Conversations With Dez

I caught up with Rod Cruz, General Manager, Healthcare Solutions, at AT&T, to talk about Consumerism in Healthcare, Digital Health technology & the Patient Experience, the Connected Ambulance with combined FirstNet, 5G and IoMT, and more. Rod is no stranger to the show, in fact it was exactly one year since Rod was last on the show, and we had almost a quarter of a million listeners tune in to hear Rod's insights and updates. More recently I caught up with Rod on camera at the 2019 AT&T Business Summit event in Dallas. We kick off this conversation with a high-level 30,000 foot industry update on the state of 5G and Healthcare, in particular some of the success AT&T have had in this space through 2018 and 2019 leading up to 2020. We then dive into more detail around some of the examples I’ve seen over the last year or two which really piqued my interest and certainly the interest of my listeners - we start with FirstNet, the background to it, and how AT&T went about successfully deploying a world leading e

I caught up with Manoj Nair, General Manager, Metallic, to talk about his role at Metallic, what a day in the life of the GM of Metallic entails, and some of the latest trends and insights from the great work he and his team at Metallic are doing with partners and customers in the world of software-as-a-service (SaaS) data protection and more. In this wonderful conversation, Manoj introduces us to the Commvault / Microsoft Expanded Partnership and walks us through the details of the announcement and how it plays into the powerful combination of metallic & azure storage. In particular we discussed the exciting announcement of a Commvault And Microsoft partnership to deliver new partner opportunities With Metallic SaaS plus Microsoft Azure, to deliver ultimate scale and trusted security with simple SaaS management As an avid foodie with a Master of Computer Science degree from Clemson University, Manoj knows you need more than a recipe for success; it requires vision, creativity, experience working the line,

I caught up with Dr. Emma Fauss, co-founder & CEO of Medical Informatics Corp. (MIC), to talk about her her role at MIC, their business and it's relationship with Intel, and the amazing work both MIC and Intel have done in response to the COVID19 global pandemic to help hospitals cope with challenges related to the pandemic which most have never had to deal with till now. Emma Fauss is an engineer, researcher and entrepreneur - she is the co-founder and CEO of Medical Informatics Corp. and a Rice Alliance and DFJ Mercury Venture Fellow. She completed a BE degree in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union, her PhD from the University of Virginia in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and her MBA from Rice University with a concentration in healthcare. Emma also consults with early-stage entrepreneurs within the Texas Medical Center, as well as Rice University on business strategies and, as an advisor with the MIT Enterprise Forum, consults on biotechnology, nanotechnology, and risk assessment. Our co

I recently caught up with Chip Mason (Lead, Mainframe Security Product Management) & Mary Ann Furno (Offering Manager, Mainframe Security) from the Mainframe Division of Broadcom, to talk about the latest news, trends, insights and solutions around Mainframe Security, Education, and the drive to deliver more agile and integrated DevOps and Continuous Development / Continuous Integration (CI/CD) solutions. We kicked off with why and how to build adaptable, modern security to fit into an ever-changing world, to meet the increasingly complex, hybrid IT infrastructure demands an adaptable, enterprise-wide security strategy. In particular around where digital transformation integrates business operations across the enterprise, and why integration requires a more complex, hybrid IT structure and leverages all platforms in the infrastructure. We delve into how complex IT opens new threat vectors and requires a security strategy that is adaptable but not chaotic, and that today’s risks are driven by the latest tec

I recently caught up with Erin Rohlfs, a Industry Solutions Architect for Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality for AT&T Business at the 2020 National Retail Federation (NRF ) "BIG Show" on Manhattan island in New York City, New York, in the USA, to get the latest news and updates, trends and insights around Retail, Resturant and Hospitality markets and industry segments, and what AT&T Business has on show at NRF 2020 in NYC. In this conversation Erin and I discuss: + Product Availability and the impact of technologies such as IoT, Mixed Reality, i.e. AR/VR & Digital Experience + Shopper Convenience and the the role things like Efficiency, Convenience, Lifestyle & Service play + Immersive Marketing including Digital Signage & Proximity Marketing and how these are changing the face of Retail + Customer Insights and where new and emerging technologies such as 5G, Analytics, Customer Sentiment, and Data Driven Decisions are having Erin shared her views and experience around the increasing challenge for the Reta

