Techzine TV podcast

Beyond storage: Everpure’s bet on data primacy

Mon, 07 Sep 2026 17:00:00 +0200

At its own Accelerate event, Everpure did several important strategic announcements. The company is expanding its platform on top of what it already has and is going to compete with quite a number of companies outside the storage space. To talk more about this, we talked to Prakash Darji, General Manager, Digital Experience at Everpure and hear more about why the company is expanding well beyond its storage roots.

The introduction of Universal Data Intelligence marks a strategic shift toward helping enterprises manage data independently of applications. Everpure makes this move driven by the architectural demands of AI agents, large language models, and the need for data primacy across the entire enterprise.

Darji walks through the two core components of Universal Data Intelligence. First there's Data Intelligence (formerly 1touch, acquired earlier this year), which catalogs, classifies, and contextualizes data across every source, from block/file/object storage to SaaS platforms like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Workday. The second component is Data Stream. This vectorizes relevant data and prepares it for AI consumption.

Together, Data Intelligence and Data Stream should form an end-to-end portfolio that also spans FlashBlade S and FlashBlade X for deployment at any scale. A key differentiator is Everpure's middleware approach. Rather than asking customers to move all their data into one ecosystem, the platform builds a knowledge graph of relationships and metadata, pointing back to original sources.

The conversation we have with Darji also gets into the competitive landscape. Because Everpure is going up against some formidable opponents. However, Darji argues that vendors like SAP, Salesforce, Databricks, and Snowflake are all pushing self-serving "give us your data" strategies that don't hold up in real-world multi-system environments. Everpure's answer is data primacy. This means treating data as the primary layer on which applications and AI agents operate, rather than the other way around. The interview closes with a forward-looking discussion on how new applications will be built on shared data schemas, with workflows replacing traditional application integrations.

• Universal Data Intelligence combines Data Intelligence and Data Stream for end-to-end AI readiness
• Data Intelligence catalogs and contextualizes data across all sources without replicating it
• Only ~15% of enterprise data is truly useful. Finding the relevant subset improves AI accuracy and reduces token costs
• Data Stream vectorizes data for AI consumption; integration with Data Intelligence ensures only relevant data is prepared
• A knowledge graph tracks relationships and lineage across systems without storing the underlying data
• Everpure's middleware approach contrasts with ecosystem-lock-in strategies from SAP, Salesforce, Databricks, and Snowflake
• Portworx remains app-centric and will need to evolve toward data primacy to fit the new strategy
• Future applications will be built as workflows on top of shared data schemas, not as isolated systems

0:35 Pure Storage's new direction beyond storage
1:15 Introducing Universal Data Intelligence
2:31 Finding the right data: relevance and primary sources
6:46 Context, ontologies and knowledge graphs
15:00 Data Stream: vectorization and data prep explained
16:30 Navigating a crowded competitive landscape
20:57 Data primacy: moving beyond data-centricity
22:51 The future: data schemas, workflows, and AI agents

Pega wants to make AI performance and cost predictable

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 11:00:00 +0200

At PegaWorld in Las Vegas, Techzine TV sat down with Don Schuerman, CTO and head of marketing at Pega, for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of enterprise AI. We discuss with him why simply dropping AI tools into existing workflows is not enough, and why enterprises must fundamentally reimagine their processes, teams, and application architectures to capture real value from AI.

Predictability is a key concept Schuerman returns to regulary. Predictability of the outcome of AI workflows, but definitely also of the cost. Accuracy is also something that needs to be determined properly when it comes to AI. As Schuerman points out during our conversation, an 85% AI accuracy rate is actually a 15% failure rate for a bank. If you compound agent errors, the failure rate will become exponentially worse. We also dig into the cost of tokens. Schuerman gets into how Pega's deterministic orchestration approach should keep AI spending controllable. It makes it possible to offer outcome-based pricing tied to workflows executed rather than tokens consumed.

Schuerman also walks us through the major evolution of Pega Blueprint. That used to be a rather basic ideation tool when it launched in April 2024, but is has been developed into a full design-to-build accelerator. On the new Customer Engagement Studio, he tells us that it brings next best action capabilities to marketing teams who don't have a data science background. The end of the conversation focuses on how to build a clear framework for measuring AI success: better processes, faster delivery, and uncompromised trust.

Key takeaways:
• Enterprises must reimagine workflows, processes, and team interactions, not just add AI tools
• AI accuracy means different things to different people
• Pega's strategy separates non-deterministic AI (design/build) from deterministic execution (run)
• Pega Blueprint now accelerates both the design phase and the build phase of application development
• Applications need to evolve from screen-and-database collections to process, agent, and knowledge collections exposed via MCP
• Outcome-based pricing charges per workflow executed, not per token burned
• Customer Engagement Studio wants to democratize next best action for non-data-science marketing teams
• Infinity 26 supports bring-your-own models, including Mistral for European clients

Chapters:
1:13 - Reimagining enterprise workflows and teams for AI
1:35 - The predictability problem: why 85% accuracy isn't enough
2:25 - Predictability of cost and the tokenomics challenge
3:32 - AI across design, build and run: a smarter architecture
4:41 - Pega Blueprint: from ideation tool to full build accelerator
8:53 - Rethinking application architecture: apps as MCP targets
11:41 - Outcome-based pricing: paying per workflow, not per token
15:49 - Customer Engagement Studio: next best action for all
18:31 - Infinity 26: platform flexibility and bring-your-own AI models
20:05 - Measuring success: better, faster, and trustworthy

Tonic Security wants to fight alert fatigue with context

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0200

David Warshavski, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Tonic Security, joins Techzine TV to talk about how his company is rethinking exposure management from the ground up. He can draw on decades of incident response experience defending Fortune 500 companies against nation-state threat actors from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, and has seen that cybersecurity isn't about finding vulnerabilities, but about prioritizing and fixing the right ones before a breach occurs. This sounds like common sense, but is actually quite rare in the cybersecurity industry.

Tonic Security wants to address the problem of alert overload by building a context engine that taps into both IT/security tools and collaboration platforms like Slack, Notion, Confluence, Teams, and ServiceNow. By extracting business operational context from unstructured data, Tonic can determine whether a vulnerability is exploitable. Not only that, it can also determin whether exploiting it would actually impact critical business processes. That last distinction should fundamentally change how security teams spend their time.

The platform acts as both an insight layer and an execution engine. It features the Tonic Mobilization Coordinator. This is an agentic workflow that can fully automate remediation in low-risk scenarios, Warshavski tells us. We also discuss how Tonic can replace legacy vulnerability scanners like Tenable, Rapid7, and Qualys, how it feeds context to DIY agentic workflows and SIEM solutions, and why opening up to an ecosystem is the company's next frontier.

Key takeaways:
• Most security breaches involve vulnerabilities that were already known but not properly prioritized or remediated in time
• CVE and CVSS scores alone do not reflect real business impact and create massive, misleading backlogs
• Tonic Security ingests unstructured data from collaboration tools to determine true business criticality of assets
• The platform differentiates between exploitability, reachability, and actual business blast radius
• The Tonic Mobilization Coordinator automates remediation in high-confidence, low-risk scenarios
• Security teams report significant time savings, reduced burnout, and freedom to focus on strategic priorities
• Tonic can displace legacy scanners and act as a context engine for other security tools via API and MCP server
• Fully on-premises deployment is available for heavily regulated industries

Chapters:
0:54 - David Warshavski's background in incident response
2:15 - Why Tonic Security was founded
5:32 - The prioritization problem and CVE noise
9:03 - Understanding business impact and context
17:17 - Tonic as a decision and execution engine
20:53 - Reducing alert fatigue and saving security teams time
27:44 - Where Tonic fits in your security stack
33:12 - Flexible deployment and next frontiers

No backdoors, no excuses: Cisco bets big on sovereign infrastructure

Mon, 13 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0200

At Cisco Live in Las Vegas, Techzine TV sat down with Gordon Thomson, president of EMEA at Cisco, for a wide-ranging conversation about the explosive pace of market change, and some of the most significant product and strategic moves Cisco has made in decades.

A major focus of the conversation is Cisco's Sovereign Critical Infrastructure (SCI) initiative. Launched in September 2025 with limited scope, SCI has since evolved into a formal legal framework giving customers guarantees around air-gapped operation, no backdoors, and continued product functionality even during embargoes or conflict. Thomson talks about how SCI has expanded to 13 product families, including data center, campus, wireless, collaboration, and Splunk on-prem, and how Cisco plans to allow customers to recertify existing installed-base devices as sovereign toward the end of the year, switching them from subscription-based to perpetual licenses.

The interview closes with a deep dive into Cisco Cloud Control, which Thomson, a 29-year Cisco veteran, describes as one of the most fundamental things the company has ever done. By unifying networking, security, and observability into a single AI-assisted platform with agentic automation, Cisco Cloud Control represents the culmination of years of incremental innovation. Currently rolling out in the US before expanding to Europe, it is a cloud-only service, a deliberate trade-off that Thomson acknowledges some customers will need to weigh carefully.

Key takeaways:
• Why Cisco shifted from cloud-first thinking to Sovereign Critical Infrastructure
• How SCI moved from a market signal to a binding legal framework with perpetual licenses
• The plan to recertify hundreds of millions of existing Cisco devices as sovereign
• The sovereignty debate: emotion, trust, chip-level demands, and the price customers are willing to pay
• AI's role in reducing interoperability costs for sovereign cloud deployments
• Cisco Cloud Control: unifying networking, security, and observability in one platform
• Why Cloud Control is cloud-only, and what that means for sovereign customers

Chapters:
1:08 - Navigating a world of generational change
3:06 - Cisco's cultural and organizational transformation
5:01 - Sovereign Critical Infrastructure: from intent to legal framework
8:50 - The sovereignty debate: emotion, trust, and chip-level demands
11:28 - 13 product families and recertifying existing sovereign devices
16:47 - AI, sovereign clouds, and on-prem dashboard trade-offs
20:14 - Cisco Cloud Control: networking and security unified

800V DC will power future AI data center infrastructure

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0200

Rob Bunger, Global Director of Data Center Solution Architecture at Schneider Electric, sits down with us to talk about why the industry is moving from traditional 48V AC to 800V DC power distribution for next-generation AI workloads. As AI racks scale from 150kW to potentially 1MW per rack, the current power architecture simply cannot deliver the required density without consuming all available rack space with cabling and power supplies.

The solution involves leveraging 800V DC technology (partly coming from the EV charging industry), deploying power through sidecar systems, and eventually centralized DC distribution. This shift addresses critical challenges including space constraints, safety requirements, and the need for live-swap capabilities in high-density environments. Bunger discusses real-world deployment timelines, with pilot projects expected in 2024, and explains how this represents a fundamental shift in data center power architecture.

Key takeaways:
• Why 48V AC power distribution cannot scale beyond current AI rack densities
• How 800V DC reduces cabling complexity and saves rack space
• The role of sidecar systems in transitioning to DC power
• Safety testing and breaker technology for high-voltage DC systems
• Timeline for commercial deployment of 800V DC infrastructure

Chapters:
0:15 - Introduction to 800V DC power systems
1:38 - Current 48V power architecture explained
3:21 - Power density challenges with AI racks
8:12 - Why 800V DC is the solution
12:12 - Sidecar deployment architecture
15:01 - Deployment timeline and future outlook
17:24 - The return to DC power distribution
19:01 - Safety considerations and testing

Atlassian's CDO on designing AI products that users trust

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 18:00:00 +0200

Charlie Sutton, Chief Design Officer at Atlassian, discusses the evolving role of design in the AI era. From managing non-deterministic experiences to controlling token costs, he shares insights on how Atlassian approaches AI product design with intention and structure.

Sutton explains why good AI design isn't about maximizing outputs but achieving meaningful outcomes. He reveals how Atlassian uses the teamwork graph, structured data, and design tokens to keep AI costs in check while maintaining quality. The conversation explores the tension between deterministic control and generative possibilities, and how context-rich work environments offer advantages over consumer applications.

Key takeaways:
• Why companies need chief design officers in the AI age
• How AI is changing both the tools and materials of design
• The importance of user agency over direct control in non-deterministic systems
• Strategies for managing AI token costs through structured data
• Design principles Atlassian applies to AI products
• Moving from AI experimentation to value-driven adoption
• Balancing the familiar with the novel in product experiences
• Why AI will become assumed, just like the internet

Chapters:
0:14 - What is a chief design officer?
2:34 - How AI is transforming design work
3:08 - Balancing control in AI-powered experiences
6:16 - Using the Teamwork Graph in design
8:27 - Managing AI token costs effectively
11:39 - Moving beyond the experimentation phase
13:48 - Principles for AI product design
19:18 - Balancing the familiar with the novel

AWS invests massively in AI: can it stay ahead of the pack?

Wed, 13 May 2026 20:00:00 +0200

Some time ago we sat down with Martin Elwin, Technology Director for Northern Europe at AWS, and talked about the massive infrastructure investments needed for AI adoption, of course also from AWS. However, simply buying GPUs doesn't deliver AI value. More is needed. We also talk about new on-prem offerings AWS introduced for organizations wanting to control their hardware while benefiting from managed services.

Other key topics include production AI deployments using Amazon Bedrock AgentCore for evaluations and drift detection, the importance of continuous testing in AI applications, and how AWS applies its own Amazon learnings to customer challenges in logistics, supply chain optimization, and regulated industries.

