Tech Interviews

The IT world is a funny place, we love a bit of innovation, sometimes it's new and revolutionary, sometimes something whose time has come and sometimes, some just keep coming back and remaining relevant, but maybe relevant in new and different ways. One such technology is the focus of this week's podcast as I am joined by Tony Main of Italian thin client vendor Praim. I'll be honest, I was sceptical as to whether a discussion of Thin Client was really relevant in the world of modern IT. So we discuss how trends around data mobility, security and analytics play very much to the strengths of thin client and are again making thin client an interesting proposition. Tony shares how the maturity in VDI technology is also changing how organisations view their desktop and application deployment methods making thin client a more attractive proposition. We wrap up discussing how Praim are looking at the secure desktop market, taking what they know from thin clients and helping organisations repurpose desktops to e

Shouting at Siri, arguing with Alexa or cursing Cortana the idea of talking at technology, whether on your phone, laptop, tablet or even a specialist device like an Amazon Echo, is becoming increasingly commonplace and is only going to become more common. Voice is an example of the move to change how we interact with our technology, a move away from monitor, mouse and keyboard, to more flexible and, let's face it, efficient ways of working. Another such technology is the subject of this weeks show, as I'm joined by Ian Finch of Mando Group as we discuss the development of chatbots. We don't just focus on the technology, but also how the value of bots is about much more. Ian provides some brilliant examples of how bots are helping us to greatly improve some of the historically poor experiences we have as users of technology, from customer support to the much maligned exhibition app, using a new approach to these can deliver great results. Ian provides some fascinating insights - enjoy the show. You can

Data is increasingly driving the world we operate in and the way we are using data to drive it is changing rapidly. Business decisions are no longer made just by Fred with his humongous spreadsheets, or Mary and her accounts package wizardry. Data analytics is now something that we see every day, even if we don't realise it, from the intelligence in our smartphones, to high performance computing crunching masses of numbers, the use of analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning is becoming increasingly commonplace. On this weeks show I'm joined by Microsoft Tech Evangelist Amy Nicholson, as we discuss the continued development of the data analytics market and how companies like Microsoft are making data tools more accessible and how platform as a service offerings allow us to focus on getting value from our data without having to worry about the infrastructure behind it, regardless of how complex it may be. We also look at how the analytics conversation has moved away from one about technologie

I think we all accept that as individuals, businesses and organisations, the way we see our data is changing, more than ever we see it as an asset and like any asset we see it as something to treat carefully, ensuring it is stored properly, secured, protected and of course something we are getting value from. A big part of this shift is driven by the technology industry itself, tools, technologies and services are now available that allow us to use our data in ways that previously we had not been able to. However it is not just the technology, it is also how a new breed of service providers is making this technology much more accessible. This is the focus of this week's podcast, as I'm Joined by Dave Sobel, Sr. Director of Community and Field Marketing at SolarWinds MSP. As we look at how these industry changes are enabling us all to get more from our data. We discuss the evolution of what we see as a computer, how the importance of the device has made way to the importance of the data and of course th

Data it's one of a modern organisations most crucial assets. With that in mind, how do we build a strategy that meets todays data challenges, how do we make sure we have a strategy not only ensures we can store our data on a resilient and secure platform, but also that we can take advantage of new data trends, like analytics, IoT and public cloud storage. In this weeks episode I discuss this with NetApp A-Team member Mark Carlton, we look at how NetApp's data fabric strategy can help you to plan, develop and deploy a solution suitable for a modern organisations data needs. We not only discuss NetApp's implementation but also how the fabric has grown beyond a NetApp centric view and how 3rd party tools from the likes of Varonis, Veritas and Veeam are integrated, making your data management solution more insightful, more complete. Enjoy the episode. Accompanying Blog is here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-RG

There is no doubt that the world we live and work in is changing, in our personal lives we expect an always on experience and ever more digital interaction with the world. This is not just in our consumer lives. In our work lives expectation is the same, not only in the way we expect to work with technology, but also in the way our businesses expect to operate. But what does that mean, what does that mean to us as either IT professionals, or those trying to navigate their organisations through the trials and tribulations of our journey to a more digital way of working. That’s the subject of this week’s podcast, as I’m joined by Veeam’s Michael Cade to discuss how this move to a more digital world is impacting the way we must treat our technology. In this episode, we discuss exactly what we mean by digital transformation, how this is driving our reliance on communications and technology and the problems not been able to access them bring, not just to consumers, but to our organisations and the impact that

