Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The Hot Aisle – How REX-Ray Delivers Persistence for Containers with Clint Kitson – Episode 25

Clint Kitson (@clintonskitson) from EMC{code} (@EMCcode) joins us this week on The Hot Aisle to continue our education on containers and infrastructure portability.  Specifically your hosts Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) look to peel back the onion on the subject of container persistence vs. ephemerality and why this is becoming a large issue to solve. As a solution to the problem, we learn how Project REX-Ray provides persistence along with a vendor agnostic storage orchestration engine, and the continuing roadmap for EMC’s foray into the world of Open Source Software. Join in as we learn about Clint, delivering and consuming EMC’s Infrastructure as Code, and much more – grab a seat, you don’t want to miss our 25th Episode!


Thursday, December 10, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Open Source Your Holidays with Matt Brender – Episode 24

Matthew Brender (@mjbrender) operating in his new capacity as Developer Advocate atIntel joins us this week on The Hot Aisle!  Your hosts Brent Piatti (@BrentPiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) get into the holiday spirit and talk about building open source communities and how to get people to engage, interact, and more.  We also cover Matt’s fun program on helping drive community by engaging on GitHub with the 30 days @Commitmas. In the context of his role as a Developer Advocate – we talk about what Advocacy means as we also work to define telemetry as it pertains to Intel’s newly open sourced Snap project designed to help organizations gain better visibility into and drive efficiencies in their cloud infrastructure.  Grab a seat, settle in with your favorite holiday beverage, and join us!


Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The Hot Aisle – The New Stack Demands a New Type of Flash with Rob Peglar – Episode 23

Rob Peglar, (@peglarr) VP of Advanced Storage at Micron joins us this week on The Hot Aisle! Your hosts Brent Piatti (@BrentPiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) get Rob to take a quick breath in his busy schedule to educate us on all things flash (SSD, NAND, NOR, 3DNAND, 3DXPoint, NVDIMM, PCIe, NVMe, OH MY!), the applications for each technology, and how the Data Center of the future will look as flash densities rise and prices plummet.  What if Rob told you traditional spinning HDD’s are slowly going the way of Tape?  What if Rob then told you that traditional SSD’s could also possibly get that same fate?  Let’s see what he can teach us about the New Stack, and the impact of Flash technology on the Memory Centric Architectures of the future as well.  Grab a seat, let’s do this!

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Innovation and Democratizing Tech at Dell with Matt Baker – Episode 22

Matt Baker (@mattwbaker), Executive Director of Strategy, Enterprise Solutions at Dell takes a seat in The Hot Aisle this week to expose the Innovations that Dell is delivering to their customers and the IT landscape as a whole.  Matt joins your co-hosts Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) as we find out what Matt means in regards to ‘Democratizing IT’ and what that means for consumers in the SMB space, Fortune 100, and Service Provider / Web Tech companies that consume at massive scale.  Join us as Matt gives insights into what is going on at Dell and what impact taking their 100,000 person enterprise has had on their business and ability to innovate and execute against startups and the like.  Let’s do this!


Tuesday, November 10, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Cloud Native Resiliency with Jeremy Edberg – Episode 21

Jeremy Edberg (@jedberg), Co-Founder of CloudNative Apps (@CloudNativeIO) and well known for his Distributed Systems and Cloud Native Application Resiliency expertise joins us this week on The Hot Aisle.  Your co-hosts Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) dive into Jeremy’s storied history as the 1st paid employee of Reddit and as a reliability and distributed systems architect for Netflix.  The lessons he learned as both businesses transitioned from traditional architectures to fully cloud native make for great stories.  We also cover his new business Cloud Native and their products Delta, Bakery, and Yeobot – where we get schooled on what ChatOps is and how it benefits DevOps teams.  Jeremy shares all sorts of nuggets of information with the audience including the 3 tenants of what Cloud Native Apps teams need to be successful – and why his company is so heavily focused or invested in Amazon Web Services as part of their strategy.  Pull up a seat and join us!


