Tech Talks Central

The blueprint of corporate IT has changed dramatically during the last few years due to the advent of technologies like the cloud, virtualization and Software as a Service. Jacint Juhasz, Systems Engineer, South Eastern Europe mentions the Storage Virtualization technologies that have been co-created by NetApp and Cisco and the FlexPod, the core product of the line, the key benefits and how storage virtualization affects the modern complicated corporate IT infrastructure. Interviewed by George Voulgaris for Tech Talks Central.

Video is the next (if not the current...) big thing in the Web; nobody can deny that! Antony Blake, Cisco Video Acceleration Lead in the EMEAR region, tells us why, as his role is to deal with “technologies that bring video to life”. He also explains why we have to proceed with the humanization of video, he shares with us his joy for the Red Dot award, Cisco was recently honoured with, and finally he describes the all new Project in the Cloud platform that, in essence, is a meeting and collaboration room, up there... Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central

In the ever-changing world of ICT, cloud computing seems to be the winner (for the time being) and that means enterprises, organizations and even single users have to adapt themselves to this fact and make the necessary changes in their plans. Panagiotis Golemis, Consulting Systems Engineer at Cisco, talks about Application as a Service platform and describes the benefits of the Application Centric Infrastructure model his company is preaching for. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central

Natassa Mastellou, although very young in age, seems very passionate and knowledgeable in the truly ‘dark’ field of data analytics. Starting out as to how she landed in SAP Hellas and what an important opportunity the SAP graduate program was for her professional life; she continues to explain what solutions SAP offers for Big Data and how the different layers it offers, can help a business grow and make meaningful sense out of the data it collects. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central

The new e-learning, video- and tele- conferencing technologies have been disrupting the education industry for the last few years. We talk with Emmanouil Zouraris, Video, Collaboration and e-Learning Technologies Manager, Networking & Communications Centre, University of Crete (UoC), about their large scale deployment of Cisco conferencing and telepresence technologies at the multi-site UoC network; the integration with the existing IP telephony infrastructure, the interoperability and maintenance benefits and some of the use-cases. Interviewed by George Voulgaris for Tech Talks Central

Internet of Things will bring new modes of interaction between devices and people. As intelligent electronics get embedded to items which are used outside offices and living rooms, there is a growing need to move beyond keyboards, screens and touch interfaces. Alexandros Christopoulos, Business Lead for Human Electric and Constantinos Tsolakidis, Tech Lead for Human Electric talk about their vision to build new user experiences for activities that cannot rely on traditional interfaces starting by their passion: cycling. A first prototype uses a combination of hardware; a jacket laden with indicators, tactile feedback mechanisms and connectivity with mobile phone and an accompanying mobile app to seamlessly augment the cycling experience with navigation, social and security features. Interviewed by George Voulgaris for Tech Talks Central.

Security has always been a very “hot” issue in ICT and Nikos Mourtzinos, Security Account Manager, for Cisco Greece, Cyprus & Malta, tells us how Cisco ASA, a next generation firewall, protects its users much better against the ever increasing threats. He also talks about the security issues we are (and will be) facing in the era of Internet of Everything and suggests possible ways and solutions to most effectively overcome them. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central

In the ICT World (and not only…) market intelligence firms tend to provide a much better overview of a sector, than bits and pieces of information collected from the companies themselves. Emir Halilovic, Program Manager for Networks & Infrastructure at IDC, gives us precious information about Software Defined Network and the benefits it brings to data centres managers and users. He agrees that the market hasn’t taken off yet, but he reminds us that we are still in a transformation period. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central

Dr. Venet Osmani gives us a frank insight into bipolar disorder, a serious and in most cases deadly mental disorder of unknown cause, and proposes an “early warning system” based on a mobile application. Early stage patients have to report their status and answer the app questionnaires, while results are being considered by doctors and specialized staff in an effort to further explore this grave disease. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Denmark’s first professor in Welfare Design, Dr. Andrea Corradini, explains the groundbreaking five year collaboration between Kolding School of Design and Lillebaelt Hospital in Denmark. His work to realize the ‘social ‘experiment’ focuses on how calculated applications of design (eg. adjustable lighting at the nurses station) and not across the board spending cuts, actually save money, increase productivity, quality of services, patient care, and efficiency. The professor tells us the project originates from the perception of ‘welfare’ as a predominant social goal in Denmark, in direct contradiction to other western societies. Dr. Corradini mentions successes thus far and future obstacles he anticipates. He highlights ‘human factor’ as the determining element for this project to succeed or fail. He explains the need to develop a feasible approach to facilitate healthcare professionals to shift perspectives and adjust to an alternative, sometimes radical, point of view. Interviewed by Venetia I. Kyritsi for

