Wednesday, December 25, 2019

2019 in Review & 2020 Predictions

SHOW: 430

DESCRIPTION: Aaron and Brian discuss the biggest trends of 2019, and make bold cloud computing predictions for 2020. 

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PODCAST BUSINESS: 

  • Why are Aaron and Brian both on the show recently?
  • Krispy Kreme Challenge (“The Donut Run”) fundraising
  • Announcing “The Cloudcast Basics” - coming in early 2020!! 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: The Cloudcast in 2019:

  • Over 1.6M+ listens, up 40% YoY
  • Guest Acquisitions: (total: 9) Cloudability (Apptio), Bromium (HPE), Docker (Mirantis), Shippable (JFrog), SignalFX (Splunk), Pivotal (VMware), NGINX (F5), ParkMyCloud (Turbonomics), Twistlock (Palo Alto) - also had 9 in 2018
  • IPO: Datadog

TRENDS and MAJOR STORIES from 2019:

2020 PREDICTIONS

Brian:

  • We’ll start talking about GitHub as one of the major cloud platforms, in the same way we do AWS, Azure and Google. 
  • We’re going to start seeing more and more vertical-centric AI/ML companies emerge, that curate data and provide insights-as-a-service. 
  • We’re going to start seeing companies that offer distributed versions of the large “monolithic” systems of today (Core Banking, ERP, etc.) that lets new companies and business models emerge.

Aaron:

  • The “trough of disillusionment” will hit Kubernetes, and it will be fine…
  • Serverless will get a new name and will hit stride
  • GitLab and HashiCorp will have breakout years

STARS WARS DISCUSSION:
For the 1st time ever, we indulge Aaron and talk a little bit of sci-fi on the

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Decade in Review & Reader Mailbag Questions

SHOW: 429

DESCRIPTION: Aaron and Brian discuss the biggest trends of the 2010s decade, and answer reader mailbag questions from 2019. 

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TRENDS FROM THE DECADE (2010-2019):

  • Hype or Not?: OpenStack, HCI, Docker, Cloud Foundry (or any PaaS), Kubernetes, Blockchain, AI/ML, Serverless
  • The re-invention of Microsoft (Azure, GitHub, Open Source, dropping failed efforts (Nokia, Windows Mobile)
  • It’s hard to believe that Google is still only 3rd or 4th in public cloud (and it’s leadership is questioning its future)
  • The rise of open-source in the Enterprise, and all the challenges this created across the industry
  • The rise of developer-lead decision-making (shadow IT, mobile apps, decentralized decision-making, serverless as NoOps)
  • Everyone still sucks at security, but now it’s a headline problem
  • 10 years of DevOps discussions and most companies still haven’t figured out that it’s org-charts and culture.
  • The shift from Config-Mgmt (Ansible, Chef, Puppet, Salt) to things like Immutable infrastructure, Declarative schedulers, GitOps, etc.)

READER MAILBAG QUESTIONS:

Question 1 - If you had to advise someone that’s 25, 35 and 45 about “career path” in IT, what tips might you give them? - Thomas T.

Question 2 - You guys see a lot of different technologies through the interviews. Which new ones do you think have longevity and which ones are potentially overhyped? - Michael C.

Question 3 - What “disruptive technology” is a more important skill to learn? - Erika B.

Question 4 - What the most misunderstood concept in IT today? Seema J.

Question 5 - Why do you think our industry is so obsessed with the idea that the new technology will completely eliminate the old technology? Has that ever really happened? - Jacob H.


Friday, December 13, 2019

Bringing DevOps to the Database with Automation

SHOW: 428

DESCRIPTION: Aaron and Brian talk with Robert Reeves (@robertreeves, Co-Founder / CTO of @Datical) about how to bring agility to databases to match the speed of cloud-native applications.

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CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:

SHOW NOTES:

  • Datical Homepage
  • Liquibase Homepage - leading open-source tool for database schema change management.

