Gestalt IT Tech Field Day Roundtable

Security will always be a bit of a treadmill that organizations need to keep moving on. But that treadmill got kicked into overdrive as a result of COVID-19. Organizations that seemingly had well-implemented security policies in place now have to account for everyone working from home. This changes the threat surface from devices used, to how traffic is routed, and often new services being brought online. So will COVID-19 be remembered as a security nightmare? The roundtable discusses the implications and why companies need to be focused on the humanity in their midst in order to stay secure. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: COVID-19 Is A Security Disaster – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

With many people working from home as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, IT is faced with challenges of how it can fulfill its support mission while maintaining a safe physical distance. Certainly the proliferation of cloud services has changed the landscape considerably for a lot of organizations, removing some of the infrastructure that would otherwise need to be maintained by the organization. But cloud data centers, automated though they may largely be, still require physical footprints, and other support becomes much harder, if not impossible, when maintaining pandemic distancing. In this episode, the roundtable discusses how they've changed their IT support as a result of the pandemic, if it's possible to maintain distances while still providing effective IT, and what support challenges lay ahead as week of self-isolation turn into months.  © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Physical Distancing Isn’t Possible for IT Support – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

By now, we're all familiar with software-defined wide area network or SD-WAN. SD-WAN enables the use of multiple circuit types, including both MPLS and commodity broadband. Everyone knows how reliable MPLS can be. Can broadband reach that level of assurance? Given the history of using the technology with enterprise networks, our panel of experts debates the premise that commodity broadband is inferior to MPLS. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Commodity Broadband is Inferior to MPLS – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

The Premise: Backup is a Security Hole  Backing up data is standard practice and one that both companies and individuals take part in regularly. Having your data at your fingertips to be able to restore any potential loss and keep your forward movement is a must in all of our quick moving industries. How do you make sure that your backup protocols are taking into account proper security measures? How do you know if encryption is taking place? Is malware slipping into your snapshots and being replicated? Do your backups include data access that you shouldn’t have? With every copy of your data being a potential security risk, the question we tackle in this conversation at the On-Premise IT Roundtable is: Is backup a security hole? © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Backup is a Security Hole – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

From a user's perspective, it can be argued that single pane of glass doesn't exist at all, and vendors who push this idea are never looking beyond their product. When users look at heterogeneous networks, there may be a single pane of glass for this and a single pane of glass for that, which ends up being 25+ panes of glass and not really solving anyone's problems. So how do we reconcile this chasm between the user and vendor perspectives? The question we tackle in this On-Premise IT Roundtable is: Is there such a thing as an all-in-one solution or is "single pane of glass" simply a myth? © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Single Pane of Glass is a Myth – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

Data protection used to be pretty straightforward. In recent years, there have been a number of changes in enterprise backup. It's not necessarily that backup has changed, but systems and people have changed. In fact, many small and medium-sized businesses don't even have servers anymore. Now, we have different applications and different infrastructure, and we have to adjust our processes to accommodate new systems. In this episode, we're talking about backup. Specifically, the death of backup. If backup has no business value, is out of touch with the times, or doesn't exist anymore altogether, then what does data protection and recovery look like today? Listen and find out.  © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Is Backup Dead? – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

Big data is on everyone's mind across IT, and the storage industry is no exception. For a while, Hadoop seemed ready to conquer the world with its promise of reliable, scalable, distributed computing. However the tide has seemingly turned away from the once ubiquitous yellow pachyderm. Big data is very much alive, but the roundtable discusses if the complexities inherent in the Hadoop stack mean it's fated for an untimely demise. Or will the still increasing investments in Hadoop by some customers keep it in the big data discussion for some time to come? And if Hadoop really is dead, are there any pieces that can find some new life in IT? Listen and find out. This episode is sponsored by Pure Storage. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Hadoop is Dead – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

In this roundtable, Tom Hollingsworth discusses whether it's fundamentally unavoidable to work with toxic people in IT. First the panelists define what we mean by toxic in an IT context. Then they dig into why IT seems to have its fair share of people with toxic characteristics, and why the focus should be on the relationship between individuals, rather than singling out one party as being the problem. From there, they dig into how to work with such people, when too much is enough, and how to perhaps avoid falling into the trap of toxicity yourself. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Toxic People Are Unavoidable in IT- The On-Premise IT Roundtable

