
Advertise on podcast: Tech Field Day Podcast
Rating
4.7from
This podcast has
380 episodes
Language
EnglishPublisher
Tech Field DayExplicit
No
Date created
2017/05/02
Latest episode
2026/10/20
Average duration
33 min.
Release period
7 days
Description
The Tech Field Day Podcast is the only podcast that dares to be both on topic, or on premise, and sometimes on location, bringing together a group of independent IT luminaries and experts in their field from around the Enterprise to discuss a single idea revolving around their technological knowledge base and skillset. This podcast is hosted by Stephen Foskett, Organizer of the Tech Field Day event series, and Tom Hollingsworth, Tech Field Day Event Lead.
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SPOTLIGHT: Networking is Too Complex to Secure Properly Presented by HPE Networking
2026/10/20
Watch the presentations fromHPE Networking at Networking Field Day 41 here.
Between endless alert fatigue and sprawling microsegmentation demands, securing modern enterprise networks has become an impossible task for human operators alone.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, Tom Hollingsworth and Michael Balasko sit down with Yash Nagaraju, Director, Technical Marketing Engineering at HPE Networking, to dissect why modern IT environments are hitting a breaking point and how AI-driven automation changes the equation.
The discussion explores the realities of agentic AI threats, the critical need for high-fidelity telemetry, and how HPE Mist and Central leverage large experience models to enable self-driving actions without taking control away from network engineers.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast, part of the Futurum Media Podcast Network.
HPE Networking Representative:
Yash Nagaraju, Director, Technical Marketing Engineering at HPE Networking
Panelists:
Michael Balasko, Presales Systems Engineer
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
129. Considering All the Costs of AI
2026/10/13
Learn more about AI Field Day 9 here.
When deciding how to use AI, businesses must consider the full impact, not just the financial cost.
This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast, recorded prior to AI Field Day 9, brings together Ron Pagani, Jr., John Willis, Dave Nicholson, and Stephen Foskett to consider all the costs of AI. One of the biggest issues with AI is maintainability, since the technology tends to create so-called technical debt by building unsustainable systems.
These costs are difficult to see let alone plan for, since by definition we don't know about them. The technical challenges of AI systems also introduce issues, since they can be daunting to implement even for IT and application development experts.
AI systems also tend to converge on similar solutions, so there is a risk that multiple users will get the same answer and this too could pose a risk. There is also a question of accountability and IP ownership for AI-generated content and actions. It's critical to remember that any content created by an LLM is ultimately the responsibility of the people using it.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast, part of the Futurum Media Podcast Network.
Panelists:
Dave Nicholson, Chief Advisor, The Futurum Group
John WIllis, Advisor, Consultant, and Investor
Ron Pagani Jr., Founder of Open Technology Partners
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
128. Data Center Networking Can't Keep Pace with AI Demands
2026/10/06
Learn more about Networking Field Day here.
AI is driving data center networking into a high-speed arms race, but severe supply chain logjams and enterprise realities threaten to stall the momentum.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Scott Robohn and Andy Banta to debate whether data center networking can keep up with its massive AI-driven growth targets heading into Networking Field Day 41.
The panel explores the widening gap between high-end AI data fabrics operating at 400G to 1.6T speeds and standard enterprise access networks, the fragmentation of unified network architectures, supply chain lead times reaching up to 15 months, and whether current vendor growth metrics reflect long-term architectural shift or a market bubble.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast, part of the Futurum Podcast Network.
Panelists:
Scott Robohn, Founder of the Network Automation Forum
Andy Banta, Consultant and AI Infrastructure Expert
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
SPOTLIGHT: Modern Identity Governance and Clean Recovery Can Secure AI Agents Presented by Commvault
2026/09/29
Learn more about Commvault Shift here.
Too many organizations continue to take a traditional approach to security and identity, even as AI agents are invited behind the firewall.
On this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, Vidya Shankaran of Commvault joins delegates Karen Lopez and Shala Warner to discuss modern workforce security ahead of the November Commvault SHIFT event.
