Episode Summary

iland Cloud Technologist Brian Knudtson is joined by guests Aaron Delp, Lindy Collier, and Eric Wright for a wide-ranging conversation on how clouds are architected and what they are capable of. They discuss the three general cloud categories, the relevance of brand-name equipment, and the reliance on white box equipment and customized open-source software. Oh, and ninjas.

Panel

Cloud Conversations

Topic 1

[03:36] Clouds can be lumped into three general categories — on-premises/private, hyperscalers, and boutique/specialty/VMware- or OpenStack-based. The capabilities of a cloud platform are often driven by the underlying architecture and technologies. What are some of the underlying fundamental differences between these three approaches and how do they affect the capabilities that customers receive?

Topic 2

[12:01] Does the use of common name-brand equipment (e.g. Intel, VMware, HPE, Cisco, DellEMC, etc.) as part of a cloud solution automatically engender trust with customers?

Topic 3

[18:29] Should the heavy reliance on “white box” equipment and customized open-source software cause concerns to customers who are comfortable with name-brand equipment that provide high levels of performance and availability? Are there any differences on how they should view this underlying infrastructure?

Cloud Bites

[03:55] “Where are the Ninjas? Do you want to hire your ninjas or outsource your ninjas?” – Aaron Delp

[09:28] “They found out that there was a cliff there and they have to pull some stuff back.” – Brian Knudtson

[10:33] “But let’s be honest here, what, at the end of the day, does the cloud do? The cloud is infrastructure plumbing. And that’s it.” – Aaron Delp

[11:45] “This is it. It’s the plumbing that you don’t want to deal with and they were happy to do that.” – Eric Wright

[15:17] “Do what’s best for your company — not what some sales rep comes in and says.” – Lindy Collier

[22:06] “You feel safe and secure because you can make that call.” – Lindy Collier

[25:05] “Everyone is coming to the realization that owning and operating that infrastructure … it doesn’t matter anymore.” – Aaron Delp