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Infrastructure as Code with Mitchell Hashimoto – Episode 20

The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  Joining us this Episode is Mitchell Hashimoto (@mitchellh) Co-Founder of Hashi Corp. – creators of super cool and open source projects like Vagrant, Packer, Serf, Consul, Terraform, Vault, and more.  Learn about how they use Atlas to tie those projects together to better enable infrastructure as code for businesses.  Mitchell discusses the recent HashiConf 2015 where they announced new open source projects Otto and Nomad.  ‘Go’ is a subject again (we’re not doing on purpose, but it’s definitely a thing!), as Mitchell discusses why he is fond of the language and why some enthusiasts may not feel the same way. Listen in to hear his journey from middle-school hacker to Jr. developer at a consultancy after college frustrated with repeating the easy tasks on a daily basis.  We also cover how his obsession with automating things became a growing venture-backed business with a rabid following in the DevOps community.  Find your place, turn it up to 11, and join in.


Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Hot Aisle – A Data Scientist’s Take on Big Data and Analytics with Bill Schmarzo – Episode 19

The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  Joining us this Episode is Bill Schmarzo (@schmarzo) the anointed DeanofBigData, author of Big Data Understanding How Data Powers Big Business, Current EMC Big Data CTO, former VP of Analytics for Yahoo & Business Objects.  Of course, he also somehow finds time to teach the Big Data MBA as a professor.  Bill joins us as a renown Big Data and Analytics expert, and you’ll quickly see why.  He has an unbridled passion about gaining insights from data, and teaching others how to do the same!  He’s going to talk about the 4 M’s of Big Data, his next book due out just in time for Christmas, and what John Furrier (@furrier) is to blame for this time… Oh, and something about restrictive organizational cultures killing creativity in business. Grab a seat, and listen in!

Thursday, October 22, 2015

EMC VSPEX Blue & Dell VRTX - Blurred Lines

On the heels of Dell World Day 3, I walked away seeing huge potential between Dell & EMC for co-innovations, parlays, collaborations, mash-ups, (you get the idea), but there is also a level of overlap in products that should be considered.  Let me attempt to dig into something that I thought was pretty interesting in the CI/HCI & ROBO space.















Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Dell World - Key Note - Day 2



Dell World Day 2 and Key Note is in the books and the buzz was palatable.  The seats were packed early, the room chatter was that of curiosity & anticipation, so when Michael Dell came to the stage all iPhones (and some Androids) came out.  As with my Day 1 coverage, I want to hit the high points of what I believe showcases Dell's commitment to the EMC acquisition/merger/partnership/whatever.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Dell World 2015 - Press Conference - Day 1

Dell World 2015 is in full swing and although Michael Dell was lambasted by Analysts/Press/Bloggers/etc regarding the EMC acquisition, plus his hands legally tied due to the 60 day "gag-order", he tackled the 40 minute session with relative finesse. Here is a high-level of what Mr. Dell had to say:

The Hot Aisle – Relax, You’re Too Hyper-Converged with Brad Maltz – Episode 18



This week on The Hot Aisle, your hosts Brent Piatti (@BrentPiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) get beaten senseless with heaps of converged & hyper-converged goodness.  We learn from EMC’s Sr. Director of Converged Infrastructure & ‘closeted VCDX’, Brad Maltz (@bmaltz),  about “how”, “why”, and “what” the whole Converged Infrastructure + Hyper-Converged Infrastructure + Disaggregated Hardware movement is coming from.  Clear your minds and your calendar; you’ll want to hear this!


Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Digital Supply Chain and SAP HANA with John Appleby – Episode 17


The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  Joining us this Episode is John Appleby (@applebyj) of Bluefin Solutions – a global consultancy focused on SAP, SAP HANA, digitization, analytics, mobile, and more.  John joins us as renown SAP HANA expert, keynote speaker, and SAP Mentor.  We discuss the rapidly evolving subject of digitizing supply chain sales process and where SAP and Bluefin fit in that world.  John explains the value of shifting traditional ERP into in-memory databases, where SAP is headed with HANA VORA, and where Hadoop and other emerging technologies deliver business benefit.  Grab a seat and enjoy the ride while John gives us an education!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Open Source Community Done Right with Steve Francia – Episode 16

The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  Joining us this Episode is Steve Francia (@spf13) of SPF13.Com and recently of@docker fame (as their Chief of Operations, Open Source).  Steve joins us as a well known mentor, and highly respected member of the Open Source community as a whole, to give insight into the dramatic shifts we are seeing towards OSS.  We discuss what’s involved with getting started in open source, what stimulates community involvement, how corporate involvement can vary, and more.  Join us in our journey to learning more about Open Source community involvement, as well as how to take a philosophy major and turn fundamental logic expertise into a great technology career!

