The Bridgecast with Scott Kinka

Latest Episodes:

The Bridge 2023 Recap Jan 16, 2024

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by our podcast producer, Gene Volpe, for a 2023 recap and discussion about the year that was.

During our 2023 recap, we share the cliff notes of the more than 30 episodes we delivered in 2023, a year of unprecedented growth on The Bridge and for Bridgepointe Technologies. We also discuss a few hot topics like AI and security, plans for season three of The Bridge, and some predictions for the coming year.

Topics covered in this episode:

Memorable guests and episodes from the past year.
Hybrid work, bandwidth, customer experience (CX), and AI.
The rationalization of networks as businesses adapt to remote and hybrid work arrangements.
Scott’s prediction that AI will continue to play a significant role in CX.
Changing consumer expectations, with customers expecting seamless digital experiences.
The challenges of applying AI in customer interactions.
The responsibility of employers in managing remote work arrangements and the evolving nature of work arrangements in response to changing circumstances.
The connection between network and security, with a focus on unifying network and security conversations.
The impact of AI on security and concerns about “dark AI.”
The prediction of chaos surrounding large language models and AI.
The integration of network and security discussions in the current tech landscape.
The chaos and innovation cycles in the tech industry and how the pandemic accelerated certain trends.
Plans for season 3 of The Bridge.
Predictions for 2024.

Links for this episode:

Listen to last year’s recap episode: https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/the-bridge-podcast-with-scott-kinka-2022-end-of-year-recap/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka-ep43

ABOUT OUR HOST SCOTT KINKA

This is a SPECIAL EDITION of the Bridge Podcast with Scott Kinka. Over the last 12 months and 30+ episodes, Scott has gotten the opportunity to ask some of the best minds in technology a plethora of questions, including “what is your favorite app” and “what book is on your nightstand?”. In addition, he’s gotten some shameless predictions from all of these interviews.

Well, on this episode, we get to ask the same questions of Scott.

Producer Gene Volpe gets the opportunity to ask Scott all of the tough questions and have Scott dig back on his favorite moments from our episodes so far.

This one was an ode to 2023 while looking forward to 2024. We hope that you enjoy this interesting look into the Chief Strategy Officer of Bridgepointe Technologies and tech evangelist, Scott Kinka.

CONTACT SCOTT

Web. https://www.thebridgecast.net/

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

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Hybrid Cloud Growth with Brian Thomas of Equinix Jan 09, 2024

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Brian Thomas, Senior Manager, Segment Marketing at Equinix. We’re talking about hybrid cloud growth, repatriation and so much more.

Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure company™, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today’s businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences, and multiply their value.

During our conversation, we chatted about how Equinix enables digital transformation and the establishment of a distributed digital core, if the AI companies will sell their products differently than their cloud ancestors and work with

customers to understand use cases before signing them up, and whether doomed we’re to repeat our cloud history when targeting hybrid cloud growth. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Topics covered in this episode:

● Brian’s background and experience.

● Equinix's services including physical and virtual deployment options, Equinix Metal, and Network Edge.

● The importance of interconnecting with SaaS providers, tech alliances, and co-innovation partners.

● The impact of the pandemic on the shift towards digital cores and edge technology.

● The importance of proximity to other companies for digital core infrastructure and improved user experiences.

● The changing landscape of office locations and the need to blend remote and on-site networks.

● The growing significance of AI in the tech industry and the role of AI in transforming digital infrastructure and driving big data analytics.

● The proliferation of IoT devices and their impact on data generation and analysis.

● The importance of understanding use cases before deploying AI solutions.

● The impact of AI on data center infrastructure.

● The difference in attitudes towards sustainability between the US and Europe.

● AI's constant processing nature and how it differs from traditional applications that are only active when used.

● The importance of looking beyond traditional data center discussions and focusing on interconnection, ecosystem density, and scalability.

● Predictions for the coming months.