Professors Anton Amman and Agapios Agapiou speak about their effort to use breath and sweat of humans as an innovative tool for targeted clinical diagnostics – kind of an odour-CSI...Their ambitious goal is to develop a personalized mobile telemedicine application that could recognise, using special and elaborate sensors, volatiles (which is quite a feat, as we may easily pinpoint only a handful of them) and alert people if something is not as it should be... Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Professor Gianlucca Lazzi opens the conversation with the renowned ‘bionic eye’, an artificial retina to restore vision to the blind. With over 20 years experience in biolelectromagnetics for implantable devices he mentions his research in hippocampus implants and neurostimulators in general; the role they play in health and how these can affect human lives in the future. In an effort to simplify advancements in sensor technology he explains what liquid metal sensors are and their possible advantages. He goes on to foresee the future in implantable devices and restoring senses to patients. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks central.

Mr. Ioannis Tamposis is a healthcare IT expert working for OraSys that offers innovative healthcare services. They have developed a platform for managing medical imaging workflows in an enterprise level which can be integrated among all radiology equipment and applications. OraSys is also involved in the HPV Guard Project, a decision support system based on advanced clinical theranostics protocols for the cost-effective, personalised management of HPV related disease. Interviewed by Venetia I. Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Georgia Chalvatzaki tells us about MOBOT; an ambitious European FP7 project still in evaluation stage, that uses an intelligent robotic walker to assist elderly or reduced mobility people get up from a chair and walk around, during their daily life. It is an easy to use, yet highly sophisticated and self-learning system that gradually recognizes the habits of its user and helps him (or her) overcome most difficulties. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Prof. Athanasios Kakarountas combines his deep knowledge of informatics & computing with marketing techniques in order to design and produce marketable products, useful for everyday assisted living. Starting from his commercialised projects, including a pillow with sensors and an insulin injecting automated system, he talks about his new project which aims to assist elderly by making slight design changes to known household devices that can bring technology to their life in a non-invasive way. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Themos Kallos, Vice President and Chief Science Officer of MediWiSe, describes two important projects his company is working on, which are based on RF properties. The first one uses special antennas for microwave tomography on cancer patients while the second uses V-band waveguides for glucose sensing, in a non-invasive way thus avoiding the painful needles. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Prof. Thomas Pieber talks about the EU funded REACTION project; a decision support system for the remote accessibility to diabetes management & therapy in operational healthcare networks. Patients are monitored with wearable non invasive and minimally invasive continuous Glucose Monitoring sensors(CGM) based on novel technologies. Starting from his own task of trying to improve the quality of control from the medical side, he poses an interesting question on whether ‘Hospitals are aware of the Problem?’ and how qualified hospitals, medical staff, doctors are ready for glycemic control. We ask him if Europe has anything to envy from the US when it comes to eHealth innovation, considering ideas, research and investments. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Nikos Petrellis talks to us about his work in developing electronic circuits to convert sensor outputs from analog to high resolution digital data. He explains the importance of portable, low cost, and diverse modules that can be applied to existing, perhaps older technology, systems. We talk about healthcare applications of converting and correcting analog data derived from existing wearable sensors in real time without the need of costly upgrades to hospital equipment. Dr. Petrellis presents his future projects including developing an easy to use interface and sensors for elderly person assistance. This will monitor vitals and detect an emergency, or simply aid healthcare professionals in diagnosis. Interviewed by Venetia I. Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.

Health is changing. From traditional healthcare provision, lifestyle habits and medicinal tech to the available tools, systems, devices and software. The terms eHealth or mHealth will soon be obsolete as advances in patient management, personal healthcare records, analytics, quantified self, data mining, big data and the self-managed paradigm gradually replace legacy systems, processes and businesses. Professor Dimitris Koutsouris, an accomplished authority in Biomedical Engineering, talks about the disrupting driving forces that are making this massive shift happen, the enablers, the opportunities and the challenges. Interviewed by George Voulgaris for Tech Talks central.

Prof. Guang-Zhong Yang talks about The Hamlyn Centre and their research focus on sensing, imaging and robotics and how they’re interested in developing technology that is safe and effective for all medical devices, whilst having a strong kinetical value, making technology accessible. He talks about the body sensor network and their pervasive use; starting from wearables up to implanted sensors; how they catch signs that help distinguish possible health issues or how they can implant sensors after surgeries in order to monitor the status of the area ie. inflammation, infections etc. and prevent further deterioration. He goes on to explain how their research in imaging, sensing and robotics is creating smart medical tools with sensors and how they’re all linked with the ultimate goal of minimal invasive surgery, intervening early and preventing problems before they become irreversible. Dr. Yang adds his prediction for the future of predictive, personalised and participative health. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou