Podcasts about rackspace

Discover how Rackspace Spot is democratizing cloud infrastructure with an open-market, transparent option for cloud servers. Kevin Carter, Product Director at Rackspace Technology, discusses Rackspace Spot's hypothesis and the impact of an open marketplace for cloud resources. Discover how this novel approach is transforming the industry. TIMESTAMPS[00:00:00] – Introduction & Kevin Carter's Background[00:02:00] – Journey to Rackspace and Open Source[00:04:00] – Engineering Culture and Pushing Boundaries[00:06:00] – Rackspace Spot and Market-Based Compute[00:08:00] – Cognitive vs. Technical Barriers in Cloud Adoption[00:10:00] – Tying Spot to OpenStack and Resource Scheduling[00:12:00] – Product Roadmap and Expansion of Spot[00:16:00] – Hardware Constraints and Power Consumption[00:18:00] – Scrappy Startups and Emerging Hardware Solutions[00:20:00] – Programming Languages for Accelerators (e.g., Mojo)[00:22:00] – Evolving Role of Software Engineers[00:24:00] – Importance of Collaboration and Communication[00:28:00] – Building Personal Networks Through Open Source[00:30:00] – The Power of Asking and Offering Help[00:34:00] – A Question No One Asks: Mentors[00:38:00] – The Power of Educators and Mentorship[00:40:00] – Rackspace's OpenStack and Spot Ecosystem Strategy[00:42:00] – Open Source Communities to Join[00:44:00] – Simplifying Complex Systems[00:46:00] – Getting Started with Rackspace Spot and GitHub[00:48:00] – Human Skills in the Age of GenAI - Post Interview Conversation[00:54:00] – Processing Feedback with Emotional Intelligence[00:56:00] – Encouraging Inclusive and Clear Collaboration QUOTESCHARNA PARKEY“If you can't engage with this infrastructure in a way that's going to help you, then I guarantee you it's not up to par for the direction that we're going. [...] This democratization — if you don't know how to use it — it's not doing its job.”KEVIN CARTER“Those scrappy startups are going to be the ones that solve it. They're going to figure out new and interesting ways to leverage instructions. [...] You're going to see a push from them into the hardware manufacturers to enhance workloads on FPGAs, leveraging AVX 512 instruction sets that are historically on CPU silicon, not on a GPU.”

Mailgun enables over 150,000 companies to send, track, test, and optimize more than 250 billion emails per year effortlessly for marketing and business communication to their customers. Thoma Bravo Partner Hudson Smith sits down on Behind the Deal with former Mailgun CEO Will Conway and CTO Josh Odom as they dive into Mailgun's journey from a spin out from Rackspace to a leading email delivery service for businesses around the world. For more information on Thoma Bravo's Behind the Deal, visit https://www.thomabravo.com/behindthedeal Learn more about Thoma Bravo: https://www.thomabravo.com/ Visit Maligun's website: https://www.mailgun.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rackspace Technology leverages decades of experience and a cloud-first approach to help healthcare organizations optimize costs, drive transformation, and enhance security. In this episode, PV SubbaRao, Senior Vice President of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at Rackspace Technology, shares how his organization partners with key healthcare sectors to drive innovation. He discusses Rackspace's evolution from early internet hosting to leading cloud solutions that optimize costs and enhance efficiency. PV highlights how the company supports EHR implementations, data center transformations, and security improvements, helping health systems achieve 18-25% savings. He also explores the future of healthcare technology, emphasizing AI, quantum computing, and extended reality as key drivers of personalized medicine and data-driven value. Join us and learn how Rackspace's specialized healthcare team can help your organization transform and scale for the future! Resources: Connect with and follow PV SubbaRao on LinkedIn. Learn more about Rackspace Technology on their LinkedIn and website.

Rackspace Technology is one of most deeply rooted companies in the cloud space, having started many years before Amazon.com entered the market with S3, at a time when we spoke of "hosted services" rather than the "cloud." In this video, PV SubbaRao, Senior Vice President of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Rackspace, offers guidance to healthcoare firms in adopting or making better use of cloud services.For both companies new to cloud computing and those who are well established there, he advises looking "beyond infrastructure" and seeking new ways to use data to incrementally create new forms of value.Learn more about Rackspace Technology: http://www.rackspace.com/HealthcareHealth IT Community: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/

Brandon Liu is an open source developer and creator of the Protomaps basemap project. We talk about how static maps help developers build sites that last, the PMTiles file format, the role of OpenStreetMap, and his experience funding and running an open source project full time. Protomaps Protomaps PMTiles (File format used by Protomaps) Self-hosted slippy maps, for novices (like me) Why Deploy Protomaps on a CDN User examples Flickr Pinball Map Toilet Map Related projects OpenStreetMap (Dataset protomaps is based on) Mapzen (Former company that released details on what to display based on zoom levels) Mapbox GL JS (Mapbox developed source available map rendering library) MapLibre GL JS (Open source fork of Mapbox GL JS) Other links HTTP range requests (MDN) Hilbert curve Transcript You can help correct transcripts on GitHub. Intro [00:00:00] Jeremy: I'm talking to Brandon Liu. He's the creator of Protomaps, which is a way to easily create and host your own maps. Let's get into it. [00:00:09] Brandon: Hey, so thanks for having me on the podcast. So I'm Brandon. I work on an open source project called Protomaps. What it really is, is if you're a front end developer and you ever wanted to put maps on a website or on a mobile app, then Protomaps is sort of an open source solution for doing that that I hope is something that's way easier to use than, um, a lot of other open source projects. Why not just use Google Maps? [00:00:36] Jeremy: A lot of people are gonna be familiar with Google Maps. Why should they worry about whether something's open source? Why shouldn't they just go and use the Google maps API? [00:00:47] Brandon: So Google Maps is like an awesome thing it's an awesome product. Probably one of the best tech products ever right? And just to have a map that tells you what restaurants are open and something that I use like all the time especially like when you're traveling it has all that data. And the most amazing part is that it's free for consumers but it's not necessarily free for developers. Like if you wanted to embed that map onto your website or app, that usually has an API cost which still has a free tier and is affordable. But one motivation, one basic reason to use open source is if you have some project that doesn't really fit into that pricing model. You know like where you have to pay the cost of Google Maps, you have a side project, a nonprofit, that's one reason. But there's lots of other reasons related to flexibility or customization where you might want to use open source instead. Protomaps examples [00:01:49] Jeremy: Can you give some examples where people have used Protomaps and where that made sense for them? [00:01:56] Brandon: I follow a lot of the use cases and I also don't know about a lot of them because I don't have an API where I can track a hundred percent of the users. Some of them use the hosted version, but I would say most of them probably use it on their own infrastructure. One of the cool projects I've been seeing is called Toilet Map. And what toilet map is if you're in the UK and you want find a public restroom then it maps out, sort of crowdsourced all of the public restrooms. And that's important for like a lot of people if they have health issues, they need to find that information. And just a lot of different projects in the same vein. There's another one called Pinball Map which is sort of a hobby project to find all the pinball machines in the world. And they wanted to have a customized map that fit in with their theme of pinball. So these sorts of really cool indie projects are the ones I'm most excited about. Basemaps vs Overlays [00:02:57] Jeremy: And if we talk about, like the pinball map as an example, there's this concept of a basemap and then there's the things that you lay on top of it. What is a basemap and then is the pinball locations is that part of it or is that something separate? [00:03:12] Brandon: It's usually something separate. The example I usually use is if you go to a real estate site, like Zillow, you'll open up the map of Seattle and it has a bunch of pins showing all the houses, and then it has some information beneath it. That information beneath it is like labels telling, this neighborhood is Capitol Hill, or there is a park here. But all that information is common to a lot of use cases and it's not specific to real estate. So I think usually that's the distinction people use in the industry between like a base map versus your overlay. The overlay is like the data for your product or your company while the base map is something you could get from Google or from Protomaps or from Apple or from Mapbox that kind of thing. PMTiles for hosting the basemap and overlays [00:03:58] Jeremy: And so Protomaps in particular is responsible for the base map, and that information includes things like the streets and the locations of landmarks and things like that. Where is all that information coming from? [00:04:12] Brandon: So the base map information comes from a project called OpenStreetMap. And I would also, point out that for Protomaps as sort of an ecosystem. You can also put your overlay data into a format called PMTiles, which is sort of the core of what Protomaps is. So it can really do both. It can transform your data into the PMTiles format which you can host and you can also host the base map. So you kind of have both of those sides of the product in one solution. [00:04:43] Jeremy: And so when you say you have both are you saying that the PMTiles file can have, the base map in one file and then you would have the data you're laying on top in another file? Or what are you describing there? [00:04:57] Brandon: That's usually how I recommend to do it. Oftentimes there'll be sort of like, a really big basemap 'cause it has all of that data about like where the rivers are. Or while, if you want to put your map of toilets or park benches or pickleball courts on top, that's another file. But those are all just like assets you can move around like JSON or CSV files. Statically Hosted [00:05:19] Jeremy: And I think one of the things you mentioned was that your goal was to make Protomaps or the, the use of these PMTiles files easy to use. What does that look like for, for a developer? I wanna host a map. What do I actually need to, to put on my servers? [00:05:38] Brandon: So my usual pitch is that basically if you know how to use S3 or cloud storage, that you know how to deploy a map. And that, I think is the main sort of differentiation from most open source projects. Like a lot of them, they call themselves like, like some sort of self-hosted solution. But I've actually avoided using the term self-hosted because I think in most cases that implies a lot of complexity. Like you have to log into a Linux server or you have to use Kubernetes or some sort of Docker thing. What I really want to emphasize is the idea that, for Protomaps, it's self-hosted in the same way like CSS is self-hosted. So you don't really need a service from Amazon to host the JSON files or CSV files. It's really just a static file. [00:06:32] Jeremy: When you say static file that means you could use any static web host to host your HTML file, your JavaScript that actually renders the map. And then you have your PMTiles files, and you're not running a process or anything, you're just putting your files on a static file host. [00:06:50] Brandon: Right. So I think if you're a developer, you can also argue like a static file server is a server. It's you know, it's the cloud, it's just someone else's computer. It's really just nginx under the hood. But I think static storage is sort of special. If you look at things like static site generators, like Jekyll or Hugo, they're really popular because they're a commodity or like the storage is a commodity. And you can take your blog, make it a Jekyll blog, hosted on S3. One day, Amazon's like, we're charging three times as much so you can move it to a different cloud provider. And that's all vendor neutral. So I think that's really the special thing about static storage as a primitive on the web. Why running servers is a problem for resilience [00:07:36] Jeremy: Was there a prior experience you had? Like you've worked with maps for a very long time. Were there particular difficulties you had where you said I just gotta have something that can be statically hosted? [00:07:50] Brandon: That's sort of exactly why I got into this. I've been working sort of in and around the map space for over a decade, and Protomaps is really like me trying to solve the same problem I've had over and over again in the past, just like once and forever right? Because like once this problem is solved, like I don't need to deal with it again in the future. So I've worked at a couple of different companies before, mostly as a contractor, for like a humanitarian nonprofit for a design company doing things like, web applications to visualize climate change. Or for even like museums, like digital signage for museums. And oftentimes they had some sort of data visualization component, but always sort of the challenge of how to like, store and also distribute like that data was something that there wasn't really great open source solutions. So just for map data, that's really what motivated that design for Protomaps. [00:08:55] Jeremy: And in those, those projects in the past, were those things where you had to run your own server, run your own database, things like that? [00:09:04] Brandon: Yeah. And oftentimes we did, we would spin up an EC2 instance, for maybe one client and then we would have to host this server serving map data forever. Maybe the client goes away, or I guess it's good for business if you can sign some sort of like long-term support for that client saying, Hey, you know, like we're done with a project, but you can pay us to maintain the EC2 server for the next 10 years. And that's attractive. but it's also sort of a pain, because usually what happens is if people are given the choice, like a developer between like either I can manage the server on EC2 or on Rackspace or Hetzner or whatever, or I can go pay a SaaS to do it. In most cases, businesses will choose to pay the SaaS. So that's really like what creates a sort of lock-in is this preference for like, so I have this choice between like running the server or paying the SaaS. Like businesses will almost always go and pay the SaaS. [00:10:05] Jeremy: Yeah. And in this case, you either find some kind of free hosting or low-cost hosting just to host your files and you upload the files and then you're good from there. You don't need to maintain anything. [00:10:18] Brandon: Exactly, and that's really the ideal use case. so I have some users these, climate science consulting agencies, and then they might have like a one-off project where they have to generate the data once, but instead of having to maintain this server for the lifetime of that project, they just have a file on S3 and like, who cares? If that costs a couple dollars a month to run, that's fine, but it's not like S3 is gonna be deprecated, like it's gonna be on an insecure version of Ubuntu or something. So that's really the ideal, set of constraints for using Protomaps. [00:10:58] Jeremy: Yeah. Something this also makes me think about is, is like the resilience of sites like remaining online, because I, interviewed, Kyle Drake, he runs Neocities, which is like a modern version of GeoCities. And if I remember correctly, he was mentioning how a lot of old websites from that time, if they were running a server backend, like they were running PHP or something like that, if you were to try to go to those sites, now they're like pretty much all dead because there needed to be someone dedicated to running a Linux server, making sure things were patched and so on and so forth. But for static sites, like the ones that used to be hosted on GeoCities, you can go to the internet archive or other websites and they were just files, right? You can bring 'em right back up, and if anybody just puts 'em on a web server, then you're good. They're still alive. Case study of news room preferring static hosting [00:11:53] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. One place that's kind of surprising but makes sense where this comes up, is for newspapers actually. Some of the users using Protomaps are the Washington Post. And the reason they use it, is not necessarily because they don't want to pay for a SaaS like Google, but because if they make an interactive story, they have to guarantee that it still works in a couple of years. And that's like a policy decision from like the editorial board, which is like, so you can't write an article if people can't view it in five years. But if your like interactive data story is reliant on a third party, API and that third party API becomes deprecated, or it changes the pricing or it, you know, it gets acquired, then your journalism story is not gonna work anymore. So I have seen really good uptake among local news rooms and even big ones to use things like Protomaps just because it makes sense for the requirements. Working on Protomaps as an open source project for five years [00:12:49] Jeremy: How long have you been working on Protomaps and the parts that it's made up of such as PMTiles? [00:12:58] Brandon: I've been working on it for about five years, maybe a little more than that. It's sort of my pandemic era project. But the PMTiles part, which is really the heart of it only came in about halfway. Why not make a SaaS? [00:13:13] Brandon: So honestly, like when I first started it, I thought it was gonna be another SaaS and then I looked at it and looked at what the environment was around it. And I'm like, uh, so I don't really think I wanna do that. [00:13:24] Jeremy: When, when you say you looked at the environment around it what do you mean? Why did you decide not to make it a SaaS? [00:13:31] Brandon: Because there already is a lot of SaaS out there. And I think the opportunity of making something that is unique in terms of those use cases, like I mentioned like newsrooms, was clear. Like it was clear that there was some other solution, that could be built that would fit these needs better while if it was a SaaS, there are plenty of those out there. And I don't necessarily think that they're well differentiated. A lot of them all use OpenStreetMap data. And it seems like they mainly compete on price. It's like who can build the best three column pricing model. And then once you do that, you need to build like billing and metrics and authentication and like those problems don't really interest me. So I think, although I acknowledge sort of the indie hacker ethos now is to build a SaaS product with a monthly subscription, that's something I very much chose not to do, even though it is for sure like the best way to build a business. [00:14:29] Jeremy: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people can appreciate that perspective because it's, it's almost like we have SaaS overload, right? Where you have so many little bills for your project where you're like, another $5 a month, another $10 a month, or if you're a business, right? Those, you add a bunch of zeros and at some point it's just how many of these are we gonna stack on here? [00:14:53] Brandon: Yeah. And honestly. So I really think like as programmers, we're not really like great at choosing how to spend money like a $10 SaaS. That's like nothing. You know? So I can go to Starbucks and I can buy a pumpkin spice latte, and that's like $10 basically now, right? And it's like I'm able to make that consumer choice in like an instant just to spend money on that. But then if you're like, oh, like spend $10 on a SaaS that somebody put a lot of work into, then you're like, oh, that's too expensive. I could just do it myself. So I'm someone that also subscribes to a lot of SaaS products. and I think for a lot of things it's a great fit. Many open source SaaS projects are not easy to self host [00:15:37] Brandon: But there's always this tension between an open source project that you might be able to run yourself and a SaaS. And I think a lot of projects are at different parts of the spectrum. But for Protomaps, it's very much like I'm trying to move maps to being it is something that is so easy to run yourself that anyone can do it. [00:16:00] Jeremy: Yeah, and I think you can really see it with, there's a few SaaS projects that are successful and they're open source, but then you go to look at the self-hosting instructions and it's either really difficult to find and you find it, and then the instructions maybe don't work, or it's really complicated. So I think doing the opposite with Protomaps. As a user, I'm sure we're all appreciative, but I wonder in terms of trying to make money, if that's difficult. [00:16:30] Brandon: No, for sure. It is not like a good way to make money because I think like the ideal situation for an open source project that is open that wants to make money is the product itself is fundamentally complicated to where people are scared to run it themselves. Like a good example I can think of is like Supabase. Supabase is sort of like a platform as a service based on Postgres. And if you wanted to run it yourself, well you need to run Postgres and you need to handle backups and authentication and logging, and that stuff all needs to work and be production ready. So I think a lot of people, like they don't trust themselves to run database backups correctly. 'cause if you get it wrong once, then you're kind of screwed. So I think that fundamental aspect of the product, like a database is something that is very, very ripe for being a SaaS while still being open source because it's fundamentally hard to run. Another one I can think of is like tailscale, which is, like a VPN that works end to end. That's something where, you know, it has this networking complexity where a lot of developers don't wanna deal with that. So they'd happily pay, for tailscale as a service. There is a lot of products or open source projects that eventually end up just changing to becoming like a hosted service. Businesses going from open source to closed or restricted licenses [00:17:58] Brandon: But then in that situation why would they keep it open source, right? Like, if it's easy to run yourself well, doesn't that sort of cannibalize their business model? And I think that's really the tension overall in these open source companies. So you saw it happen to things like Elasticsearch to things like Terraform where they eventually change the license to one that makes it difficult for other companies to compete with them. [00:18:23] Jeremy: Yeah, I mean there's been a number of cases like that. I mean, specifically within the mapping community, one I can think of was Mapbox's. They have Mapbox gl. Which was a JavaScript client to visualize maps and they moved from, I forget which license they picked, but they moved to a much more restrictive license. I wonder what your thoughts are on something that releases as open source, but then becomes something maybe a little more muddy. [00:18:55] Brandon: Yeah, I think it totally makes sense because if you look at their business and their funding, it seems like for Mapbox, I haven't used it in a while, but my understanding is like a lot of their business now is car companies and doing in dash navigation. And that is probably way better of a business than trying to serve like people making maps of toilets. And I think sort of the beauty of it is that, so Mapbox, the story is they had a JavaScript renderer called Mapbox GL JS. And they changed that to a source available license a couple years ago. And there's a fork of it that I'm sort of involved in called MapLibre GL. But I think the cool part is Mapbox paid employees for years, probably millions of dollars in total to work on this thing and just gave it away for free. Right? So everyone can benefit from that work they did. It's not like that code went away, like once they changed the license. Well, the old version has been forked. It's going its own way now. It's quite different than the new version of Mapbox, but I think it's extremely generous that they're able to pay people for years, you know, like a competitive salary and just give that away. [00:20:10] Jeremy: Yeah, so we should maybe look at it as, it was a gift while it was open source, and they've given it to the community and they're on continuing on their own path, but at least the community running Map Libre, they can run with it, right? It's not like it just disappeared. [00:20:29] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. And that is something that I use for Protomaps quite extensively. Like it's the primary way of showing maps on the web and I've been trying to like work on some enhancements to it to have like better internationalization for if you are in like South Asia like not show languages correctly. So I think it is being taken in a new direction. And I think like sort of the combination of Protomaps and MapLibre, it addresses a lot of use cases, like I mentioned earlier with like these like hobby projects, indie projects that are almost certainly not interesting to someone like Mapbox or Google as a business. But I'm happy to support as a small business myself. Financially supporting open source work (GitHub sponsors, closed source, contracts) [00:21:12] Jeremy: In my previous interview with Tom, one of the main things he mentioned was that creating a mapping business is incredibly difficult, and he said he probably wouldn't do it again. So in your case, you're building Protomaps, which you've admitted is easy to self-host. So there's not a whole lot of incentive for people to pay you. How is that working out for you? How are you supporting yourself? [00:21:40] Brandon: There's a couple of strategies that I've tried and oftentimes failed at. Just to go down the list, so I do have GitHub sponsors so I do have a hosted version of Protomaps you can use if you don't want to bother copying a big file around. But the way I do the billing for that is through GitHub sponsors. If you wanted to use this thing I provide, then just be a sponsor. And that definitely pays for itself, like the cost of running it. And that's great. GitHub sponsors is so easy to set up. It just removes you having to deal with Stripe or something. 'cause a lot of people, their credit card information is already in GitHub. GitHub sponsors I think is awesome if you want to like cover costs for a project. But I think very few people are able to make that work. A thing that's like a salary job level. It's sort of like Twitch streaming, you know, there's a handful of people that are full-time streamers and then you look down the list on Twitch and it's like a lot of people that have like 10 viewers. But some of the other things I've tried, I actually started out, publishing the base map as a closed source thing, where I would sell sort of like a data package instead of being a SaaS, I'd be like, here's a one-time download, of the premium data and you can buy it. And quite a few people bought it I just priced it at like $500 for this thing. And I thought that was an interesting experiment. The main reason it's interesting is because the people that it attracts to you in terms of like, they're curious about your products, are all people willing to pay money. While if you start out everything being open source, then the people that are gonna be try to do it are only the people that want to get something for free. So what I discovered is actually like once you transition that thing from closed source to open source, a lot of the people that used to pay you money will still keep paying you money because like, it wasn't necessarily that that closed source thing was why they wanted to pay. They just valued that thought you've put into it your expertise, for example. So I think that is one thing, that I tried at the beginning was just start out, closed source proprietary, then make it open source. That's interesting to people. Like if you release something as open source, if you go the other way, like people are really mad if you start out with something open source and then later on you're like, oh, it's some other license. Then people are like that's so rotten. But I think doing it the other way, I think is quite valuable in terms of being able to find an audience. [00:24:29] Jeremy: And when you said it was closed source and paid to open source, do you still sell those map exports? [00:24:39] Brandon: I don't right now. It's something that I might do in the future, you know, like have small customizations of the data that are available, uh, for a fee. still like the core OpenStreetMap based map that's like a hundred gigs you can just download. And that'll always just be like a free download just because that's already out there. All the source code to build it is open source. So even if I said, oh, you have to pay for it, then someone else can just do it right? So there's no real reason like to make that like some sort of like paywall thing. But I think like overall if the project is gonna survive in the long term it's important that I'd ideally like to be able to like grow like a team like have a small group of people that can dedicate the time to growing the project in the long term. But I'm still like trying to figure that out right now. [00:25:34] Jeremy: And when you mentioned that when you went from closed to open and people were still paying you, you don't sell a product anymore. What were they paying for? [00:25:45] Brandon: So I have some contracts with companies basically, like if they need a feature or they need a customization in this way then I am very open to those. And I sort of set it up to make it clear from the beginning that this is not just a free thing on GitHub, this is something that you could pay for if you need help with it, if you need support, if you wanted it. I'm also a little cagey about the word support because I think like it sounds a little bit too wishy-washy. Pretty much like if you need access to the developers of an open source project, I think that's something that businesses are willing to pay for. And I think like making that clear to potential users is a challenge. But I think that is one way that you might be able to make like a living out of open source. [00:26:35] Jeremy: And I think you said you'd been working on it for about five years. Has that mostly been full time? [00:26:42] Brandon: It's been on and off. it's sort of my pandemic era project. But I've spent a lot of time, most of my time working on the open source project at this point. So I have done some things that were more just like I'm doing a customization or like a private deployment for some client. But that's been a minority of the time. Yeah. [00:27:03] Jeremy: It's still impressive to have an open source project that is easy to self-host and yet is still able to support you working on it full time. I think a lot of people might make the assumption that there's nothing to sell if something is, is easy to use. But this sort of sounds like a counterpoint to that. [00:27:25] Brandon: I think I'd like it to be. So when you come back to the point of like, it being easy to self-host. Well, so again, like I think about it as like a primitive of the web. Like for example, if you wanted to start a business today as like hosted CSS files, you know, like where you upload your CSS and then you get developers to pay you a monthly subscription for how many times they fetched a CSS file. Well, I think most developers would be like, that's stupid because it's just an open specification, you just upload a static file. And really my goal is to make Protomaps the same way where it's obvious that there's not really some sort of lock-in or some sort of secret sauce in the server that does this thing. How PMTiles works and building a primitive of the web [00:28:16] Brandon: If you look at video for example, like a lot of the tech for how Protomaps and PMTiles works is based on parts of the HTTP spec that were made for video. And 20 years ago, if you wanted to host a video on the web, you had to have like a real player license or flash. So you had to go license some server software from real media or from macromedia so you could stream video to a browser plugin. But now in HTML you can just embed a video file. And no one's like, oh well I need to go pay for my video serving license. I mean, there is such a thing, like YouTube doesn't really use that for DRM reasons, but people just have the assumption that video is like a primitive on the web. So if we're able to make maps sort of that same way like a primitive on the web then there isn't really some obvious business or licensing model behind how that works. Just because it's a thing and it helps a lot of people do their jobs and people are happy using it. So why bother? [00:29:26] Jeremy: You mentioned that it a tech that was used for streaming video. What tech specifically is it? [00:29:34] Brandon: So it is byte range serving. So when you open a video file on the web, So let's say it's like a 100 megabyte video. You don't have to download the entire video before it starts playing. It streams parts out of the file based on like what frames... I mean, it's based on the frames in the video. So it can start streaming immediately because it's organized in a way to where the first few frames are at the beginning. And what PMTiles really is, is it's just like a video but in space instead of time. So it's organized in a way where these zoomed out views are at the beginning and the most zoomed in views are at the end. So when you're like panning or zooming in the map all you're really doing is fetching byte ranges out of that file the same way as a video. But it's organized in, this tiled way on a space filling curve. IIt's a little bit complicated how it works internally and I think it's kind of cool but that's sort of an like an implementation detail. [00:30:35] Jeremy: And to the person deploying it, it just looks like a single file. [00:30:40] Brandon: Exactly in the same way like an mp3 audio file is or like a JSON file is. [00:30:47] Jeremy: So with a video, I can sort of see how as someone seeks through the video, they start at the beginning and then they go to the middle if they wanna see the middle. For a map, as somebody scrolls around the map, are you seeking all over the file or is the way it's structured have a little less chaos? [00:31:09] Brandon: It's structured. And that's kind of the main technical challenge behind building PMTiles is you have to be sort of clever so you're not spraying the reads everywhere. So it uses something called a hilbert curve, which is a mathematical concept of a space filling curve. Where it's one continuous curve that essentially lets you break 2D space into 1D space. So if you've seen some maps of IP space, it uses this crazy looking curve that hits all the points in one continuous line. And that's the same concept behind PMTiles is if you're looking at one part of the world, you're sort of guaranteed that all of those parts you're looking at are quite close to each other and the data you have to transfer is quite minimal, compared to if you just had it at random. [00:32:02] Jeremy: How big do the files get? If I have a PMTiles of the entire world, what kind of size am I looking at? [00:32:10] Brandon: Right now, the default one I distribute is 128 gigabytes, so it's quite sizable, although you can slice parts out of it remotely. So if you just wanted. if you just wanted California or just wanted LA or just wanted only a couple of zoom levels, like from zero to 10 instead of zero to 15, there is a command line tool that's also called PMTiles that lets you do that. Issues with CDNs and range queries [00:32:35] Jeremy: And when you're working with files of this size, I mean, let's say I am working with a CDN in front of my application. I'm not typically accustomed to hosting something that's that large and something that's where you're seeking all over the file. is that, ever an issue or is that something that's just taken care of by the browser and, and taken care of by, by the hosts? [00:32:58] Brandon: That is an issue actually, so a lot of CDNs don't deal with it correctly. And my recommendation is there is a kind of proxy server or like a serverless proxy thing that I wrote. That runs on like cloudflare workers or on Docker that lets you proxy those range requests into a normal URL and then that is like a hundred percent CDN compatible. So I would say like a lot of the big commercial installations of this thing, they use that because it makes more practical sense. It's also faster. But the idea is that this solution sort of scales up and scales down. If you wanted to host just your city in like a 10 megabyte file, well you can just put that into GitHub pages and you don't have to worry about it. If you want to have a global map for your website that serves a ton of traffic then you probably want a little bit more sophisticated of a solution. It still does not require you to run a Linux server, but it might require (you) to use like Lambda or Lambda in conjunction with like a CDN. [00:34:09] Jeremy: Yeah. And that sort of ties into what you were saying at the beginning where if you can host on something like CloudFlare Workers or Lambda, there's less time you have to spend keeping these things running. [00:34:26] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. and I think also the Lambda or CloudFlare workers solution is not perfect. It's not as perfect as S3 or as just static files, but in my experience, it still is better at building something that lasts on the time span of years than being like I have a server that is on this Ubuntu version and in four years there's all these like security patches that are not being applied. So it's still sort of serverless, although not totally vendor neutral like S3. Customizing the map [00:35:03] Jeremy: We've mostly been talking about how you host the map itself, but for someone who's not familiar with these kind of tools, how would they be customizing the map? [00:35:15] Brandon: For customizing the map there is front end style customization and there's also data customization. So for the front end if you wanted to change the water from the shade of blue to another shade of blue there is a TypeScript API where you can customize it almost like a text editor color scheme. So if you're able to name a bunch of colors, well you can customize the map in that way you can change the fonts. And that's all done using MapLibre GL using a TypeScript API on top of that for customizing the data. So all the pipeline to generate this data from OpenStreetMap is open source. There is a Java program using a library called PlanetTiler which is awesome, which is this super fast multi-core way of building map tiles. And right now there isn't really great hooks to customize what data goes into that. But that's something that I do wanna work on. And finally, because the data comes from OpenStreetMap if you notice data that's missing or you wanted to correct data in OSM then you can go into osm.org. You can get involved in contributing the data to OSM and the Protomaps build is daily. So if you make a change, then within 24 hours you should see the new base map. Have that change. And of course for OSM your improvements would go into every OSM based project that is ingesting that data. So it's not a protomap specific thing. It's like this big shared data source, almost like Wikipedia. OpenStreetMap is a dataset and not a map [00:37:01] Jeremy: I think you were involved with OpenStreetMap to some extent. Can you speak a little bit to that for people who aren't familiar, what OpenStreetMap is? [00:37:11] Brandon: Right. So I've been using OSM as sort of like a tools developer for over a decade now. And one of the number one questions I get from developers about what is Protomaps is why wouldn't I just use OpenStreetMap? What's the distinction between Protomaps and OpenStreetMap? And it's sort of like this funny thing because even though OSM has map in the name it's not really a map in that you can't... In that it's mostly a data set and not a map. It does have a map that you can see that you can pan around to when you go to the website but the way that thing they show you on the website is built is not really that easily reproducible. It involves a lot of c++ software you have to run. But OpenStreetMap itself, the heart of it is almost like a big XML file that has all the data in the map and global. And it has tagged features for example. So you can go in and edit that. It has a web front end to change the data. It does not directly translate into making a map actually. Protomaps decides what shows at each zoom level [00:38:24] Brandon: So a lot of the pipeline, that Java program I mentioned for building this basemap for protomaps is doing things like you have to choose what data you show when you zoom out. You can't show all the data. For example when you're zoomed out and you're looking at all of a state like Colorado you don't see all the Chipotle when you're zoomed all the way out. That'd be weird, right? So you have to make some sort of decision in logic that says this data only shows up at this zoom level. And that's really what is the challenge in optimizing the size of that for the Protomaps map project. [00:39:03] Jeremy: Oh, so those decisions of what to show at different Zoom levels those are decisions made by you when you're creating the PMTiles file with Protomaps. [00:39:14] Brandon: Exactly. It's part of the base maps build pipeline. and those are honestly very subjective decisions. Who really decides when you're zoomed out should this hospital show up or should this museum show up nowadays in Google, I think it shows you ads. Like if someone pays for their car repair shop to show up when you're zoomed out like that that gets surfaced. But because there is no advertising auction in Protomaps that doesn't happen obviously. So we have to sort of make some reasonable choice. A lot of that right now in Protomaps actually comes from another open source project called Mapzen. So Mapzen was a company that went outta business a couple years ago. They did a lot of this work in designing which data shows up at which Zoom level and open sourced it. And then when they shut down, they transferred that code into the Linux Foundation. So it's this totally open source project, that like, again, sort of like Mapbox gl has this awesome legacy in that this company funded it for years for smart people to work on it and now it's just like a free thing you can use. So the logic in Protomaps is really based on mapzen. [00:40:33] Jeremy: And so the visualization of all this... I think I understand what you mean when people say oh, why not use OpenStreetMaps because it's not really clear it's hard to tell is this the tool that's visualizing the data? Is it the data itself? So in the case of using Protomaps, it sounds like Protomaps itself has all of the data from OpenStreetMap and then it has made all the decisions for you in terms of what to show at different Zoom levels and what things to have on the map at all. And then finally, you have to have a separate, UI layer and in this case, it sounds like the one that you recommend is the Map Libre library. [00:41:18] Brandon: Yeah, that's exactly right. For Protomaps, it has a portion or a subset of OSM data. It doesn't have all of it just because there's too much, like there's data in there. people have mapped out different bushes and I don't include that in Protomaps if you wanted to go in and edit like the Java code to add that you can. But really what Protomaps is positioned at is sort of a solution for developers that want to use OSM data to make a map on their app or their website. because OpenStreetMap itself is mostly a data set, it does not really go all the way to having an end-to-end solution. Financials and the idea of a project being complete [00:41:59] Jeremy: So I think it's great that somebody who wants to make a map, they have these tools available, whether it's from what was originally built by Mapbox, what's built by Open StreetMap now, the work you're doing with Protomaps. But I wonder one of the things that I talked about with Tom was he was saying he was trying to build this mapping business and based on the financials of what was coming in he was stressed, right? He was struggling a bit. And I wonder for you, you've been working on this open source project for five years. Do you have similar stressors or do you feel like I could keep going how things are now and I feel comfortable? [00:42:46] Brandon: So I wouldn't say I'm a hundred percent in one bucket or the other. I'm still seeing it play out. One thing, that I really respect in a lot of open source projects, which I'm not saying I'm gonna do for Protomaps is the idea that a project is like finished. I think that is amazing. If a software project can just be done it's sort of like a painting or a novel once you write, finish the last page, have it seen by the editor. I send it off to the press is you're done with a book. And I think one of the pains of software is so few of us can actually do that. And I don't know obviously people will say oh the map is never finished. That's more true of OSM, but I think like for Protomaps. One thing I'm thinking about is how to limit the scope to something that's quite narrow to where we could be feature complete on the core things in the near term timeframe. That means that it does not address a lot of things that people want. Like search, like if you go to Google Maps and you search for a restaurant, you will get some hits. that's like a geocoding issue. And I've already decided that's totally outta scope for Protomaps. So, in terms of trying to think about the future of this, I'm mostly looking for ways to cut scope if possible. There are some things like better tooling around being able to work with PMTiles that are on the roadmap. but for me, I am still enjoying working on the project. It's definitely growing. So I can see on NPM downloads I can see the growth curve of people using it and that's really cool. So I like hearing about when people are using it for cool projects. So it seems to still be going okay for now. [00:44:44] Jeremy: Yeah, that's an interesting perspective about how you were talking about projects being done. Because I think when people look at GitHub projects and they go like, oh, the last commit was X months ago. They go oh well this is dead right? But maybe that's the wrong framing. Maybe you can get a project to a point where it's like, oh, it's because it doesn't need to be updated. [00:45:07] Brandon: Exactly, yeah. Like I used to do a lot of c++ programming and the best part is when you see some LAPACK matrix math library from like 1995 that still works perfectly in c++ and you're like, this is awesome. This is the one I have to use. But if you're like trying to use some like React component library and it hasn't been updated in like a year, you're like, oh, that's a problem. So again, I think there's some middle ground between those that I'm trying to find. I do like for Protomaps, it's quite dependency light in terms of the number of hard dependencies I have in software. but I do still feel like there is a lot of work to be done in terms of project scope that needs to have stuff added. You mostly only hear about problems instead of people's wins [00:45:54] Jeremy: Having run it for this long. Do you have any thoughts on running an open source project in general? On dealing with issues or managing what to work on things like that? [00:46:07] Brandon: Yeah. So I have a lot. I think one thing people point out a lot is that especially because I don't have a direct relationship with a lot of the people using it a lot of times I don't even know that they're using it. Someone sent me a message saying hey, have you seen flickr.com, like the photo site? And I'm like, no. And I went to flickr.com/map and it has Protomaps for it. And I'm like, I had no idea. But that's cool, if they're able to use Protomaps for this giant photo sharing site that's awesome. But that also means I don't really hear about when people use it successfully because you just don't know, I guess they, NPM installed it and it works perfectly and you never hear about it. You only hear about people's negative experiences. You only hear about people that come and open GitHub issues saying this is totally broken, and why doesn't this thing exist? And I'm like, well, it's because there's an infinite amount of things that I want to do, but I have a finite amount of time and I just haven't gone into that yet. And that's honestly a lot of the things and people are like when is this thing gonna be done? So that's, that's honestly part of why I don't have a public roadmap because I want to avoid that sort of bickering about it. I would say that's one of my biggest frustrations with running an open source project is how it's self-selected to only hear the negative experiences with it. Be careful what PRs you accept [00:47:32] Brandon: 'cause you don't hear about those times where it works. I'd say another thing is it's changed my perspective on contributing to open source because I think when I was younger or before I had become a maintainer I would open a pull request on a project unprompted that has a hundred lines and I'd be like, Hey, just merge this thing. But I didn't realize when I was younger well if I just merge it and I disappear, then the maintainer is stuck with what I did forever. You know if I add some feature then that person that maintains the project has to do that indefinitely. And I think that's very asymmetrical and it's changed my perspective a lot on accepting open source contributions. I wanna have it be open to anyone to contribute. But there is some amount of back and forth where it's almost like the default answer for should I accept a PR is no by default because you're the one maintaining it. And do you understand the shape of that solution completely to where you're going to support it for years because the person that's contributing it is not bound to those same obligations that you are. And I think that's also one of the things where I have a lot of trepidation around open source is I used to think of it as a lot more bazaar-like in terms of anyone can just throw their thing in. But then that creates a lot of problems for the people who are expected out of social obligation to continue this thing indefinitely. [00:49:23] Jeremy: Yeah, I can totally see why that causes burnout with a lot of open source maintainers, because you probably to some extent maybe even feel some guilt right? You're like, well, somebody took the time to make this. But then like you said you have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out is this something I wanna maintain long term? And one wrong move and it's like, well, it's in here now. [00:49:53] Brandon: Exactly. To me, I think that is a very common failure mode for open source projects is they're too liberal in the things they accept. And that's a lot of why I was talking about how that choice of what features show up on the map was inherited from the MapZen projects. If I didn't have that then somebody could come in and say hey, you know, I want to show power lines on the map. And they open a PR for power lines and now everybody who's using Protomaps when they're like zoomed out they see power lines are like I didn't want that. So I think that's part of why a lot of open source projects eventually evolve into a plugin system is because there is this demand as the project grows for more and more features. But there is a limit in the maintainers. It's like the demand for features is exponential while the maintainer amount of time and effort is linear. Plugin systems might reduce need for PRs [00:50:56] Brandon: So maybe the solution to smash that exponential down to quadratic maybe is to add a plugin system. But I think that is one of the biggest tensions that only became obvious to me after working on this for a couple of years. [00:51:14] Jeremy: Is that something you're considering doing now? [00:51:18] Brandon: Is the plugin system? Yeah. I think for the data customization, I eventually wanted to have some sort of programmatic API to where you could declare a config file that says I want ski routes. It totally makes sense. The power lines example is maybe a little bit obscure but for example like a skiing app and you want to be able to show ski slopes when you're zoomed out well you're not gonna be able to get that from Mapbox or from Google because they have a one size fits all map that's not specialized to skiing or to golfing or to outdoors. But if you like, in theory, you could do this with Protomaps if you changed the Java code to show data at different zoom levels. And that is to me what makes the most sense for a plugin system and also makes the most product sense because it enables a lot of things you cannot do with the one size fits all map. [00:52:20] Jeremy: It might also increase the complexity of the implementation though, right? [00:52:25] Brandon: Yeah, exactly. So that's like. That's really where a lot of the terrifying thoughts come in, which is like once you create this like config file surface area, well what does that look like? Is that JSON? Is that TOML, is that some weird like everything eventually evolves into some scripting language right? Where you have logic inside of your templates and I honestly do not really know what that looks like right now. That feels like something in the medium term roadmap. [00:52:58] Jeremy: Yeah and then in terms of bug reports or issues, now it's not just your code it's this exponential combination of whatever people put into these config files. [00:53:09] Brandon: Exactly. Yeah. so again, like I really respect the projects that have done this well or that have done plugins well. I'm trying to think of some, I think obsidian has plugins, for example. And that seems to be one of the few solutions to try and satisfy the infinite desire for features with the limited amount of maintainer time. Time split between code vs triage vs talking to users [00:53:36] Jeremy: How would you say your time is split between working on the code versus issue and PR triage? [00:53:43] Brandon: Oh, it varies really. I think working on the code is like a minority of it. I think something that I actually enjoy is talking to people, talking to users, getting feedback on it. I go to quite a few conferences to talk to developers or people that are interested and figure out how to refine the message, how to make it clearer to people, like what this is for. And I would say maybe a plurality of my time is spent dealing with non-technical things that are neither code or GitHub issues. One thing I've been trying to do recently is talk to people that are not really in the mapping space. For example, people that work for newspapers like a lot of them are front end developers and if you ask them to run a Linux server they're like I have no idea. But that really is like one of the best target audiences for Protomaps. So I'd say a lot of the reality of running an open source project is a lot like a business is it has all the same challenges as a business in terms of you have to figure out what is the thing you're offering. You have to deal with people using it. You have to deal with feedback, you have to deal with managing emails and stuff. I don't think the payoff is anywhere near running a business or a startup that's backed by VC money is but it's definitely not the case that if you just want to code, you should start an open source project because I think a lot of the work for an opensource project has nothing to do with just writing the code. It is in my opinion as someone having done a VC backed business before, it is a lot more similar to running, a tech company than just putting some code on GitHub. Running a startup vs open source project [00:55:43] Jeremy: Well, since you've done both at a high level what did you like about running the company versus maintaining the open source project? [00:55:52] Brandon: So I have done some venture capital accelerator programs before and I think there is an element of hype and energy that you get from that that is self perpetuating. Your co-founder is gungho on like, yeah, we're gonna do this thing. And your investors are like, you guys are geniuses. You guys are gonna make a killing doing this thing. And the way it's framed is sort of obvious to everyone that it's like there's a much more traditional set of motivations behind that, that people understand while it's definitely not the case for running an open source project. Sometimes you just wake up and you're like what the hell is this thing for, it is this thing you spend a lot of time on. You don't even know who's using it. The people that use it and make a bunch of money off of it they know nothing about it. And you know, it's just like cool. And then you only hear from people that are complaining about it. And I think like that's honestly discouraging compared to the more clear energy and clearer motivation and vision behind how most people think about a company. But what I like about the open source project is just the lack of those constraints you know? Where you have a mandate that you need to have this many customers that are paying by this amount of time. There's that sort of pressure on delivering a business result instead of just making something that you're proud of that's simple to use and has like an elegant design. I think that's really a difference in motivation as well. Having control [00:57:50] Jeremy: Do you feel like you have more control? Like you mentioned how you've decided I'm not gonna make a public roadmap. I'm the sole developer. I get to decide what goes in. What doesn't. Do you feel like you have more control in your current position than you did running the startup? [00:58:10] Brandon: Definitely for sure. Like that agency is what I value the most. It is possible to go too far. Like, so I'm very wary of the BDFL title, which I think is how a lot of open source projects succeed. But I think there is some element of for a project to succeed there has to be somebody that makes those decisions. Sometimes those decisions will be wrong and then hopefully they can be rectified. But I think going back to what I was talking about with scope, I think the overall vision and the scope of the project is something that I am very opinionated about in that it should do these things. It shouldn't do these things. It should be easy to use for this audience. Is it gonna be appealing to this other audience? I don't know. And I think that is really one of the most important parts of that leadership role, is having the power to decide we're doing this, we're not doing this. I would hope other developers would be able to get on board if they're able to make good use of the project, if they use it for their company, if they use it for their business, if they just think the project is cool. So there are other contributors at this point and I want to get more involved. But I think being able to make those decisions to what I believe is going to be the best project is something that is very special about open source, that isn't necessarily true about running like a SaaS business. [00:59:50] Jeremy: I think that's a good spot to end it on, so if people want to learn more about Protomaps or they wanna see what you're up to, where should they head? [01:00:00] Brandon: So you can go to Protomaps.com, GitHub, or you can find me or Protomaps on bluesky or Mastodon. [01:00:09] Jeremy: All right, Brandon, thank you so much for chatting today. [01:00:12] Brandon: Great. Thank you very much.