It begins with identity, with most of us managing hundreds of virtual identities for access to applications and data. Rather than allowing all of these identities, organizations should form an AI Center of Excellence to determine governance, identity, and access, and should control this using a centralized IAM tool.
But this exposes a new attack surface if this system is compromised, either to protect access or prevent denial of service. Although it would be ideal if companies could prepare themselves for AI, the first step is a basic data protection strategy that is able to restore the status quo after a breach.
These systems must be tested and proven, and then connected with identity and data teams. The key is a clean recovery, that includes a complete set of data and applications, and this is has been a focus of Commvault for many years. and we will learn more about the state of the art in cyber-resilience at SHIFT in Nashville this November.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast, part of the Futurum Podcast Network.
Commvault Representative:
Vidya Shankaran, Field CTO at Commvault
Karen Lopez, Independent Analyst and Data Expert
Shala Warner, Architect and Content Creator
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
126. AI Safely Deploys and Tests Your Infrastructure Code
2026/09/22
Learn more about Cloud Field Day 26 #CFD26 here.
Vibe coding and AI assistants promise to turbocharge IT infrastructure deployment, but can generative tools truly replace human discipline, rigorous testing, and engineering experience?
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Alastair Cooke is joined by industry experts Pete Welcher and Jens Soeldner to break down the realities of using AI for infrastructure automation and CloudFormation templates.
The panel explores the critical line between disciplined AI assistance and reckless "vibe coding," explaining why using the same AI to write and test code is a recipe for disaster. From problem decomposition and digital twins to the shifting job market for junior engineers and rising AI token costs, they share practical insights on how enterprise IT teams can safely harness AI speed without sacrificing code quality or governance.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast, part of the Futurum Podcast Network and Futurum Media.
Panelists:
Jens Soeldner, IT-Instructor, IT-Consultant, Lecturer
Pete Welcher, Networking Expert
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
125. You Really Don't Need Indoor Standard Power for 6 GHz Wi-Fi
2026/09/15
Just because you can turn on standard power for your indoor 6 GHz Wi-Fi network doesn’t mean you should.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Wi-Fi experts Mark Houtz and Keith Parsons to debate whether indoor standard power is actually necessary.
While standard power helps client devices transmit louder to fill coverage gaps, it requires Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) and sacrifices valuable channel spectrum.
The panel breaks down real-world client behavior, channel width trade-offs, and why traditional Low Power Indoor (LPI) design might still be the smarter choice for your network.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast, part of the Futurum Podcast Network.
Panelists:
Keith Parsons, Wi-Fi Expert
Mark Houtz, Wi-Fi Engineer
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
124. Solar, Batteries, and Electrification Can Make Grid Power Optional
2026/09/08
Solar and battery electrification has become remarkably affordable and compelling recently, and can easily replace utility service.
This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features delegates Andy Banta and Paul Braren discussing their own implementation of solar panels, batteries, heat pumps, and EV charging.
There are many reasons to switch away from grid power: Environmentalism, independence, frugality, and a serious nerd-factor. Many of us got involved with this trend with energy-efficient electric appliances and electric vehicles.
Then we adopted batteries and inverters to provide backup power in the event of an emergency. These pair nicely with large rooftop solar panel installation, allowing the whole system to function autonomously.
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
123. AI Costs Push Enterprise IT Toward Efficient Inference
2026/09/01
As artificial intelligence rewires enterprise IT, the industry is quickly pivoting from speculative hype to cold, hard economic realities.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Alastair Cooke and Stephen Foskett to unpack the major drivers shaping technology moving through 2026 and into 2027.
The panel explores the transition from massive model training to practical business inference, while breaking down a looming hardware supply crisis that is spiking the cost of RAM, SSDs, and core data center infrastructure.
From token pricing opacity and enterprise cost transparency to market power dynamics between hyperscalers, legacy server giants, and agile software startups, Tom, Alastair, and Stephen frame how these macro shifts will dictate the next wave of enterprise networking, cloud, and security.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast featuring Tom Hollingsworth, Alastair Cooke, and Stephen Foskett.