I caught up with Val Bercovici, Founder & CEO at Chainkit, a Software-as-a-Service company that builds cyber security solutions, with a corporate mission to eliminate blind spots in cyber security and data privacy. In this show we discuss the every present and increasingly mission critical topics of Cybersecurity, Cyber war, and the over arching theme of Cyber crime in today's increasingly digital and "always on" / "always connected" modern world, with the added challenge of a global population challenged with living through a global pandemic in the corm of the COVID19 novel derivative of coronavirus. We kick off with a fun introduction to Val and his early life and inspirations, through to his academic and career path which lead him to this amazing challenge to build and run a business which aims to help solve what for want of a better description is ( as we discuss on this show ) a "digital World War 3". Val also gives us great insights as to why the war against Cyber Crime and Cyber Security requires t

I caught up with Lisa Spelman, Vice President and General Manager of Intel Xeon Products and Data Centre Marketing at Intel Corp. to talk about her her role at Intel, current trends and the latest product announcements from Intel. Lisa is corporate vice president in the Data Platforms Group and general manager of the Xeon and Memory Group at Intel Corporation. She leads the end-to-end product planning, management, support, marketing and roadmap ownership of Intel® Xeon® processors. She also leads those same functions and the engineering for Intel® Optane™ Persistent Memory. Additionally, her organisation’s responsibilities span strategy and technology across our Xeon platforms. In this show we talk about: - Updates from Intel’s response and investments related to COVID-19 - Intel’s latest news from the Data Platform Group - Accelerating Analytics, the journey from the Core to Cloud and the Edge - Solutions, Software & Customer insights - And what’s look into AI and Analytics in the next decade We talk

I had the pleasure of catching up with both Zee Hussain, Senior Vice President of Global Business, across Finance, Healthcare, Sports & Entertainment and Industry Solutions at AT&T Business and Patrick Hale Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer at VITAS Healthcare, to talk about the launch of the AT&T and VITAS Healthcare Virtual Reality Study for Hospice Patients. Zee is responsible for leading the enterprise sales teams focused on bringing AT&T products, services and industry specific sales plays to customers in Finance and Healthcare, and in all other industries headquartered in the eastern U.S. Patrick oversees all aspects of large-scale IT operations for Vitas Healthcare, and has over two decades of experience spanning multiple business verticals, including healthcare, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, financial services, retail and government. AT&T and VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, have launched a study that intends to combine 5G with virtual realit

I had the pleasure of catching up once again with Stuart McIrvine, Director, Product Management for Mainframe Security and Compliance; Mainframe Database Tools at Broadcom. This is Stuart’s second guest appearance on the show. I also had the pleasure of catching up with Stuart recently in Pittsburg at the SHARE Mainframe user group event in America. If you have’t seen that interview please do tune in & check it out after you’ve listened to this podcast at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL6j92qLcpM In his role as Director, Product Management for Mainframe Security and Compliance; Mainframe Database Tools at Broadcom, Stuart is responsible for leading the offering teams managing Security and Compliance as well as Database Tools; developing and leading strategy to ensure products meet customers’ needs and have competitive edge in the marketplace. In this show, we discuss the latest news & updates from his team and the Broadcom Mainframes division - in particular mainframe security, and wh

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Janet Giesen, Vice President of Operations and Programs for Metallic, a Commvault venture, to talk about SaaS Data Protection and considerations for remote workers. This conversation begins with a quick 30,000 foot point of view introduction to Metallic, what it is, where it fits with data protection & what drove the decision for Commvault to develop & launch Metallic. Also covered are the three key market focused offerings Metallic was launched with, and insights into why those three initial service offerings in particular, which included: 1 - Metallic Office 365 Backup & Recovery, to protect SaaS office automation tools & data 2 - Metallic Core Backup & Recovery, focused on Virtual Machines & their data 3 - Metallic Endpoint Backup & Recovery, focused on laptop & desktop backups Janet outlines their strategy regarding the global roll out, from Metallic initially being launched within the American market in the USA, and which regions will follow with great