Russ Branzell, President and CEO of CHIME welcomes PV SubbaRao, Senior Vice President of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at Rackspace for an in-depth discussion on the rapidly evolving landscape of cloud strategy in healthcare. PV shares his insights on the biggest shifts in cloud strategy, common challenges, and how digital health leaders can best balance scalability, security, and flexibility in a hybrid or multi-cloud environment. Key Takeaways:Understanding the shift from traditional cloud approaches to flexible, multi-cloud ecosystems in healthcare.How healthcare leaders can balance scalability, security, and flexibility when adopting hybrid or multi-cloud models.Frameworks for ensuring cloud strategies align with business priorities, patient care objectives, and regulatory compliance.Strategies for developing and retaining top cloud talent in the face of ongoing workforce gaps in the healthcare sector.How healthcare leaders can build resilience and adapt to cybersecurity, cost, and regulatory challenges while embracing digital transformation.

Guest: Ben Chestnut, Former CEO and Co-Founder of MailchimpIf you find yourself selling your startup, then Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut has some important advice for you: Get a dog. When Intuit bought Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion, the company asked Ben if he wanted to stay on as CEO, but he chose to “walk off into the sunset” and let the new owners take over. After that, he estimates it took 6 to 12 months before he stopped checking his email, social media, and calendar with the same level of stress a CEO might have. Adopting a dog, he discovered, forces you to “get OK with the voices in your head."“After the acquisition, that's all I do, I walk the dog,” Ben says. “And the dog was good therapy ... No judgments from a dog.”Chapters:(01:09) - Growing slow (03:06) - The long journey (07:48) - Is money a burden? (09:35) - Building globally in Atlanta (11:22) - Ben's upbringing (12:59) - The first 10 years (17:58) - Scaling to one billion emails (19:22) - Freemium (23:32) - No equity (26:00) - Deciding to sell (33:55) - “I'm a sunset guy” (35:29) - Stress and support (37:25) - Time with the parents (39:07) - Get a dog (42:24) - The voices in your head (46:03) - Serial and “Mailkimp” (53:00) - Hiring interviews (57:14) - Fitness routines (59:27) - Lights off (01:01:46) - AI & reinvention (01:06:30) - The worst days (01:09:15) - What “grit” means to Ben Mentioned in this episode: Intuit, Wolt, DoorDash, LinkedIn, Dan Kurzius, Salesforce, ExactTarget, Pardot, Constant Contact, Rackspace, Free by Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine, Charles Hudson, the Freemium Summit, Drew Houston, Dropbox, Evernote, Phil Libin, TechCrunch, Brian Kane, Catalyst Partners, Georgia Pacific, Scott Cook, Bing Gordon, Vinay Hiremath, Loom, Joe Thomas, Caltrain, Flickr, Saturday Night Live, Droga5, Cannes Film Festival, Strava, Twitter, LinkedIn, Nvidia, Glean, Rubrik, Amazon AWS, and Mechnical Turk.Links:Connect with BenLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir Bormand sits down with Nirmal Ranganathan, CTO, Global Public Cloud at Rackspace, to dissect one of the hottest and most crucial topics in today's tech landscape—trust in AI applications. They explore how enterprises can drive adoption of AI solutions, what key factors are needed to foster trust, and why guardrails, security, and change management play a pivotal role. Whether you're a developer, tech leader, or AI enthusiast, this episode dives deep into the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of AI adoption.Key TakeawaysTrust is the Cornerstone: For AI adoption to succeed, users must trust the output. Trust hinges on data quality, security, responsible use, and model transparency.Change Management Matters: Adoption in enterprises isn't about trends—it's about clear processes, education, and user enablement.Guardrails Are Non-Negotiable: Especially when AI is exposed to external users, organizations need strong safety checks—think toxicity filters, bias mitigation, and strict data governance.Scaling AI = Scaling Costs: Unlike typical systems, scaling AI comes with heavy computational costs. Patterns like caching and model optimization are essential for sustainability.Prompt Engineering & Peer Learning: The secret to effective enterprise AI adoption is empowering users to master prompt engineering and fostering peer collaboration.Future of Adoption: 2025 might not yet be the year of mass AI production rollout, but the curve is gradually climbing—especially with evolving architectures and better model accuracy.Timestamped Highlights[00:00:00] Introduction to Nirmal Ranganathan & the importance of trust in AI[00:01:34] Why adoption is key—and why most tech projects fail due to lack of it[00:02:50] Three pillars of successful AI adoption: Trust, Change Management, Functionality[00:05:02] The trust barrier: Hallucinations, relevance, and grounding AI responses in enterprise knowledge[00:10:01] Why most AI projects are stuck in POCs—and what's preventing full-scale deployment[00:11:43] Technical guardrails: Security, scalability challenges, and compliance considerations[00:14:56] Cost & infrastructure challenges when scaling AI solutions to millions of users[00:17:52] How tech companies differ from enterprises in deploying AI—data privacy, safety checks, user unpredictability[00:20:00] The role of prompt engineering, peer learning, and experiential training in ensuring AI adoption success[00:22:16] What the future holds for AI adoption—and why the heavy lifting might get easierFeatured Quote "AI adoption compounds all of our existing challenges—and then multiplies them by five or ten times." — Nirmal RanganathanConnect with NirmalLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rnirmal/If you enjoyed this episode, please like, share, and subscribe! Don't forget to follow the podcast to stay updated on future episodes.

About PV SubbaRao:PV SubbaRao is a global technology leader with 25+ years of experience, currently serving as Senior Vice President of Global Healthcare and Life Sciences at Rackspace Technology. He leads a $500M+ portfolio, driving growth and operations across the Americas, with a specific focus on Health IT, Providers, Health Plans, and Life Sciences. PV champions an integrated solutions approach, leveraging Rackspace's full range of cloud services for the healthcare industry. Prior to Rackspace, he held leadership roles at Dell Services/NTT DATA Services, growing the Healthcare Provider business significantly. Based in Orange County, California, PV holds an MBA from Emory University and a graduate degree from IIT Mumbai.Things You'll Learn:Rackspace offers a unique approach to cloud solutions, positioning itself as a single point of contact for healthcare organizations looking to integrate strategy and execution. By offering a "do-with" rather than a "do-for" model, Rackspace acts as an extension of a healthcare organization's existing team, enabling easier integration and collaboration. AI and machine learning are poised to revolutionize healthcare by unlocking the potential of vast datasets and improving decision-making. Quantum computing holds promise for personalized medicine through drug discovery and individualized care protocols driven by genome profiling. Adopting Rackspace's cloud solutions and managed services can potentially achieve significant cost savings, between 18% and 25%, for healthcare organizations. These savings can be reinvested into driving transformation and innovation within the organization.Resources:Connect with and follow PV SubbaRao on LinkedIn.Learn more about Rackspace Technology on their LinkedIn and website.

February 26, 2025: Amar Maletira, CEO of Rackspace, explores the evolving role of multi-cloud environments—why are CIOs now rethinking their cloud strategies after years of rapid migration? As AI continues to weave itself into every facet of IT, how can healthcare organizations effectively harness its power while navigating workforce gaps and security risks? And in a world of increasing cyber threats, what are the real challenges of securing critical healthcare workloads across hybrid infrastructures? This conversation unpacks the complexity of modern IT strategy, from cloud optimization to AI-driven automation.Key Points:02:27 The Evolution of Cloud Computing07:08 AI in Cloud Management12:03 Rackspace Security SolutionsSubscribe: This Week HealthTwitter: This Week HealthLinkedIn: This Week HealthDonate: Alex's Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Send us a textMatt Kennard is the CEO of BetterLesson (which offers High-quality K-12 professional development for educators and administrators, ensuring successful districtwide implementation of HQIM.) and former CFO & Head of Operations for LearnZillion, a K-12 digital core curriculum provider. At LearnZillion, he oversaw the expansion of curricular offerings through partnerships with leading OER curriculum providers and led the company's sale to Weld North Education. Previously, Matt led strategic M&A activity for iHeartMedia as the Director of Liquidity and Corporate Development. With a background in finance, strategy, and technology, Matt has held roles at Banc of America Securities, Investcorp Technology Partners, Rackspace, and TJX Companies. He holds a B.A. from Yale University in History and Political Science. Matt found his way into edtech in 2017 based on his desire to utilize his hard-earned expertise to build incredible businesses that make a difference in the lives of students and educators.

Episode #38 of "Can I get that software in blue?", a podcast by and for people engaged in technology sales. If you are in the technology presales, solution architecture, sales, support or professional services career paths then this show is for you! Today Chad and Steve are talking with John Engates, Field CTO at Cloudflare and formerly the CTO and Rackspace. Their conversation includes a discussion of his time at Rackspace and what Rackspace might have done differently during the early rise of AWS, how Cloudflare's network now protects against threats in both directions not just against websites but also against desktop users, and how Rackspace is bringing AI inference to the edge by putting GPUs in their Points-of-Presence around the world. Our website: https://softwareinblue.com Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/softwareinblue⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/softwareinblue⁠ Make sure to subscribe or follow us to get notified about our upcoming episodes: Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8qfPUKO_rPmtvuB4nV87rg⁠ Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/can-i-get-that-software-in-blue/id1561899125⁠ Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/25r9ckggqIv6rGU8ca0WP2⁠ Links mentioned in the episode: Cloudflare 2024 Year in Review: https://blog.cloudflare.com/radar-2024-year-in-review

In this episode from AWS re:Invent 2024, Jon Myer sits down with leaders from Strategic Communications and Rackspace to discuss the reality of AI implementation in the public sector. Learn how these partners help government agencies navigate AI adoption responsibly, build trust-based relationships, and create practical solutions that prioritize security and governance. Discover why slowing down might be the key to successful digital transformation. Key Takeaways:

In this episode from AWS re:Invent 2024, Jon Myer sits down with leaders from Strategic Communications and Rackspace to discuss the reality of AI implementation in the public sector. Learn how these partners help government agencies navigate AI adoption responsibly, build trust-based relationships, and create practical solutions that prioritize security and governance. Discover why slowing down might be the key to successful digital transformation. Key Takeaways:

Prince Varma, global vice president, and Ben Blanquera, VP of technology and sustainability, both of Rackspace Technology, discuss a recent survey.

Räägime seekord Pipedrive avalikku pilve kolimise teekonnast. Juttu tuleb ka ette tulnud väljakutsetest ja üllatustest. Külas olid Pipedrive infrastruktuuri osakonna juht Kristjan Elias ja Infrastruktuuri arhitekt Vladimir Zulin.-----Rohkem infot:* AWS case study: https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/pipedrive-case-study/* Rackspace case study: https://www.rackspace.com/case-studies/pipedrive-aws* AWS User Group Estonia kohtumine, kus Kristjan rääkis üldisemalt samast teemast: https://www.youtube.com/live/b60JoyVC8t0?si=92jVMp4VW8ci-M7w&t=1504-----Jaga meile enda jaoks olulisimat mõtet episoodist meie Discord kanalis: https://discord.gg/8X5JTkDxccEpisoodi veavad Priit Liivak, Martin Kapp ja Tiit PaananenAlgorütmi toetavad Patchstack https://patchstack.comNortal https://nortal.com/Veriff https://www.veriff.com/

Today's guest is Nirmal Ranganathan, Vice President of Engineering and AI at Rackspace Technology. Rackspace, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, is a global cloud computing company with additional offices across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates data centers in key locations including Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and various cities in the United States. Nirmal returns to the show to explore the accelerating journey of AI adoption in financial services. Pulling from Rackspace's recent AI survey, we discuss key findings: 86% of companies report tangible AI benefits, and 60% are transitioning from ideation to early implementation. However, as organizations race to integrate AI, many still face skills gaps, with a majority seeking talent in machine learning and software development. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

Navigating the complex world of AI hiring in financial services is no easy feat. In this debut episode, Nirmal Ranganathan, Vice President of Engineering and AI at Rackspace Technology, joins host Matthew DeMello to explore the unique challenges financial services enterprises face when integrating AI talent. With the sector still in its early adoption phase, generative AI's impact is evident, but leveraging these innovations requires addressing fundamental infrastructure and regulatory hurdles. Throughout the episode, Nirmal shares his insights into the practical applications of generative AI, from enhancing customer-facing operations to transforming back-office workflows. The conversation highlights the essential role of data governance, the impact of AI bias, and the transition smaller financial institutions must make to fully digitize and prepare their data foundations. If you've enjoyed or benefited from some of the insights of this episode, consider leaving us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and let us know what you learned, found helpful, or liked most about this show!

December 16, 2024: Melissa Pettigrew, Strategic Engagement Manager at Rackspace joins Sarah for the news. As U.S. healthcare organizations invest heavily in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud technologies, how can CIOs strategically allocate budgets to balance short-term needs with long-term goals? What does it take to build infrastructure that is both future-proof and agile enough to meet evolving challenges?Key Points:03:51 Risk Management05:22 Interoperability and AI Integration08:46 Consumer Burden14:00 Addressing Clinician Exodus News articles:US healthcare spending more on AI, cybersecurity, other IT investmentsCompanies Shift Data Breach Costs to Customers, Sparking Backlash ConcernsHealthcare Faces Clinician Exodus Amid Burnout and EHR FrustrationsThis Week Health SubscribeThis Week Health TwitterThis Week Health LinkedinAlex's Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer Donate

Many strive for change, yet achieving and sustaining it is a complex journey. As people chase higher goals, often in career, personal growth, or relationships, the need to reevaluate approaches to sustainable transformation becomes apparent. Research suggests that nearly 80% of New Year's resolutions fail by mid-February, indicating a need for sustainable systems, not just strong intentions, to achieve personal and professional growth.What if there were a blueprint for transforming your life sustainably, rather than burning out on temporary changes?In this episode, Tuesdays with Morrissey brings on Alex Lee, an accomplished sales leader turned coach, to delve into a proven trifecta for change: strategy, execution, and reflection. Lee joins host Adam Morrisey, a passionate advocate for holistic growth, to explore how sustainable change emerges from goal-setting, consistent self-reflection, and realignment.Key Takeaways:The Trifecta for Change: Sustainable transformation is built upon three pillars—strategy, execution, and reflection. The strategy involves defining measurable, emotionally meaningful goals. Execution means taking these goals one step at a time. Reflection, often overlooked, is where the most growth occurs, allowing for necessary adjustments and pivots.The Authentic Blueprint: Alex Lee discusses the concept of "authentic blueprint"—the idea that each person has a unique purpose shaped by life experiences, challenges, and innate abilities. Finding this blueprint requires deep self-exploration, often leading individuals away from what society expects and toward their true selves.Importance of Reflection: Like sleep for physical fitness, reflection is essential for personal growth. Through reflection, individuals can assess what works and what doesn't, adapting their path to their evolving goals and authentic purpose.Alex Lee, a Certified Professional Coach with extensive corporate experience, specializes in guiding high-achieving professionals toward deeper fulfillment and authentic success. Previously holding leadership roles at tech giants like Google, MongoDB, and Rackspace, Alex combines his strategic acumen with a deep understanding of human behavior, helping clients unlock their full potential through tailored coaching methods. Leveraging over two decades in sales and personal transformation, Alex offers a unique perspective on achieving sustainable change, focusing on self-discovery, emotional insight, and breaking limiting patterns.