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. Before we get into a broader discussion, tell us a little bit about your background. 

Topic 2 - We talk about DevOps a lot on this show. And we talk a lot about various types of databases. But for some reason, we very rarely talk about them together. Why is that? It’s not as if the world of cloud-native applications are all stateless. 

Topic 3 - What do you see as the most common challenges that companies have with bringing databases into this world of more frequent software changes (DevOps, Agile, etc.)? 

Topic 4 - You’re involved in an open-source project called “LIquibase”, which is focused on database schema change management. How does that help database move into a more automated world? 

Topic 5 - Do you find that a lack of automation around databases is a bigger challenge from a continuous deployment perspective, or a security/patching perspective? (or both)

Topic 6 - People are very fearful of databases going down, which restricts them from making changes. How do you suggest companies getting more comfortable in making frequent changes to databases?

FEEDBACK?

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Reviewing AWS re:Invent 2019

SHOW: 427

DESCRIPTION: Brian reviews the big themes from AWS re:Invent 2019, as well as “most” of the new announcements.

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CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:

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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Building an Effective Developer Program

SHOW: 426

DESCRIPTION: Aaron and Brian talk to Mark Weitzel (@weitzlm, VP & General Manager, New Relic One at @NewRelic) about building effective developer platforms including lessons learned, best practices and trade offs to consider

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CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:

SHOW INTERVIEW LINKS:

SHOW NOTES:

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. Before we get into a broader discussion, tell us a little bit about your background. 

Topic 2 - Before we dig into the New Relic Developer Program, we wanted to get your perspective on what “developer” means these days - Is it AppDev, DevOps, Data Scientist, Business Analyst? How do you try and put personas around different “developer” needs?

Topic 3 - One of the things I find in working with businesses that are going through transformational change (via technology) is how many don’t understand that their new world (“enabling developers”) will begin to look like a technology vendor’s approach to the market (“enabling developers”). Do you find your customers begin to adopt their internal programs to look like the program that you’ve rolled out with New Relic One? 

Topic 4 - What are some of the most important/critical aspects of the program, and how do you measure its progress, its success, or its areas to improve?

Topic 5 - How did you think about balancing the need for content for newer developers (or new to the platform) vs. more expert-level developers? 

Topic 6 - How important is community to making the program a success, and helping it scale?

FEEDBACK?

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Reviewing Microsoft Ignite 2019

SHOW: 425

DESCRIPTION: Aaron and Brian take a look at the Docker acquisition and review the Microsoft Ignite show and announcements

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CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:

SHOW INTERVIEW LINKS:

SHOW NOTES:

Topic 1 - Insight and feel from the show floor and the event

Topic 2 -  Azure Arc

Topic 3 - Project Cortex

Topic 4 - Baby steps in GitHub integration

FEEDBACK?

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Azure Cloud Adoption Framework

SHOW: 424

DESCRIPTION: Aaron talks with Evelyn Padrino (@evepadrinosanta, Azure Customer Success) & Brian Blanchard (@brianblanchard, Azure Cloud Adoption Framework Team) about adopting cloud, patterns of adoption, use cases and how the Azure Adoption Framework is helping their customers.

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CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:

SHOW INTERVIEW LINKS:

SHOW NOTES:

Topic 1 - Welcome Evelyn and Brian. Let’s start at the start, can both you give a brief intro?

Topic 2 -  You both represent the Azure Cloud Adoption Framework team. What is it and how did it come about?

Topic 3 - You have a concept the really resonates with me and customers I’ve spoken too, the idea that no one’s cloud journey is the same. There is a formal blueprint to success. Define a strategy, plan the business outcomes, prepare the environment, implement the initial changes and migrations. From there we move to the operations stage that includes governance and management of operations.

Topic 4 - Is this a product? A service? A blueprint? What is the most common pain you see in your customers? Why?

Topic 5 - Do you have customer success stories and common examples/use cases you can share?

FEEDBACK?