Tech Field Day Podcast

Imagine walking into the office, grabbing your morning coffee, and realizing your network dashboard is perfectly green because an AI agent silently resolved every issue while you slept.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Tom Hollingsworth sits down with network practitioners Keith Parsons and Mark Houtz, alongside HPE’s Sunalini Sankhavaram, to explore the paradigm shift from reactive, AI-driven troubleshooting to proactive, self-driving networks.
They discuss the critical issue of trust in automation, detailing how HPE's Marvus progresses from "driver-assist" recommendations to fully autonomous remediation. From preventing broadcast storms in hospitals to lightening the load for budget-constrained IT teams, discover how agentic AI and digital twins are reshaping the future of enterprise operations without taking away the essential human in the loop.
This and more on the Tech Field Day Podcast presented by HPE.
Try Mist AI: https://www.hpe.com/us/en/mist-ai.html
HPE Networking: http://hpe.com/networking
HPE Representative:
Sunalini Sankhavaram, VP of Product Management at HPE
Keith Parsons, Network Engineer
Mark Houtz, Network Engineer
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Enterprises are increasingly turning to open networking and they need guidance to ensure the right choices are being made. A great partner can ease the transition.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day podcast, brought to you by Cisco, Tom Hollingsworth is joined by Scott Robon, Ryan Booth, and Cisco’s Surbhi Paul explore how AI infrastructure demands are pushing organizations to rethink their network architectures.
The consensus is that while SONiC was once primarily a hyperscaler and experimental technology, it has matured significantly and is now appearing in real enterprise and U.S. government deployments. Cisco’s position is to meet customers where they are, supporting both their established NX-OS/ACI platforms and Sonic on Nexus 9K hardware, giving organizations the flexibility to shift software strategies without replacing physical infrastructure.
Open networking isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires honest assessment of a team’s internal skill set and operational maturity. Cisco frames its SONiC offering around three pillars: the Cisco 8000 series for hyperscale and web-scale use cases, the Nexus 9K for enterprise AI fabrics, and Nexus Hyperfabric for organizations that want the benefits of SONiC without the complexity of managing it themselves. Cisco differentiates itself by backing Sonic deployments with 24/7 TAC support and lifecycle management tools, bridging the gap between open-source flexibility and the reliability enterprises depend on.
Panelists:
Cisco Representative: Surbhi Paul, Product Leader at Cisco
Scott Robohn, CEO of Solutional
Ryan Booth, AI Consultant and Architect
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Learn more about AI Infrastructure Field Day 5 here.
Think you can just buy more GPUs to solve your AI infrastructure problems? Think again.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, recorded live on-site at AI Infrastructure Field Day 5, host Alastair Cooke sits down with industry experts Ray Lucchesi, Frederic Van Haren, and Brandon Whichard to discuss why the endless race for new hardware is hitting a wall.
With supply chain shortages and massive power demands making upgrades difficult, companies must shift their focus toward optimizing the technology they already own. The panel explores how clever software tools, smaller foundation models, and efficient token management can squeeze maximum performance out of existing data centers.
The panel explores the real secret to scaling AI lies in smart software practices rather than just buying more chips.

Learn more about AI Field Day here.
The massive promises surrounding artificial intelligence are just history repeating itself.
In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast recorded on-site at AI Field Day 8, host Stephen Foskett is joined by Jim Czuprynski, Kate Scarcella, and Jeff Ello to debate the explosive world of AI hype.
They compare the current generative AI boom to past tech cycles like the dot-com era and early cloud computing. Together, they break down the brutal financial realities of a trillion-dollar AI infrastructure investment, dropping software precision, and the truth behind Large Language Models versus traditional machine learning.
Panelists:
Jim Czuprynski, Chief Storyteller at Zero Defect Computing
Jeff Ello, Head of AI at Purdue University
Kate Scarcella, Chair of CD Foundation
Hosts:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tom Hollingsworth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alastair Cooke⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, President and Organizer of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
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Learn more about AI Infrastructure Field Day 5 here.
Think your expensive GPUs are the biggest factor in AI performance? Think again. Without a high-performance data storage strategy to keep them supplied with data, your AI infrastructure can become an expensive machine sitting idle. In this episode of the Tech Field Day Podcast, host Alastair Cooke is joined by industry experts Barton George and Ron Pagani Jr. to discuss the industry’s shift from data-intensive AI training to fast, transaction-heavy inference workloads and how data gravity is forcing organizations to rethink where they place data, caches, and compute resources. They also examine rising DRAM and SSD costs, the challenges of deploying Small Language Models (SLMs) at the edge, and the growing need for security and governance as autonomous AI agents become more common in enterprise environments.
Panelists:
Barton George, Founder of 808 Labs
Ron Pagani Jr., Founder of Open Technology Partners
Hosts:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tom Hollingsworth⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Event Lead for Tech Field Day
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alastair Cooke⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Event Lead at Tech Field Day
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stephen Foskett⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, President and Organizer of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Follow the Tech Field Day Podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and use the Hashtag #TFDPodcast to join the discussion. Listen to more episodes ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on the podcast page of the website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
Follow ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tech Field Day⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more information on upcoming and current event coverage ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on X/Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠visit our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.