In this episode of The Private AI Lab, Johan sits down with Frank Denneman to explore the past, present, and future of VMware’s Private AI portfolio.

This conversation goes beyond AI buzzwords and marketing fluff. Together, Johan and Frank dive deep into the real infrastructure and resource management challenges that emerge when AI workloads enter enterprise environments. GPUs, scheduling, isolation, and platform design all take center stage—viewed through the lens of real-world VMware deployments.

If you are an infrastructure architect, platform engineer, or IT decision-maker designing AI behind the firewall, this episode provides grounded insights into what actually matters.

🔍 What you’ll learn in this episode

• How VMware’s Private AI strategy has evolved over time

• Why AI workloads fundamentally change infrastructure assumptions

• The importance of resource management for GPU-backed workloads

• Key architectural trade-offs when running AI on-prem

• How to think about the future of enterprise AI platforms

🎧 Listen & Subscribe

For more experiments, insights, and behind-the-firewall AI discussions, visit johan.ml.

Experiment complete. Until the next one — stay curious.

This episode of The Private AI Lab features Robbie Jerrom, Principal Technologist AI at Red Hat, for a deep dive into Private AI, from the DGX Spark to OpenShift AI and the future of agentic systems.

Topics we cover:

• How Robbie uses the DGX Spark for home-lab AI

• Why developers are moving from cloud GPUs to local devices

• OpenShift AI as a consistent platform from experiment to production

• The best open-source components for modern AI stacks

• Why 79% of POCs never reach production — and how to avoid that

• The next wave: agentic AI and enterprise automation

Watch on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjyB8w_cpb0

More episodes & articles at johan.ml

In this episode of The Private AI Lab, Johan is joined by Andrew Foe, CEO of Iodis and HyperAI, to explore the NVIDIA DGX Spark from a real-world perspective.

We cover:

• Unboxing & first impressions

• Bring-up and setup tips

• Everyday usability

• What customers love

• The most common misconceptions

• Why preorder demand exploded in the BeNeLux region

A must-listen for anyone exploring Private AI hardware or considering the DGX Spark.

🎧 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENCTgcAWsI

💡 More experiments: https://johan.ml

In the premiere of The Private AI Lab, Johan van Amersfoort is joined by SUSE AI Specialist Eric Lajoie to talk about sovereign AI, deploying chatbots in under an hour, and the unexpected hazards of robotic dogs.Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro & guest welcome

01:04 – How to pronounce “Lajoie”?

02:00 – What Eric actually does at SUSE

05:14 – Eric’s AI fail: a very personal RAG demo

10:06 – What Private AI means to Eric

11:30 – How SUSE AI works (chatbots, Kubernetes, Rancher, and more)

21:30 – RAG architecture explained

26:00 – 40-minute SUSE AI deployment?!

31:00 – Real-world use cases (GPUaaS, observability, MCP)

39:00 – AI sovereignty in Europe

43:00 – Wrap-up & key takeaways

54:00 – Eric’s prediction for the next 12 months in AI

57:40 – Johan’s robot dog fail

60:00 – Outro + where to follow Eric

🔗 Links & Mentions • Learn more about SUSE AI: https://suse.com

Follow Eric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elajoie/ or lajoie.de

Check out the companion post at https://johan.ml/

Related episode: When Shit Hits The Fan ft. Eric – https://open.spotify.com/episode/2IeLq8WT7eqMJPVkcUMg3G?si=eaf7a529a75e4078

Welcome to The Private AI Lab — the podcast where we experiment, explore, and debate the future of Artificial Intelligence behind the firewall. I’m your host, Johan, and every month I invite a guest into the lab to break down real-world use cases, challenges, and innovations shaping Private AI. Brought to you by Johan.ml

Be the first to know when a new episode drops, by subscribing to the podcast!