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Ulf Jönsson, Head of NFVI Portfolio Strategy Management at Ericsson, to talk about Network Function Virtualisation ( NFV ). In particular, what NFV is, why it is needed, where it fits in the grand scheme of the future of modern software defined infrastructure & software defined networks in the telco & carrier service provider world. Ulf Jönsson is responsible for the NFV Infrastructure solution & product portfolio strategy at Ericsson. He has had several leadership positions in Ericsson with business and strategic product management responsibility in areas such as NFV infrastructure, Telco Cloud, SDN, and IP & Broadband. He is currently driving the next generation Cloud Native infrastructure optimized for 5G telecom applications and Edge computing. Ulf holds a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Ulf shares insights into what the most important topics he and his team are discussing with custom

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with with Nic Charrington, founder & creator of Bio Blast, a fundraising mobile phone game app, created in the record time of just two weeks, as a fund raising effort to raise much needed funding for the National Health Service coping with the COVID19 global pandemic. Nick is an entrepreneur from Bristol, what some might call a serial entrepreneur which in startup circles is a badge of honour earned by those go “get stuff done” - in response to COVID19, Nic created a novel approach to the COVID19 novel Coronavirus! I came to know about him and his latest project Bio Blast through social media myself, and instantly felt compelled to get onboard and support Nic and the Bio Blast project. As soon as he learned about the project Dez instantly tweeted about it to help promote it, and almost immediately Nic commented saying "Hi Dez thanks for the tweet. I am the founder, would love to speak to you more about it if you have a min ;-)" After a quick call the plan was to sch

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Lauren Valenti, Senior Manager, Customer Advocacy & Mainframe Education in the Mainframe Division of Broadcom, to talk about her academic & career path, her role at Broadcom within their Mainframe division, current business & technology trends, and the very real need Broadcom have see and addressed, to open up education to "close the Mainframe skills gap". Also discussed are the challenges around building and enhancing mainframe skills and how Lauren and her team have addressed this through Broadcom's Mainframe Academy, Associate Software Engineer Program and Vitality Residency Program. Also discussed is the broad range of successful outcomes and work Lauren and her team and Broadcom's Mainframe division as a whole are doing around Customer Advocacy and how they are creating and maintaining meaningful relationships with their customers, and much more. For more information please visit: http://j.mp/BroadcomMainframe

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Anne Chow, Chief Executive Officer at AT&T Business, to talk about AT&T's response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, both with their own challenges throughout AT&T and AT&T Business, as well as their customers and challenges being faced by their customers organisations. This amazing discussion covers the broad range of challenges organisations of all sizes are faced with throughout the COVID19 pandemic, from core Business Continuity ( BCP ) to Disaster Recovery ( DR ), to supporting their staff, their own organisations from the core need "keep the lights on" to continuing to operating and support their own customers as well. Also covered are the depth and breadth of the challenges AT&T Business and their partners, resellers & integrators, and in turn their end line customers face, from fundamental core mission critical network services such as Fixed-line, Wide Area Networking, Mobile, Broadband and Virtual Private Networks, through to Security services, Cybersecu

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with both Folke Anger, Head of Solution line Packet Core, and Thomas Kinnman, Head of Solution line OSS, for Ericsson Digital, to talk about recent 5G launches, who is leading the way in the race to get us 5G ready and 5G Core, what the 5G core is, why it is important, Network Slicing, Security, Data Analytics, End User Experience, Software Probes, actionable data, Ericsson Export Analytics ( EEA ) and what it brings to the table, how AI and ML support data collection & analytics, key industry trends, opportunities & challenges, how Telco CSP partnership and enterprise offerings beyond mobile broadband are going to play out in the future, and much more.. For more information visit the Ericsson Digital web portal: http://bit.ly/edwebportal .

