What goes on behind the scenes with AI, and specifically data center infrastructure and hardware?
We discuss broad ranging concerns, opportunities and market blockers around AI. We also address how deeply it can impact innovation companies’ privacy legislation from the frame of hardware and automation.
Today’s discussion leads us to a larger question of what unlocks innovation in general that we will address in future podcasts.
This is the second installment of our book group, which is a discussion about Investments Unlimited. We have one of our authors, and a great all around DevOps enthusiast, John Willis, on the call with us.
As you might expect, while we talk about the book and John gives a lot of background and details about the book, we treat it with the classic cloud2030 style, and bring in AI, large language and advanced DevOps.
We take the topics of the book to the next level, and frame it in the moment of the year, looking beyond and into how the concepts of compliance, validation, team coordination and risk assessment are incorporated into the coming AI and how it changes in our landscape.
Is hardware going to be innovative and change? Brian Cantrell brings up oxide computing and some of their design motivation.
Today we discuss our skepticism about some of his points, as well as the impacts for cloud distributed Compute hardware design mainframes, cloud, repatriation, and a whole bunch of topics about next generation thinking in Compute infrastructure management and applications.
We are officially starting our cloud2030 book group and I hope you will join us – we are going to be reading Data Cartels by Sara Landon, followed by Investments Unlimited by John Willis and crew.
Is platform engineering effective at hiding complexity from developers? Today we tear apart what platform engineering is doing, how it came about and what it’s trying to be.
We discuss what companies are trying to accomplish with platform engineering – how can successful efforts improve outcomes for development teams and operations teams by improving collaboration in contracts? Why and how is that important, and what do those efforts entail?
In the Cloud 2030 podcast episode on platform engineering, Rob Hirschfeld, CEO of RackN, explores the profound impact of platform engineering on operational efficiency and developer complexity. He emphasizes the discipline’s role in making operations accessible, efficient, and repeatable, leading to significant benefits for companies and DevOps teams. While discussing how platform engineering can hide complexity, Hirschfeld highlights the ongoing essential work involved, debunking the notion of shortcuts and emphasizing the value it adds to organizations. He invites listeners to join discussions at the 2030.cloud, where important technology topics are analyzed in depth.
What is the architectural balance between learning curve, architecture, building things that can scale while acknowledging overhead, and the attitude of just get it done? Don’t make my tools complex and let me be very productive quickly. If it doesn’t scale, then we see this as an ongoing challenge.
Two engineers from RackN led today’s discussion in which we really talked about the balance that we try to achieve at RackN as we design our product, with the understanding that, ultimately, scale really does matter.
If users have trouble understanding how the product works, at first, that learning curve can push people away, so that they never actually get into the product. That’s where finding the right balance is absolutely essential to success.
Platform engineering is a topic that seems to be generating a lot of interest going into 2023. It’s sure to be one of those things that enterprises spend a lot of time arguing about and telling each other that they’re doing it wrong.
In this podcast, we dissect why platform engineering seems to be so controversial, and what we can do to help make it more understandable.
We break it down into DevOps components, team components, Dev components, operations components, and ultimately talk about long term trajectories of how all this stuff is going.
In the December 13th DevOps Lunch and Learn on the Cloud 2030 podcast, Rob Hirschfeld explores the concept of platform engineering emerging from enterprises grappling with the challenges of enabling developers while rationalizing operations. The discussion introduces the idea of operational entropy or infrastructure entropy, emphasizing how platform engineering teams can effectively manage the constant changes, security vulnerabilities, and evolving environments, relieving developers of this burden. By shifting entropy management to a shared and collaborative task, platform engineering teams have the potential to enhance how they function, offering opportunities for improvement across the industry. For those intrigued by these discussions, the full episode is available at the2030.cloud, inviting participation in ongoing conversations.
How do we manage complexity? Today we discuss sources of complexity and explore design rules. We also talk about how you think about the systems that you’re building in ways that allow them to handle complexity gracefully.
The simple answer is to have people who are good at thinking about complex systems. Part of that is experience in looking at complex systems, seeing how they operate and being ready to deal with that type of thing like training pilots.
How we get to that insight is really significant, and it impacts how you build teams and systems. In addition to how you build systems that defend themselves that are naturally complex, but have the right defense mechanisms to make them more stable over the long term.
In the June 28th episode, Rob Hirschfeld delves into the topic of complexity, emphasizing the inevitability of complex systems in real-world scenarios. The discussion highlights the importance of training individuals to navigate and manage complex systems effectively, suggesting that exposure and interaction with complexity are critical learning experiences. The key takeaway underscores the need for proactive training to equip individuals with the skills to handle and defend complex systems, ultimately preventing the creation of increasingly fragile structures. For a comprehensive exploration of the human element in dealing with complexity, listen to the entire podcast at the2030.cloud and join the ongoing discussions.
What makes people interested in new tech versus the stable, boring, things that keep the lights on work?
It feels to me as if we’re in the phase of development where we start saying, I need to make sure this all works. I’ve followed all the cool stuff, now I need to make sure everything’s working and get my ROI out.
This conversation questions that assumption, talks about why we care, what we’re really trying to accomplish, and digs into what is boring and what is sexy? And what makes them different.
We continue our Governance as Code discussions in today’s episode.
We started by very broadly looking at Governance as Code generally, but quickly drilled down into Infrastructure as Code meets Governance as Code focused discussion. Understanding that intersection is critical to building something that is both automated and governable.
The topic explored how we audit controls for systems. We also need to make sure that when we build infrastructure, it’s following our policies. The challenge here is making sure that what we’ve automated is conforming to our governance.
We conceptualize data centers as core infrastructure components in today’s discussion about green infrastructure.
In our discussion about data centers as an industrial load that have peaks and valleys in demand, we dive into the grid as a connected system. We discuss how storage can disrupt the way power is generated and distributed, not only in the United States, but also around the world.
Distribution systems play a huge role in green infrastructure, just like networks. The way we assume that networks are available and robust, we have made the same assumption about power generation in the world to run these data centers.
These topics are all tied together, and you will see a lot of insights and similarities in how we solve and build green infrastructure.
In the June 2nd episode, Rob Hirschfeld emphasizes the importance of distribution in discussions about creating greener data centers. Recognizing how power is generated, its localities, and dealing with infrastructure peaks and valleys are crucial components. The shift from centralized to decentralized infrastructure, both for power and data centers, plays a key role in reducing reliance on distribution systems, enhancing resilience, and addressing interconnected challenges. Join ongoing conversations about green infrastructure at the2030.cloud to explore these complexities further.
