The QTS Experience

Episode 151; Sarah Keller: Uber, Leadership, Future Work, Breaking Stereo Types

We, humans, love our tribes. If you’re in my tribe you’re granted an element of trust and acceptance, even value. If you’re out of my tribe you rarely receive that status, almost certainly not with equal value.
When Covid pushed us all into remote work – an accidental consequence occurred: On-Premises workers and remote workers all got pushed into the same tribe. We sat there looking at each other from the same piece of glass – like a Zoom version of the Brady Bunch. No one was perceived to have more “value” as a worker or a leader, because of their geographical location. Which, let’s face it, before the pandemic,  if you worked remotely, you WERE perceived to be less valuable and effective. This pandemic petri dish demonstrated being in the room didn’t make you a better or worse employee or leader, being skilled was the difference.
This week I’m joined by Sarah Keller. Sarah is the Head of Global Technology Sourcing and Supply Chain at Uber. Prior to Uber, she worked for organizations like Meta, Workday, and Google.
Sarah brings a powerful perspective to this conversation and the complexities of remote opportunity amidst return-to-work directives. An area that requires thoughtful and serious consideration. Please, enjoy the conversation with Sarah Keller.

Episode 150; Brian Magerko Open AI, ChatGPT, DALL-E, Deep Learning

We live in amazing times. There are Open AI  tools available that enable those of us that are creative with a little “c” to explore and create without having to have the physical skills necessary to paint or draw. To write a screenplay, or compose and play music.  There are still other tools can be used in the medical and mental health fields as a counselor or a radiologist. The potential of the applications and opportunities are mind-boggling to think of. I can’t help but ask myself, what’s the impact of these on the marketplace? On Trademark or ownership? On Society? I don’t make my living as an artist or a musician – so I don’t feel threatened by them. Should we trust them to diagnose medical conditions or perform counseling? What’s the consequence of “removing” more human interaction?
This week Dr Brian Magerko  a Professor of Digital Media in the School of Literature, Media, and Culture and a Human-Centered Computing faculty member in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. He is also the Graduate Director of the Digital Media grad program at Tech.
He earned a B.S. in Cognitive Science from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.,
Brian has been in some form of this discussion for going on 30 years – and has a great perspective and insight to share.

Episode 149; Michael Lotfy

Michael is the Senior Vice President for Power Products over North America & Mexico & Central America at Schneider Electric.In this role, he has full responsibility for all aspects of Schneider Electric’s Offer, and Solution Development, including Strategy, R&D, Market Development, and Go-To-Market for the entire ANSI,NEMA, LV, and MV portfolio including Services.Michael is an advocate of advancing sustainability via building automation, Energy Management Smart Homes, and IoT including the implementation of AI and ML technologies to make the world a better place.Prior to joining Schneider Electric, Michael spent 15 years in various global and local leadership roles across various lines of business. His passions include Sustainability, Technology, and Diversity & Inclusion.

Episode 148; Brent Bensten

What’s a smart house? For the longest time I didn’t care what that meant – which is incredible when you consider I work in a data center where the ideas of the whole world live! When I learned that my home could not only automate brewing the coffee and getting the shower and lights ready – but could potentially predict what I needed and when I needed it …. My attention was piqued. So I invited my colleague Brent Bensten to come and talk to us about the world of smart devices.

James Cage; Episode 147

There are deep learning tools that are available to us today that have the power of magic. I can create a photorealistic image of an orangutan cowboy riding a glass lizard, just by using the power of language. I can speak something into existence, and most times you can't tell that a machine created it. That's pretty cool. Now, I don't know how valuable that picture would be, but the potential of the technology is incredible. That doesn't just happen in the world of fantasy and images, but in the world of poetry, creative writing, and who knows where else it will go. And that begs the question where is the line between machine and human reality and imagination? If we thought robots were going to disrupt the marketplace and perhaps take jobs, what's the consequence of the Internet getting involved? Well, I invited my friend James Cage to join us today. James studied data science and engineering from Georgia Tech University and has spent a career learning how to build and automate processes and tools. He regularly engages with these ideas in his new creative journey and has a fascinating story to tell and what it could mean to help human beings flourish. Join us for the conversation on this week's episode of the QTS Experience Podcast.

About Our Guest
James Cage is a data science and artificial intelligence hobbyist who might be described as "a handsome man in his 50s, f2.8, realistic, friendly, intelligent". At least, that was the prompt used by DALL-E, the image generation AI system, to create his headshot. In his former life, he was an industrial control and marketing specialist.
The attached headshot is photorealistic and completely accurate.
Image Attribution: "James Cage and DALL-E"

IEIC Nap Event; Episode 146

This week I'm joined by several guests Scott Brown, Hunter Newby, Nigel Bayliff, and Anthony Romanello. Each of these men have had a role to play in the long history of building the Internet. The tools that we use and the future economic development of data centers and subsea cable landing stations. These are quick but important conversations. So join us for the discussion on this week's episode of The QTS Experience Podcast.