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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Culture is Eating Software’s World with Andrew Clay Shafer – Episode 15

This week on The Hot Aisle, your hosts Brent Piatti (@BrentPiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC) converse yet again with someone that dwarfs their collective intellect.  With the mind of a mathematician, the spirit on an entrepreneur, the goal to automate everything, and the the ability to make infrastructure interact like code – our guest Andrew Clay Shafer (@littleidea) talks to us about his current role at Pivotal (@Pivotal), how software is eating the world, his passion for sushi, and what it was like co-founding @PuppetLabs…oh yeah, did we forget to mention he is credited with coining the phrase “DevOps”?  As always, we have way too much content and way too little time, consider this round 1.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride! 

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Storage Paparazzi with El Reg’s Chris Mellor – Episode 14

Storage Paparazzi, or their proper name – Storage Industry Journalists / Analysts have the unique role of watching the marketplace from the outside in (and sometimes inside out!). The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC). Together with us this week, Chris Mellor (@chris_mellor) of The Register (@TheRegister) joins us to discuss his prominent role in the Storage Journalism landscape.  We cover a variety of subjects around how he found his place in his current job, what he feels his obligation to the industry / manufacturers / customers are, and even how he gets his ‘state secrets’ for his articles.  We also ask Chris to give us his insights on where the industry has been, where it’s going – what excites him AND what bores him.  Don’t worry, we also cover The Federation <insert march song here> and his feelings about leadership, where things are going, and his outlook on what’s to come – as well as where we’ve come from.  Did we mention his awesome accent?  Join Us!

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Platform 3, Are you doing it wrong? with Randy Bias – Episode 13

The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  Joining us this Episode is Randy Bias (@randybias), VP of Technology for EMC in their Emerging Technology Division and Director in the OpenStack Foundation.  Randy helps us navigate through our questions on how customers are either starting out in Platform 3 or Mode 2 architectures, as well as how those who still have Platform 2 / Mode 1 are either trying to straddle both worlds.  There are certainly right and wrong ways to accomplish these objectives as an Enterprise, which asks the question: “Platform 3, are you doing it wrong?”.  We discuss Randy’s participation in multiple different boards and advisory roles, his start into OpenStack (as well as how he got Mirantis started!), and what he’s been tasked to do at EMC after his company CloudScaling was acquired last year.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Rise of the Developer Advocate with Ashley McNamara – Episode 12

The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  This Episode’s guest is none other than Ashley McNamara (@ashleymcnamara) Developer Advocate for Object Rocket (a Rackspace company) to educate us on the role & rise of the Developer Advocate as well as how one can break into the world of code.  Aside from resources on how to learn to code, we also discuss STEM and getting your kids involved in technology, geeks & tattoos, as well as how you can contribute to open source projects.  Finally we get sage advice from Ashley’s son who makes a guest appearance and cements a spot on a future episode!

Monday, August 24, 2015

The Hot Aisle – v0dgeball, vSpecialists, & SE Culture with Fred Nix – Episode 11

The Hot Aisle is hosted by Brent Piatti (@brentpiatti) and Brian Carpenter (@intheDC).  This Episode’s guest is none other than Fred Nix (@nixfred) Systems Engineering Manager for EMC in the South.  Fred comes to us specifically to talk about v0dgeball2015 @ VMworld and its origins and charity The Wounded Warrior Project, but leaves us with golden gems that include:  Public Speaking and how Stand Up Comedy plays a role in transforming your public speaking skills.  Motivating, Molding, and downright hugging New Hire Systems Engineers as part of his Global Presales Operations role.  Having a brand or legacy that may or may not include a lot of Jaeger (and how much of that is true?!).  The role military service had on his career path and his work ethic.  And last but not least – a glimpse into the formation of the vSpecialist organization at EMC – and how that “culture -not- cult” has stretched its tentacles into the organization worldwide – including New Hires Orientation.