You don't need to look around the technology industry too much to hear phrases such as "data is the new gold" or "data is the new oil", but like any good marketing phrase, it is based on a degree of fact. It is certain that the modern organisation is becoming increasingly digital, transforming into one that is relying on data and digital workflows for its success, however when it comes to data, it's not how much data you have, it's what you do with it and learn from it that will determine who really wins. That's the focus of this week's podcast as I'm joined by NetApp's Director, Technology and Strategy, Matt Watts. In this episode, Matt provides fascinating insights into the modern data world, how extracting valuable information from data is a significant advantage to an organisation, how 3rd party companies working with storage vendors is critical to the future of data management and how companies like Microsoft, Amazon and IBM with Watson are commoditising machine learning and artificial intelligence to

We are all familiar with the saying “what you don’t know, won’t hurt you”. Well in the world of data management, security and privacy the opposite is most definitely true. For most of us, as our organisations become more digital, we are increasingly realising the value of our data, how big an asset it is and how important maintaining it is. However, although we understand its value, we actually have very little insight into what is happening to it on a day to day basis. That’s our focus this week, in the last of our data security & privacy episodes, as I chat with John Hughes of Varonis. Varonis provide data analytics and insights into the way we use our data, what our data is, who is using it, what it’s used for and if it’s even used at all. We discuss the history of Varonis, why data insight is so critical, why it’s a cornerstone of our ability to meet compliance requirements and how it’s a crucial part of our defence against data security attacks. So settle down and enjoy the show. Thanks for listen

Losing USB sticks, leaving laptops on trains, installing malware, clicking phishing links. From maliciousness to stupidity, our people are a constant problem. In fact people are our biggest data security issue aren't they? Aren't they? We have to ask ourselves, are we doing all we can to help our people? Rather than seeing them as a security problem, have we thought about how we can make them an asset as we continually look to take on the threats to our critical data? Our people can be a huge benefit in our data security and privacy plans. In this episode, I chat with Dom Saunders of NETconsent, as we look at how we can start to help our people become that asset. We discuss why many IT policies fail, the risks that poor procedures introduce, why education is so critical and how to make sure our people are getting access to the best help they can. enjoy the show. Show notes here - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-Ol

There is no doubt that there are many difficulties presented to organisations when it comes to their data. We understand it's an asset, something that, if we make the most of it, can be a significant advantage to us, but of course we also understand maintaining the security and privacy of it is critical. In this weeks podcast, the second part of my conversation with Global Data Protection Attorney Sheila Fitzpatrick, we discuss exactly what GDPR is going to mean to us as organisations, its impact for those both inside and outside the EU. We wrap up the episode looking at some practical steps you can take to start to build those robust compliance policies. Enjoy the Show - full show notes are here - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-Ma

Data, it's the new oil, new gold, your Crown Jewels. We've all heard these phrases, but it is hard to deny that data is a fantastic asset. However, it's fair to say that data also comes with its challenges, we must store it all, make sure we protect it all and of course we need to make sure it's secure. This week is the first in a short series of shows looking at the challenges of data privacy. This week is part one of a two part chart with global data privacy attorney Sheila Fitzpatrick, with nearly 35 years experience in the field, she is the ideal guest too provide us with some initial context around the current data privacy landscape, the challenges we have and the challenges we are going to see in the future, including the upcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR. Sheila has lots of great information to share, so settle back, there's plenty to learn.. enjoy the show. Full show notes are here.. http://wp.me/p4IvtA-Ld

We all love the way cloud has simplified how we deliver technology solutions to our business challenges, its simplicity and efficiency are extremely powerful. It's a great answer to many a challenge, but what about when public cloud can't be the answer? Whatever the reason, technical, commercial or data security, sometimes for an organisation public cloud just can't be the answer. What do we do when we want the simplicity of cloud but can't have it? Build your own cloud of course! That is the topic of this weeks show, in part two of my chat with Microsoft Technical Evangelist Matt McSpirit, we explore Azure Stack, Microsoft's on-premises private cloud offering. Matt Shares with us what Azure Stack is, who it is (and isn't meant for) and how you get your hands on it, both in its current tech preview as well as its general release form later in 2017. Hope you enjoy the show - show notes are here.. http://wp.me/p4IvtA-J4