Links for this episode:

Listen to the past Episode with Equinix's DR Carlson here: https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/the-bridge-podcast-with-d-r-carlson-from-equinix/

ABOUT BRIAN THOMAS

Top-producing sales and partner executive with over 30 years’ experience in driving revenue growth, sales planning, and channel management. Business development initiatives, for both direct and channel solutions, have generated over 500M in top line revenue. Well-versed in designing global pursuit plans to penetrate new and grow existing accounts. Direct cross-functional teams that collaborate to achieve aggressive business goals. Successful in leveraging internal and external strategic partnerships to win new profitable contracts.

CONTACT BRIAN

Web. https://blog.equinix.com/blog/author/brian-thomas/

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-thomas-7827995/

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Exploring the Cybersecurity Landscape with Melanie Thomas of AT&T Dec 19, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Melanie Thomas, Principal of AT&T Cybersecurity. We’re talking about the evolving cybersecurity landscape and so much more.

AT&T Cybersecurity’s Edge-to-Edge technologies provide phenomenal threat intelligence, collaborative defense, security without the seams, and solutions that fit your business. Our unique, collaborative approach integrates best-of-breed technologies with unrivaled network visibility and actionable threat intelligence from AT&T Alien Labs researchers, Security Operations Center analysts, and machine learning – helping to enable our customers around the globe to anticipate and act on threats to protect their business.

During our conversation, we got into the increasing demand for managed cybersecurity services among smaller companies, the importance of starting with basic cybersecurity concepts and education when working with customers, diversity in the cybersecurity landscape and why cybersecurity it a team sport.

Topics covered in this episode:

➔ Melanie's role at AT&T focused on managed threat detection and response (MTDR) and managed endpoint security with SentinelOne.

➔ The importance of diversity in the cybersecurity industry and the benefits of bringing different experiences and perspectives to the table.

➔ The growth of women in the cybersecurity landscape.

➔ The natural progression of AT&T from network services into cybersecurity due to changes in the economy and work landscape.

➔ The impact of hybrid work on the cybersecurity landscape, with the shift to remote work increasing the importance of topics like VPNs and mobile security.

➔ The need for companies to consolidate their security infrastructure as they adapt to remote work and close physical locations.

➔ The shift in the security focus from securing physical locations to securing individual identities.

➔ The ongoing challenges in cleaning up security vulnerabilities created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

➔ The importance of top-down support, corporate policies, and acceptable use conversations in improving cybersecurity.

➔ The role of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and DaaS (Desktop as a Service) in endpoint security.

➔ The evolving strategies of businesses in response to hybrid work.

➔ The adoption of cloud services can significantly impact security tool selection and integration.

➔ How responses to security breaches often require collaboration between various security teams and experts.

➔ How AI can be used for both good and bad purposes, emphasizing the need for vigilance and visibility in security efforts.

➔ Predictions for the next 12 to 18 months.

ABOUT MELANIE THOMAS

Lead Managed Endpoint Security (MES) with SentinelOne offering, serving as service lead engineer, operations manager, and SME. Support customers deployment of the SentinelOne agent in their environments, tuning for false positives, true positives, network control, and device control capabilities. Guide customers and Threat Hunters/SOC to fully utilize the SentinelOne platform with the USM Anywhere (USMA) platform integration to perform threat hunting, research, and mitigation actions throughout their endpoint deployment. Advise on customer Incident Response Plans to build use cases and automated orchestration actions. Support AT&T Incident Response Team (IRR) in utilizing SentinelOne and USMA for active incident response engagements.
Working with the AT&T MTDR team on USMA by providing training, reference materials, procedures, and technical documentation to SoC and Tier-3 Analysts. I research, troubleshoot, document, deploy, and tune USM Anywhere for customers. Also working with AlienVault teams to expand the capabilities of USMA in analyzing 560+TB of log data through numerous deployments by creating investigations on alarms, consulting customers on cyber security best practices, and providing environmental awareness to their on-prem and cloud environments.

CONTACT MELANIE

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

Web. https://life.att.jobs/lgbtq-turn-up-love-winners/

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Productivity AI with Expedient’s Brad Reynolds Dec 12, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Brad Reynolds, Senior Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at Expedient. We’re talking about productivity AI and so much more.

