In this episode of Altitude, Woody is joined by Brian Gracely, co-host of The Cloudcast podcast and Senior Director of Portfolio Strategy at Red Hat.

With his wealth of experience in the industry, Brian provides unique insights into potential trends for cloud customers in the year ahead. Brian and Woody discuss upcoming changes in migration, customer spending, and the role of AI in driving new business. While Brian and Woody agree that AI will lead to more spending and innovation, they deliberate on the future of cloud infrastructure in light of new AI demands and challenges. Will data for AI continue to move to the cloud, or will it be more successful at the edge?

Brian wraps up the conversation by emphasizing the need for mastering the fundamentals of cloud in order to succeed at scale with AI: “When your fundamentals aren’t there, and you’re just focused on the sizzle as opposed to the steak, that’s where you get yourself in trouble.”

Learn more about Altitude and host Woody: https://aviatrix.com/altitude/
Check out The Cloudcast podcast: https://www.thecloudcast.net/
Connect with Brian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briangracely/

Timestamped Overview:
00:00 Intro.
05:29 Cloud providers offer ARM CPUs, addressing customer needs for reduced cloud costs.
08:29 AI's explosive growth expands business opportunities.
09:43 Tech companies rushing to capitalize on potential growth.
15:14 Conundrum of data and compute in cloud.
18:17 TCO study showed immediate cost savings, efficiency gains.
21:05 Enhancing infrastructure operations through collaborative networking.
29:06 Importance of understanding the fundamentals of cloud before leveraging AI.