0:50 - AI driving infrastructure capacity needs
2:37 - Introducing AWS AI factories
3:49 - Getting business value from AI
10:13 - European sovereign cloud discussion
18:11 - Amazon Bedrock AgentCore for production AI
20:57 - Security agents and continuous testing

Edge AI and private 5G are made for each other

Tue, 05 May 2026 16:00:00 +0200

At NTT Upgrade 2026, Paul Bloudoff, senior director of Edge AI at NTT Data, discusses with us how edge computing, private 5G, and physical AI are transforming manufacturing operations. We talk about the symbiotic relationship between edge AI and private 5G connectivity, and focus on how manufacturers can achieve real-time insights and automation on the factory floor.

During our conversation, Bloudoff talks about real-world examples, including Cargill's deployment of private 5G across 50+ manufacturing facilities, and explains how NTT Data delivers full-stack solutions from sensors to cloud infrastructure. The conversation covers predictive maintenance, task verification through machine vision, and how foundation models can be trained with just 40 hours of video data instead of requiring months of preparation.

Key takeaways:
• Edge AI focuses on computing as close as possible to data sources in OT environments
• Private 5G enables low-latency, high-bandwidth connectivity for real-time manufacturing data
• Physical AI models can be deployed in weeks rather than years with modern foundation models
• Multiple use cases are typically needed to justify private 5G network deployments
• Safety and preventative maintenance are often the first use cases that enable adoption
• Full-stack solutions include sensors, connectivity, edge compute, algorithms, and managed services
• Partnerships with Nvidia, Qualcomm, and ISVs enable comprehensive edge AI solutions

Chapters:
1:35 - Defining the edge in enterprise environments
2:59 - Full stack edge AI solutions
4:54 - Private 5G and edge AI synergy
6:23 - Use cases for edge AI and physical AI
7:41 - Real-world private 5G deployments
13:36 - AI partnerships and ecosystem approach
13:59 - Measuring value and ROI
22:23 - Automation and the future of edge AI

Runtime security and the CISO challenge in the AI era

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:00:00 +0200

In this episode of Techzine TV from RSAC 2026 Conference, Conor Sherman, CISO in Residence at Sysdig, discusses the evolving role of security leaders in the age of AI and cloud-native infrastructure. Sherman shares insights on how CISOs are adapting to rapidly changing threat landscapes where attackers can compromise cloud environments in as little as eight minutes.

Key takeaways:
• The time from vulnerability disclosure to exploitation has collapsed to under 20 hours
• Runtime security has become critical as traditional posture management alone is insufficient
• Security leaders must balance dual mandates: transforming their own organizations while advising the business on AI adoption
• Threat actors are leveraging AI to accelerate attacks, requiring active defense mechanisms at the kernel level
• CISOs should demand proof from vendors through independent testing like Atomic Red Team

Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction to Sysdig and CISO in residence role
1:36 - The CISO mindset: excitement and anxiety
5:20 - Active defense and the department of no
8:56 - Runtime security as a priority
13:00 - The layered security challenge
16:47 - Ephemeral workloads and kernel-level visibility
19:51 - What CISOs should ask vendors

We need to use AI to govern agentic workforces, says Rubrik

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Deploying AI agents is not a good idea if there is no governance. That's why Rubrik launched its Agent Cloud, which is powered by what it calls SAGE. This stands for Semantic AI Governance Engine. At RSAC 2026 Conference, we had the chance to speak to Devvret Rishi, GM for AI at Rubrik, to hear all about framework that uses small language models to provide real-time governance over agent operations.

According to Rishi, SAGE moves beyond static rules to semantic policy enforcement. This allows organizations to express intent in natural language like "AI should not give financial advice." The platform learns from human feedback, surfaces policy violations with reasoning, and runs efficiently enough to monitor every agent interaction. As agentic workforces emerge, it is important to learn why AI-powered security is the only scalable approach to governing non-deterministic systems.

Key takeaways:
• Why conventional identity infrastructure can't handle agent-to-agent interactions
• How SAGE uses semantic understanding to enforce complex policies in real-time
• The three pillars of agent management: visibility, governance, and efficiency
• Why small language models are crucial for low-latency policy enforcement
• How human-in-the-loop learning prevents false positives without causing alert fatigue
• Real-world examples of agents circumventing disabled connectors
• Deployment options from cloud-hosted to air-gapped environments

Chapters:
2:14 - Why Rubrik tackles AI security
4:05 - The agentic AI challenge
4:16 - Three pillars of agent management
7:27 - Why agents are unpredictable
9:40 - Introducing SAGE framework
11:45 - Deploying small language models
12:02 - How SAGE learns from humans

Securing agentic AI is still about getting the basics right

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0200

Sam Curry, CISO of Zscaler, discusses the security implications of agentic AI workflows at RSAC 2026 Conference with us. We dig into the implications of AI agents on identity management, authentication frameworks, and security operations. Curry emphasizes the critical need for proper governance, zero trust architecture, and accountability as AI agents become the dominant form of interaction on the internet. But where do you start?

Key takeaways:
• Identity and runtime are the two critical security pillars for agentic AI
• AI agents will soon outnumber human interactions online
• Authentication, authorization, and authenticity verification are essential for agent security
• API security remains a fundamental challenge in the agentic era
• Zero trust principles help contain risk and manage agent sprawl
• Automation must account for intelligent adversaries to avoid predictability
• The future security workforce will blend human expertise with agent assistance

Chapters:
0:47 - Identity and runtime as security fundamentals
1:44 - Silicon-based intelligence and agent interactions
3:11 - Building authentication and authorization frameworks
9:51 - Zero trust architecture and governance
11:53 - API security and MCP protocol challenges
18:45 - Automation and adversarial security challenges
19:57 - The future of human-agent collaboration in security

The sovereignty trap: how NetApp navigates the new data borders

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0100

In this episode of Techzine TV, recorded at NetApp Insight Xtra in Eindhoven, Jeff Baxter, VP of Product Marketing at NetApp, discusses the company's approach to data sovereignty in Europe and beyond. With 18 years at NetApp, Baxter provides deep insights into how the company is addressing sovereignty concerns while building AI infrastructure at scale.

The conversation covers NetApp's sovereign cloud partnerships, the implications of working with major cloud providers like AWS while maintaining sovereignty principles, and the challenges of supply chain security. Baxter explains how NetApp's AFX platform and AI data engine enable organizations to build exascale AI infrastructure while maintaining full control over their data. The discussion also addresses the growing NAND flash shortage and how NetApp is helping customers optimize their storage infrastructure.

Key takeaways:
• Data sovereignty requires both data residency and control over accessibility
• NetApp partners with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud on sovereign cloud regions
• AFX platform enables exascale AI infrastructure with the same ONTAP APIs
• DX50 compute nodes provide GPU offload for data transformation without forcing NetApp into the compute business
• AI data engine reduces storage bloat by enabling vectorized embeddings without data duplication
• NAND flash shortages require strategic optimization rather than magic bullet solutions
• NetApp's 30+ year track record provides stability compared to startup alternatives

Wiz sees big impact of AI on runtime security, but also stresses old threats

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0100

In this episode of Techzine TV, recorded at Wiz's London Wizdom event, we explore the evolving landscape of cloud security with Amitai Cohen, responsible for threat research at Wiz. The discussion reveals why cloud security has become synonymous with all security practices and examines the most common misconfigurations organizations face.

Cohen explains how the responsibility for security is shared between vendors and customers, and why default configurations hold immense power in determining security postures. The conversation delves into supply chain security across package registries like npm and PyPI, open source maintainer responsibilities, and the emerging challenges of AI-powered attacks.

Key takeaways:
• Why IMDSv1 vs v2 in AWS represents typical cloud misconfiguration patterns
• How AI tooling built for labs is being deployed in production environments
• The rise of vibe coding and its security implications
• How attackers are using AI CLIs on developer machines
• Why runtime detection is becoming more critical than static malware analysis
• The importance of opinionated security defaults from vendors
• Supply chain security differences between major package registries

Chapters:
0:12 - Introduction to Wiz and cloud security
1:32 - Why cloud security is so fundamental
2:09 - Customer misconfigurations explained
6:18 - The power of secure defaults
6:44 - Open source security challenges
15:54 - AI creating new attack surfaces
17:39 - The importance of runtime detection

IFS builds an industrial AI ecosystem through partnerships

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0100

IFS unveils major AI partnerships at their first dedicated AI event, focusing on industrial and physical AI solutions. Christian Pedersen, CPO of IFS, discusses strategic collaborations with Anthropic for IFS Resolve, Boston Dynamics for robotic inspections, 1X Technologies for humanoid workforce integration, and Siemens for data center energy optimization.

Key insights include the three-level model intelligence architecture combining public LLMs, industry-specific private models, and customer data. The demonstration of Boston Dynamics' Spot robot showcases integrated workflow automation, while the One X humanoid partnership targets manufacturing and service repair applications. IFS emphasizes giving customers control over AI deployment timelines while maintaining rapid innovation cycles.

• Strategic AI partnerships focused on industrial solutions
• IFS Resolve co-developed with Anthropic for predictive maintenance
• Boston Dynamics Spot integration for autonomous inspections
• 1X Technologies humanoid robots targeting manufacturing by 2026
• Three-level intelligence architecture: public, private, and customer models
• Real-world impact: distiller William Grant saved $8.4M annually at one site
• MCP server architecture for efficient API management
• Physical AI addressing skilled labor shortages in utilities

Chapters:
0:12 - IFS AI event overview
1:27 - Anthropic partnership and IFS Resolve
2:19 - Boston Dynamics physical AI integration
5:58 - Three-level model intelligence architecture
15:02 - Real-world physical AI applications
17:25 - 1X humanoid robots for enterprise
21:29 - The future of human-robot interaction

AI Canvas gives troubleshooting a much-needed agentic push

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0100

Together with DJ Sampath, SVP of AI Software and Platforms at Cisco, we take a deep dive in the evolution from AIOps to Agentic Ops. The main focus of the discussion is on AI Canvas, Cisco's latest innovation for network troubleshooting. Unlike traditional chatbot-based AI tools, AI Canvas leverages a purpose-built deep network model trained on 30 years of human network engineering interactions, the company claims.

The conversation explores three core principles of agentic operations: bringing data across silos together, enabling multiplayer collaboration, and using purpose-built models for specific domains. Sampath details how AI Canvas aims to transform IT troubleshooting from a reactive, dashboard-heavy process into an intelligent, agent-driven experience that autonomously debugs and resolves network issues.

Key takeaways:
• Agentic Ops represents autonomous AI agents executing tasks end-to-end, not just chatbot interactions
• AI Canvas uses a deep network model trained on real human network engineering data, not just synthetic data
• Three pillars: unified data silos, multiplayer workflows, and purpose-built models
• AI Canvas creates dynamic, generative UI widgets that it populates based on troubleshooting context
• Starting with Meraki and Thousand Eyes integration, expanding to Cisco Cloud Control
• Future expansion to include third-party vendors through MCP servers

Chapters:
0:13 - Introduction
0:25 - Understanding AI Canvas
1:43 - From AIOps to Agentic Ops
6:43 - Three core principles of Agentic Ops
8:11 - Deep Network Model explained
9:24 - AI Canvas in action
13:07 - Automation and workflows
16:23 - Prerequisites and getting started

Risk operations: moving beyond vulnerability whack-a-mole

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 10:00:00 +0100

Alex Kreilein, VP of Product Security at Qualys, discusses the shift from vulnerability management to risk operations at the company's Risk Operations Conference (ROCon). He explains why focusing solely on vulnerability counts misses the point and how organizations can achieve better security outcomes through risk-based approaches.

Kreilein breaks down the practical challenges of the concept of the SBOM (Software Bill of Materials), introducing VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability Exchange) as the missing piece for effective vulnerability communication. He shares insights on developer friction points, the real reasons for vulnerability debt, and why test efficacy matters more than compliance checkboxes.

Key takeaways:
• Why risk operations differs fundamentally from vulnerability management
• How SBOMs become actionable with VEX status messages (affected, not affected, under investigation, fixed)
• The hidden cost of technical debt and fragile applications
• Real-world approaches to secure by design and developer productivity
• How agentic AI can help security teams focus on strategic outcomes
• Why compliance is a floor, not a ceiling for security

0:07 - Introduction to Qualys RiskOps Conference
0:33 - Understanding risk versus vulnerabilities
2:21 - The role of VP Product Security
3:03 - Software bills of materials explained
9:08 - VEX for vulnerability communication
10:51 - Agentic AI in security
13:38 - Building secure protocols
15:58 - Developer challenges with security

Workday acquires Pipedream: expanding AI integration platform

Mon, 22 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0100

We discuss Workday's acquisition of Pipedream with Gabe Monroy, SVP and GM Platform at Workday. Pipedream is an iPaaS platform competing with Zapier and Make. The acquisition supports Workday's ambitious AI strategy, enabling enterprise insights to trigger actions across 3,000+ third-party connectors. Monroy explains how Workday plans to maintain Pipedream as an open ecosystem while integrating it into their agentic AI vision. He also covers the recent Flowwise acquisition, Workday Go for SMB expansion, and the new EU sovereign cloud offering to meet European regulatory requirements.

The interview reveals Workday's accelerated innovation pace through strategic acquisitions and organic development, positioning the platform to compete with major enterprise SaaS players while addressing multi-platform agent governance challenges.

Key Takeaways:
• Pipedream will remain available to existing users and startups
• Workday is building agent capabilities using Pipedream connectors for use cases like automated performance review feedback
• The company is targeting SMB markets with Workday Go
• EU sovereign cloud addresses data residency and AI regulation requirements
• Workday is increasing development velocity through both acquisitions and internal improvements

Chapters:
0:59 - Pipedream acquisition announcement
3:29 - Integration and ecosystem strategy
6:36 - Managing agents across platforms
8:29 - Workday Go for SMB market
10:45 - Competition and innovation velocity
14:43 - EU sovereign cloud initiative
16:59 - Future acquisition plans

Keywords: Workday, Pipedream, iPaaS, agentic AI, enterprise integration, API automation, Flowwise, EU sovereign cloud, Workday Go, platform strategy, Peter Bayless, enterprise SaaS, agent orchestration, SMB expansion

"Not all clouds are created equal" in the AI era: how is OCI different?