Rob Enderle; Episode 145

Not too long ago, the most popular game on the planet was World of Warcraft. I confess I played it for more years than I care to admit, and my human rogue rags was a joy to play. What never occurred to me was the technology and innovation that made these games possible would someday lead to the hardware that would support blockchain, cryptocurrency, quantum computing and other incredibly powerful tools. And this week, I'm hosting Rob Enderle, a technology futurist, a writer, and to be honest, pretty spectacular character. My favorite kind. Rob has been reporting on technology before. Most of us knew to care about it. Our conversation this week is going to cover that hardware that I mentioned earlier, but also we're going to dove into the 3D Web. What is it? Why should we care? Along with the future of electric cars, which may surprise you, our grid and other important topics. Join us for the conversation on this week's episode of The QTS Experience Podcast.
About Our Guest:
Rob Enderle
Principal Analyst, Enderle Group, 389 Photinia Lane, San Jose, CA 95127 (Phone: 408-272-8560; E-mail: renderle@enderlegroup.com)
Rob is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward looking emerging technology advisory firm. With over 25 years experience emerging technologies he has provided regional and global companies with guidance in how to better target customer needs; create new business opportunities; anticipate technology changes; select vendors and products; and present their products in the best possible light. Currently Rob focuses on the emerging technology trends in personal technology.
In addition Rob writes for TechNewsWorld, Computer World, Datamation, TGdaily, and Technology Pundits.Before founding the Enderle Group Rob was the Senior Research Fellow for Forrester Research and the Giga Information Group. While there he worked for and with companies like Microsoft, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, USAA, Texas Instruments, AMD, Intel, Credit Suisse First Boston, GM, Ford, and Siemens.Before Giga, Rob was with Dataquest covering client/server software where he became one of the most widely publicized technology analysts in the world. Before Dataquest Rob worked for IBM as was in IBM’s executive resource program. As part of that program he managed projects and people in Finance, Internal Audit, Competitive Analysis, Marketing, Security, and Planning.
Rob holds an AA in Merchandising, a BS in Business, and an MBA.
Rob sits on the advisory councils for Lenovo, Toshiba, AMD, HP, Dell, Philips, the Trusted Computing Group, and the Lifeboat Foundation.
Rob’s hobbies include Sporting Clays, PC Modding, Science Fiction, Home Automation, and Computer Gaming.

Adam Knobloch; Episode 144

You and I generate or manipulate data every ten minutes – that’s at least 96 times a day. And the movie, spreadsheet, TikTok, Tele-med, or whatever we interact with – lives in someone’s data center. That makes datacenters the most important part of your world that you never knew existed. Which is why I invited my good friend Adam Knobloch to come help us understand more of this hidden world. Join us for a great conversation – on the next QTS Experience.

Dr. Anna Erickson; Episode 143

One of the most important conversations we can be having today is energy. What type should we use? Its impact on the environment, the economy, its impact on politics, on our independence, and nuclear energy sits right in the middle of that discussion. Fair or unfair, it generates the most controversy.

But should it? Silicon Valley is betting on the future of nuclear energy. Our entire naval fleet runs on nuclear energy. NASA has even sent probes to space with nuclear energy.  So with that in mind, I invited Dr. Anna Erickson to come and help us to understand what the conversation is about. Anna is the Associate Chair for Research and a Woodruff Professor at Georgia Tech.

She received both her M.S. and Ph.D. from M.I.T. and has spent her entire adult life in the heart of this discussion. It's an important and compelling conversation. So join me as I host Dr. Anna Erickson, as we discuss the potential and the risks of one of the most controversial discussions you can have today, nuclear energy.

About Our Guest

Anna Erickson is a Woodruff Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and group leader focused on creating and navigating projects in advanced nuclear reactor design, nuclear security, data analysis and machine learning. She is also the Director of the Consortium for Enabling Technologies and Innovation and a member of the Board of Directors for the American Nuclear Society. She is a strategy leader for problem formulation and execution and is an effective communicator at international conferences and invited seminars.

Phillip Koblence & Nabeel Mahmood; Episode 142

My conversation this week is with the original Digital nomads Nabeel Mahmood and Phil Koblence, the founders of The Nomad Futurist Foundation and Podcast. In this quick conversation we discuss how the coding within the U.S. Emergency alert system may have tremendous flaws, the emerging AI within Fintech, and the good work The Nomad Futurist Foundation is attempting to accomplish. Please, enjoy the conversation – on this week's episode of The QTS Experience Podcast.

 

About Our Guests

Phillip Koblence

Phillip Koblence co-founded NYI (www.nyi.net) in 1996. Since then, he has successfully navigated through an ever-shifting infrastructure landscape and grown the company from a single data center in Lower Manhattan to a robust network with executional capabilities in key national and international markets. His leadership over a span of more than twenty years has positioned NYI as a leader in hybrid infrastructure solutions. Part of NYI’s success is due to the strong emphasis placed on building lasting relationships with clients. Through this focus on customer experience, and an ability to cut through complexity and hype, NYI has set the bar in the industry for high-touch infrastructure solutions. Phillip is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been profiled by Data Center Knowledge, TheWHIR, MSPMentor, and NJ BIZ. He has also contributed to CRN and NJ Business Magazine. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with an engineering degree.

Nabeel Mahmood

Nabeel Mahmood is a Technologist, Futurist, and a Keynote Speaker. His career is driven by one question – what’s next? He is passionate about the power of technology to deliver competitive and transformational change and the need to develop digital leadership that will create the enterprise of the future. He believes strongly in simplification, with a purpose.

 Nabeel brings 20 plus years of experience leading large-scale global technology organizations through seasons of explosive growth via M&A, global expansion, implementing new business models, and technology innovation. His expertise include leading organizations through transformation changes, connecting IT to the needs of the business, technology innovation, Big Data, Cloud, ERP, IoT, AI, ML, RPA, Mobility, and Data Centers. He brings a unique blend of experiences spanning the entire breadth of technology from Grid to Chip. At heart he’s a true technologist and futurist, he is a proven strategist, winsome communicator, and leader with extraordinary vision and operational expertise within large, complex organizations.

Nabeel is a strategic CXO identifying opportunities that are being underpinned by emerging technologies and is an advisor to CIO’s, CTO’s and CEO’s across a number of industries. He servers on multiple boards of private and publicly traded companies, including United Security Bank.