Expedient is a data centers and cloud services provider offering infrastructure as a service (IaaS) with local operations in Pittsburgh, PA, Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Cleveland, OH, Columbus, OH, Denver, CO, Indianapolis, IN, Memphis, TN, Milwaukee, WI, and Phoenix, AZ. Ranked as one of the Top 3 managed services providers worldwide on Channel Futures' MSP 501 list, Expedient’s converged solutions enable clients to focus on strategic business innovation while the Expedient team handles the operation of the information technology needed to support it.

During our conversation, we discussed how business leaders get ahead of their competitors and unlock the promise of productivity AI without exposing the company to risk, the current state of AI adoption and the parallels to the early days of the internet, the role of corporate policies in guiding the responsible use of AI technology within organizations and more.

Topics covered in this episode:

● Brad's role at Expedient.

● The parallels between music and technology.

● Expedient’s history and evolution from an access aggregation business to a colocation and cloud-centric provider.

● The current buzz and interest surrounding AI in the tech industry.

● The role of AI as a transformative technology for business operations.

● The importance of considering how to become experts in AI as it represents a significant part of the future in technology careers.

● Public large language models (LLMs) and their impact on AI's public perception.

● The challenges created by corporate use of public LLMs and the need for controls and wrappers.

● The need for businesses to provide access to AI and the importance of enabling employees to explore and discover AI's potential uses.

● The current stage of productivity AI adoption in businesses.

● The emotional impact of AI on individuals and its potential to touch various aspects of life.

● Exploration of the concept of the singularity and AI becoming self-aware.

● The challenges of understanding AI's decision-making process and neural architecture.

● The challenge of explaining AI in the context of human processing and language.

● The difficulty of using existing language to describe AI's workings.

● The practical product developed by Expedient for corporate AI adoption.

● The importance of preventing the sharing of proprietary or private information.

Shameless predictions for the next 18 months.

ABOUT BRAD REYNOLDS

Bradley Reynolds is a recognized leader in the AI industry, with a deep understanding of the transformative power of Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative AI. As the Senior Vice President of Artificial Intelligence at Expedient, Bradley spearheads efforts to simplify the operational deployment of private AI infrastructure for enterprises given strict data governance and regulatory requirements.

Prior to Expedient, Bradley served as an AI Consultant at Yellowfin Holdings, where he played an instrumental role in helping enterprises harness the power of private AI models. His expertise spans from strategic AI planning to specialized areas such as vector database design, language model pre-training, and model fine-tuning.

He is a staunch advocate of the idea that "AI Models Are the New Compute," and believes that our grasp, personalization, and expertise with these models will guide us through the next computational revolution. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, he is passionate about making AI more accessible and helping organizations explore the vast potential of this emerging technology.

CONTACT BRAD

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/expedient/

Web. www.expedient.com

YouTube. https://youtube.com/expedient

Twitter. https://twitter.com/Expedient

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Finding the Right Data Center Resources With Bridgepointe’s Mel Melara Nov 28, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Bridgepointe’s own Mel Melara, VP of Sales. We’re talking about securing data center resources and more.

Mel joined Bridgepointe in 2019 and brought over 30 years of experience in network and data center infrastructure consulting to the firm. As a sales leader at Masergy, he was part of the executive team that tripled the company’s revenues in five years. Mel also held an executive role at Switch Data Centers and is a subject matter expert on data center trends.

During our conversation, we talked about everything related to data center resources — what happens when hyperscalers buy up three years of inventory they're now digesting, the challenges of sourcing data center space, and considerations when deciding where to go.

Topics covered in this episode:

● Mel's responsibility for data center operators in the portfolio.

● Why choose Bridgepoint for data center space?

● Why there’s a heightened global demand for data centers.

● The influence of hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle) on space demand.

● The enterprise trend of moving from on-premises to colocation due to remote work.

● Bridgepointe's role in helping clients find suitable data center spaces.

● Covid's impact on data center demand and overall acceleration of data center demand from various sources.

● The importance of data location for compliance, such as GDPR in Europe.

● ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) initiatives and clean energy

● Bridgepointe's role in helping clients find data centers with renewable energy

● Explanation of how carbon credits work in data center selection and carbon credits as a means of satisfying renewable energy requirements.