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0100

Richard Smith, EVP and GM EMEA Cloud Infrastructure at Oracle, sits down with us during Oracle AI World to discuss the company's strategic move to go all-in on AI. Not only the name of its flagship event has changed from Cloud World to AI World, it is much more fundamental.

Our conversation covers, among other things, Oracle's AI data platform. One of the goals of this platform is to allow customers to use their own data for AI workloads without moving it. With data data sovereignty and security front and center nowadays, this is an important feature of Oracle's approach.

The conversation meanders from high-level strategic to rather fine-grained and specific. On the one hand we talk about the importance of database vectorization in the latest version of the Oracle database and about how Oracle handles scale-across workloads. On the other, we ask Smith questions about Oracle's massive infrastructure investments, including the Abilene data center project and Stargate initiatives, but also European sovereignty concerns, DORA compliance. Oracle being a key player in the 'AI bubble' discussion that is going on at the moment, we don't shy away from that discussion either.

NetSuite Next: Evan Goldberg on AI-centric business applications

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 12:00:00 +0100

At SuiteWorld in Las Vegas, Oracle NetSuite EVP and founder Evan Goldberg unveils NetSuite Next, the most significant transformation of the platform since its inception. This next-generation version, built on five years of development, centers around conversational AI and the powerful Ask Oracle assistant.

Goldberg explains how NetSuite Next leverages technologies such as SuiteAnalytics, Redwood user experience, and the Model Context Protocol to create an AI-first business application. The platform enables users to interact with structured business data through natural language, moving beyond traditional point-and-click interfaces. Suite Agents, built through prompt engineering, promise to revolutionize how business users automate workflows.

The interview explores integration with Oracle Fusion applications, the evolution from Text Enhance to comprehensive AI capabilities, and how NetSuite is inviting its 8,000 SuiteWorld attendees to help shape the future of AI-powered business software. Preview mode launches in just a few months, with general availability expected within 6-12 months.

0:10 - Meeting NetSuite founder Evan Goldberg
0:34 - Announcing NetSuite Next
2:08 - Five years in the making
3:48 - Ask Oracle assistant integration
5:16 - Evolution of generative AI
6:36 - Suite agents and prompt engineering
8:17 - Oracle Fusion apps integration

Keywords: NetSuite Next, Oracle NetSuite, Evan Goldberg, Ask Oracle, AI business applications, Suite Agents, generative AI, conversational AI, SuiteWorld, Oracle Fusion, ERP transformation, Model Context Protocol, prompt engineering, SuiteAnalytics, Redwood user experience

AI data centers: the road to 1 megawatt per rack explained

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0100

For this episode of the Techzine TV podcast, we discuss the evolution of data center architecture driven by AI workloads Steve Carlini, Chief Advocate for AI in Data Centers at Schneider Electric. From 5 kilowatts to 1 megawatt per rack, this conversation explores the technical challenges and innovations in this industry.

Key topics include the shift from CPU to GPU-based computing, the move to 800V DC power distribution, liquid cooling requirements, and how data centers are becoming grid stabilization assets. We also dig a bit deeper into things like microfluidic cooling, photonics integration, and why power densities are skyrocketing with each new GPU generation from Nvidia.

Learn how Schneider Electric collaborates with chip manufacturers to design power and cooling systems six months ahead of new GPU releases, why the water consumption issues that data centers have are a temporary thing, and how SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) could transform data center energy infrastructure.

Topics
0:00 - Introduction
1:33 - Road to 1 megawatt per rack
5:19 - Leap-frogging to 800V DC architecture
7:23 - Liquid cooling requirements
9:43 - Future of data center design
12:15 - Water usage and cooling loops
14:03 - SMRs and grid stabilization
17:01 - Microfluidic cooling technology
18:08 - Flexible power allocation models

AFX is NetApp's data platform of the future with integrated AI data prep

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 16:00:00 +0100

At NetApp Insight in Las Vegas, Gavin Moore, CTO for EMEA and Latin America, discusses NetApp's new AFX disaggregated storage platform and comprehensive AI data management strategy. Moore explains how the EU AI Act influences technology adoption, why 95% of AI projects fail due to poor data foundations, and how NetApp's unified data platform addresses these challenges.

Key topics include the AFX announcement combining massive scale-out with enterprise-grade capabilities, the data engine that brings AI to data rather than moving data to AI, and NetApp's partnership ecosystem with Cisco, Nvidia, Lenovo, and Intel. Moore also covers the importance of Keystone storage-as-a-service and how NetApp differentiates from closed ecosystem competitors through open partnerships.

Chapters:
0:53 - European AI regulation impact
6:53 - Data foundation for AI success
7:44 - AFX disaggregated storage announcement
9:29 - Data engine bringing AI to data
11:52 - Partnership strategy
14:13 - Keystone storage as a service

Why your SOC needs a ROC

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 14:00:00 +0100

Sumedh Thakar, CEO of Qualys, discusses the company's evolution from vulnerability management to comprehensive risk operations. He explains why organizations need a Risk Operations Center (ROC) separate from their SOC, focusing on proactive risk management rather than reactive breach detection.

Thakar talks about how Qualys is standardizing risk scores across vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and identities to give organizations a single view of their security posture. He also addresses the balance between prevention and detection, the role of AI in accelerating security operations, and why profitability matters as much as growth in cybersecurity.

Key Takeaways:
• ROC focuses on proactive risk management while SOC handles reactive breach detection
• Standardized risk scoring helps organizations prioritize what actually matters to their business
• AI and agentic automation can help defenders match attacker speed
• Consolidation is possible without abandoning best-of-breed tools
• Risk management ultimately comes down to money: potential loss vs. mitigation cost

Chapters:
0:05 - ROCon Conference Introduction
0:27 - What is ROC (Risk Operations Center)
1:52 - Why ROC is different from SOC
3:43 - Rethinking prevention and detection
4:59 - Standardizing risk scores
8:54 - True Risk Score and prioritization
14:15 - Qualys Business strategy
16:05 - AI and agentic automation in security

Interview recorded at Qualys ROCon 2024

Atlassian CTO on realistic AI: Rovo, data privacy & adoption

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 11:00:00 +0100

This episode of the Techzine TV Podcast comes to you from Atlassian Team Europe, Atlassian's annual event in Barcelona. Sander and Atlassian CTO Rajeev Rajan discuss the company's pragmatic approach to AI. A key part of that is that Atlassian maintains strict data privacy principles. That is, it doesn't train its AI on customer data. Still, it aims to deliver powerful AI capabilities through Rovo.

Rajan explains how the Teamwork Graph technology connects work data across 80+ applications, enabling permission-aware search and intelligent agents. He addresses the reality that only 4% of companies see company-wide AI benefits today, emphasizing the need for both C-level commitment and grassroots experimentation. The conversation covers AI model selection, data sovereignty, automation strategies, and why Atlassian focuses on end-user scenarios rather than building LLMs.

Key takeaways:
• Atlassian doesn't train AI on customer data - they're custodians, not owners
• The Teamwork Graph connects data across 80+ apps with permission-aware access
• Rovo offers three capabilities: search, chat, and autonomous agents
• AI adoption requires both top-down goals and bottom-up experimentation
• Only 4% of companies currently see broad AI benefits
• Atlassian uses multiple models (OpenAI, Claude, open source) for different use cases
• Data residency available in 11 regions for sovereignty requirements

Chapters:
0:09 - Introduction to Atlassian's AI Strategy
1:06 - Rovo AI Platform Overview
2:16 - Data Privacy and Responsible AI
3:09 - The Teamwork Graph Technology
9:04 - AI Adoption Challenges in Enterprises
11:16 - Top-Down vs Bottom-Up AI Strategy
15:17 - The Future Impact of AI
17:00 - Background and Building World-Class Teams

From MSP to MIP: Pax8's vision for Managed Intelligence Providers

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 17:00:00 +0200

In this conversation, Rob Rae from Pax8 and Sander from Techzine TV discuss the evolving landscape of managed service providers (MSPs) in relation to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI).

The conversation highlights the critical role of cybersecurity in the MSP market and the increasing importance of AI as a tool for efficiency and productivity.

The discussion also touches on the challenges of data privacy in Europe and the transition from traditional MSPs to Managed Intelligence Providers (MIPs). Rae emphasizes the need for MSPs to adapt to these changes and leverage new technologies to stay competitive.

AI is changing the MSP game, are you ready for it? Watch this episode of Techzine TV.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Pax8 and Market Trends
03:06 The Impact of Cybersecurity on MSPs
06:07 AI's Role in Managed Services
09:00 Pax8's Marketplace and AI Integration
11:47 Navigating Data Privacy in Europe
14:48 The Evolution from MSP to MIP

Workday CTO reveals AI agent strategy and billion-dollar acquisitions

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0200

Peter Bailis, the new CTO of Workday, discusses the company's ambitious AI agent strategy and recent major acquisitions including Sana, Paradox, and Flowise. He explains Workday's vision to become the "agent system of record" - extending their people and money management platform to govern AI agents across enterprises.

Bailis reveals how Workday plans to compete with tech giants like Salesforce, ServiceNow, and SAP by leveraging their unique position as the system of record for 75 million users. The conversation covers their open data lake strategy, enterprise search ambitions, and how recent acquisitions will accelerate their AI platform vision.

Key insights include Workday's approach to AI agent governance, the technical challenges of enterprise search, and why the company believes they can win the "experience layer" battle in enterprise AI. Bailis also discusses the evolution of agent protocols and Workday's strategy to enable customers to build AI applications on their platform.

Key Takeaways:
- Workday introduces "agent system of record" concept for AI governance
- Three major acquisitions: Sana ($1B), Paradox, and Flowise explained
- Strategy to compete with Salesforce, ServiceNow, and SAP in AI platform space
- Open data lake with zero-copy architecture and Apache Iceberg format
- Vision for enterprise search as the future front door for knowledge workers
- Discussion of agent protocols (MCP, A2A, OAuth) and delegation permissions

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction and agent system of record concept
2:47 Managing AI agents across multiple platforms
4:32 Standards and protocols for agent management
6:45 Three major acquisitions strategy explained
10:23 Competition with enterprise giants discussion
14:38 David vs Goliath analysis and efficiency focus
17:32 Open data platform and integration strategy
21:47 Future of enterprise search and user interfaces

#Workday #AIAgents #EnterpriseAI #TechStrategy #SaaS #DigitalTransformation #AIGovernance #EnterpriseSearch #WorkdayRising #TechzineTV

Navigating VMware's transformation under Broadcom

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 09:00:00 +0200

A lot has changed since Broadcom acquired VMware. With the launch of VCF 9, it's safe to say that VMware's strategy entirely revolves around VMware Cloud Foundation. We sit down with Prashanth Shenoy, CMO and VP Marketing for VMware Cloud Foundation at Broadcom, to explore how VCF has become the cornerstone of VMware's product strategy under Broadcom ownership. Shenoy offers candid insights into the company's business model transformation and future direction, particularly regarding AI integration and its hybrid cloud strategy. We also ask the hard questions about the choices Broadcom made and the effect it has on mid-market and smaller customers.

We dive deep into how VMware's flagship platform (VCF) has evolved to meet the changing demands of modern enterprises.

Shenoy pulls back the curtain on Broadcom's strategic realignment of VMware's sprawling portfolio, which once included a staggering 9,000 SKUs, so complex that partners needed six months of training to create customer proposals. The simplification strategy centers on three key pillars: transitioning to a subscription model, consolidating the product portfolio around VCF as the central platform, and standardizing go-to-market approaches to ensure consistency across all customer touchpoints.

For organizations struggling to determine where to place their workloads, VCF now offers unprecedented flexibility with a "buy once, deploy anywhere" model that spans on-premises environments, colocation facilities, cloud service providers, and hyperscaler infrastructure. Shenoy states that 70% of enterprises are now considering or actively repatriating workloads from public cloud environments due to concerns over cost transparency, security considerations, and data sovereignty requirements. Particularly as AI initiatives move from pilot to production.

The integration of private AI capabilities directly into VCF represents a significant strategic advantage, allowing organizations to maintain control over their proprietary data while leveraging the full power of generative AI. This development, coupled with VCF's unified platform for both traditional VM and containerized Kubernetes workloads, positions it as the foundation for the next generation of enterprise applications.

Discover how VMware Cloud Foundation can help you build a modern private cloud with the security, control, and cost predictability your organization demands while enabling cutting-edge AI and Kubernetes workloads at scale. Listen to Techzine Talks!

Connected from curb to gate at Harry Reid International Airport

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 19:00:00 +0200

Harry Reid International Airport is a special airport, with some very specific needs. The network infrastructure is very important. That makes it possible to offer travelers a good experience, from curb to gate. During HPE Discover, we sat down with Rishma M. Khimji, the airport's Chief Information and Technology Officer, to talk about how special it is exactly.

Harry Reid International Airport is the largest largest 100% common-use airport in the United States. That means that Khimji and her team have a lot of control over its infrastructure and what runs on it. That's a good thing, because that means they can go for a unified approach, from gate assignments to passenger flow, without being constrained by airline-specific systems that plague other major hubs.

