Tech Interviews

The podcast is back from its summer holidays, a week earlier than expected, with this special episode looking at a problem that is often overlooked.

There is no argument that increasingly we are taking more of our business IT solutions as services, be that building platforms and infrastructure or whether it's consuming specific software as a service (SaaS)solutions like Salesforce or of course the almost omnipotent Microsoft Office 365.

However, many people operate their SaaS solution under the assumption that their service provider is protecting all of their data by inherently providing backup and recovery facilities and it's a real shock to them when they find out that in reality their service provider does not.

It is this that is the focus of this episode as I caught up with Robert Cox of NetApp before he headed off to AWS summit, to talk about NetApp's new SaaS data protection solution Cloud Control for Office 365.

We discuss the move to SaaS, the risks that come with it and why people abdicate responsibility for their data in a way that would be unacceptable in thier own on-premises datacentres.

We wrap at by looking at what is good practice for ensuring we protect our SaaS based data.

I hope you enjoy this extra show. The podcast is back from its holidays fully next week.

Thanks for listening.

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

There has no doubt been a change in the way we look at protecting and securing our key data, with robust data protection, enhanced data security plans and increased governance to ensure compliance with ever-increasing regulatory requirements.

However, much of this is concentrated in our datacentre and our central data sets, which although critical, is not all of our data.

Today critical data no longer lives behind corporate firewalls and security, it lives out on a wide range of mobile devices, laptops, tablets and smartphones, often 1000's of miles away from our datacentre.

When our data is so dispersed, how do we ensure we are protecting it on a wide range of different devices, how do we know where it is and what it contains?

That is the focus of this weeks podcast, as I'm joined by Yadin Porter De Leon of Druva to discuss the challenge of data that lives right on the edge of our network.

We look at the complexity of the problem and why it has too be much more than "backup" and why it's critical we have full visibility of our data, regardless of where it sits in our business.

We look at why it is crucial knowing where our data is, what it contains, who has and is accessing it, while ensuring we have it protected and can always find it, regardless of whether our end device is accessible or not.

We wrap up our edge data discussion by providing a little bit of listener homework, as we point you in the direction of the kind of questions you should be asking yourself, so you can build a data protection policy for all of your data, not just that which is stored in your datacentre.

This is our last show for a few weeks as we head off on a podcasting summer holiday, so I hope you enjoy it.

For full show notes check here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1jU

Have a great summer and thanks for listening.

There is no doubt that our organisations are becoming ever more data centric, wanting to know how we can gain insight into our day to day operations and continue to be competitive and relevant to our customers, while delivering a wide range of new experiences for them.

These changes do mean we need to reconsider how we design and deliver technology. Which has led to the idea of "The Next Generation Datacenter", but what does that mean? What is a Next Generation Datacentre?

That is the subject of this week's podcast, as I'm joined by Martin Cooper, Senior Director of the Next Generation Datacentre Group (NGDC), at NetApp.

In this episode, we look at a wide range of topics, starting with trying to define what we mean by Next Generation Datacentre.

We touch on how a modern business needs flexibility in its operations and how a focus on applications and data, not infrastructure, require IT teams to respond in an application and data focused way.

We also provide a word of caution on how not all our current applications and infrastructure are going to migrate to this brave new world of Next Generation Datacentres.

Next Generation Datacentre is not about a technology purchase, but is about understanding how to optimise the things we do, to meet our changing business needs and Martin provides some excellent insight into how we do that and the kind of areas we need to consider.

Enjoy the show and thanks for listening.

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

This weeks episode is a little different, rather than chatting with someone from the tech community about technology trends and IT business issues, we talk to an actual user!

In the final part of our brief series looking at moving to the cloud, we look at a real use case, someone who has embraced cloud technology to bring innovation to an industry as I'm joined by Lee Clark of Givepenny UK.

Lee describes how a 100-mile charity bike ride, that he never got to do, made him think about a whole new way of fundraising and by using the data that we all track and store about our everyday activities he could bring some real innovation to charities in the UK.

We discuss a range of issues that come with attempting to deliver innovation, including how we can often be crippled by our own behavior restricting our ability to embrace change.

Lee shares how important it is to understand how trends are affecting your industry and how those trends can revolutionise the way we operate.

We discuss how cloud has given access to traditionally complex technology, allowing companies like Givepenny the ability to deliver a platform quickly, effectively and importantly at low cost.

Lee shares with great enthusiasm Givepenny's journey from idea, to a platform delivering true innovation to the charity sector, creating new ways of engaging with a very generous population.

Enjoy the show.

For full show notes - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-1hc

This week is the second of three looking at the challenges associated with moving to the cloud as we discuss the area of picking the right cloud service provider partners.

I'm joined by Jon Green, Technical Solutions Director at Navisite Europe Ltd.

We look at a range of issues and potential "gotchas" that can impact our attempts at taking advantage of the flexibility, scale and commercial attractiveness that cloud can bring.

We look at the risk of assuming cloud is simple, the importance of understanding the underlying cloud platform as well as the importance of designing your system availability properly.

We sum up by looking at where an experienced cloud partner can bring real benefits to your cloud adoption.

Jon shares plenty of great information that will help you as you plan you own cloud migration.

Enjoy the show.

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

We're all heading to the cloud, data is the new gold, all of our competition is putting its data in the cloud and getting massive competitive advantage, if we don't know how to use our data and take advantage of the cloud we'll be obsolete.