● The importance of the hybrid model in data centers.

● Bare metal as infrastructure as a service without the operating layer.

● 10 strategic considerations for evaluating opportunities.

The factors affecting facility efficiency and gear longevity.

ABOUT MEL MELARA

Mel joined Bridgepointe in 2019 and brings over 30 years of experience in network and data center infrastructure consulting to the firm. As a sales leader at Masergy, he was part of the executive team that tripled the company’s revenues in a five-year period. Mel also held an executive role at Switch Data Centers and is a subject matter expert on data center trends.

CONTACT MEL

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

Web. https://bridgepointetechnologies.com/team/melmelara/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show-notes&utm_campaign=the-bridgecast-with-scott-kinka-ep39

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Artificial Intelligence Optimization in the Data Center World With Brian Eichman Nov 14, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Brian Eichman, Vice President of Business Development at CoreSite. We’re having an in-depth conversation about the changing make up of the data center in light of AI.

CoreSite, an American Tower company, provides hybrid IT solutions that empower enterprises, cloud, network and IT service providers to monetize and future-proof their digital business. Their highly interconnected data center campuses offer a native digital supply chain featuring direct cloud onramps to enable our customers to build customized hybrid IT infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.

During our conversation, we discussed the evolution of data center customers, including the rise of hyperscale providers, SaaS companies, and enterprises. We get into how the challenge of bridging the gap between real estate-centric thinking and customer requirements in the data center industry, artificial intelligence optimization in the world of data centers, and so much more.

Topics covered in this episode:

● The importance of product development in addressing evolving customer needs.

● The two disruptive aspects of CoreSite's services: scale and density combined with low-latency interconnection.

● The evolution of data center customers, including hyperscale providers, SaaS companies, and enterprises.

● The role of product development in addressing changing customer needs in the data center industry.

● The challenge of bridging the gap between real estate-centric thinking and customer requirements in the data center industry.

● The coexistence of hyperscale and self-hosted infrastructure and the importance of choosing the right technology and vendor for specific requirements.

● The surge in AI-related data center demand driven by hyperscalers, MSPs specializing in AI, and AI-driven digital native organizations exploring hybrid architectures.

● The importance of GPUs in machine learning models and their efficiency compared to CPUs.

● The impact of GPUs on power density in data centers and the shift towards higher power densities due to AI and machine learning workloads.

● The importance of designing data centers from the ground up to meet specific requirements rather than retrofitting existing buildings.

● The cumulative effects of AI workloads on power generation, cooling, and infrastructure.

● Advice for new companies entering the AI space, including the importance of flexibility, vendor management, and a focus on the future.

● The need for digital native AI companies to learn from the lessons of the past and be thoughtful about their scale and operations.

● Predictions for the next 18 to 24 months.

ABOUT BRIAN EICHMAN

Brian Eichman is VP of Business Development and Solution Architecture. Brian is responsible for IT design and engineering of cloud solutions, storage architectures, IT consulting-related work, OCX network implementation and delivery of customer-facing operations. Brian leads the team of solution architects who serve as entrepreneurial technical thought-leaders to guide organizations through the evaluation and implementation of complete data center solutions and cloud network interconnection services.

CONTACT BRIAN

Web. http://www.coresite.com

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-eichman-b5120110/

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Is this How the World Will End or How Smarter Business Begins?  A Practical Discussion about AI (Part 2) Nov 07, 2023

Show notes

For this episode of The Bridge, we’re bringing you part two of our live panel discussion from the 2023 Bridgepointe Tech Summit. We answer some of the most pressing questions about artificial intelligence and the pressure leaders currently face to adopt this technology.

For this practical discussion on the hype and realities of artificial intelligence, I was joined by:

Dan O'Connell, Chief AI and Strategy Officer, Dialpad
Karen Bowman, Vice President, Channel/Alliance, Level AI
Tushar N Shah, Chief Product Officer, Uniphore
Raghu Ravinutala, CEO, Yellow AI

During part two of our discussion, we get into how businesses are using AI technology today, where this technology is going in the future, and so much more.