In this roundtable, Tom Hollingsworth leads a discussion about the premise that Wi-Fi monetization is bad. Some would argue that it's evil. If venues and businesses want to offer Wi-Fi, it should be treated the same way other utilities are. These all require a degree of expense to the business, but aren't added on as charges to customers. Keith Parsons uses the free, frictionless, and fast standard. Does that mean that everyone should offer free Wi-Fi all the time? And how does that fit into an organizations larger IT policy framework. The roundtable makes the case and digs into the details in this episode. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Wi-Fi Monetization is Bad – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

Odds are that if you've been in IT for a while, you've been asked how many certifications you have. There's no doubt that these are valuable. Yet many IT pros still feel that they need a college degree to hang on the wall. The roundtable discusses if this is a legacy of times gone by, or if a college degree still holds a more important place than certifications. The panel includes a wide range of experiences, with IT careers build with and without degrees, as well as someone currently in college pursuing an IT career. It's a great conversation! © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: IT Certifications Are More Valuable Than A College Degree – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

We know that The Cloud is a real thing. But of the many things called The Cloud, each of them is remarkablly different. Features, capabilities, functions are vary wildly between them. Every organization is scrambling to figure out how to use the cloud, but is the promise of the cloud simply unachievable? Does the pursuit of multi-cloud mean that organizations must ignore whatever makes a cloud special, and turn it into simply someone else's infrastructure? The roundtable discusses in this episode. Thanks to NetApp for sponsoring this episode. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: The Promise of the Cloud Cannot Be Achieved – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

There's a lot of talk about digital transformation, but are organizations actually achieving that, or are they simply changing IT practices to keep up with changing infrastructure. Should we even view digital transformation into a means in and of itself. And can non-digital companies actually transform, or are industries just going to replace obsolete players over time? In this episode, the roundtable discusses a lot of the nuance often lost in grand visions of digital transformation. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Digital Transformation is a Myth – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

In this bonus episode, we're joining Stephen Foskett as he talks with some of the original delegates and inspirations for the Tech Field Day event series. They discuss the event that gave Stephen the initial idea, a fortuitous plane ride, how the first Tech Field Day event went, where the idea for the live stream started and more. It's a great conversation and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event.  © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: BONUS: The Origins of Tech Field Day – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

Simplification may sound great and improve efficiency, but it always with it an increase in risk. This is because by abstracting away the complexity, you're also hiding potential faults in the system. The roundtable discusses if this is true, and if there's a way to lose some of the geek knobs without creating a risky environment.  © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Simplification Adds Risk – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

IPv6 is the next big thing in networking, it’s going to solve all of our network addressing issues. At least, that’s what it’s been promising for the last two decades. So why hasn’t it lived up to the hype? The roundtable discusses the idea that administration is the biggest holdup to overall IPv6 adoption. Be sure to listen to figure out how we can get the the bright, shiny, happy place that is IPv6. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: The Administrative Hurdle of IPv6 – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

It's almost canonical wisdom is storage that you shouldn't put primary and secondary storage on the same storage system. Doing otherwise is just asking or trouble. But given the rapidly changing IT landscape and the emergence of the cloud, is that really true anymore? The roundtable breaks it down in this spirited discussion. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Storage: You Gotta Keep ’em Separated – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

On this episode, our roundtable discusses the premise that learning Kubernetes is a waste of time. With so many managed Kubernetes service available, actually learning the ins and outs of the obtuse orchestrator isn't necessary for the vast majority of organizations. They discuss the actual business value of managing Kubernetes, compare it to learning vSphere, and discuss what organizations should be investing time in. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Learning Kubernetes is a Waste of Time – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

You don't have to follow the news very closely to find evidence of large scale security breaches. The sophistication, breadth, and sheer velocity of malicious hacks have reached a point that IT security simply can't keep up like it used to. The roundtable debates this subject, if the situation is truly hopeless, and how organizations can take a modern approach to IT security. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Security Can’t Keep Up – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

It would be great if all our applications were cloud native to get the best cost, resilency, and architecture overall. But enterprises don't move that quickly. The cloud should offer services that work for existing applications that organizations want to get out of the data center but aren't going to refactor any time soon. The roundtable discusses the merits and why this isn't happening right now. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: The Cloud Should Adapt to the Enterprise – The On-Premise IT Roundtable

Redesigns in wireless are done more for compulsive than technical need. When a new access point comes out, the entire wireless network doesn't need a redesign, other than to satisfy the need to tinker for those managing them. We discuss if and when a redesign is actually needed, why you need to consider what's driving your wireless refresh in the decision, and how to put a monetary value on defining a "pointless" redesign. © Gestalt IT, LLC for Gestalt IT: Redesigning is Useless in Wireless – The On-Premise IT Roundtable