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
SPOTLIGHT: Sovereign AI Requires an Open Foundation Presented by CNCF
2026/08/25
Sovereignty in AI means having the ability to choose, to choose what is done with proprietary data, choose what model and choose where AI operates.
This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Jonathan Bryce from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) discussing sovereign AI with Ron Pagani Jr and Alastair Cooke.
Sovereignty is often considered viewed as choosing which jurisdiction applies the rule of law, with the US CLOUD act making US owned or operated platforms globally subject to US law. Yet sovereignty also has the element of self-determination, the ability to choose where to store and use the unique data a company holds.
Vitally, the ability control what data is handed to third party platforms and services. The ability to use open-weight AI models either on-premises or inside a cloud tenancy offers greater data control, using a hyperscale AI service offers different advantages. Sovereignty in AI is about having the choice to use the right tools and technologies.
CNCF Representative: Jonathan Bryce, Executive Director at the Cloud Native Computing Foundation
Panelists:
Ron Pagani Jr., Founder of Open Technology Partners
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
SPOTLIGHT: Fibre Channel is the Bedrock of Modern AI Storage Presented by Cisco MDS
2026/08/18
We keep hearing about AI datacenters in space, and the incredible advances made with reusable space launch and solar power makes this seem feasible.
On this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, Ray Lucchesi, Scott Robohn, and Stephen Foskett discuss the challenges and benefits of orbital datacenters.
The discussion begins with the various issues facing datacenters in space: Launch cost, communications latency and bandwidth, reliability and service, radiation, power, and cooling.
Cisco MDS Representative:
Judd Pickett, Hyper Specialist for Cisco MDS
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
120. Making Space for AI in Orbit
2026/08/11
We keep hearing about AI datacenters in space, and the incredible advances made with reusable space launch and solar power makes this seem feasible.
On this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, Ray Lucchesi, Scott Robohn, and Stephen Foskett discuss the challenges and benefits of orbital datacenters.
The discussion begins with the various issues facing datacenters in space: Launch cost, communications latency and bandwidth, reliability and service, radiation, power, and cooling.
Panelists:
Ray Lucchesi, Silverton Consulting
Scott Robohn, CEO of Solutional
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
SPOTLIGHT: AI is Calling in 20 Years of Technical Debt Presented by Broadcom
2026/08/04
Adding generative AI to enterprise applications is exposing up to 20 years of technical debt in enterprise IT infrastructure and applications.
This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Sabina Anja from Broadcom's VMware Cloud Foundation team discussing the impact of AI with Andy Banta, Ron Pagani Jr., and Alastair Cooke.
The panel argues that the public cloud never eliminated technical debt, merely hid it behind a bill, and that AI workloads are now surfacing the same question of how quickly organizations can move from idea to production.
Part of the problem is an "immortal VM" culture where decades-old virtual machines persist unchanged, creating a mismatch with ephemeral agentic AI workloads that must coexist with legacy systems on the same infrastructure. Compounding drivers include AI itself generating more code and debt through agentic coding, the disconnect between developers who build infrastructure informally and finance/ops teams locked into three-to-five-year hardware cycles even as GPU, RAM, and SSD economics shift within a year, and the "best of breed" fallacy of buying excellent components without solving integration and orchestration.
The panel's proposed remedy centres on treating infrastructure and process as inseparable, starting from clear business goals, building elastic software-defined resource pools that can be dynamically allocated via automation and CI/CD, and giving developers more direct, API-driven access to infrastructure.
Sabina likened today's GPU underutilization to mainframe time-sharing, and Alastair using a "Toyota Corolla vs. tuned AMG" analogy to argue for differentiating generic from purpose-built AI infrastructure.
Broadcom Representative: Sabina Anja, Chief Technologist for VMware Cloud Foundation at Broadcom
Panelists:
Andy Banta, Consultant
Ron Pagani Jr., Founder of Open Technology Partners
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
SPOTLIGHT: Data Needs Some Help to Get the Most from AI Inference Presented by CTERA
2026/07/28
Unstructured corporate data needs some help to be ready for AI agents and inference.