Topics covered in this episode:

The concept of superintelligence and the singularity, with varying opinions on its proximity.
The idea that technology is inherently biased due to human input, and AI might help reduce bias by relying on data and algorithms.
The emphasis on practical AI applications and real-world outcomes, such as automation and improved productivity.
Speculation about the possibility of AI becoming self-aware and the implications of such a development.

Concerns regarding the development of autonomous weapons capable of making decisions without human intervention and the need for regulation in AI.
Addressing biases and ensuring transparency in AI systems.
The potential misuse of AI by bad actors and the challenge of normalizing innovation and regulation.
The importance of transparency in data usage and sharing among companies and consumers.
The balance between innovation and regulation, with a focus on transparency and accountability.
The role of both software and hardware in AI regulation and the responsibility of various stakeholders in the AI ecosystem.
The need for regulation to prevent catastrophic events and ensure human intervention in AI systems.
The importance of accountability in AI systems and the intention of regulation to drive accountability.

Practical applications of AI, particularly in the area of customer experience.
The impact of AI on cognitive decline and emotional intelligence (EQ).
The potential for AI to improve customer service and business efficiency.
The AI Act in Europe and its implications for AI regulation.
The responsibility of individuals and organizations in determining how AI is embraced and used.
AI's impact on human interaction and generational challenges.
The potential for AI to be both a solution and a challenge in the context of education.
The importance of regulating social media and addressing its impact on youth.
The opportunity for businesses to capitalize on AI technologies.

ABOUT DAN O’CONNELL

Chief AI and Strategy Officer, Dialpad

Dan is the Chief Strategy Officer at Dialpad. Previously, he was the CEO of TalkIQ, a real-time speech recognition and natural language processing start-up that Dialpad acquired in May of 2018. Prior to TalkIQ, he held various sales leadership positions at AdRoll and Google.

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

Web. https://www.dialpad.com/

ABOUT KAREN BOWMAN

VP of Channel and Alliances at Level AI

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-bowman-5a52073/

Web. https://thelevel.ai/

ABOUT TUSHAR SHAH

Chief Product Officer, Uniphore

Tushar Shah has held numerous leadership roles throughout his career. He joins Uniphore from NationBenefits, where he served as president and CEO of Fintech, driving approximately $1B worth of spend. Prior to that he was the senior vice president at PayPal where he led product and engineering, and managed credit, identity, risk, compliance, customer service, machine learning and AI platforms. Shah also played a role in the critical aspects of the separation between PayPal and eBay in 2015 and in the rapid growth of PayPal’s market cap since then. Among his other leadership roles is spending a decade at Bank of America as a technology senior executive for consumer banking, e-commerce, sales and services and software engineering. Earlier in his career, Tushar worked in IT for Teleglobe (Bell Canada) and customer care for Broadslate Networks and WorldCom (Verizon).

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tushar-n-shah/

Web. https://www.uniphore.com/

ABOUT RAGHU RAVINUTALA

CEO, Yellow AI

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

Web. https://yellow.ai/

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Is this How the World Will End or How Smarter Business Begins?  A Practical Discussion about AI (Part 1) Oct 31, 2023

Show notes

For this episode of The Bridge, we’re bringing you part one of our live panel discussion from the 2023 Bridgepointe Tech Summit.

For this practical discussion on the hype and realities of the artificial intelligence debate, I was joined by:

❖ Dan O'Connell, Chief AI and Strategy Officer, Dialpad

❖ Karen Bowman, Vice President, Channel/Alliance, Level AI

❖ Tushar N Shah, Chief Product Officer, Uniphore

❖ Raghu Ravinutala, CEO, Yellow AI

During part one of our discussion we get into the artificial intelligence debate by defining what artificial intelligence is and isn’t and an go through an overview of the various technologies that make up what we believe modern AI to be.

We also talked about considerations and concerns about its use, which unsurprisingly spiraled into bias, the digital divide, autonomous weapons, and the potential of AI singularity.

Topics covered in this episode:

● The definition of AI.

● The broad categorization of AI technologies.

● AI training and the emphasis on the importance of data, the context of the problem being solved, and referenceability.