At the core of the airport is an extensive HPE infrastructure featuring over 3,000 HPE Aruba access points delivering connectivity throughout the terminals. This network does more than just provide free Wi-Fi; it also generates valuable analytics about passenger movement patterns. That's very valuable data for things like retail placement, bottleneck reduction, and service enhancements. The airport's segmented network architecture ensures casino gaming operations remain completely separate from other systems.

As Khimji explains, "The airport is the first and last look of the city." It should reflect that in terms of what travelers can do and experience. Listen to this new episode how Harry Reid International Airport does this and how it intends to do that in the future.

The browser is the next security frontier: how do we secure it?

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 11:00:00 +0200

Browsers have become an endpoint, and have also become an attack vector and target for attackers. The problem is that your EDR isn't keeping up. In this conversation with Vivek Ramachandran, founder and CEO of SquareX, we dive deep into the emerging world of Browser Detection and Response (BDR) and why it matters for modern security teams.

Drawing from his 24 years in cybersecurity, Ramachandran explains why traditional security approaches are failing to protect the browser. The browser has effectively become an application platform rather than just a simple web viewer, so it is important to protect it. "EDRs currently have zero visibility into the browser," Ramachandran notes. "They primarily look at file and process, but by looking at a browser's memory, it's almost impossible to reconstruct what is happening at the application layer."

This blind spot creates vulnerabilities as organizations move to cloud-native operations, Ramachandran says. While SASE and SSE solutions claim to secure browser traffic, they introduce latency and are easily circumvented by modern attack techniques like "last mile reassembly," where attackers create malicious files entirely client-side, invisible to cloud inspection.

According to Ramachandran, Squarex takes a different approach from "enterprise browsers" that create user friction. Instead, BDR works with existing browsers through extensions, using WebAssembly to run detection algorithms at near-native speeds within the browser context. This provides complete visibility into attack chains and protects corporate identities, one of the primary targets nowadays.

Whether browser security emerges as a standalone category or becomes integrated into existing security tools, remains to be seen. Ramachandran is adamant that browsers represent an under-protected attack surface that needs immediate attention. Listen now to learn more about how "shifting up, not left" is necessary according to him and SquareX.

Slack is evolving into a work operating system

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0200

Work feels broken. We're drowning in too many systems, endless context switching, and information scattered across countless platforms. But what if the solution isn't adding another tool, but transforming one you already use into the glue that binds everything together?

In this conversation with Peter Dooling, Chief Customer Officer at Slack, we explore how Slack is evolving from a messaging platform into what they call a "work operating system." Dooling reveals how customer feedback has shaped Slack's transformation, particularly the groundbreaking "Salesforce Channels" that connect Salesforce's structured data records with the rich contextual conversations happening in Slack.

For organizations concerned that Slack may become too Salesforce-centric, Dooling stresses its commitments to open integration. Their approach to enterprise search stands apart from competitors, he further states. Rather than pulling you away from your workflow, Slack aims to federate searches across your systems while maintaining strict security protocols, bringing information to you instead of making you hunt for it.

And then there's Slack's understanding of communication patterns. Their Huddles feature serves a fundamentally different purpose than traditional video conferencing, Dooling states. It is designed for those quick, contextual conversations that drive business forward.

Looking ahead, Slack's three-pronged AI strategy wants to transform work: Slack AI enhances the core platform's intelligence, Salesforce Agent integration brings specialized AI assistants into channels, and an open ecosystem supports third-party AI applications. Throughout it all, Slack's core philosophy remains focused on capturing and maintaining attention. That's the scarcest resource in our distracted work lives.

Oracle Database@AWS: best of both worlds?

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0200

The announcement of Oracle Database@AWS during last year's Oracle CloudWorld came as quite a shock to many people. Recently, this new offering by Oracle and Amazon Web Services (AWS) became generally available.

We had a comprehensive discussion with Oracle VP of Mission Critical Database Technologies Ashish Ray about what this offering means for Oracle, but more importantly also for joint AWS and Oracle customers.

Is it a new milestone in cloud database architecture? And will it deliver on its promises of unprecedented performance and integration capabilities? Listen to the discussion we had with Ray to hear his answers to these and many other questions.

Replatforming virtualized workloads: Do your VMs need a new home?

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0200

VM replacement has gotten very real over the past couple of years. During KubeCon earlier this year we had a chat about this with Venkat Ramakrishnan, VP and GM for Portworx at Pure Storage. How are organizations responding to market disruptions in virtualization?

The days of tire-kicking Kubernetes and containers are firmly behind us. Today's enterprise customers are running tens of thousands of Kubernetes nodes in production environments. Some of them operate over 250,000 containers simultaneously. This shift coincides with significant pricing changes in the VMware ecosystem following Broadcom's acquisition. It creates what Ramakrishnan calls "a compelling event" that's accelerating containerization journeys.

Migrate or modernize?

Organizations need to decide: will they migrate to another VM-based platform or are they going to modernize with Kubernetes? Many are choosing the latter, Ramakrishnan tells us. They recognize that if retraining is necessary anyway, it makes more sense to invest in learning a platform representing the future of infrastructure. A platform like KubeVirt enables developers to run VMs and containers side-by-side on Kubernetes. This is important, as it provides a unified control plane that eliminates the need for separate teams with distinct skillsets.

That said, not all workloads will move to containers. Legacy applications with significant "code gravity" will continue running as VMs for the foreseeable future. Organizations need the tools and platforms to manage this hybrid reality effectively.

With proper planning and the right partners, replatforming is achievable for enterprises of all sizes. The idea is that this gives them the foundations to support innovation for decades to come while gaining the flexibility to operate across any cloud environment.

Listen to this new Techzine Talks episode now!

Amazon S3: almost 20 years old, but still very modern

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0200

Amazon S3 is the oldest service in the catalogue of Amazon Web Services (AWS). We sat down with Andy Warfield, Distinguished Engineer at AWS, to talk about the 19-year journey of Amazon S3 from simple backup solution to sophisticated data foundation.

Warfield talks about how S3 began as essentially "a storage locker across town" for archival purposes, before customers discovered its REST architecture made it capable of handling massive parallel workloads. This unexpected advantage fueled S3's growth beyond unstructured data into analytics and AI domains. The introduction of columnar formats like Parquet and open table formats like Iceberg transformed what was possible, culminating in AWS's recent launch of S3 Tables.

Besides the general direction Amazon S3 has taken and takes, we also talk about other challenges related to current developments. One of them is how AWS and Amazon S3 handles the bloat that is associated with vectorizing databases for use in AI use cases. This challenge is driving significant innovation at AWS to optimize storage for the AI era.

All in all, Amazon S3 has had to evolve continuously to mirror the broader developments in how businesses approach data - from static archives to dynamic, queryable assets powering real-time decision making.

The final topic we talk about is the future of Amazon S3. Warfield wants it to be "pulled closer to application code" with improved performance and more flexible access methods to ensure customers don't have to choose upfront how they'll use their data.

We are slightly biased of course, but we think this is a very good episode of Techzine Talks, and highly recommend anyone interested in the topic to listen to it. Tune in now!

A Ferrari needs brakes, innovation needs cybersecurity

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:00:00 +0200

The cybersecurity landscape has transformed in recent years, with managed security services gaining widespread acceptance as organizations face the realities of today's threat landscape. In this conversation with Erik van Buggenhout, responsible for managed security services at NVISO, we delve into the practical challenges that have made outsourcing security operations a necessity rather than just an option for many businesses.

Erik shares an analogy that illustrates how we should think about cybersecurity: "It's like the brakes on your Ferrari. It gives you the confidence to accelerate because you know you can stop when needed." This perspective shifts security from being viewed as an obstacle to an enabler that allows organizations to move faster while managing risks effectively. That is the idea, at least.

We discuss the fundamental reasons organizations struggle with security basics. Think of things like the proliferation of tools but also the challenges of prioritizing foundational controls like asset management and patch management. Despite vendors' promises of next-generation solutions, many security teams find themselves drowning in alerts while they can't see the forest for the trees.

The conversation also touches on the rapid evolution of AI in cybersecurity. While approximately 75% of security alerts are already handled automatically through simple playbooks, agentic AI presents both tremendous opportunities and significant risks. There's a clear role to play here for the concepts of transparency and explainability, and, as a result, trust. Agent-to-agent interactions will only make this more important.

We also try and be as practical as possible for our listeners. How do you build effective defense-in-depth strategies that combine automation, AI, and human expertise in a layered approach? He challenges the notion that humans are the "weakest link" and instead advocates for creating security controls that users can trust.

Listen to this latest episode of Techzine Talks now!

Is private 5G finally delivering on its enterprise promises?

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 23:00:00 +0200

Smart manufacturing has many facets. There's the convergence of IT and OT, and the security challenges that brings. In recent years we've seen Private 5G coming up, at least as a topic of conversation if not in actual adoption. Finally, the edge environments of those factories recently fell under the spell of AI too.

At Mobile World Congress earlier this year, we talked to Parm Sandhu, Group Vice President of Enterprise Products and Services at NTT Data, about all of these topics. What does Edge AI bring us and is private 5G finally delivering on years of promises? And what about the security issues associated with the convergence of IT and OT? And finally, how are all these developments interconnected?

Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks now and let us know what you think.

Behind Cisco's billion-dollar AI investment strategy

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200

A little bit of a change of pace this week, as we talk about how big technology companies invest in other companies and what underpins their acquisition strategy. During Cisco Live we had the opportunity to sit down with Derek Idemoto, SVP of Corporate Development and Cisco Investments.

The pace at which Cisco launches products and services in the past four to five years is quite stunning. Especially when compared to the rather pedestrian pace at which the company moved forward prior to 2020, the difference is striking.

Cisco's strategy has never been to build everything from scratch, at least not in the past three of its four decades. It has done many acquisitions and also invests in a lot of companies. Sometimes investing turns into acquiring after a while, sometimes it doesn't.

In our chat with Idemoto, we talk about the rationale behind Cisco's approach. We specifically touch on the billion-dollar AI Investment Fund it set up last year. We dive into how Cisco determines when to invest and when to buy, what that means for the rest of the organization, what are some interesting areas of investment at the moment, and much more.

The work that Idemoto and his team are doing is a crucial part of how Cisco operates. It is therefore a crucial part to understand if one is to understand Cisco properly. If only because it means that the statement by Cisco President and CPO Jeetu Patel that Cisco is "the world's largest startup" actually holds water. It can move surprisingly quickly because of all of the investments and acquisitions, even though these also put a strain on the own organization.

Listen to this - in our humble opinion - interesting conversation now.

Agentic AI is about much more than "sprinkling LLM fairy dust"

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 13:00:00 +0200

During PegaWorld, the annual conference where Pegasystems outlines its vision and has customers share their stories, we sat down with Pega CTO Don Schuerman and talked about what agentic AI means in the fields they're active in.

The Pega CTO sees a tendency in the industry to label anything with "a sprinkle of large language model fairy dust" as agentic AI. That's not how he and Pega look at it. He talks about a more comprehensive vision: true agentic AI designs, automates, executes, and optimizes the workflows and decisions that businesses depend on. This isn't about deploying thousands of agents indiscriminately—it's about implementing a few strategic, pragmatic agents that drive substantive business outcomes.

In this episode of Techzine Talks, we discuss the various GenAI and agentic components of Pega's platform, and how they interact to make agentic AI appealing to its customers. Pega Blueprint, a workflow designer, is an important part of it, but Pega will also add agentic capabilities to its appdev environment, and will introduce an Agentic Process Fabric to tie all of it together in an orderly and most importantly well-governed fashion.

According to Schuerman, it's a mistake to assume that underlying architecture is irrelevant in an AI-driven world. Listen to the podcast episode to hear why he thinks that is, and to hear much more about Pega's agentic vision, but more broadly also about agentic AI in general and how this relates to deployments in more challenging environments.

The Atlassian platform is a Lego box of collaboration tools

Mon, 26 May 2025 13:00:00 +0200

What happens when you study how millions of teams work and collaborate over 20 years? You learn a lot and can use those insights to help organizations operate more effectively. That's what Atlassian wants to achieve with its "System of Work" - not a product you can buy, but a framework for bringing teams together in tech-driven organizations.

Anu Bharadwaj, Atlassian's President, explains this approach to us and to you. It is built on four essential pillars: aligning work to goals, planning at scale, unleashing knowledge across silos, and making AI a natural teammate. The idea is that it all works like a box of Lego.

When we first heard about System of Work, we thought it all sounded a bit esoteric and wondered how concrete it is. As it turns out, it is very fundamental to how Atlassian approaches the market, and therefore also fundamental for (potential) customers. Even though the separate components may not change that much, the way they integrate and interact with each other will (and has already changed with the launch of several Collections).

Deeper integrations usually also have a lock-in ring to them. Bharadwaj is adamant that is not the case here, when we ask her about that.

Listen to the episode now to hear all about System of Work and what that means for tools like Jira, Confluence, Loom and Rovo AI agents and by extension for the market as a whole.

How to balance cybersecurity and innovation at an acceptable risk

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:00:00 +0200

The security landscape is transforming rapidly as AI becomes embedded throughout enterprise technology stacks. Organizations (and security vendors) need to fundamentally rethink how they approach things like security governance and risk management. That's one of the pieces of advice Jonathan Trull, CISO at Qualys, has during the conversation we had at RSAC 2025 Conference. Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks to learn more about what he had to say.

Trull draws from his experience overseeing both corporate security and product security engineering when he highlights the gap between AI implementation and security considerations. While organizations race to adopt generative AI tools, few have developed comprehensive frameworks for securing them properly.

According to Trull, many conversations tend to focus on one thing when it comes to securing AI. "Everyone tends to focus on how to prevent sensitive data going into SaaS, AI-enabled products," he says. "But what about when you're building your own LLM models? When do you do data masking? How do you incorporate security in the engineering lifecycle?" These architectural security questions deserve answers too.