Forecast = Turbulent conditions persist as major platforms face relentless attacks, with data breaches and DDoS storms threatening critical infrastructure and digital archives ‍ In this episode of Storm⚡️Watch, we wade into several significant cybersecurity incidents and updates. First, The American Water attack has raised concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, with potential implications for military services and water supply systems across the United States. We'll explore the details of this cyberattack and its broader impact on national security. The Internet Archive, a vital resource for digital preservation, has been facing a series of relentless attacks. We'll discuss the ongoing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that have disrupted services, as well as a major data breach affecting 31 million users. Our conversation will cover the challenges of protecting such a vast repository of information and the potential motivations behind these persistent assaults on the "Wayback Machine" and other Archive services. On the tools and intelligence front, we'll highlight Censys' new CVE search feature, which promises to enhance vulnerability management for security professionals. We'll also discuss GreyNoise's latest analysis of Russian cyber threats, revealing that 9 out of 12 vulnerabilities tracked by GreyNoise from a recent U.S. and UK advisory are currently being actively probed. Additionally, we'll touch on GreyNoise's upcoming Quarterly Roadmap Showcase, offering listeners a glimpse into future developments. Lastly, we'll examine the recently disclosed ScienceLogic vulnerability, which has been added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. This zero-day flaw has been linked to a breach at Rackspace, underscoring the critical nature of prompt patching and the ongoing challenges in securing third-party utilities. Join us as we break down these crucial cybersecurity stories and their implications for the digital world. Storm Watch Homepage >> Learn more about GreyNoise >>  

October 14, 2024: Jack Crowley, Senior Director / General Manager of Healthcare Private Cloud at Rackspace joins Sarah for the news. As the conversation unfolds, they dive into pressing issues like the growing frequency of ransomware attacks on healthcare institutions and the increasing need for resilient cloud infrastructures. Should hospitals be held accountable for cyber breaches despite adhering to best practices, and how should leaders prepare for the worst-case scenario? Jack emphasizes the importance of proactive planning and partnerships, leaving the audience to reflect: Are we thinking far enough ahead to truly protect our healthcare systems? These thoughtful discussions challenge listeners to consider how healthcare leaders must approach cybersecurity in an ever-changing technological environment.Key Points:05:39 Cybersecurity Legislation and Challenges12:31 The Impact of Cyber Attacks on Healthcare17:09 Strategies for Cybersecurity Resilience26:11 Conclusion and Future OutlookNews articles:New bill seeks to mandate healthcare cybersecurity standardsAfter years of ransomware attacks, health-care defenses still failThis Week Health SubscribeThis Week Health TwitterThis Week Health LinkedinAlex's Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer Donate

The shift from hosting Epic in your own data center to now hosting Epic in the cloud has been amazing to watch. For the longest time, no one would even consider hosting Epic in the cloud. Not even Epic. However, Epic and its customers have shifted their mindset in a big way and now it seems that everyone is hosting Epic in the cloud or moving that direction. In order to learn more about this important topic, I sat down to talk with Jason Jones, Global Senior Client Executive – Strategic Accounts at Rackspace Technology, and Jack Crowley, Senior Director and General Manager - Healthcare Private Cloud at Rackspace Technology, to learn from their experience as the largest third party hosting provider of Epic. Learn more about Rackspace: https://www.rackspace.com/ Health IT Community: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/

Russian authorities arrest nearly 100 cybercriminals in raid Northern Ireland police fined for exposing officer identities Rackspace breach sparks vendor blame game Huge thanks to our sponsor, SpyCloud Stolen data is a hot commodity for cybercriminals. Using infostealer malware, bad actors can siphon valid session cookies from employee devices, scoring the keys to access your networks and systems. According to SpyCloud's latest research, security teams are now seeing stolen cookies among the top three entry points for initial access for ransomware. Get the full insights, including other risk factors at spycloud.com/headlines. Get the story behind the headlines at CISOSeries.com

Microsoft has revamped its AI-powered Recall feature, shifting from automatic to opt-in use with enhanced security measures like full encryption and Windows Hello authentication, addressing privacy concerns. California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB-1047, which aimed to regulate AI models, citing concerns that smaller models outside the regulation's scope might pose greater risks. Meanwhile, OpenAI is facing a leadership shakeup as CTO Mira Murati and other key executives depart, coinciding with a shift in the company's focus toward a more traditional startup model under Sam Altman's leadership. This and more on the Gestalt IT Rundown. Time Stamps: 0:00 - Welcome to the Rundown 0:58 - Rackspace Gets Attacked, Logically 4:09 - Hurricane Helene Disrupts Critical Supply Chain 8:34 - Tech Giants and Government Support Spark a New Nuclear Renaissance? 14:11 - F5 Launches NGINX One 17:34 - NIST Gives Tips on Passwords 22:20 - AI Safety Roundup 40:39 - The Weeks Ahead 42:37 - Thanks for Watching Hosts: Tom Hollingsworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/networkingnerd/ Jack Poller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackpoller/ Follow Gestalt IT Website: https://www.GestaltIT.com/ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/GestaltIT LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Gestalt-IT #Rundown, #Cybersecurity, #AISafety, #AI, @GestaltIT, @TheFuturumGroup, @TechFieldDay, @NetworkingNerd, @Poller, @Rackspace, @NGINX, @NIST, @OpenAI, @Microsoft,

Both Rackspace Technology and Dell Technologies have long been know for their technology and cloud solutions. But Jason Jones, Executive in Residence at Rackspace Technology, and Michael Fredericks, Global APEX and Multicloud Healthcare Lead at Dell Technologies, believe that you have to take a thoughtful and strategic approach to adopting multiple cloud, on premise, and hybrid cloud. Jones strongly advises against running an EHR in a hybrid cloud. Doing so increases latency, the risk of leaked data or failure, and, in multicloud environments, added complexity. The health care institutions should determine what is core to its operations and keep it local or all on one dedicated cloud; ancillary functions can be in the public cloud. Learn more about Rackspace: https://www.rackspace.com/ Learn more about Dell Technologies: https://dell.com/Healthcare Health IT Community: https://www.healthcareittoday.com/

Chapters00:00 Switching Roles: Meet Kerry Perez03:24 Roles in Strategy, Marketing, and Recruitment06:11 Driving Business Growth through Understanding Customer Needs09:00 The Evolving Candidate and Client Experience in Healthcare12:48 Finding the Right Workforce Mix for Clients13:44 Making an Impact with the Marketing Team ABOUT KERRYKerry Perez leads the design and development of enterprise strategy in addition to overseeing Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Creative Services.Ms. Perez joined AMN Healthcare in 2007 and has held various roles during her tenure, including recruitment, marketing, innovation, strategy, and M&A. She most recently served as the company's Vice President of Enterprise Strategy. She also stood up AMN Healthcare's Diligence and Integration Management Office, which led the strategic and functional integration of new acquisitions to drive synergy. She was named among Staffing Industry Analyst's Top 40 Under 40 in 2001, and she hosts the AMN Healthcare podcast, Elevate Care.Ms. Perez maintains the guiding principles of being customer obsessed, thinking big and delivering results. She has a passion for mentoring emerging leaders and building effective teams.Ms. Perez holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from the University of California at Santa Barbara. For more than four years, she has served on the board of Dallas-based nonprofit, CitySquare, which focuses on fighting the causes and effects of poverty. Learn more about Kerry: https://www.amnhealthcare.com/about/amn-leadership-team/executive-committee/kerry-perez/ ABOUT NISHANNishan Sivathasan serves as Division President, Technology and Workforce Solutions, and is responsible for AMN Healthcare's suite of technology products for workforce management and virtual care platforms that enable healthcare organizations to deliver sustainable and innovative ways for patient care.Prior to his current role, Mr. Sivathasan was Chief Strategy and Experience Officer at AMN Healthcare and had responsibility for business strategy and M&A. He joined AMN in 2019. Prior to joining AMN, Mr. Sivathasan was responsible for eCommerce strategy and business development at JCPenney. Previously, he spent time at a financial technology start-up and almost 10 years at Rackspace, a globally managed cloud computing company, in executive positions that spanned strategy, product development, and marketing. Mr. Sivathasan started his career at Accenture as a management consultant and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from Austin CollegeLearn more about Nishan: https://www.amnhealthcare.com/about/amn-leadership-team/nishan-sivathasan/ ABOUT THE SHOWElevate Care delves into the latest trends, thinking, and best practices shaping the landscape of healthcare. From total talent management to solutions and strategies to expand the reach of care, we discuss methods to enable high quality, flexible workforce and care delivery. We will discuss the latest advancements in technology, the impact of emerging models and settings, physical and virtual, and address strategies to identify and obtain an optimal workforce mix. Tune in to gain valuable insights from thought leaders focused on improving healthcare quality, workforce well-being, and patient outcomes. Learn more about the show: https://www.amnhealthcare.com/campaign/elevate-care-podcast/ FIND US ONWebsite – https://www.amnhealthcare.com/podcast/elevate-care-podcast/YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@ElevateCarePodcastSpotify – https://open.spotify.com/show/5R2oWLZXYfjtPGW7o5KpuoApple – https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/elevate-care/id1710406359Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amnhealthcare/LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/amn-healthcare/X – https://twitter.com/amnhealthcare/Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/amnhealthcare/ Powered by AMN Healthcare

July 10, 2024: Srini Koushik, President AI and Sustainability & CTO at Rackspace joins Bill for the news. How do healthcare organizations balance the promise of AI with the potential risks it introduces? Is the rapid advancement of AI technology outpacing our ability to manage its implications, particularly in sensitive areas like patient care? The conversation challenges listeners to consider whether AI is ready to take on the complex tasks it's designed for, or if the industry is moving too fast without fully understanding the consequences.Key Points:03:37 The Evolution of Rackspace07:26 Generative AI and Enterprise Risk11:08 AI's Role in Healthcare Efficiency18:55 Epic's Innovations23:50 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsNews articles:Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Says Company's AI Assistant Has Saved $260M And 4.5K Developer-Years Of Work: 'It's Been A Game Changer For Us'Allie K. Miller on LinkedIn: In 2023, over half of Fortune 500 companies (56.2%) listed AI as a risk.This Week Health SubscribeThis Week Health TwitterThis Week Health LinkedinAlex's Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer Donate

In this episode of TOP CMO, Jackson Carpenter sits down with Zarina Stanford, the CMO of Bazaarvoice, a leader in user-generated content and customer feedback solutions. With over 25 years of marketing leadership experience across companies like IBM, SAP, and Rackspace, Zarina shares insights on the evolving role of the CMO, the power of user-generated content, and how brands can leverage consumer feedback for product development. Tune in to discover how CMOs are shifting from marketing experts to pivotal business leaders in today's digital landscape.

Join Kirk and Emil Sayegh as they discuss Emil's remarkable journey from an immigrant from Lebanon to proudly becoming a U.S. citizen and serving the country through his leadership in the tech industry. Emil shares his path from mechanical engineering to product management, ultimately leading three Data Center and Managed Services companies as CEO. The conversation delves into the evolution and challenges of the data center industry, highlighting the critical need for sustainable energy solutions to address power consumption and efficiency issues. They explore the importance of smart algorithms, the evolution of managed services, and customer-centric approaches, with insights from Emil's experience at Rackspace. Key topics include capital management, talent acquisition, cloud services, AI integration, and robust security practices, along with reflections on software glitches and outdated systems. The discussion underscores the balance between technological progress and ethical governance, emphasizing the role of human values and optimism in addressing global challenges through technology.