● Concerns and considerations related to AI, including the potential for job displacement, societal bias, misinformation, and ethics.

● The concept of AI learning and training, where AI models improve over time by incorporating new data and user interactions into their datasets.

● The analogy of large language models as libraries and the challenges of building and utilizing large foundational models versus smaller, more specific models.

● The importance of building models that are faster, more accurate, and cost-effective for businesses and user experiences.

● The demand for high-performance GPUs in AI and the challenges of scaling AI models.

● The concerns about job displacement due to rapid automation with AI, particularly for low-skill workers.

● The potential for a widening digital gap between executives and technical workers compared to frontline employees due to the pace of AI adoption.

● The democratization of AI, making it more accessible to the general public, leading to greater understanding and acceptance of AI technologies.

● A shift in perspective towards AI as a wealth creation opportunity and a redefinition of jobs rather than job loss.

● The belief that those who can leverage AI effectively are less likely to be replaced by automation.

● The importance of businesses helping employees understand and use AI technologies to their advantage rather than resisting them.

● Discussion about changing measurements of productivity and rethinking the "butts in seats" model for evaluating worker busyness.

● Concerns about AI systems amplifying biases from developers and data sources, leading to discriminatory outcomes.

ABOUT DAN O’CONNELL

Chief AI and Strategy Officer, Dialpad

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

Web. https://www.dialpad.com/

ABOUT KAREN BOWMAN

VP of Channel and Alliances at Level AI

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-bowman-5a52073/

Web. https://thelevel.ai/

ABOUT TUSHAR SHAH

Chief Product Officer, Uniphore

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tushar-n-shah/

Web. https://www.uniphore.com/

ABOUT RAGHU RAVINUTALA

CEO, Yellow AI

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

Web. https://yellow.ai/

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

The Data Center Economy with Digital Realty’s Tony Bishop Oct 22, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Tony Bishop, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Platform Solutions at Digital Realty. We’re talking about the data center economy and so much more.

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data "meeting place". Digital Realty enables its customers with the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 27 countries on six continents.

During our conversation, we discussed COVID-19 as both an accelerator and a distraction in digital transformation, the concept of capacity as the new data center currency and the scarcity of capacity in the data center market, the data center economy and more.

Topics covered in this episode:

● Tony's background, including his Canadian origins and career in Enterprise IT.

● Digital Realty's strategic focus on creating a "data meeting place" to accommodate the increasing need for data exchange in the digital economy.

● The significance of Digital Realty's network backbone in facilitating data exchange between locations and metros.

● The impact of COVID-19 on Digital Realty's connectivity fabric strategy.

● The shift in network focus from locations to humans and the challenge of building networks for hybrid work scenarios.

● The challenges related to power, land availability, and physical complexity in expanding data center capacity.

● The impact of AI companies on data center infrastructure, including power and cooling requirements.

● The distinction between AI workloads for prediction and inference (smaller, colo deployments) and AI training (large farms).

● Challenges related to power density, cooling strategies, and cabling for AI deployments.

● The importance of contiguous space for AI workloads that require proximity between data and computing resources.

● The need for long-term planning for infrastructure to accommodate AI and other evolving workloads.

● AI's impact on traditional models of cooling and power ratios leading to a scarcity of buying options.

● The role of AI in changing the traditional data center model and the need for advanced planning.

● The significance of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) initiatives in data center discussions and the need to address sustainability as part of the overall criteria for data center operations.

Predictions for the next 12-18 months.

ABOUT TONY BISHOP

Tony Bishop is Senior Vice President of Platform Planning & Solutions at Digital Realty with responsibility for the company’s global growth strategy. He plays a central role in prioritizing the enterprise business segment, championing Digital Realty’s platform strategy, and integrated partner solutions. This includes the programmatic launch of platform and solution capabilities that position PlatformDIGITAL™ as the leading data center platform and global meeting place for enterprises and service providers.