At the end of the day, cybersecurity is about creating a balance. A balance between innovation and cybersecurity, and the risks that organizations are willing to take. This conversations gives you some good insights into how to tackle this. Tune in now!

Rise of AI transforms CISO's role: from technical to strategic input

Fri, 16 May 2025 14:00:00 +0200

AI has in interesting side-effect for the role of the CISO, says Zscaler CISO Sam Curry when we sit down with him during RSAC 2025 Conference in San Francisco earlier this month. Their input becomes more important. That's good news for CISOs. Or is it?

Security leaders haven long been judged and consulted along the technical axis. The (rapid) rise of AI means that dynamic had to change, Curry says. It had and still has an effect on cybersecurity in general that we haven't seen before, according to him. CISOs contribute to strategic discussions more and more. In fact, they're among the first to be consulted now.

Besides discussing the role of the CISO in 2025 and beyond, we draw parallels between challenges and pitfalls that beset organizations during the cloud boom, and discuss the implications of them in the AI era.

There are still so many things to look at from a security perspective when it comes to AI. That became clear again from Zscaler's survey, which showed that AI was simultaneously 2024's most adopted technology (growing over 600%) and most blocked technology. This paradox highlights the complex risk-reward calculations security leaders must navigate.

The last big topic we discuss is more forward-looking. What are the implications of the quantum era on how organizations need to look at cybersecurity? Post-quantum cryptography should be on organizations' radar. Is that the case though? What can organizations do now to prepare for this? And do they even have the resources to tackle this, while still tackling the current big wave of challenges?

Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks and let us know what you think.

AI agents have an identity too: how do we secure them?

Tue, 13 May 2025 11:00:00 +0200

The security landscape is transforming rapidly as AI agents join our workforce, creating an urgent need to rethink how we approach identity protection. When 80% of breaches already stem from compromised identities, how do we secure virtual employees who can't use traditional multi-factor authentication?

We sat down with David Bradbury, Chief Security Officer at Okta, to discuss this topic. This is a very important discussion to have, because traditional security approaches fall short when protecting non-human identities.

We ask Bradbury what organizations need to do to protect and secure their modern environments better from an identity perspective. He outlines the essential building blocks organizations need to implement. These have to do with token authentication, fine-grained authorization, and asynchronous workflows. We also talk about the role of the human in this new framework.

Looking toward solutions, Bradbury highlights promising developments like Google's Device-Bound Session Credentials, which cryptographically bind sessions to specific devices. He also emphasizes the need for broader adoption of security standards across the SaaS ecosystem and calls on CISOs to demand better security features from vendors.

All in all, a lot of work needs to be done when it comes to protecting and securing identity moving forward in an agentic world. The first order of business is to understand what the challenges are that AI agents pose. Listening to this podcast episode is a good start, as we discuss all the fundamentals.

Cyber resilience needs to move beyond 'not if, but when'

Wed, 07 May 2025 18:00:00 +0200

What if our fundamental approach to security needs rethinking? In this conversation with Tia Hopkins, Chief Cyber Resilience Officer at eSentire, we explore why resilience has become the industry's latest buzzword—and why it demands more than just lip service.

One of the mantras Hopkins doesn't particularly care for when it comes to cyber resilience is the "not if, but when" mentality that dominates security discussions every now and again. Her suggestion is to shift more from mere acceptance to acknowledgment. This may sound like a subtle distinction, but is still very powerful. It keeps teams vigilant rather than resigned.

At the heart of our discussion is a critical examination of the industry's pivot from prevention to detection and response. While this shift made sense as organizations adopted cloud environments and borderless networks, Hopkins argues it's time to correct this imbalance through comprehensive exposure management. This approach extends beyond traditional vulnerability management to encompass people, processes, and technologies, all informed by business context and threat intelligence.

For security leaders wrestling with budget constraints while trying to balance prevention and response investments, Hopkins offers practical advice: eliminate technology duplication, maximize existing capabilities, and frame security investments in business terms rather than technical specifications. Most importantly, she advocates moving beyond annual risk assessments toward dynamic, continuous evaluation that reflects the reality of today's threat landscape.

There are a lot of really good insights in this conversation. Listen to this episode now.

Cisco wants to use AI to defend AI at machine scale

Thu, 01 May 2025 16:00:00 +0200

Cisco made a swath of announcements at RSAC 2025 Conference. Unsurprisingly, several of them had something to do with AI. We sat down with Cisco's Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel to have a conversation about where he and Cisco thinks things are going.

When we spoke to Patel last year, he was quite optimistic. The use of AI in security solutions was going to mean that the defenders would, at least temporarily, get the upper hand.

Between last year and now, a lot has happened, especially in the field of AI. The big question now is how to secure the use of AI in organizations. That's what many of the companies at RSAC Conference focused on this year. With the agentic wave of AI upon is, and new things like Agent-to-Agent and the MCP protocol that come with it, this is a very important challenge to tackle.

To us, two things stood out in Cisco's announcements this week. One was the deepening of the partnership with ServiceNow, with an integration between Cisco AI Defense and ServiceNow SecOps. The other was the launch of Foundation AI and an open-source AI security model. Patel frames the latter innovation as follows: "You don't go to your dentist for heart surgery. Domain knowledge matters in AI and models."

Apart from the topics above, we also discuss the agentic future of security itself. This is important, because that enables defenders to elevate security from human to machine scale. That is especially important when facing machine-scale attacks. As Patel notes, "The models are going to get smarter... and as they get smarter, you'll find a tremendous amount of autonomy injected into workflows."

This and much more in this latest episode of Techzine Talks on Tour.

Humans aren't the weakest link, they're a critical security layer

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0200

Security awareness is a thing of the past. Rather, the term and what it stands for are things of the past. It just doesn't cover the actual challenge organizations need to address. We need to be talking about Human Risk. At least, that's what Perry Carpenter, Chief Human Risk Management Strategist at KnowBe4, thinks we should do. We were happy to oblige and learn more about it and ask him all kinds of questions about it too.

When Carpenter says "awareness doesn't change behavior," he's not being controversial. He's sharing an insight that has reshaped how security professionals approach human risk. We meet him at RSAC Conference in San Francisco, where we discuss why we must move beyond traditional security awareness toward a comprehensive approach to human behavior.

Drawing from over a decade of experience, Carpenter challenges the notion that humans are the "weakest link" in security. Instead, he positions people as "a critical layer within the security stack". It's a layer that deserves proper support rather than blame when things go wrong. When a phishing attack succeeds, it means multiple technical controls have already failed, from secure email gateways to endpoint protection. The problem isn't human weakness but insufficient defense-in-depth.

Impact of AI on Human Risk

This being 2025, we talk about AI too of course. We examine how AI is transforming the threat landscape. While deepfakes and AI-generated content grab headlines, Carpenter emphasizes that we should continue to focus on the underlying psychology: "Every deceptive attack is a narrative attack" designed to manipulate emotions and beliefs. The difference now is scale and personalization. Attackers can create "individualized cognitive malware" targeting specific psychological vulnerabilities of each victim.

Looking toward the future, we discuss with Carpenter how agentic AI will transform both offense and defense in cybersecurity. These AI systems, functioning like team members with specialized capabilities, promise to deliver just-in-time training and personalized security guidance. However, they also introduce new risks. That is, AI agents themselves can be manipulated, compromised, or turned into insider threats. Organizations will need thoughtful control mechanisms and safety valves to navigate this new frontier.

This discussion is not only meant to warn security leaders, or a vision of a very bleak future. It also aims to provide them with a roadmap and some food for thought to avert such a bleak future. By combining technical controls with behavioral science, organizations can build more resilient security cultures that recognize human complexity without sacrificing protection. Listen now to get insights into how your security program must evolve to address the full spectrum of human risk, also when it comes to AI.

Three decades of Check Point (and cybersecurity): a conversation with Gil Shwed

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0200

Today we have a rather special guest on Techzine Talks on Tour. During Check Point's recent CPX conference in Vienna, we sat down for a 20-minute conversation with Gil Shwed, co-founder of Check Point and widely regarded as the inventor of the firewall. We asked him about the past 30+ years, the present and about the future for Check Point and the broader cybersecurity industry.

Gil Shwed, co-founder and now Executive Chairman of Check Point Software Technologies, talks about how he conceptualized network security technology in 1990, years before the World Wide Web existed. He recognized early that internet connectivity would transform global communication, but also that it would create security challenges.

"We actually started a new industry, the cybersecurity industry, not just network security," according to Shwed. He describes Check Point as "probably the number one company that was founded solely around the internet that has survived up to these days, 32 years later." This longevity is particularly remarkable in technology, where few companies maintain market leadership for decades.

Shwed now transitions to his role as Executive Chairman alongside new CEO Nadav Zafrir, We talk about how the new CEO is different from Shwed and not different at the same time and what the new CEO may have in store for the company. However, Shwed is still acutely aware that a vendor like Check Point doesn't control the pace of innovation. "It's the attackers that are setting the stage," he notes. Cybersecurity will always be challenging and relevant. That is true three decades after Shwed and Check Point helped create it, but is most likely still the case three decades from now.

Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now.

MuleSoft meets AI: Powering the Agentforce revolution

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0200

What happens when integration meets artificial intelligence? In this conversation with Andrew Comstock, Senior Vice President and General Manager of MuleSoft, we explore the evolving role of integration in powering the AI revolution at Salesforce and beyond.

Despite being acquired by Salesforce six years ago and growing into a multi-billion dollar enterprise, MuleSoft maintains its platform-agnostic DNA. Surprisingly, Salesforce isn't even MuleSoft's number one integration target (though it ranks a close second), demonstrating the platform's continued commitment to serving diverse enterprise ecosystems.

The conversation delves into "MuleSoft for Agentforce," a groundbreaking solution transforming APIs into agent-ready actions. Through innovations like Topic Center and API Catalog, developers can now make their existing APIs accessible to AI agents by adding instructions that help agents understand how to leverage these API connections effectively. With a single click, Salesforce users can now use APIs within Heroku, MuleSoft, and the Salesforce platform and deploy them as agent actions.

Perhaps most intriguing is how MuleSoft now enables the replacement of traditional if-then-else logic with AI agents, essentially turning prompts into code. This approach shines in complex scenarios where simple conditional logic falls short, such as determining what constitutes a "good customer" based on multiple factors and nuanced reasoning.

With enterprises juggling nearly a thousand different applications on average, MuleSoft serves as a crucial data fabric alongside Salesforce Data Cloud, extending connectivity beyond what's possible with Data Cloud. This includes legacy systems, specialized applications, and even mainframes.

Looking ahead, Comstock views the AI transformation as even more significant than the cloud revolution of a decade ago, declaring that "the next generation of iPaaS will be agentic." He also said to stay tuned for major announcements at Dreamforce, including expanded support for additional AI partners beyond Salesforce's Agentforce.

For more details listen to this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour.

#Podcast #iPaaS #MuleSoft #AIAgents #Salesforce #Integration #TechPodcast #CloudIntegration #BusinessAutomation #DigitalTransformation #APIManagement #TechTalk #IntegrationSolutions #EnterpriseTech #InnovativeTechnology #AgentForce

AI without ethics will never truly serve humanity

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 01:00:00 +0200

A slight change of pace, or at least of topic, this week in Techzine Talks on Tour. We sit down with Reggie Townsend, VP of Data Ethics at SAS to talk about the important but not always easy topic of ethics and AI.

Townsend offers his and SAS's perspectives on what it means to build AI that truly serves humanity. "My job is to make sure that wherever our software shows up, we help people to thrive," in his own words.

Bias

The conversation tackles several topics around the ethical component of AI and data in general. One of them is the concept of bias. There is no such thing as an unbiased data set. As Townsend puts it: "Bias exists because humans exist." The real question isn't about eliminating bias entirely but distinguishing between harmful bias and purposeful representation.

Synthetic data

Another topic we discuss with Townsend is the use of synthetic data. This can be seen as both promising and potentially problematic. While it can fill crucial gaps in fields like clinical trials where finding enough participants with specific conditions is challenging, Townsend cautions against overreliance, noting the risk of creating self-referential systems that generate new biases.

Trust

A discussion about ethics, AI and data almost always touches the concept of trust too. We also discuss this at some length with Townsend. He specifically mentions the trust gap that is very real when it comes to AI. Addressing this requires not just transparency through tools like model cards (which SAS compares to nutrition labels for AI) but improved global literacy about these technologies.

Organizations should start bold

Looking forward, Townsend challenges companies to start bold when it comes to AI, data and ethics. We should look to address fundamental challenges. Townsend sees various opportunities in healthcare, mental health, but also around the topic of inequality.

Listen to this latest episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now.

Cisco wants a (big) piece of the AI pie and doubles down on compute

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:00:00 +0100

Cisco gradually rolls out a complete ecosystem of solutions, both software and hardware, for the AI age. We discuss the objectives Cisco has in the compute space with Jeremy Foster, SVP and GM for Cisco's compute organization.

Cisco's compute business appeared to be in de doldrums a couple of years ago. That is, it appeared to coast along without a very clear objective. Cisco didn't make a lot of big announcements around UCS either, as far as we can remember.

This has changed fundamentally over the past year or so. Cisco wants to make it very clear now that UCS still plays a very important role in Cisco's strategy. The reason for this? AI of course. What else? With the rise of AI comes more and different demand for the underlying infrastructure.

That infrastructure is about more than GPUs alone. Compute and networking also play a very important role. That's why Cisco has been focusing heavily on delivering AI stacks to customers. Hyperfabric is one of them, but the recent announcement of the AI POD, and the news together with Nvidia coming out of GTC are all clear indications of this.

During our conversation with Foster at Cisco Live EMEA, we asked him all about the changed dynamic within Cisco around UCS and compute in general. We talked about what makes a good AI stack, and what customers should take into account when setting one up.

Foster promises one thing, Cisco's only getting started, so it's a good idea to be clued in from the start. Another good reason to listen to this new Episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now.

After SASE and Unified SASE, there's Sovereign SASE: what is that?

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0100

Sovereign SASE emerges as the new frontier in secure access solutions, addressing the critical balance between cloud convenience and regulatory compliance. Nirav Shah, SVP Products and Solutions at Fortinet, unveils how this innovation allows organizations to maintain control over their sensitive data while still benefiting from the operational simplicity that made SASE attractive in the first place.

The journey from traditional SASE through unified SASE to today's sovereign model reflects a market responding to real customer needs, particularly in highly regulated industries. Financial services, healthcare providers, and government entities can now implement modern security frameworks while keeping their data under strict governance. "Sovereign SASE brings the simplicity that SASE solutions provide, but gives customers control over where the data is," explains Shah.

What makes this approach particularly powerful is its hybrid architecture. Organizations maintain control of the data plane through their own points of presence, conducting security inspection and data storage according to their specific requirements, while vendors manage the control plane to reduce operational complexity. This creates a perfect bridge for companies previously unable to adopt cloud security models due to compliance restrictions. For service providers, it offers a strategic opportunity to capture higher-margin business by maintaining infrastructure control while leveraging vendor expertise.

Ready to explore how Sovereign SASE might transform your security posture while addressing your regulatory requirements? Discover how this technology can provide the flexibility your organization needs while keeping your sensitive data under your control.

Embracing sustainability in data center modernization

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 14:00:00 +0100

The episode focuses on the evolving landscape of sustainable data center modernization, with insights from HPE’s Pascal Lecoq on the importance of efficient IT practices, liquid cooling technologies, and the role of software in maximizing sustainability. Key discussions include the balance between public cloud and on-prem solutions, strategies for improving energy consumption, and the growing trend of modular data centers.

• Overview of HPE's sustainability initiatives
• Comparing public cloud and on-prem data center efficiencies
• The role of software in optimizing energy consumption
• Quick wins for enhancing data center sustainability
• The impact of liquid cooling systems on energy savings
• Adoption of modular data centers for flexible IT demands
• Implications of AI for future data center designs

Chapters:

00:02:15 - Insights from HPE Discover Barcelona
00:05:30 - The Sustainability Edge of Public Cloud
00:09:45 - HPE GreenLake: Private and Hybrid Cloud Solutions
00:14:00 - The Role of Software in Data Center Modernization
00:18:20 - Innovations in Cooling Technologies for Data Centers
00:23:10 - The Rise of Modular Data Centers
00:27:50 - Conclusion and Future Trends in IT Sustainability

2025 won't be about AI, but about secure AI

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 20:00:00 +0100

AI and cybersecurity seem to go hand in hand. That is, much physical and virtual ink has been spilled over the impact AI had and has on security solutions, as well as on how attackers use AI for bad purposes. But what about the security of the AI organizations use every day? We talk about this with Ric Smith, President - Product, Technology, & Operations, at SentinelOne in a conversation we recorded at AWS re:Invent.

At the end of the day, a large chunk of any discussion about AI security is also about cloud security. Much of the AI that companies use, stand-alone or as as a part of (SaaS), runs in the cloud. Hence the setting and location for our conversation with Smith.

In our conversation, we talk about a large variety of topics. Starting with the initial skepticism about the security of the cloud, we work our way to present-day discussions of securing the AI that runs in the cloud (and on-premises, for that matter). AI comes up with its own challenges to cybersecurity and as such adds to the already complex patchwork that is the security stack.

We're not going to give away too much about the content of our conversation with Smith. We do promise, however, to also provide some actionable insights for customers regarding their security posture. And Smith also has something to say about how the security industry as a whole could and should do better when it comes to collaborating with each other.

Dynamic AI workloads require dynamic power solutions

Mon, 13 Jan 2025 17:00:00 +0100

Techzine Talks on Tour is back after the holidays with a new episode. This one is about how to make sure data centers in the AI age. We attended the Vertiv: Driving Innovation event recently and talked about the implications of AI workloads on how to power data centers.

Data centers play a vital role in the development and the deployment of AI. Most discussions about this topic focus on the IT side of things, but there's also a different side to this story. How do you make sure AI gets the power it wants and needs? We sat down with Arturo de Filippi, Offering Director Global Large Power at Vertiv to talk about all things power and AI.

This latest episode of Techzine Talks on Tour focuses on the evolving demands of powering data centers in the age of AI. We talk about the need for dynamic power solutions with De Filippi, but also about the changing role of UPS systems in data centers. They have become much more than just a fallback when something goes wrong.

We touch on other subjects too, like the integration of renewable energy sources into future infrastructure. Another topic we discuss is the densification of power systems, that has to keep up with the densification of IT systems.

All in all, there's a lot more to powering data centers in the age of AI than you might think at first. Listen to this conversation to learn more about that.

Transforming customer service and sales with AI agents

Tue, 17 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0100

In this episode, we explore the role of AI agents and their transformative potential in customer service and sales. At the AgentForce World Tour in Amsterdam, we spoke with Susan Emerson, Senior Vice President of AI at Salesforce. She shared insights on how AI agents can enhance customer service operations while also helping sales teams improve their skills and performance.

Learn how global leaders, such as Wiley, are leveraging AI agents to turn routine customer interactions into seamless, personalized experiences. Discover the cutting-edge integration of voice AI technology, set to launch early next year, which promises to elevate digital interactions by enabling voice-activated services. Voice technology can also be a powerful tool for training and refining the skills of sales teams, helping them communicate more effectively and close deals faster. Additionally, AI agents can initiate sales conversations with cold leads, nurturing them into hot prospects before seamlessly handing them off to human sales representatives.

AI is paving the way for a more personalized, proactive, and efficient approach to customer engagement and sales strategies. Beyond enhancing day-to-day operations, AI offers advanced capabilities such as predictive analytics and competitive intelligence, empowering sales teams to make smarter decisions and close deals more effectively. AI can also automate and optimize key tasks traditionally handled by sales managers, resulting in better team performance and deeper insights into areas for improvement.

It is important to recognize that AI agents are not replacements for people. Instead, they serve as powerful assistants that help salespeople and customer service representatives perform their roles more efficiently and effectively.

Open source is at the heart of AI innovation

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 14:00:00 +0100

We recently attended the Ubuntu Summit, where Canonical showcased all of the innovation and other developments around Ubuntu. Open source in general and Ubuntu in particular have played and continue to play a vital role in the development of AI and ML. Learn all about this relationship in the latest episode of Techzine Talks on Tour.

We sit down during the Ubuntu Summit with Andreea Munteanu, AI/ML & MLOps Product Manager at Canonical. She has a data science background, which gives her a different perspective on AI than more technology oriented people. During her time as a data scientist, she "spent more time on tinkering with the tooling rather than building models". That's not what you want as a data scientist, but it is something that needs to be solved at least partly at the product level. That's why she got into product marketing at Canonical.

With this background and objective in mind, we have a very broad ranging conversation with Munteanu. Obviously, part of it is on Canonical's role in all of this, its 20-year history and its relevance for AI and ML development. Ubuntu plays a foundational role in various environments (desktop, server, edge), which makes its impact on AI (and the other way around) quite significant.

Besides diving into Ubuntu's role in the AI discussion, both in the past, present and the future, we also talk about the importance of optimizing existing infrastructure for AI projects. Especially MLOps has Munteanu's full attention. In addition, we discuss the security concerns associated with AI and data management, and the future of the relationship between AI and open source.

In our opinion, the conversation we had with Munteanu reflects the comprehensive discussion around AI, ML in general, with a specific focus on the role of open source, Ubuntu and Canonical in these fields. We hope you agree. Listen to the new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now!

VMware bets big on sovereign clouds built on VCF

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 23:00:00 +0100

Sovereign clouds have been all the rage over the past years, especially in Europe. Public cloud providers and vendors focusing on private clouds alike talk about it a lot. One of the major players when it comes to private clouds, VMware also chimes in. During VMware Explore Europe we sat down with Rajeev Bhardwaj, who heads VMware's CSP business, to hear more about it. What makes it different and interesting for companies to go for this VCF-based sovereign cloud option?

When it comes to sovereign clouds, it can get quite confusing very quickly. If all kinds of players on the market claim to have the perfect solution, this raises several questions. One fundamental question is what a sovereign cloud actually is. There are no real standards for it, but there are some general tenets. Think of things like local data residency, jurisdictional control, and local ownership. These form the backbone of sovereign clouds. We dive into the complexities of jurisdictional nuances. We also discuss whether we need standardized guidelines from entities like the European Commission.

From a VMware perspective, VMware Cloud Foundation plays an important role in the sovereign cloud discussion. The idea behind this cloud stack is that everything that has to do with sovereign clouds can be integrated into it from the ground up. Rajeev and with him VMware see the company playing a pivotal role in the sovereign cloud discussion.

Whether VMware will be and remain a major driver of the sovereign cloud remains to be seen of course. That depends on many factors. However, the concept of sovereign cloud does match Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's often-quoted statement that the future of cloud is private very well. Sovereign clouds and private clouds will share many characteristics. Especially when you add Private AI into the mix (another key target for VMware), it could very well be a big part of VMware's future.

What is the role of storage in the modern tech landscape?

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 13:00:00 +0100

For this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour we sat down with Patrick Smith, Field CTO EMEA at Pure Storage. Storage continues to evolve in a world where AI is the talk of the town. What exactly is the role of storage in the modern tech landscape? And how does Pure want to contribute to this? Find out now and listen to this brand new episode.

Storage may not be as important for AI workloads as compute or networking is, calling it a commodity doesn't do it justice either. Patrick sheds some light on this misconception that people may still have. He draws on insights from his discussions with customers, and explains why storage plays a crucial role for enterprises. Not only when it comes to AI, but also for building cyber resilience against threats like ransomware.

The biggest part of the discussion is dedicated to the role storage plays in AI. From this perspective, Patrick dives into how solutions like Evergreen One for AI offer scalable and flexible storage-as-a-service options that streamline operations and break down infrastructure silos. We further explore how organizations can strategically manage hot, cold, and archived data to ensure optimal performance in AI projects. Additionally, we delve into the importance of vector databases and advanced data reduction algorithms, discussing the implications of data gravity challenges when balancing cloud and on-prem solutions.

Adam Evans explains how Salesforce keeps its AI on a leash

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 20:00:00 +0100

Salesforce is one of the fastest innovators in the SaaS AI space. They started with a prompt builder early in 2024. During Dreamforce they launched Agentforce to build your own automated AI Agents. In February of 2025 major expansions are planned, adding voice capabilities to agents, coaching your sales team with an agent and the expansion to many more countries. How can Salesforce move so fast and make sure its AI doesn't hallucinate?

For this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour, we talk to Adam Evans, SVP of Product for the Salesforce AI Platform. Salesforce combines many data sources with the Salesforce Data Cloud. He explains how the data is being used and how the reasoning engine loops through the data and AI queries to ensure the best consistent outcome is served to the end-user.

Salesforce has built a reasoning engine that handles data and AI queries. When a query is sent to an AI modal, it doesn't always give back the right answer. Sometimes, it needs more information. The reasoning engine acts like a human to catch that. It will then search for more relevant information and feed it to the AI model. When you ask a question to a Salesforce AI Agent it may go back and forth several times to an AI model before you get an answer. Just to make sure you get the best possible answer.

Salesforce creates prompts on the fly and uses RAG to feed the most relevant information to the AI models. The reasoning engine works together with the AI Trust Layer to stay compliant and mask customer data. The reasoning engine keeps the AI on a leash.

The reasoning engine and the AI Trust Layer are all agnostic. With new AI models being released daily and the LLMs making giant steps forward every few months, it's hard to tell which AI model will dominate the industry in 12 or 24 months. Salesforce is taking that into account with how it has built its AI framework; they can switch to different LLMs very easily.

Evans also addresses critical issues in AI data privacy, emphasizing the importance of data residency and localized computing to comply with international regulations. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to understand the future of AI technology in SaaS and how it can improve your business.

NetApp solves new challenges to data infrastructure at the platform level

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:00:00 +0100

NetApp is all in on what it calls its Intelligent Data Infrastructure. More than just a fancy sounding name, it includes various fundamental components that are necessary to have to support the latest AI workloads and to combat the data silos that continue to plague organizations. Creating a robust platform approach is the way forward for all data and storage vendors. What makes NetApp's platform special? And why should NetApp be in a good position to be successful in this market? Hear all about it in this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour.

For this episode, we sit down with Krish Vitaldevara. Krish is the SVP and GM for Platform at NetApp. The concept of the platform plays a crucial role in NetApp's approach to data and storage infrastructure. Without it, much of what is needed to stay relevant as a storage vendor is simply impossible. On top of that, NetApp also recently announced that its architecture will become fully disaggregated. That is a major and fundamental change for the company that also impacts its platform story.

Besides the changes in the architecture, AI also has a big effect on data management and storage. Especially when it comes to vectorizing data and the database bloat that comes with it, organizations can run into some issues. It is up to vendors like NetApp to figure out how to help companies limit vectorized data growth as much as possible.

All in all, there is enough to talk about with Krish, that is for sure. Together with his team, he is responsible for the development of the platform at NetApp, and the platform is where virtually all innovations converge. Listen to the conversation we had with him during the most recent edition of NetApp Insight now.