This episode of the Tech Field Day podcast features Aron Brand from CTERA discussing unstructured preparation with Andy Banta, Barton George, and Alastair Cooke.
The first challenge is to find data where it resides and understand what you have in your file shares and object stores. Unlike a data lake, CTERAS can your data where it is to inherit permissions and changes as they occur. Tagging remains an important part of identifying data contents. Adding automated text extraction, audio and video transcription, and summarization allow automated tagging while the extracted data is useful for AI too.
CTERA believes the original file system is the right place for these reusable pieces of derived data is alongside the original files rather than locked in a proprietary platform.
CTERA Representative:
Aron Brand, CTO of CTERA
Panelists:
Andy Banta, Consultant
Barton George, Founder of 808 Labs
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
117. Multi-Terabyte GPUs the Only Answer for AI Scaling
2026/07/21
Are multi-terabyte GPUs and massive frontier models really the answer to enterprise AI, or are we hitting a hard wall of soaring memory costs and power constraints?
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Alastair Cooke sits down with technical experts Ron Pagani Jr., Andy Banta, and Brian Martin to examine whether brute-force hardware scaling remains sustainable.
The panel debates scale-up vs. scale-out architectures, emphasizing how smart software optimizations—such as persistent KV caching (MinIO MemKV, Solidigm) and intelligent data layers (CTERA)—can eliminate redundant GPU computation and lower costs.
They also explore agentic microservices, power and cooling bottlenecks, and why right-sizing AI models for production is critical for achieving real-world enterprise ROI.
Panelists:
Andy Banta, Consultant
Brian Martin, AI and Data Center Lead at Signal65
Ron Pagani Jr., Founder of Open Technology Partners
Hosts:
Tom Hollingsworth, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
Alastair Cooke, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
Stephen Foskett, President and Organizer of Tech Field Day
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
SPOTLIGHT: Data Centers Need to be Multi-Tenant presented by Netris
2026/07/14
As the explosive rise of AI workloads brings massive GPU clusters back to on-premises environments and surging neo-clouds, the race to maximize hardware utilization has made multi-tenancy an absolute necessity.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Spotlight Podcast, host Tom Hollingsworth sits down with networking experts Scott Robohn, Ed Weadon, and Netris CEO and Cofounder Alex Saroyan to dissect the hidden complexities of modern AI infrastructure. Managing thousands of GPUs means navigating dense networking architectures like quad-planes, massive power restrictions, and the intricate blending of Ethernet and InfiniBand environments.
Alex reveals how Netris solves these scaling bottlenecks from Day 0 using digital twin simulations and automated network abstraction, allowing operators to dynamically isolate cluster resources for different tenants through simple, unified API calls.
Netris Representative:
Alex Saroyan, Cofounder and CEO of Netris
Scott Robohn, CEO of Solutional
Ed Weadon, Network Engineer
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast on X/Twitter or on Bluesky and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes on the podcast page of the website.
Follow Tech Field Day for more information on upcoming and current event coverage on X/Twitter, on Bluesky, and on LinkedIn, or visit our website.
Podcast reviews
Read Tech Field Day Podcast podcast reviews
vcxi 2020/10/24
What’s the Premises of this show?!
I’ve listened to this show many times and even participated on it as a guest and find it to be really enjoyable. It’s pretty hard hitting and digs int...
TracerX-1 2017/08/23
Great!
Really like the podcast info related to off and on-premises cloud info. Grammar nerd alert....it's "on premises", not "on premise". :-)
Kidsmeller 2017/05/04
Fresh
The intro voice reminds me of Chris Parnell in Hot Rod. So AM radio! So fresh & so clean! Great choice, and keeping it very hip while keeping up with ...
Dan_the_Rob 2017/05/04
Love this podcast!
Really enjoy this podcast on all things IT.
FoskettFamily 2017/05/04
Finally
We're finally live with the podcast!
Stroff84 2017/05/04
Thumbs Up
Great show. Glad to hear someone being real on a podcast. Plus, the guy who did the intro? Very sexy voice.
Rich in Cleveland 2017/05/04
Great
Wow
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