This week we explore a bit more DevOps as I chat with Microsoft Tech Evangelist Matt McSpirit. Matt is based at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond and produces lots of great and helpful content in his role as a tech evangelist. In the first of a two-part chat, we explore Matt’s two current areas of focus, AzureStack which we will cover next week and, in this first part, we get a Microsoft take on the DevOps movement, how they see it, and how it is affecting how Microsoft deliver their own technology to their customers. We also look at some of the principles you should follow as you look to build a DevOps approach to your business, as well as discussing whether DevOps is something that stretches beyond the world of just software development. Enjoy the show, the full show notes can be found here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-IK

This is the second of our series of episodes looking at emerging technology trends and this week we jump in with one of the most high profile, DevOps. I attended an event recently ran by Microsoft partner Blackmarble discussing building a DevOps practice using Microsoft tools, after the event I grabbed a little bit of time with Blackmarbles' Engineering Director Richard Fennell. We chat about what DevOps is and isn't as well as some tips on how to build a DevOps practice. Enjoy the show - show notes can be found here on TechStringy.com http://wp.me/p4IvtA-GQ

As the amount of data we create continues to grow exponentially, traditional methods of storing it are becoming less and less effective. One answer to this is Object Storage, designed to overcome the challenges of storing billions of files, across multiple data repositories across potentially many geographic locations, It's the storage that powers the big public cloud providers and, as it's use cases grow, is finding its way into our enterprise IT. In this episode I'm joined by Robert Cox from NetApp to provide an introduction to object storage, why it exists and why you may want to use it, so if you want to know more about Object Storage, this maybe the episode for you. Show notes are here http://wp.me/p4IvtA-Fu

When we spend all our time in the technology industry sometimes we can get a little close to it, too close to certain vendors or solutions and it can be very useful on occasion to step back and try too look at a wider picture. This week we try to do just that as I chat with technology journalist Hannah Breeze. Hannah is deputy editor at CRN (Channel Reseller News) and writes about the relationship between vendors, distributers and sellers of technology, or as it is known, the IT channel. Full Show Notes are here http://wp.me/p4IvtA-F9

Data sprawling all around us, certainly does not mean those managing IT are having fun! If you think about the kind of organisations many of us are a part of, then we understand what a critical asset our data is and how getting the best from it can give us real edge in our organisations field. But there is so much of it to manage, not just the production data, but the copies that we also have, backups, dev, test and QA, to name just a few. In this episode I speak with Rich Wallace of Catalogic Software and discuss the data sprawl challenge. Full show notes are here - http://wp.me/p4IvtA-Cc

In this episode we discuss whether working more closely with your peers in the IT industry has any benefit. Does it help you to do your job better? Does it help you develop your career? is there anything to gain? This week I'm joined by Amy Lewis host of the Geek Whisperers as we discuss those questions and find out about developing your IT superhero! Enjoy Show notes are here http://wp.me/p4IvtA-Bs

A couple of months ago, I was at a Tech User Group event and one of the presentations was intriguingly called "my life as a 12 year old software developer". I assumed that this was someone with 12 years of experience, what I hadn't expected was that our presenter was indeed just 12! Josh, better known to the tech community on twitter as @all_about_code is a smart young man, very passionate about developing and coding, but not just about writing bits of code for games, or entertainment projects, what is really impressive is his passion for developing solutions to problems that he has seen in his own day to day world. I hope you enjoy this 8 minute chat I had with Josh, about his passions for developing, why he likes tech community and some of the projects he's worked on. Enjoy the show. Full show notes are here http://wp.me/p4IvtA-At

The security of our data is a significant challenge for us all, as individuals and as organisations, big or small, keeping our data secure and maintaining privacy is no longer a nice to have, it's a necessity. In this episode, global data privacy expert Sheila Fitzpatrick joins me, Sheila is data privacy officer for global storage giant NetApp. In our chat, we discuss the difference between privacy and security, is the data security challenge a myth?, the impact of GDPR and how to start building robust data privacy solutions. Sheila is an attorney and renowned global expert in her field. She is truly passionate about the topic of privacy and shares some fantastic tips. So dive in and enjoy the episode. Show Notes are here... http://wp.me/p4IvtA-zD