AI ought to be able to help businesses derive value from their data, but not all AI applications have a solid foundation. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast looks forward to Qlik Connect 2025, featuring delegates Gina Rosenthal and Jim Czuprynski discussing the importance of data with Nick Magnuson of Qlik and host Stephen Foskett. Last year Qlik introduced Answers, a RAG AI product that delivers intelligence from unstructured data. This year we expect to see much more integration with structured data, analytics, business intelligence, and agentic AI, as Qlik’s customers seek to deliver innovative solutions. Mature organizations are focused on building a solid governance foundation for their data, ensuring responsible and ethical use in AI applications. The advent of agentic AI raises more concerns, as autonomous agents are empowered to take action without human involvement. Responsible use must include strict limits and human supervision to make sure AI agents remain controlled. We’re looking forward to customer stories, technical takeaways, and maybe some new product introductions at Qlik Connect this year!
AI Needs to Be Boring
Mature technologies deliver business value by integration into boring production applications, so AI needs to be boring. This Tech Field Day Podcast episode features Max Mortillaro, Guy Currier, Jay Cuthrell, and Alastair Cooke. AI has frequently been in the public news, many organizations are busy building AI infrastructure and pipelines, and vendors have tagged their applications with AI to ride the hype. Yet, business value is usually delivered in applications that serve customers rather than generating headlines. The first steps towards AI being a functional but boring part of production applications have emerged, with interoperability mechanisms like MCP and A2A are vital steps towards pervasive AI. Options for Small Language Models (SLM) are opening up more cost-effective use of generative AI, while predictive AI continues to be the standard boring production AI. Data and output safety are other areas for development; avoiding GenAI hallucinations, model poisoning, and data leakage is vital for AI to become boring. Eventually, Generative AI will be as invisible and valuable in mainstream business applications, leading to a return on all the current investments.
Virtual Networks are Air Gapped
The definition of traditional security technologies must evolve to meet new use cases. Networks that use virtual constructs to segregate traffic are just as air gapped as physical separation. In this episode, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Carole Warner Reece, John Osmon, and Jason Gintert discuss why the standard for hyper secure systems has always been physical separation. They look at how the terminology is being changed to support new use cases with virtual separation and whether or not those new networks can meet the high standards of the older versions. They also discuss the need for precision in terminology and how to avoid falling back on marketing terms that can create confusion with unsuspecting consumers.
Servers Are Still Relevant in the Age of Cloud with HPE
Although we live in a world of software, server hardware still matters from datacenter to cloud to edge. This episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast features Scott Shaffer, VP and Chief Technologist at HPE, discussing the evolution of the server with Jack Poller, Vuong Pham, and Stephen Foskett. Although servers might appear to be commoditized, companies like HPE are building optimized designs for various purposes. Edge servers, for example, are a unique form factor and have special requirements for mounting, air filtering, security, power efficiency, management, and more. Datacenter and cloud servers have special optimizations as well, with efficiency, expansion, and cooling in special focus. As we turn to AI and HPC, servers have to support unprecedented levels of electrical power and cooling, with air cooling still very much in demand but incredible advances being made on liquid cooling as well. The Tech Field Day delegates will be on-site with HPE on the same day this episode airs, learning more about the ProLiant line. Tune in and watch the Tech Field Day presentations on YouTube.
Hybrid and Multicloud Applications are a Headache
Hybrid-multi-cloud applications have become part of the enterprise IT landscape, but they give me a headache. This episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast features Barton George, Mike Graff, Mitch Lewis, and Alastair Cooke discussing the dream of a single cloud provider being home to every application in the enterprise has long been morphed. The goal is to optimize applications by using both cloud and on-premises resources, but integrating different platforms is challenging. Services like AWS and Azure have distinct configurations, making a unified management console difficult to achieve. Some companies simplify by using a single cloud, but mergers or unique business needs often disrupt this approach. While hybrid multi-cloud setups improve efficiency, they also bring ongoing IT challenges.
Not All AI Infrastructure Is The Same
Enterprises require vastly different infrastructure for AI. When building your next network, you need to understand what is required in order to achieve specific outcomes. In this episode of the Tech Field Day podcast, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Scott Robohn, Brad Gregory, and Ron Westfall to discuss the various different types of AI infrastructure. They talk about inferencing and models as well as how to effectively utilize what you currently have. They also discuss what to look for when buying new equipment and how best to put it to use in order to maximize return on investment.
Trade Restrictions will Allow China to Out Innovate US AI Companies
China will out-innovate US AI companies because of the trade restrictions imposed on it. In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast features Ned Bellavance, Eric Wright, Justin Warren, and Alastair Cooke. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. US restrictions on AI chip exports have driven China to develop a sophisticated generative AI solution with older technology. Are the restrictions making Chinese companies more innovative than their US counterparts? DeepSeek was trained with far fewer resources than previous Large Language Models. On the other hand, DeepSeek isn’t groundbreaking, apart from the apparent censorship around taboo topics to the Chinese establishment.
Technical Management is Not Real Management
Being a manager of a technical team is harder than regular management because of the balance required to be both a leader and contributor. In this episode, Zoe Rose, Dominik Pickhardt, and David Penaloza join Tom Hollingsworth to discuss the challenges of being a manager of a technical team. They talk about promoting good talent into management and the shift in thinking required to be a team leader and not just a high performer. They also discuss the soft skills needed to be a good manager and how those can be developed through training.
Network as a Service is More of a Financial Model
Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) is a very popular topic in the modern enterprise. It promises a way to consume networking technologies in the same way that one would purchase cloud computing by only charging users for what they need. In this episode of the Tech Field Day podcast, Jordan Martin, Micheline Murphy, and Robb Boyd join Tom Hollingsworth as they discuss the various ways that Network-as-a-Service can be expressed in an organization. They debate the merits of the operational model versus the financial aspects and how NaaS blends into the wider industry trends.
Containerization is Required to Modernize Applications at the Edge
Modern applications are widely deployed in the cloud, but they’re coming at the edge as well. This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Alastair Cooke and Paul Nashawaty from The Futurum Group, Erik Nordmark from ZEDEDA, and host Stephen Foskett discussing the intersection of application modernization and edge computing.
Reintroducing the Tech Field Day Podcast
The Tech Field Day Podcast returns! The name may change but the content and format are still the same. Read on to learn more about the history of the podcast and focus going forward with our new episodes.
A New Year of Networking at Networking Field Day 27!
Tune in and follow along for the very first hybrid Networking Field Day in San Jose, California! We have presentations from ZPE Systems, Network to Code, Forward Networks, IP Fabric, Itential, ZeroTier, Juniper Networks and Pica8, check them out!