Prior to joining Digital Realty, Tony served as Vice President, Global Vertical Strategy & Marketing at Equinix, where he was responsible for creating the global growth strategy for Enterprise and Service Provider Markets through Vertical Solution Development. Previously, he served at 451 Research as Chief Strategy Officer focused on digital infrastructure research. Earlier in his career, Tony was Managing Director, Global Head of Enterprise Datacenter Operations & Strategy at Morgan Stanley & Co.; and he led the global team that defined and implemented the data center transformation program.

Tony also served as an advisor to NuCyper, is a Second Degree fellow with Infrastructure Masons, and is the author of Next Generation Datacenters: Driving Extreme Efficiency & Effective Cost Savings.

Tony studied Business and Computer Science at the University of New Brunswick and has been awarded Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders, ‘Top 40 under 40’ IT Leaders, and the Network World All Star Award.

CONTACT TONY

Web. https://www.digitalrealty.com/

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

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/digitalrealty/

Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/digitalrealty

Twitter. https://twitter.com/digitalrealty

The Bridgecast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so

Hybrid Workforce Solutions with MetTel’s Zachary Grant Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

On this episode of The Bridge, I’m joined by Zachary Grant, Vice President of Solution Architecture and Engineering at MetTel. We’re talking about hybrid workforce solutions and so much more.

MetTel is a leading provider of customized, integrated, and managed communications solutions for enterprise customers. By converging all communications over a proprietary network, MetTel enables enterprise companies to easily deploy and manage technology-driven voice, data, wireless, and cloud solutions nationwide. With the most comprehensive offering, the highest quality customer care and project management, and the ability to completely manage, maintain, and secure your communications needs, their portfolio of customer-centric solutions boosts enterprise productivity, reduces costs, and simplifies operations.

During our conversation, we discussed Zachary’s journey with hybrid workforce solutions during the pandemic, service

aggregation and the heavy lifting that goes along with it, the new hybrid economy, decommissioning POTS, and other topics.

Topics covered in this episode:

● Zachary's journey to MetTel.

● An overview of MetTel's unique value proposition, aka their "superpower."

● Why MetTel believes that effective measurement, monitoring, and management of data are crucial.

● How MetTel aims to simplify and normalize the customer experience, offering engineering expertise to create plug-and-play solutions.

● The challenges of replacing traditional copper-based POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) lines with modern solutions, offering appliances that translate digital signaling to analog for legacy systems.

● How MetTel's approach aligns with the changing landscape of networking, where centralized headquarters are no longer the focus, and businesses require intelligent, flexible, and optimized network solutions.

● Why making the transition to modern alternatives essential for businesses.

● How the urgency to replace legacy copper-based POTS lines has increased due to FCC pressure and high costs, making MetTel's solutions more relevant.

● How MetTel embraces a hybrid work model but recognizes the value of in-person collaboration in the office.

Why Zachary predicts an economic downturn in the next 12 to 18 months.

ABOUT ZAC GRANT

I’m on the Executive Leadership Team for Metropolitan Telecommunications (MetTel) overseeing both commercial and government engineering design for voice, data, and digital security. I have over 20 years of technical experience in many verticals, including Financial, Healthcare, Law Enforcement, and General Telecommunications. I currently work with many of the country’s largest fortune 500 sized organizations on integrated solutions that has successfully revolutionized their business communications and I.T methodologies.
I hold current and previous certifications as a Digital Forensics Investigator, Checkpoint Security Expert, Cisco Security Analyst, New Mexico Law Enforcement Certificate, and many more recognized achievements from companies like Nortel, FEMA, AOTMP, Sniffer PRO, & EHealth.
Previous to leading MetTel’s customer facing technology initiatives, I worked in the IT Management team for Sun Healthcare Group, now Genesis Healthcare; responsible for all of their network, voice, and network security at over 320 medical facilities and six ancillary support companies.
Colleagues and business partners know me as a highly creative Engineer who can always be trusted to come up with a new and innovative approaches. Client’s business comes first, and I am dedicated to building solutions that best fit their needs.
I have a BA from Saint Leo University and am currently working on my Juris Doctor. I am currently not pursuing new opportunities. I can be reached either through this profile or by phone at 801-842-1663.

CONTACT ZAC

Web. https://www.mettel.net/leadership/zachary-grant/

LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachary-grant-195b3116

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