Unlocking AI in SaaS: Brian Chess on the transformation of NetSuite

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 22:00:00 +0200

AI is rapidly transforming SaaS solutions. We talked to Brian Chess, the AI lead at NetSuite, about leveraging AI technology to improve the NetSuite platform. We discussed creating models, using RAG, prompting and the challenges of using AI models. We talk about the AI features they have developed and the challenges they encoured.

In this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour we talk to Brian Chess, SVP Technology and AI at Oracle NetSuite, who went through a remarkable journey from a software developer in 1999 to leading AI initiatives today. Brian shares his firsthand experiences and insights into the advancements in AI and how NetSuite is developing AI features for its customers. He talks about multilingual capabilities, customer-specific models, Math in AI and much more. This episode promises to uncover the intricate challenges and incredible opportunities of integrating AI into financial products, making it a must-listen for AI enthusiasts and developers alike.

We explore NetSuite's current AI projects, including text, image, and chart generation, as well as anomaly detection in financial reports. Exciting developments in agentic AI, Prompt Studio, and SuiteScript AI are also on the horizon. Plus, discover how NetSuite's platform, powered by a diverse customer base of 40,000, fosters unprecedented creativity and innovation. This episode is packed with valuable insights that you won't want to miss!

The SOC of the future: what is it and is it for everyone?

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:00:00 +0200

During this year's edition of .conf, Splunk's annual conference, we sat down with James Hodge, Chief Strategic Advisor for #Splunk EMEA. One of the main themes of #splunkconf24 was 'The SOC of the future'. That message shone through in many topics of conversation during the show. So we thought it would be interesting to have a conversation with James about this, to try and get beyond the slick marketing messages and get some insights into what this SOC of the future actually is, and what that means for organizations.

In our chat, we talk about a variety of themes associated with the SOC of the future. Do we need to redefine the concept of a SOC? What are the technical prerequisites to move towards a new, more modern SOC. How should organizations prepare themselves for it?

One of the key tenets in what James tells us is that a data-informed approach is the way forward. Without it, mitigating #risks and streamlining #compliance is and will always be a pipe dream. That in itself isn't very shocking, basically everybody says that nowadays. Splunk (and Cisco) claim they can actually deliver on that too. Obviously AI plays a part in this, but also the integrations between the two players. Integrating IT operations with security also bolsters digital resilience.

A SOC of the future enables #cybersecurity to transition from an insurance policy to a key business enabler. James shares his vision of how organizations can leverage data-driven strategies to not only enhance security but also drive innovation and maintain robust governance. We delve into practical ways CISOs can meet dual expectations and the significance of shared KPIs to measure the ROI of security investments, promoting a collaborative and flexible approach across all organizational levels.

Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour to learn more about the SOC of the future, and the role it plays in innovation and security operations. Don't miss this insightful conversation on shaping the future of cybersecurity and operational resilience.

Threat hunting is very important, but also very frustrating: how can AI help?

Thu, 03 Oct 2024 12:00:00 +0200

Both junior and senior security analysts encounter frustrating challenges with threat hunting, making it hard to really make it an integral part of daily SOC operations. How can we make things easier and less ad hoc for them? We sit down with Albert Caballero and Adriana Corona from SentinelOne to discuss this in depth.

At its recent OneConnect event in the Benelux, representatives from #SentinelOne gave keynotes on different topics that relate to each other in different ways. On the one hand there was a keynote from Albert Caballero, Field CISO at SentinelOne, about #threathunting. On the other, there was a keynote about (among other things) Purple AI, by Adriana Corona, Director of Products for AI at the same company. As it turns out, AI can and will have fundamental implications for threat hunting, and for #cybersecurity as a whole.

Besides the somewhat conceptual impact of AI on threat hunting, Adriana and Albert delve into the emerging use of Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG). It's not only AI that helps humans, but also the other way around. Expert-created threat intelligence enhances AI effectiveness and accuracy.

Another big topic in the conversation is the pivotal importance of #transparency and #trust in #AI systems. We contrast the contextual precision of specialized AI with more generic platforms. Transparency of how AI works is absolutely vital for cybersecurity purposes. That's the only way to reach reliable decision-making in cybersecurity. There are challenges too, for sure, so we also talk about how to tackle those.

All in all this is another must-listen for people and organizations looking to optimize their #security posture and stack, by using AI or in other ways. And let's be honest, who isn't in 2024.

How do you innovate for a future you can't entirely predict?

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0200

The title of this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour is a (perhaps somewhat rhetorical) question Don Schuerman, the CTO of #Pegasystems asks the audience during #PegaWorld Inspire, Pega's annual flagship event. Sander sat down with him at the show to discuss how statistical AI and GenAI can help find an answer.

During this conversation, Don and Sander discuss many facets of what drives #innovation. For example, the outcome of some research suggests that GenAI not only helps generate hype for #GenAI, but also causes an increase in adoption for 'good old-fashioned' statistical AI. In other words, innovation in one part can have unintended but good side-effects on other parts.

Other topics that they discuss is how companies like Pega, but also others in the industry can and should help organizations build innovation around use-cases that haven't even been properly defined yet. That's one of the key issues that needs to be addressed today. We're at a stage where a lot of it is about pragmatic and practical use of AI, but that's only possible if you have a good idea of what is pragmatic and practical.

Apart from the general AI discussion, Don and Sander also get into some of the new developments at Pega. They talk about things like KnowledgeBuddy, an example of #RAG, or Retrieval-Augmented Generation), but also Pega GenAI #Blueprint. The latter of the two has the potential to up-end the development of specific apps in organizations. You just tell it to build you an application for, say, loan applications, and it does so in a couple of steps.

Give this new episode a listen right now, and get valuable insights into innovations in software development in general, and in Pega's platform in particular.

Prevention is better than cure, but is that even possible in cybersecurity?

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0200

Keeping bad guys out is always better than trying to detect breaches after they have happened. Many security vendors seem to have given up on that idea, however. That is, there's a lot of focus on an 'assume breach' attitude nowadays, not so much on 'assume our defenses will hold'. There are a lot of reasons why this is the case, reasons we have gone into at length in earlier episodes of this podcast series. But what does a prevention-first mindset look like in 2024? Listen to this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour to find out.

To better understand a prevention-first approach, Check Point is one of the obvious vendors to chat with. It's one of a very select group of security suppliers that still holds this position. As one of the inventors of the firewall around 30 years ago, this position makes perfect sense of course. Still, it's quite rare nowadays to hear a company take this stance so clearly, without losing sight of the necessity of things like EDR and XDR in its platform too.

For this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour, Sander sits down with Itai Greenberg, Chief Strategy Officer at Check Point, at RSA Conference in San Francisco. They discuss in depth what it means to have a prevention-first approach, not only from the point of view of Check Point, but also what it means for its customers. Especially in a world in which AI-driven cyber threats are on the rise and will continue to be on the rise for some time, (AI-driven) prevention is more important than ever, he states.

Besides a prevention-first approach, Itai and Sander discuss many more things. The challenge for customers of how to integrate various security solutions into one security stack is one. More collaboration between security vendors is absolutely crucial to achieve this. Another interesting discussion in this episode is the one on the risks posed by vulnerabilities in open-source and third-party software.

All in all, there are quite a few interesting nuggets of information on the security landscape as a whole, Check Point's role in it and organizations' approaches to cybersecurity in this episode.

From encryption to exfiltration: how do you secure and protect your data?

Mon, 26 Aug 2024 14:00:00 +0200

Organizations invest $200 billion globally in IT security. However, data breaches and ransomware attacks are still rampant. How can that be? What does this say about the impact of all those investments? We discuss these and other topics with Filip Verloy, Field CTO at Rubrik, one of the big players in this space.

At RSA Conference earlier this year, we recorded a number of episodes for our relatively new Techzine Talks on Tour podcast series. Data security is without a doubt one of the big themes for organizations to get right. As is the case for virtually all other components of cyber security, it turns out to be quite a daunting task to do so.

According to Verloy, one of the key things to do as an organization is to assume a so-called 'assume breach' attitude. This is especially important when it comes to the data of an organization, as that usually is very valuable. One of the trends Verloy signals in this respect is that attackers are shifting from traditional encryption methods to sophisticated data exfiltration techniques. That fundamentally changes the game. It shifts the focus from prevention to resilience, among other things.

Tune in to this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour to hear much more about what's happening in data security. It's a very important topic that should be near the top of the list of priorities for organizations. Especially with AI and new regulations like NIS2 being added to the equation, effective security posture management is of paramount importance.

Making enterprise software smarter and more effective with AI

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 15:00:00 +0200

Every software company globally is focusing on integrating AI into its solutions. ServiceNow has built one of the biggest platforms and workflow engines today. We talked to Pat Casey, Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of DevOps at ServiceNow, to learn how ServiceNow is building AI into its platform.

ServiceNow has chosen to unify its AI team into a single technology group, ensuring AI will not be the next add-on but a core component of the ServiceNow platform. Casey takes us through the transformative impact of this alignment and how organisations can enhance workflows and deliver superior customer experiences. Dive deep into the Generative AI Controller and understand how it empowers customers to build AI solutions using various large language models, emphasizing the critical role of data in AI training and deployment.

We talk about many ServiceNow platform AI features like playbook generation and prompt engineering that are designed to save time and empower users. Learn about the text-to-playbook feature, which allows even less experienced users to create effective workflows, and a customizable prompt builder that enhances engagement across various applications.

We even discuss ServiceNow's switch from MariaDB to Postgres and modern database management. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in ServiceNow and AI integration into platforms. Whether you are a ServiceNow customer or not, it is packed with expert knowledge. Listen now to this latest Techzine Talks on Tour.

The evolution of ERP with generative AI technology

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 17:00:00 +0200

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) can be very complex and time-consuming. A lot will change with the introduction of generative AI; processes can be easily automated and made more efficient. We see the introduction of LLMs for analyzing data and processes and even offering solutions for upcoming problems. In this Techzine Talks episode, we talk to Nicky Tozer, vice president of Oracle NetSuite.

Tozer gives insights into NetSuite's innovations, like text-enhance, which streamlines the creation of sales orders, customer campaigns, and support reports, offering substantial time savings. Learn from real-world implementations like Bloom and Wild, who leverage AI to minimize waste and bolster sustainability. Customer feedback is a crucial driver in refining AI for future ERP applications.

Our conversation also delves into the critical aspects of AI integration within NetSuite, focusing on data security and privacy. Additionally, we underscore the pivotal role of NetSuite partners in crafting AI solutions specifically tailored for small to medium-sized businesses with limited IT resources. Looking ahead, there’s exciting potential for these partners to introduce their own models. Listen to this episode where we explore AI’s future in ERP with Nicky Tozer.

How does a white hat hacker become a cloud security leader?

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0200

This week's episode of Techzine Talks on Tour is a rather special one, even if we do say so ourselves. At the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Sander Almekinders from Techzine sat down with Anand Prakash from SentinelOne. They chatted about how he, a white hat hacker, built one of the most advanced cloud security platforms in the industry. Well worth a listen, so go ahead and click on the play button below.

In their discussion, Anand and Sander touch on a variety of different topics. Of course there's the story about how Anand became an ethical hacker. This story itself is a reminder that grasping the opportunities when they arrive is more important than trying to plan your whole life beforehand.

Being an ethical hacker gave Anand a distinct advantage when he starting thinking about setting up his own company. It all starts with the attacking mindset that a hacker has. That mindset became visible in what PingSafe, the company he founded and headed, offered. SentinelOne saw potential in PingSafe's offerings and decided to snap up the company. PingSafe's product has now become Singularity Cloud Native Security.

Tune in now to hear all about how a guy from India went from exposing flaws in Facebook to developing a cutting edge Attack Engine to secure cloud environments. You won't regret spending thirty minutes on it.

How do Splunk and Cisco make a unified observability platform a reality?

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 17:00:00 +0200

During Cisco Live last June in Las Vegas, we had the opportunity to sit down with Tom Casey, SVP and General Manager at Splunk. We asked him all about how he thinks the portfolios from Splunk and Cisco work together, and reinforce each other. How does Splunk make Cisco better, and vice versa?

The acquisition of Splunk by Cisco was big news near the end of 2023. After closing the acquisition somewhere last March, the teams at both companies really got to work and already delivered some integrations.

Observability underpins a lot of what Cisco has done over the past few years. It has an impact on its security business, but also its networking business and obviously its AppDynamics business. Without observability, all the talk by Cisco about Digital Experience Assurance would not be possible, or at least a lot less confident.

Making sense of a crazy heterogeneous space

With the addition of Splunk to the fold, Cisco now has fundamentally different data to add to its Full Stack Observability approach. One of the key talking points of this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour is what this means, and what companies can get out of this. Tom Casey breaks down the essence of observability, detailing its critical layers. In addition, we talk about the necessity of a unified data platform that curtails alert overload while ensuring consistent insights across both traditional and modern cloud environments.

Listen to this episode if you want to gain a better understanding of how combining Cisco’s data to Splunk’s data can transform raw data into actionable intelligence. According to Casey, we need fundamentally better insights to deal with the "crazy mixed up heterogeneous space" that a company's infrastructure and insights have become.

The conversation isn't limited to observability, though. We also touch on how Splunk and Cisco can advance the state of the art in networking and security.

Listen to this new episode now. You won't be disappointed.

AI, quantum threats, and the evolution of securing the endpoint at HP (Ian Pratt, HP)

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0200

This week's episode of Techzine Talks on Tour was recorded several months ago. At the HP Amplify Partner Conference in Las Vegas we sat down with Ian Pratt, Global Head of Security for Personal Systems at HP, to talk about the changes and challenges in that department.