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 1400: Benjamin Hardy shares insights from his conversation with Graham Weston, co-founder of Rackspace, who is now focused on transforming San Antonio into an innovation hub. Weston's approach emphasizes the importance of belonging to a valued, winning team on an inspiring mission and leveraging collaborative partnerships to achieve large-scale success. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://medium.com/swlh/i-spent-60-minutes-with-a-billionaire-yesterday-heres-what-i-learned-56f1802105e3 Quotes to ponder: "You can get people really excited to work when they feel they're a part of something important and inspiring." "Rather than trying to do everything themselves, billionaires find experts and specialists who are brilliant at what they do and get immediate help." "Without question, billionaires think differently than the masses." Episode references: Personality Isn't Permanent: https://www.amazon.com/Personality-Isnt-Permanent-Self-Limiting-Beliefs/dp/0593083318 Willpower Doesn't Work: https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Doesnt-Work-Discover-Success/dp/0316441325 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 1400: Benjamin Hardy shares insights from his conversation with Graham Weston, co-founder of Rackspace, who is now focused on transforming San Antonio into an innovation hub. Weston's approach emphasizes the importance of belonging to a valued, winning team on an inspiring mission and leveraging collaborative partnerships to achieve large-scale success. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://medium.com/swlh/i-spent-60-minutes-with-a-billionaire-yesterday-heres-what-i-learned-56f1802105e3 Quotes to ponder: "You can get people really excited to work when they feel they're a part of something important and inspiring." "Rather than trying to do everything themselves, billionaires find experts and specialists who are brilliant at what they do and get immediate help." "Without question, billionaires think differently than the masses." Episode references: Personality Isn't Permanent: https://www.amazon.com/Personality-Isnt-Permanent-Self-Limiting-Beliefs/dp/0593083318 Willpower Doesn't Work: https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Doesnt-Work-Discover-Success/dp/0316441325 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Srini Koushik, President of Technology and Sustainability at Rackspace, discusses the changing landscape of sustainability and AI in the IT services market. Srini highlights the importance of incorporating sustainability into services in a more holistic manner, considering factors such as climate change, income inequality, and equitable AI implementation. He emphasizes the need for conscious consumer choices and selecting vendors who prioritize sustainability in their operations.The conversation shifts to AI, with Srini outlining Rackspace's approach to responsible AI implementation through the Foundry for AI initiative. He stresses the importance of AI being symbiotic with human beings, secure, and sustainable. Srini explains how Rackspace aims to leverage its expertise in managing production workloads to help customers implement AI solutions that meet these criteria. The discussion delves into the role of partnerships in delivering AI solutions tailored to specific organizational needs.Srini explores the potential for AI to address technical debt in organizations and drive productivity improvements. He underscores the importance of training both AI models and human users to maximize the benefits of AI tools like Microsoft Copilot. Srini envisions a future where AI enhances critical thinking skills and frees up time for individuals to focus on higher-level tasks. The episode concludes with a reflection on the evolving opportunities in the IT services market and the transformative potential of AI for businesses. Supported by:https://www.huntress.com/mspradio/http://skykick.com/mspradio/  All our Sponsors: https://businessof.tech/sponsors/ Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/ Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/ Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com Follow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftechBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/businessoftech.bsky.social

Dave Sobel and channel expert Ryan Morris discuss the aftermath of the CrowdStrike incident and the importance of focusing on software quality in the tech industry. They emphasize the need for technology vendors to prioritize reliability, stability, security, and manageability in their products to prevent future outages and vulnerabilities. The conversation highlights the role of MSPs and channel companies in ensuring that the technology they offer is reliable and professionally supported, ultimately benefiting both the vendors and the end-users. Ryan Morris emphasizes the importance of channel partners choosing vendors based on the quality and reliability of their products, rather than just the latest features or pricing. He stresses the need for vendors to take responsibility for the quality of their software and provide effective support to channel partners in case of issues. The discussion also touches on the significance of industry-wide initiatives like the "secure by design" pledge to promote software quality and security across the tech ecosystem. The conversation shifts to the impact of AI on IT careers, with both Dave and Ryan expressing optimism about AI's role in enhancing human capabilities rather than replacing jobs. They discuss the importance of leveraging AI as a tool to make professionals more productive and efficient in their roles. Additionally, Dave clarifies his approach to selecting tools for an MSP business, focusing on compatibility with modern API-driven interfaces and the importance of selecting tools that align with the business's long-term goals. The episode concludes with a preview of an upcoming interview with Srini Koushik of Rackspace, where he discusses Rackspace's AI framework and their focus on responsible AI implementation. The conversation highlights Rackspace's commitment to symbiotic, secure, and sustainable AI solutions, emphasizing the importance of responsible AI practices in the tech industry. Supported by: https://salesbuildr.com/   All our Sponsors: https://businessof.tech/sponsors/ Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/ Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/ Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.com Follow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftechBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/businessoftech.bsky.social

Key Moments: A journey from intern to CEO (05:10)Encouraging a harmonized relationship between humans and AI (09:58)Why embracing stress can drive urgency and effective change (17:18)Generative AI's impact on the skills landscape (30:39)Fostering a data-driven company culture (36:41)Embrace change, and quickly (40:25)Key Quotes: “AI does amazing things, like summarizations and semantic search. Humans do amazing things like curation of knowledge, making sure it's accurate, connecting the dots, and creating relationships. So bringing the power of humans-in-the loop, especially given a broader trust deficit, felt like the right thing to do at this point in time.”“I think ultimately what guides us is we want to be useful to our users and our customers. That's the guiding light. Because why do we exist as an organization or a community? We should all just go home. If we don't actually have a mission and purpose that adds value, then we don't have a purpose. So the question is, what is that? What is the highest purpose?”“When you think about the future of software development, there's a lot of doomsdayers about job losses. I think it's going to be the opposite. I think AI reduces the barrier to entry. I think a lot of people will be “developers”, even though they may be doing very different things.”Mentions: WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2023 OverflowAIOverflow API Stack Overflow for TeamsAmp It Up Book Bio: Prashanth Chandrasekar is Chief Executive Officer of Stack Overflow and is responsible for driving Stack Overflow's overall strategic direction and results.Prashanth is a proven technology executive with extensive experience leading and scaling high-growth global organizations. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President & General Manager of Rackspace's Cloud & Infrastructure Services portfolio of businesses, including the Managed Public Clouds, Private Clouds, Colocation and Managed Security businesses. Before that, Prashanth held a range of senior leadership roles at Rackspace including Senior Vice President & General Manager of Rackspace's high growth, global business focused on the world's leading Public Clouds including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Alibaba Cloud, which became the fastest growing business in Rackspace's history. Prior to joining Rackspace, Prashanth was a Vice President at Barclays Investment Bank, focused on providing Strategic and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) advice for clients in the Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) industries.  Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

July 22, 2024: Melissa Pettigrew, Strategic Engagement Manager at Rackspace, joins Bill for the news. They explore the rise of cloud integration in healthcare and its impact on hosting critical applications like Epic. What role does effective change management play in driving successful digital transformations? How can health systems overcome strategic alignment issues and avoid scope creep? The discussion delves into the communication challenges between technology and business units and the importance of starting with a clearly identified problem rather than a solution in search of one. They also touch upon the evolving responsibilities of product managers in healthcare and the significance of continual refinement and data-driven measurement. Can healthcare IT leaders better align their projects with business objectives to enhance productivity and brand loyalty?Key Points:00:00 Guest Introduction and Role at Rackspace01:17 Healthcare Cloud Solutions and Change Management03:14 Challenges in Digital Transformation07:43 Effective Product Management in Healthcare16:10 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsNews articles:Effective Change Management Is Key to a Successful Digital Transformation6 big issues facing CIOs in the next 6 months

Adrian Chenault, who became CEO of Contact Mapping by integrating his father's principles with technology for enhanced success and connection, spent over seven successful years at Rackspace, advancing from financial analyst to Senior Director of International Finance in Zurich, overseeing operations outside the US. In June 2023, Contact Mapping was acquired by Nowsite, and Adrian is now joining Nowsite as CFO and VP of Business Development. Nowsite, a leader in AI-enabled marketing for network marketers, recently launched myAI, a product that allows network marketers to create an AI version of themselves to manage their social media and marketing.SHOW SUMMARYIn this episode of the Selling from the Heart podcast, Larry Levine and Darrell Amy welcome Adrian Chenault, a visionary integrating AI with sales strategies. This episode delves into the innovative ways AI can enhance relational selling, helping sales professionals maintain authenticity, build trust, and elevate their sales game. Adrian discusses his book 'Selling in a Post-Trust World' and shares practical tips and tools for effectively using AI without sacrificing personal touch. Perfect for sales professionals seeking to navigate the complexities of selling in today's skeptical landscape.KEY TAKEAWAYSAI as a Digital Assistant: AI can serve as a powerful tool to manage and recall important relationship details, helping sales professionals maintain personal connections at scale.Maintaining Authenticity: Using AI doesn't mean losing your voice; it's about enhancing your ability to communicate authentically and effectively.Future of AI in Sales: The integration of AI in sales is still in its early stages, with enormous potential to revolutionize how salespeople manage relationships and information.Balancing Process and Personalization: Successful sales involve a blend of structured processes and genuine human interactions, and AI can support both aspects without compromising authenticity.Practical Applications: Real-world examples, such as handling RFPs and enhancing social media interactions, demonstrate how AI can streamline and enrich the sales process.QUOTES"You bury your head in the sand at your own peril. AI is a generational shift in the world, and sales professionals can't afford to ignore it.""Amazing things start to happen when you shine the light on the other person, get curious, and let the conversation go where it goes.""AI should understand your voice and point of view. It should enhance your communication, not replace it.""Imagine an AI assistant that helps you remember all the little details about your client relationships, making your interactions even more personal and impactful.""We're in the first inning of what AI can do. The potential to enhance thoughtful, relational selling is massive."Learn more about Adrian Chenault: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianchenault/ Learn more about Darrell and Larry:Darrell's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrellamy/Larry's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larrylevine1992/Website: https://www.sellingfromtheheart.net/Get the New Book That Will Help You Sell More... Without Destroying Your Relationships and Reputationhttps://sellinginaposttrustworld.com/home-prereleasePlease visit Barnes & Noble to order your copy of the rerelease of the Selling from the Heart book.https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/selling-from-the-heart-larry-levine/1130142818SUBSCRIBE to our YOUTUBE CHANNEL!https://www.youtube.com/c/sellingfromtheheart/Click for your Daily Dose of Inspiration:https://www.sellingfromtheheart.net/daily

This episode of Cloud Talk focuses on creating responsible AI solutions, featuring a panel of experts including Nirmal Ranganathan, Ram Viswanathan, and Joanne Flack, a legal advisor. The discussion covers Rackspace's approach to responsible AI, defined by three key elements: symbiotic (AI as a co-worker), sustainable (accessible and environmentally conscious), and secure. Key points discussed: The importance of establishing clear guidelines and boundaries for AI use within organizations. Ethical considerations in using AI for coding and other professional tasks. Security challenges specific to AI, including potential new threats and the need for robust security measures. The role of legal and compliance teams in ensuring responsible AI implementation. The significance of data quality and potential biases in AI training. The panel also explores the EU risk model for AI systems and its potential to become a global standard. They discuss the challenges of addressing inherent biases in AI models and the need for careful consideration of data sources. The episode concludes with the panelists sharing their visions for AI's future positive impacts, including personal productivity enhancements, advancements in healthcare and medical research, democratization of information, and potential contributions to global issues like poverty alleviation and peace promotion. Overall, the podcast emphasizes the need for a holistic, responsible approach to AI adoption, balancing innovation with ethical considerations and risk management.

Citadel and MFN competing to fund an unsecured junior DIP financing was just one of the "remarkable" aspects of Yellow Corp's ongoing bankruptcy, according to its Chief Restructuring Officer Matt Doheny. The North Country Capital's founder and president sat with Bloomberg Intelligence's (BI) Phil Brendel to share his philosophies on distressed investing, derived from a wide-ranging career in law, finance, and politics. They dive into two of the most fascinating bankruptcy cases of our time -- Yellow Corp and FTX (5:30). Prior to that, Phil and Noel Hebert of BI discuss the high yield market's strength despite some serious headwinds presented by a "higher for longer" environment. The podcast concludes with BI's Negisa Balluku joining Noel and Phil to tackle the latest developments in bankruptcy courts and distressed situations, including Red Lobster, WeWork, Rite Aid, Diamond Sports, J&J, Yellow, Rackspace, Genesis, and FTX (49:50).