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Mo Katibeh, Chief Marketing Officer for AT&T Business, to talk about his academic & career path, his role at AT&T Business, the latest updates around AT&T's rollout and deployment of 5G, the state of 5G & the Edge, how enterprise & service providers can leverage 5G, insights into how AR / VR and Mixed Reality are being deployed in industries from Manufacturing through to Healthcare, the many direct & indirect benefits 5G is bringing throughout our lives, the broad range of key business & technology / telecommunications differentiators AT&T Business brings to the marketplace for business and organisations of all shapes and sizes. Mo also shares amazing insights, examples and anecdotes from the world of AT&T Business from full immersion sports & entertainment, to emergency services capabilities through the American FirstNet project, rebuilding an Air Force base after a hurricane, to the use of Virtual Reality to alleviate pain & distress for Healthcare patients in h

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Peter Shen, VP Business Development, Digital Health, Siemens Healthineers, to talk about his academic & career path, his role at Siemens Healthineers, the background of Siemens Healthineers, the brand name, the organisation, their focus on innovation in healthcare, who their customers are across healthcare providers and patient care, what the key customer challenges include, the work Siemens Healthineers are doing to enable a healthcare ecosystem, their Siemens Healthineers Digital Ecosystem (E2E-Solutions) connecting hospitals worldwide, making sure hospitals & doctors can communicate. Also discussed is their partnership with Intel, to leverage Intel's world's leading technology from Intel from Hardware through to Systems, Software, Design & Innovation, the work Siemens Healthineers is doing to greatly improve patient experience, and the broad positive impact their work has had for both their customers and associated patients, and Peter's take on what's over the

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Raj Talluri, Senior Vice President & General Manager of Micron Technology's Mobile Business Unit, to talk about his academic & career path, his role at Micron, the latest tech, trends, and innovation in the smartphone market, the exciting new emerging industry around 5G, Micron's focus on data to drive & enable technology, the furious pace of change around smartphone Digital Cameras, Sensors, Imagery, AI, ML, Gaming, the IoT, Power consumption & Device Management, the exciting newly announced deal with Xiaomi's where their Mi 10 will be the first phone to use Micron's Low-Power Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory ( LPDDR5 RAM ) - also discussed were Micron's new Brand Promise “intelligence execrated” and what it means in practice, what Micron is doing around the future direction beyond hardware ( i.e. moving into data, analytics, ai, key industry sectors like Health, Education, Transport & Logistics etc. ), what the “next killer app” might be

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Jan Karlsson is Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Digital Services, now his second appearance on the show, to talk about his transition from heading up a business unit called Business Support Solutions in Ericsson to now heading up Ericsson Digital Services, one of the most innovative business units in the company, the latest trends in technology, business & the telco industry, esp. the emergence of 5G, IoT, Cloud and more. Also discussed were Ericsson Digital's focus on delivering Smarter Networks so their customers can generate Smarter Business’, Jan's recent blogpost titled "How to serve the 5G powered business" on LinkedIn talking about the release of their latest report titled "Serving the 5G-powered business", the state of 5G awareness amongst business users and consumers, how Digitalisation waits for no one ( in Jan's words ), and Jan's view on what's coming over the horizon over the next 12 to 18 months. For more info visit the Ericsson Digit

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Tim Baker, Global Director of Marketing & Product Management of Commercial Security Products at Honeywell, to talk about his academic & professional career, his role the latest technology innovation at Honeywell in the Commercial Security division, the latest tech and trends / challenges around access control, video surveillance, and where Honeywell’s intrusion software and hardware solutions fit into this market. Also discussed is Honeywell's use of AI & ML, predictive analytics, data protection, IoT, as well as changes in compliance, regulation around data and privacy governance. Tim also shares insights into Honeywell's partnership with Intel, with examples of how Intel fits into the equation of Honeywell’s technical innovation, from software through to the use of Intel hardware. Tim outlines some of the key markets Honeywell's Commercial Security division work with from small to medium sized business, retail, schools ( i.e. K-12 ), through to enterprise and g