the recent VMWorld conference, reviewing the announcements from the show, as well as how VMware are evolving to maintain relevance to their many customers in an ever more software defined, data-centric and of course cloud and as-a-service based world.

Part of the VMware response to these changes ( I hasten to add, not the only technological evolutions they are making) is a smart one, rather than fight the tide King Canute style, VMware is not only embracing that change, but looking to empower it and make businesses ability to embrace a cloud-based world a more straightforward transition.

Embracing this change comes in the form of VMware Cloud on AWS, That is the topic we explore on this week's show as I'm joined by Ben Meadowcroft, a Product Line Manager at VMware with a focus on VMware Cloud on AWS.

I catch up with Ben to understand more about the solution, why it exists, the challenges business face when building a hybrid solution and how VMware Cloud on AWS is helping to ease that transition.

Ben gives some great insight into the platform as well as some helpful use case examples to help you decide whether this kind of technology is a good fit for you.

Personally, I think VMWare cloud on AWS is a really interesting solution and I can see it meeting needs in a number of enterprises, check out the show and provide your feedback, either on here or message me @techstringy on twitter.

Next time we start a series of shows looking at the ever-evolving data security challenge.

To make sure you catch those, why not subscribe and if you have the chance leave a review.

Thanks for listening.

Show notes can be found here: http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1rB

VMware, along with Microsoft, is perhaps the most influential enterprise software company in the industry. VMware and their virtualisation technology has revolutionised the way we deliver IT infrastructure into businesses of all types.

Today, however, the infrastructure revolution they helped create presents challenges to them, as the broad adoption of cloud and new ways of managing and deploying our infrastructure has led to the question "how do VMware remain relevant in a post virtualisation world?"

In last week's show we discussed with 4 attendees their views, this week, we wrap up our VMworld coverage with two more insightful discussions.

I hear from Joel Kaufman, who has worked with VMware over the last 18 years in his role at NetApp, we discuss the changing face of VMware as well as the evolution that NetApp is currently going through as both companies continue to deliver innovation in the technology industry.

To wrap up, I wanted a VMware view of their event and I'm joined by a returning guest to the show and voice of the VMware Virtually Speaking Podcast, Pete Flecha. 

I chat with Pete about VMware and their "mojo", the post virtualisation world, connecting together multiple platforms and how VMware are enabling us to "software define, all of the things!".

If you enjoyed the show why not leave us a review and if you want to ensure you catch our future shows then why not subscribe, Tech Interviews can be found in all of the usual homes of podcasts.

Show notes can be found here - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1qP

This time of the year is a busy one for the technology industry as we move into conference season. But are these events worth your while, or are they just an excuse for a few days off and a good time?

Over the next two shows, I get the views from this years VMworld 2017 conference and ask the question "was it good for you?".

In this first episode, I'm joined by 4 guests;

Becky Elliot - Sr. Systems Administrator for a US government contractor

Michael Cade - Veeam

Mark Carlton - Concorde IT

Barry Coombs - Computerworld Group

We discuss what they gained from the event, what did VMware cover, how relevant was their strategic message and the key things they took from the event.

If you want a snapshot of the key points from this years VMworld, then these attendees give you a great view of what was covered, as well as been great examples of the significant benefits you can get by investing in you or your team attending vendor conferences

Enjoy the show.

Full show notes are here - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1qc

This week is the third and last of our panel discussions looking at the major challenges facing business IT.

We pick up again with our panel from last week to discuss a range of new topics.

We look at how a business vision, without assessment and understanding of the current environment, may well mean you never achieve your end goal.

We look at how our increasingly digitally native workforce may leave us without the skill sets needed to architect our future solutions.

The changing role of the consultant also comes under scrutiny and even though the overall goal remains the same, the way of helping business to get there is certainly changing.

We wrap up looking at the future challenges the panel see and how for one of them, decoupling data from infrastructure is living the tech dream!

Our panel is;

Ed Morgan - Sales Engineer at Rubrik

Mick Kehoe - Chief Technologist at Logicalis

Ruairi McBride - Technical Account Manager at Arrow ECS

Jason Benedicic - Principal Consultant at ANS

Lots of great insight again from the team, I hope you enjoyed the show.

Full show notes can be found here :- http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1pv

The IT Avengers are assembling again this week, but this time I'm joined by a whole new team, as four more experts from the IT community share their view on the current state of IT within business, the day to day issues and how to overcome them.

This weeks panel is;

Ed Morgan - Sales Engineer at Rubrik

Mick Kehoe - Chief Technologist at Logicalis

Ruairi McBride - Technical Account Manager at Arrow ECS

Jason Benedicic - Principal Consultant at ANS

This weeks show is so action packed that it's been split into two, with part two next week.

This week the team talk about how many of us have a "cloud first" strategy, without really knowing what that means.

We also discuss why "lifting and shifting it" to AWS is hardly ever the right answer! and why a good foundation is critical to your future success.

Hopefully plenty of valuable information and something to help you tackle your current business IT challenges.

Look out for part two next week.

For show notes visit - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1oS

This weeks Tech Interviews is the first in a short series, where I bring together a selection of people from the IT community to try to gauge the current state of business IT and to gain some insight into the key day-to-day issues affecting those delivering technology to their organisations.

For this first episode i'm joined by three returning guests to the show.

Michael Cade - Technical Evangelist at Veeam.

Mike Andrews - Technical Solutions Architect at NetApp

Mark Carlton - Group Technical Manager for Concorde IT Group.

The panel discuss a range of issues, from availability to cloud migration, the importance of getting the basics right and how understanding the why, rather than the how is a crucial part of getting your technology strategy right.

The team provide some excellent insights into a whole range of business IT challenges and I'm sure there's some useful advice for everyone.

Enjoy the show.

Show notes are here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1nt