Join Jeff DeVerter in an engaging episode of “Cloud Talk - CTO Roundtable edition” as he hosts a panel of esteemed cloud technology leaders to dissect the complexities and advancements in Modern Operations. This episode features Justin Kuss, VP of IT for platforms and shared services at Rackspace, alongside Travis and Simon, CTOs for public and private cloud at Rackspace. The discussion promises to navigate the internal workings of cloud operations and spark a lively debate between the idealists and realists of the cloud world. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that will leave you with a deeper understanding of the operational strategies that are driving the cloud industry forward.

Are you looking for business insights from an experienced tech leader with 20 years of C-suite experience? Today I'm talking with Brian Lillie, who is the President of Rackspace Private Cloud.  Brian is a globally recognized leader in the tech industry and currently leads a team of 3400 people at Rackspace. During our discussion, Brian shares the importance of listening, learning, and leading in tech companies. He also talks about the importance of diversity in innovation and customer-inspired innovation to foster a culture of innovation. Brian shares insights about his leadership approach and how it was influenced by his military experience. Today on the Tech Leader Talk podcast: - Insights for listening, learning, and leading - Strategies for cloud innovation - Diversity in innovation - Creating a safe environment for innovative ideas Connect with Brian Lillie: LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachlillie/ Website:  https://www.rackspace.com/ Thanks for listening! Be sure to get your free copy of Steve's latest book, Cracking the Patent Code, and discover his proven system for identifying and protecting your most valuable inventions. Get the book at https://stevesponseller.com/book.

Today, I'm joined by Brian Lillie, and we're discussing what it means to Listen, Learn, then Lead. Brian is a United States Air Force veteran and a globally recognized transformational leader with more than 20 years of C-Suite experience in the technology space. Brian wears many hats. He has been known as “Coach Lillie” for the past 18 years and is a former All-Star pitcher for the Giants' Fantasy Camp leagues. Brian was pursuing a PhD in leadership from Pepperdine University before he was recruited to join Rackspace as their new president. I'm excited to have him on the show to talk about how the military and sports have helped him to become a highly successful C-suite leader and what it means to Listen, Learn, then Lead. Show resources: Brian Lillie on LinkedIn Rackspace Sponsors: Salty Sailor Coffee Company Leader Connect The Qualified Leadership Series Ignite Management Services Liberty Strength  ____ Get all Jon Rennie's bestselling leadership books for 15% off the regular price today! HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you be in intergrity and hide part of your story? That was one of the big takeaways from my conversation with Jaime Konzelman, sales leader at tech company Rackspace.  Jaime wrote a memoir called, "Dealmaker" that chronicles her life from college into exotic dancing and on into a stellar B2B sales career.  Jaime has done big deals - hundreds of millions of dollars worth, at companies like IBM, Unisys, and Xerox. She leads teams of sellers now. Jaime knows her stuff.  Let us know how you like the episode - and please give us a rating on iTunes if you will - and a comment - and share with other women to help inspire them.  More on Jaime: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkonzelman/ More podcast episodes from Women Sales Pros:  https://womensalespros.com/podcast/ Shoutout to our sponsor, Skillibrium! https://skillibrium.com/ 

For this special edition of TCP Talks, Justin and Jonathan are joined by Travis Runty, CTO of Public Cloud with Rackspace Technology. In today's interview, they discuss being accidentally multi cloud, public vs private cloud, and cloud migration, and best practices when assisting clients with their cloud journeys.  Background Rackspace Technology, commonly known as Rackspace, is a leading multi-cloud solutions provider headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Founded in 1998, Rackspace has established itself as a trusted partner for businesses seeking expertise in managing and optimizing their cloud environments. The company offers a wide range of services aimed at helping organizations navigate the complexities of cloud computing, including cloud migration, managed hosting, security, data analytics, and application modernization. Rackspace supports various cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, and GCP, among others.  Rackspace prides itself on its “Fanatical Experience” approach, which emphasizes delivering exceptional customer support and service. This commitment to customer satisfaction has contributed to Rackspace’s reputation as a reliable and customer-centric provider in the cloud computing industry.  Meet Travis Runty, CTO of Public Cloud for Rackspace Technology Beginning his career with Rackspace as a Linux engineer, Travis has spent the last 15 years working his way through multiple divisions of the company, including 10 years in senior and director level positions. Most recently, Travis served as VP of Technical Support of Global Cloud Operations from 2020-2022.  Travis is extremely passionate about building and leading high performance engineering teams and delivering innovative solutions. Most recently, as a member of their technology council, Travis wrote an article for Forbes – Building a Cloud-Savvy Workforce: Empowering Your Team for Success – where he discussed best practices for prioritizing workforce enablement, especially when it comes to training and transformation initiatives.  Interview Notes: In the main show, TCP has been talking a lot about Cloud / hybrid cloud / multi-cloud and repatriating data back to on prem, and today's guest knows all about those topics.  Rackspace has had quite a few phases in their journey to public cloud – including building a data center in an unused mall, introducing managed services, creating partnerships with VMware, an attempt to go head to head with the hyperscalers, and then ultimately focusing on public cloud and instead partnering with the hyperscalers.  Rackspace has both a focus on private and public cloud; when it comes to private cloud they focus mainly on VMware and OpenStack, whereas in the public cloud side, Rackspace partners with the hyperscalers to assist clients with their cloud journey.  Quotes from today's show  Travis: “We want to make sure that when a customer goes on their public cloud journey, that they actually have a robust strategy that is going to be effective. From there, we're able to leverage our professional services teams to make sure that they can realize that transformation, and hopefully there *is* a transformation, and it's not just a lift and shift.” Travis: “A conflict that we continuously have to strike the balance of is when do we apply a cloud native solution, and where do we apply the Rackspace elements on top. The hyperscalers techno

In a world where technology evolves at lightning speed, have you ever wondered how generative AI is not just reshaping the tech landscape but also becoming a pivotal ally in sustainability efforts? Today, I am speaking with Srini Koushik, president of technology and sustainability and global head of the Generative AI foundation at Rackspace Technology. With an illustrious career spanning over two decades in the tech industry, Srini brings a wealth of knowledge and insights into the transformative power of generative AI. As we delve into our conversation, Srini explores the innovative ways organizations are leveraging AI to enhance their sustainability initiatives, highlighting the shift from traditional methods to more dynamic, AI-driven strategies. The discussion doesn't stop there; we also tap into the emerging trends in generative AI workloads and the strategic opportunities and challenges they present. Srini paints a vivid picture of an industry on the cusp of a revolution, akin to the seismic shift witnessed with the adoption of smartphones and mobile apps. But what does this mean for the workforce? Srini addresses the critical need for reskilling and upskilling to harness the full potential of generative AI, emphasizing the importance of aligning these initiatives with talent acquisition strategies. Furthermore, we explore the ethical dimensions and the imperative for organizations to adopt a responsible AI framework that resonates with their core values. Throughout the episode, Srini shares intriguing insights into how AI is not just a technological advancement but a tool that empowers organizations to 'move up the Maslow hierarchy,' automating mundane tasks to unlock human creativity and problem-solving capabilities. We also look at how advancements in AI chips and models are paving the way for significant sustainability gains. Join us in this enlightening discussion with Srini Koushik and explore the vast expanse of generative AI's potential. How are you preparing for the generative AI revolution? Share your thoughts and join the conversation.

In this episode, we examine the Rackspace ransomware attack that crippled the company's hosted exchange environment, affecting thousands of customers. We discuss the timeline of events, the importance of timely patching, and the challenges Rackspace faced in restoring customer data. Learn about the value of comprehensive disaster recovery plans and third-party backups in protecting your organization from similar attacks. Don't miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights from one of the most significant ransomware incidents in recent years.

San Antonio entrepreneurs and startups often find themselves meeting with Cat Dizon, the chief operating officer at venture capital firm Active Capital and the chairwoman of the Geekdom board. The former senior Rackspace executive is the gatekeeper to San Antonio's leading seed fund, and is always on the lookout for young, promising businesses.  

Devin Elder, the sole owner of DJE Texas Management Group LLC, oversees the acquisition, repositioning, and disposition of diverse real estate projects in Central Texas. With a track record of over 200 successful renovations, ranging from $10k to $3M+, DJE has never incurred investor capital losses. As of February 2024, DJE Properties, the in-house property management firm, oversees a multifamily portfolio of 2,147 units in San Antonio. Before venturing into real estate, Devin earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio and enjoyed a successful corporate career at Rackspace and 3M. In addition to his real estate endeavors, Devin is the host of The DJE Podcast and co-founder of ApartmentEducators.com. He founded The DJE Foundation in 2020, supporting various charitable causes. As the Co-Founder of Accelerated Commercial Real Estate and a member of a private CEO advisory board, Mr. Elder maintains a robust network of professionals contributing to the ongoing success and growth of DJE.   In this episode, we talked to Devin about challenges in the transition to multifamily investing from single-family, how his portfolio looks like today, his approach on focus, and what to focus, the DJE income fund, and much more.   Announcement: You can join the Apartment Investing Mastermind here.   Multifamily Investment;   02:34 Devin's background; 04:43 Challenges in the transition to multifamily investing; 15:18 How Devin's portfolio looks like today; 28:22 His approach on what to focus; 30:26 The DJE income fund; 34:28 Round of insights   Announcement: Don't miss the Best Ever Conference this year on April 10th to 12th. Use my code CASMON15 for 15% off!   Round of Insights   Apparent Failure: Losing his job before his entrepreneurship endeavors. Digital Resource: AppFolio Most Recommended Book: Who Not How Daily Habit: Waking up early and working out. #1 Insight for multifamily investing: Never stop educating yourself. Best Place to Grab a Bite in San Antonio, TX: Pinkerton's Barbecue.   Contact Devin: https://djetexas.com/  Make sure you listen to the previous episode Devin joined "Ep. 226: Creating an Integrated Multifamily Business with Devin Elder".   Thank you for joining us for another great episode! If you're enjoying the show, please LEAVE A RATING OR REVIEW,  and be sure to hit that subscribe button so you do not miss an episode.

How is the digital transformation landscape evolving, and what role does generative AI play in reshaping industries and business practices? In today's episode of Tech Talks Daily Podcast, we're joined by Jeff DeVerter, Chief Technology Officer at Rackspace Technology, to explore the dynamic journey of digital transformation and the pivotal moments that are setting new benchmarks in the tech world.  Rackspace Technology is celebrated for its innovative approach to cloud services. Gartner's Magic Quadrant recognizes it as a leader and is at the forefront of empowering businesses through every phase of their digital transformation journey. Digital transformation is more than a buzzword; it's a continuous process of change and adaptation. Jeff sheds light on how Rackspace Technology is navigating this landscape, emphasizing the importance of managing apps, data, security, and multiple clouds to reach the cloud and innovate and maximize IT investments. As we delve into the conversation, we'll uncover the key takeaways from the generative AI boom, including its role in infrastructure modernization, empowering industries like healthcare and government, and the importance of a curiosity-driven, continuous learning mindset for thriving in an AI-augmented future. Jeff also addresses the critical balance between leveraging AI to empower employees and the steps toward automation, underscoring the importance of responsible AI principles that are symbiotic, secure, and sustainable. From exploring AI's impact on social good initiatives to reimagining traditional business roles and enhancing efficiency across sectors, this episode is a deep dive into how companies can navigate the challenges and opportunities presented by AI and digital transformation. As we explore these topics, we'll touch on the real-world implications of data privacy, regulation, and the essential governance and security controls necessary for responsible AI deployment. Jeff's insights provide a roadmap for businesses looking to leverage AI as a tool for innovation and a catalyst for meaningful change and growth. In a world where the promise of tomorrow is shaped by the technological decisions of today, how can businesses ensure they're not just keeping pace but setting the pace? Join us as we explore these questions and more, and don't forget to share your thoughts on how digital transformation and AI are reshaping the landscape of your industry.