But, if that is all true, why isn't everyone charging headlong into cloud services and finding more and more valuable information from their data and making the rest of us a thing of the past?

Over the next few Tech Interviews episodes we are going to explore that subject and look at how we can take advantage of cloud.

First we take on the data challenge, how do we make it accessible to the cloud? how do we move it there? do we move it there? and if we do how do we keep it under control?

To help me explore that topic, I'm joined by Kirk Ryan, a Cloud Solutions Architect for storage vendor NetApp.

We discuss the challenges companies keen to embrace the cloud need to consider and overcome, the importance of building bridges between on-prem, cloud and hybrid platforms.

We look at the why we need to understand our data's lifecycle from creation to deletion.

And wrap up looking at the importance of not taking our on-premises bad habits into the cloud, as well as just how crucial it is to understand cloud economics.

Kirk shares some great insights - so settle back and enjoy.

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

Over the last 15 years or so, there has been major shifts in the way we deliver technology in the enterprise, cloud, mobility and of course virtualisation. You can't look at the virtualisation industry without looking at the company who has defined the industry more than any other, VMware. 

However, they are not immune to change and the world is certainly changing as we become more application and data centric and with this our expectations of how we consume our IT services has also changed.

How are VMware changing in response?

On this weeks show I managed to catch up with the hosts of the excellent VMware Virtually Speaking podcast, Pete Flecha and John Nicholson, to ask this question and find out how VMware are changing, how they see the needs of their customers evolving and what future trends they see as the next important areas for focus.

We discuss how technology not only needs to be resilient but also smart. We look at how organisations want their IT to be able to easily consume and integrate "cloud" into their on-prem solutions.

The guys also talk about VMware's shift toward simplifying the technology stack allowing us to focus on our applications and data and not the complexity of the infrastructure below it.

Pete and John provide a fantastic insight into how our organisations technology requirements are changing and how VMware are changing to remain a relevant and important part of our IT stack.

John also introduces me to my all time favourite analogy that involves cavemen and jetpacks.

Enjoy the show.

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

This weeks episode is part two of our view at the wider data availability market as I'm joined by three more guests from the recent VeeamON event to continue our discussion. This week we look at how our data availability strategy is not and can not just be a discussion for the technical department and must be elevated into our overall business strategy.

We also look how technology trends are affecting our views of backup, recovery and availability.

First I'm joined by Dave Stevens of Data Gravity as we chat about how backup data can be a source of valuable information, as well as a crucial part in helping us to be more secure, as well as compliant with ever more stringent data governance rules.

Next I chat with Mike Beevor of HCI vendor Pivot3 about how simplifying our approach to system availability can be a huge benefit. Mike also makes a great point about how, although focussing on application and data availability is right, we must consider the impact on our wider infrastructure, because if we don't we run the risk of doing more "harm than good".

Last but my no means least I speak with Senior Research Analyst at IDC, Andrew Smith, we chat about availability as part of the wider storage market and how over time, as vendors gain feature parity, their goal has to become to add additional value, particularly in areas such as security and analytics.

It's another information packed show, I hope you enjoy it.

For full show notes - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-18k

Now honestly, this episode has not gone out today sponsored by British Airways, or in any way taking advantage of the situation that affected 1000's of BA customers over the weekend, the timing is purely coincidental.

However, those incidents have made this episode quite timely as they again highlight just how crucial to our day to day activities as individuals and businesses technology is.

As part of my time at the recent VeeamON event, I took the opportunity to chat with the wider IT community who attended, not just those charged with delivering availability and data protection, but also those who looked at the industry through a broader lens.

So over the next couple of weeks, I've put together a collection of those chats to give you a wider view of the availability market.

First up, I speak with Justin Warren and Jeff Leeds.

Justin, is a well-known industry analyst and consultant as well as the host of the fantastic Eigencast podcast, Justin is often outspoken, but always provides a fascinating insight into the wider industry.

Jeff was part of a large NetApp contingent at the event and shared how partnerships and complimentary technologies are critical in building an appropriate data strategy, helping us all ensure our businesses remain on.

So hope you enjoy the show.

Pop over to techstringy.com for show notes and please subscribe to catch next weeks episode as we dig further into data availability.

Show notes are here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-151

One of the biggest challenges we face in technology is constant change. Change is not bad of course, but it presents challenges, from upgrading operating systems and applications, to integrating the latest technology advancements, to responding to new business problems and opportunities.

The IT industry is full of stories of companies who had great technologies but have then been blindsided by a shift in the needs of their customer base, or a technology trend that they failed to anticipate.

It was with this in mind that I visited Veeam's, VeeamON conference.

Veeam are a technology success story, a vendor who arrived into the already established data protection market and shifted how people looked at it. They recognised the impact virtualisation was having on how organisations of all types where deploying their infrastructures and how traditional protection technologies where failing to evolve to meet these new needs.

But now Veeam's market is changing, how are they going to react to that?

For this week's podcast, I look at that very question and discuss Veeam's future with Rick Vanover, Director of Technical Product Marketing & Evangelism.

We discuss their repositioning as an availability company, look at how Veeam are developing a range of solutions to give them an availability platform and how this platform will allow their customers to build a strategy, to not only protect their critical data assets, in a range of different data repositories, but will also allow them to move their data seamlessly between them.

Do Veeam have a good strategy to remain relevant? - I Think so, but, as ever, their success will be dependent on their ability to execute that strategy.

I hope you enjoy the show and of course the new theme tune!

For show notes check out techstringy.com - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-115