One of the key differentiators HP PCs bring to bear is the so-called Endpoint Security Chip, or ESC. We discuss the role of this piece of custom silicon in some detail. In addition, we also also focus on the more general role endpoints like the ones HP manufactures and sells play in the security stack as a whole. It's a rather complex stack in 2024. Even a big company like HP has to collaborate with the likes of Intel and AMD to improve security of its devices.

How do you secure the endpoint?

Just to be sure, and perhaps state the obvious, protecting endpoints is very important. Over 70% of breaches start at the endpoint. HP has a big responsibility to make sure these are as secure as possible. It does this not only by means of innovations in hardware, also software and services play an important role in this. In our discussion with Pratt, we'll also touch on the importance of platform-based security approaches like XDR and the rising threat of sophisticated phishing attacks generated by AI.

What about the role of quantum in securing endpoints?

The next part of our conversation deals with the future of cybersecurity. That is cybersecurity in a quantum computing world. Together with Pratt, we explore the steps HP is taking to ensure PCs are quantum-resistant. It's important to understand the risks posed by quantum computers to traditional cryptographic signatures and discuss the implementation of new, robust algorithms. Pratt offers insights into preparing for this next leap in technology, including how organizations can transition to quantum-resistant cryptography and meet emerging governmental mandates.

Tune in now for what we think is a very interesting discussion about the role of the endpoint in cyber security.

An inside-out look at cyber security from Arctic Wolf CISO Adam Marrè

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 08:00:00 +0200

In this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour, we take an inside-out look at cyber security. That is, we discuss challenges and developments a cyber security company faces. We do this with Adam Marrè, Chief Information Security Officer at Arctic Wolf. We also discuss current trends, obviously AI and the rise of deepfakes.

As the CISO of cyber security firm Arctic Wolf, Marrè has an interesting outlook on this. He's not necessarily in the business of selling things, and doesn't do a lot of customer meetings. His main focus is to keep Arctic Wolf's platform safe. That's extremely important, but also necessary if we do a quick search on Techzine for zero-days, breaches en leaks in cybersecurity software. Marrè's job is to make sure that Arctic Wolf never gets on those pages.

Basic hygiene still challenge number one
To a certain extent the problems of the market and the potential issues that Arctic Wolf could run into don't differ that much. It all comes down to taking a risk-based approach to cyber security. In such an approach it's the basic stuff that still causes chaos at companies. Things like patching and managing identities are at the basis of a lot of problems in the world. It's crucial everyone does more to tackle this.

A company's leadership plays a critical role in in defining an organization's risk tolerance and how outsourcing security services can be both a boon and a challenge. Marrè further emphasizes that while outsourcing can strengthen a small team, it doesn't replace the necessity for internal vigilance and a deep understanding of an organization's unique risk landscape.

Finally, Marrè shares his insights on the immediate threats posed by deep fakes and misinformation, and the evolving landscape of AI-driven attacks and defenses. We discuss how AI has the potential to significantly enhance defensive capabilities by leveraging existing tools and data more effectively.

Listen to this new episode right now!

Kubernetes: maturity, challenges and the impact of AI (Shaun O'Meara, Mirantis)

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 15:00:00 +0200

For this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour, we sat down with Shaun O'Meara, CTO at Mirantis, to discuss the state of Kubernetes, its challenges, maturity and what the impact of AI is on it.

Disclaimer regarding the text below: we let the built-in AI functionality of Buzzsprout generate a summary of the conversation Sander from Techzine had with Shaun from Mirantis. This is not because we're too lazy to write our own summary, but part of what you might call some research. Do you think it gives a good impression of the conversation? We would love to hear your thoughts on this, so please reach out if you have an opinion on this.

How will AI revolutionize Kubernetes and cloud-native development? In our latest episode, we uncover the transformative power of AI, particularly in infrastructure management and machine learning. Recorded live at KubeCon Europe, the episode kicks off with an exploration of how AI is reshaping Kubernetes, making this complex system more accessible and efficient. We also highlight some groundbreaking open-source contributions that are driving these changes, giving you a front-row seat to the future of IT infrastructure.

Ever wondered what it takes to build a robust Kubernetes platform? We dive into the nitty-gritty of platform engineering, breaking down what it means to create a valuable, secure, and efficient environment for developers. Discover how adding supportive components and development acceleration tools can make a world of difference. Listen as we discuss the progress Kubernetes has made towards becoming as ubiquitous as Linux and the balanced approach that Mirantis employs to keep platform engineering both opinionated and flexible, focusing on lifecycle management and mature project curation.

What does the future hold for IT infrastructure and AI integration? We explore emerging trends, from VM replacement to the rise of edge computing. Hear our insights on the strategic considerations organizations must weigh to modernize their digital infrastructure without losing control. As AI continues to evolve, we'll discuss its growing role at the edge and the revolutionary impact of GPUs, all while highlighting the broader implications for various sectors. Tune in for a comprehensive and thought-provoking discussion on the current and future landscape of AI and Kubernetes.

The tables are turning in favor of the defenders in cybersecurity (Jeetu Patel, Cisco)

Thu, 30 May 2024 09:00:00 +0200

For this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour we sat down with Jeetu Patel, EVP of Collaboration and Security at Cisco at RSA Conference earlier this month. He has a rather positive outlook on the ongoing war organizations wage with attackers. We discuss why that is in this deep-dive into security architecture and infrastructure.

According to Patel, we live in an era of abundance, also when it comes to modernizing security infrastructure. With adversaries growing increasingly sophisticated, he explains why a cutting-edge overhaul of security infrastructure is not just necessary but urgent. However, it's also possible now. All of the components necessary for this overhaul are present. AI is an important part of this, but there is so much more that plays a role. We now have hardware acceleration, self-qualified patching and eBPF at our disposal. These components make it possible to significantly fortify the security infrastructure, according to him.

2024 is going to be a huge year for cybersecurity in general, and Cisco in particular, according to Patel. Listen to this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now to learn all about why that is.

The best architecture for the AI Economy uses private and public AI (Mike Beckley, Appian)

Wed, 22 May 2024 10:00:00 +0200

This brand new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour features a discussion with Mike Beckley, the CTO of Appian. Beckley's company has a very clear and in general common sense approach to AI. Preparing your company for the AI Economy isn't necessarily hard, he argues. The key components are all available. You just need to implement them correctly.

During our conversation with Beckley, we talk about how real the AI Economy is already. More importantly, though, we discuss what is needed for organizations to be part of it.

Appian plays an interesting role in this process. A champion of what it calls private AI, the company also recognizes that public AI has merit in several use-cases. So companies like Appian work hard on tying the two 'types' of AI together. Something along the lines of the collaboration agreement that Appian has with AWS (Amazon Bedrock, to be precise) is where the AI industry as a whole gravitates towards.

Another topic in the AI discussion is how you ensure that data is being made available to workloads that utilize it. In other words, how do companies get their data foundation in order? Some sort of data fabric (or something along those lines) is part of the solution, Beckley argues.

Finally, Appian itself also needs to change its internal architecture to a certain extent in order to keep up with AI advances in general. We conclude our conversation with Beckley by talking about EPEx, or Elastic Process Execution. That should give significant performance improvements to Appian's own processes.

Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now!

How to bring AI into your Business (Jayesh Govindarajan, Salesforce)

Fri, 17 May 2024 20:00:00 +0200

Unlock the secrets of integrating AI in enterprise organisations with Jayesh Govindarajan, the SVP AI at Salesforce. Many organizations are challenged how to fit genAI into their business. Salesforce is helping it's customers by offering many integrated genAI features, but it also gives it's customers the power to build their own AI features.

Govindarjan takes us behind the scenes of Salesforce's AI journey, revealing the complex innovation of embedding AI features that elevate the user experience. We talk about AI deployment, the pivotal role of contextual data, and why developers are turning into prompt engineers to exploit the vast capabilities of large language models. We also discuss the role of the CoPilot chatbot, which is something that many users don't favor. How does Salesforce expect chatbots to become more popular?

Salesforce created many AI-ready features on its platform. Copilot plays a significant role, but there are also many AI-specific features that can be activated by a click of a button. For example, an auto-generated reply on a support ticket. Users on the platform also have the option to use Copilot at any given moment.

Organizations that want to use their own models or build their own AI features can use the new Einstein1 Studio. Salesforce also launched the prompt builder, which helps users build effective prompts in many ways, which can be really hard. According to Govindarjan, they have made a lot of progress in making prompt engineering a lot easier.

Salesforce is one of the companies that already made huge steps in AI, but it believes it's only at step one or two of ten step journey.

Trust and AI in cybersecurity: difficult but crucial to navigate (Alex Stamos, SentinelOne)

Mon, 13 May 2024 01:00:00 +0200

For this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour we sat down with Alex Stamos during RSA Conference. Stamos is Chief Trust Officer at SentinelOne, and - among other things - also a Stanford professor and former Chief Security Officer of Facebook. We took a deep dive with him into the concept of trust.

Trust is a key component of our digital lives. It plays a role in our personal as well as in our business lives. Organizations need to know who they can trust before entering into a relationship with a vendor. At least, that's how it should be. In practice, though, a lot of time is wasted on things like vendor risk management.

The existence of vendor risk management and its accompanying forms in itself isn't a bad thing, according to Stamos. However, thinking that potential problems with some kind of product or system that is based upon tens or hundreds of millions of lines of code are going to be solved by someone filling out some kind of spreadsheet is far from realistic.

Know who to trust

One of the key questions we discuss during our conversation is how organizations can know who to trust. That's a big question that deserves a substantial discussion. We go into the role a big player like Microsoft plays in this aspect. Should you let the company that builds Windows be responsible for your cybersecurity as well? And how can a cybersecurity company prove to their customers that they're worthy of their trust? In other words, how do you provide enough transparency?

Another topic we discuss during this episode of Techzine Talks on Tour is how AI will impact the cybersecurity industry. Not only from a trust perspective, but also from an architectural and process perspective. Stamos is of the opinion that the world moves towards automated cybersecurity, thanks in large part to AI. This will give the defenders an advantage over the attackers, at least for a while.

Automation will be crucial, because of the sheer amount of defending organizations need to do. This also implies, according to Stamos, that the industry as a whole will have to move towards a centrally orchestrated way of gathering and analyzing data. Only then will it be possible for organizations to properly defend themselves. There's obviously a self-serving component to this statement, but we think fundamentally Stamos isn't wrong. It's a good concept to discuss, that's for sure.

Listen to this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour now!

A good security stack deserves a good security culture (Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4)

Wed, 08 May 2024 21:00:00 +0200

The human is often seen as the weak link in cybersecurity. You can have all the security tooling in the world, but if attackers target people they can still get in. People in general, so also employees of organizations, need to be made aware of how to spot these types of attacks. In other words, we need Human Detection and Response, i.e. HDR just as much as we need MDR and XDR.

KnowBe4 has been founded to address the challenges organizations have with educating their workforce on cybersecurity. During RSA Conference 2024, we sat down with founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman.

We discuss the current state of affairs in security awareness inside organizations. A central theme for KnowBe4 nowadays is something they call adaptive human risk management. This is the foundation for a risk-based approach to cybersecurity through a human lens. You could see this as an extension of the many examples of risk-based cybersecurity approaches you can find in other areas of cybersecurity. The idea is to create a healthy security culture, alongside a good security stack.

There's more to it than security awareness training

We don't really discuss 'traditional' security awareness training all that much during our conversation. That's more or less table stakes now, even though there's still room for improvement on that front. However, KnowBe4 is also looking into new areas. Its acquisition of Egress is a clear example of this. Egress is a company that focuses on e-mail security. There already was a tight integration between the two players, which will become even tighter after the acquisition.

The fact that KnowBe4 ventures into the area of e-mail security may seem a bit strange at first sight. After all, KnowBe4 never was a 'traditional' security technology company, right? But if you factor into the equation that e-mail security is still the number one attack vector and that there a very strong human element to it, it actually makes perfect sense.

At the end of our conversation, we also touch on the role AI plays and is going to play in cybersecurity from a security awareness perspective. We zoom in on the rise of deepfakes. These keep getting better and better, so are harder and harder to detect for humans at the other end of them. Sjouwerman recognizes this is going to be a serious challenge, but he's also rather optimistic that common sense (and some technology of course) will eventually win this battle too.

We hope you enjoy this new episode of Techzine Talks on Tour.

Platform engineering is taking hold in cloud-native (Murli Thirumale, Portworx/Pure Storage)

Sun, 28 Apr 2024 21:00:00 +0200

For this first episode ever of Techzine Talks on Tour, we sat down with Murli Thirumale, co-founder of Portworx and General Manager of the Cloud Native Business Unit at Pure Storage, which acquired Portworx some years back. The result is a fourty-minute deep-dive into data and storage trends in Kubernetes and cloud-native in general.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the topic of platform engineering. That is something we discuss quite thoroughly in this episode, which was recorded during the most recent edition of KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Paris. As the co-founder of Portworx, Murli has a lot of stories to tell about platform engineering, as that is a large part of what Portworx offers and promises the market: a platform that takes away most of the complexity around data and storage for cloud-native workloads.

We don't talk about Portworx alone. On the contrary, we talk about many much more general topics that have to do with platform engineering, but also with VM replacement. With what's been going on at VMware lately, Murli sees a clear move away from VMs. How does that work, and is that something that every company can and should do?

Of course, there is no discussion nowadays, irrespective of the topic, that doesn't somehow involve AI. This discussion is no exception, even though we always like to keep things practical when it comes to AI. In the area of data and storage, we talk about AI's impact on this in relation to Kubernetes.

All in all, this first episode of Techzine Talks on Tour gives a very good overview of what's happening in the world of data and storage in modern cloud-native environments.