Friday, July 31, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Open Kimono Edition with Chad Sakac – Episode 10

Our 10th Episode is here!  We’re on a roll and you can’t stop us.  This is our first remote recording, done with none other than POPS – Chad Sakac (@sakacc) while we got him to sit still for almost an hour at the mothership in Hopkinton.  We get Chad to give us *concise* answers on questions about what the essential traits of a good SE are and how he gets himself involved and aligned with the ventures side of EMC to make decisions on key technologies of the future.  He also waxes poetic on the changing tech landscape and where software defined things fit into that equation.  And, of course, we talk a bit about VMworld which is just a month away.  We had dozens of YOUR questions waiting to hit Chad with, and the only way to do that is to have him back in the future.  Keep on listening with us on The Hot Aisle!

Monday, July 27, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Object Storage, Software Defined, & Open Source w/ Manuvir Das – Episode 9

Welcome back!  This week Senior Vice President of EMC’s Advanced Software Division (ASD) Manuvir Das joins us on The Hot Aisle to discuss all things Object Storage, Software Defined Data Center (SDDC), Why he’s choosing to embrace Open Source for various product offerings, and he also opens the Kimono a bit to talk about Project Caspian!   We discuss how Enterprises can begin to embrace object storage as the mass file storage of the future – using existing API’s or embracing the pervasive S3 protocol from Amazon on platforms that can go inside their data center. We also discuss where file and object overlap, and the challenges that are faced with file once you look at customers from a global perspective with geographically dispersed data centers.  Manuvir’s teams also include the team behind CoprHD, which is now in full read/write mode on GitHub – he discusses the thought process behind going Open, and how he hopes the enterprise version ViPR can benefit from it.  Thanks for joining as always, and don’t hesitate to hit up myself @intheDC or my co-host @brentpiatti with questions, topics, guest suggestions or otherwise.  Tune in next week for Episdode 10 – it’s gunna be Awesomesauce!

Monday, July 20, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Venture Capital, Mergers, & Acquisitions as a Strategy with Scott Darling – Episode 8

The goal of this week’s episode is to educate our listeners on EMC Ventures and their activities around funding startups, merging with, and/or acquiring existing businesses for the improvement of the “Federation”.  Bringing fun and interesting things about venture capitalism to the broader community.  Scott Darling, President of EMC Corporate Development and Ventures joins us from his paddle board to share his knowledge on the subjects of Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions, and general venture strategies and how they align with the needs of an Enterprise.  We also discuss private funds and how they differ from corporate funds and what the aspects of an interesting deal look like!

Thursday, July 2, 2015

The Hot Aisle – Containers, DockerCon, and EMCCode with Jonas Rosland – Episode 7

You’ve made it to Episode 7 and we’re proud of you!  We’re proud of us too!  The list of guests is already slotted out thru Episode 11, and our invites list is even longer!  Thanks for joining us.  TELL YOUR FRIENDS!  This episode we have Jonas Rosland(@jonasrosland) of EMCCode (@EMCCode) fame giving us the low-down on Containers.  We cover the ecosystem of products such as Docker, Rocket, Mesos, LXD, and many others.  We cover announcements from #DockerCon such as RunC, the Open Container Project (OCP), Data Persistence and the Volume Driver, and EMC’s involvement as a sponsor and contributor to the Con.  Finally, we discuss EMC Code’s Community efforts, their involvement with Containers and their internal charge / focus on Containers as a big part of EMC’s Open Source and Community focus (as well as product focus).  Thanks for listening!

Friday, June 26, 2015

The Hot Aisle – NoSQL, SQL, and Message Queues for Cloud Native Apps w/ Matt Cowger – Episode 6

For our sixth podcast we asked Matt Cowger @mcowger (VCDX #52!) to pick something relevant about Cloud Native applications that might be of the beaten path a bit.  Matt suggested that we discuss NoSQL, SQL, Message Queues and how they fit into modern application structures.  We cover a wide list of technology such as Redis, RIAK, Basho, Cassandra, Mongo DB, Postgres, MySQL, SQL, Oracle, Hadoop, and many more.  Join us as we take you through use cases, architecture considerations, and other design thoughts in regards to these technologies.  As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out and give us feedback, ask questions, or request topics you’d like to hear on The Hot Aisle!