Conversations with Dez

I caught up with Manoj Nair, General Manager, Metallic, to talk about his role at Metallic, what a day in the life of the GM of Metallic entails, and some of the latest trends and insights from the great work he and his team at Metallic are doing with partners and customers in the world of software-as-a-service (SaaS) data protection and more. In this wonderful conversation, Manoj introduces us to the Commvault / Microsoft Expanded Partnership and walks us through the details of the announcement and how it plays into the powerful combination of metallic & azure storage. In particular we discussed the exciting announcement of a Commvault And Microsoft partnership to deliver new partner opportunities With Metallic SaaS plus Microsoft Azure, to deliver ultimate scale and trusted security with simple SaaS management As an avid foodie with a Master of Computer Science degree from Clemson University, Manoj knows you need more than a recipe for success; it requires vision, creativity, experience working the line, and an unstoppable drive to succeed. With an appetite and passion for creating cloud solutions, he and our nimbly driven Metallic team are focused on accelerating the innovation and growth of Commvault’s Software as a Service (SaaS) business. The former CEO and Co-Founder of HyperGrid, Manoj has served up cloud and security offerings for HPE, EMC, VMware and RSA, and holds more than 12 information management and security patents. Manoj shares a number of highlights around the journey Metallic has enjoyed since it was was established as a Commvault venture to bring next-generation software-as-a-service (SaaS) data protection to the market, delivering Commvault’s powerful core technology simply through the cloud. He also shares insights into the strengths Metallic offers and how together with its partners, Metallic offers a growing portfolio of SaaS backup and recovery solutions to help today’s companies keep their data protected, compliant and safe from deletion, corruption and attack. Tune in now for all of these amazing topics and more. This podcast was made in partnership with Commvault. For more information please visit: Commvault/Microsoft partnership announcement: https://bit.ly/commvault-microsoft-partnership Metallic website: https://bit.ly/metallic-website Microsoft Office 365 backup: https://bit.ly/metallic-office-365-backup-and-recovery Metallic offering via Azure Marketplace: https://bit.ly/metallic-on-azure-marketplace #sponsored #commvaultinfluencer .

I caught up with Dr. Emma Fauss, co-founder & CEO of Medical Informatics Corp. (MIC), to talk about her her role at MIC, their business and it's relationship with Intel, and the amazing work both MIC and Intel have done in response to the COVID19 global pandemic to help hospitals cope with challenges related to the pandemic which most have never had to deal with till now. Emma Fauss is an engineer, researcher and entrepreneur - she is the co-founder and CEO of Medical Informatics Corp. and a Rice Alliance and DFJ Mercury Venture Fellow. She completed a BE degree in Chemical Engineering from The Cooper Union, her PhD from the University of Virginia in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and her MBA from Rice University with a concentration in healthcare. Emma also consults with early-stage entrepreneurs within the Texas Medical Center, as well as Rice University on business strategies and, as an advisor with the MIT Enterprise Forum, consults on biotechnology, nanotechnology, and risk assessment. Our conversation kicks off with some personal background and the journey which lead up to Emma co-founding MIC with her colleague Dr.Craig Rusin in 2010 and the decade since, as well as a peek into what a day in the life of Emma Fauss looks like today, the amazing journey by which Intel came into the picture and became your partner and lessons learned along the way. We also discuss how something as simple as a series of phone calls by Intel’s Bryce Olson to hospitals asking, “What do you need” led to the Intel/MIC collaboration to put your technology into hospitals in record time and completely transform the Intensive Care Unit environment such that it is now literally saving lives. Emma shares insights into what it took for MIC and Intel to put together and run their world leading initiative called “Scale to Serve”, a programme designed to leverage the combined strengths of MIC and Intel to rapidly deploy remote ICUs to 100 US Hospitals using MIC’s Sickbay™ platform. The MIC Sickbay platform is designed to help hospitals rapidly expand intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity and create more efficient care of the most critical patients while also reducing risk of COVID-19 exposure for critical care providers who are at a higher risk of exposure due to the nature of their work. Tune in now for all of these amazing topics and more. This podcast was made in partnership with Intel. For more information please visit: - Medical Informatics Corp: https://bit.ly/michealthcarewebsite - Behind the Frontlines: Helping Protect Our Medical Heroes: https://bit.ly/intel-covid-19-response-mic-article #sponsored #intelinfluencer .

I recently caught up with Chip Mason (Lead, Mainframe Security Product Management) & Mary Ann Furno (Offering Manager, Mainframe Security) from the Mainframe Division of Broadcom, to talk about the latest news, trends, insights and solutions around Mainframe Security, Education, and the drive to deliver more agile and integrated DevOps and Continuous Development / Continuous Integration (CI/CD) solutions. We kicked off with why and how to build adaptable, modern security to fit into an ever-changing world, to meet the increasingly complex, hybrid IT infrastructure demands an adaptable, enterprise-wide security strategy. In particular around where digital transformation integrates business operations across the enterprise, and why integration requires a more complex, hybrid IT structure and leverages all platforms in the infrastructure. We delve into how complex IT opens new threat vectors and requires a security strategy that is adaptable but not chaotic, and that today’s risks are driven by the latest technologies – i.e. how to modernise security to match, specifically how transformation of various forms has created a connected mainframe driving new threat vectors that need a modern security approach and tools. Chip and Mary Anne share key insights around the challenge of tracking what are privileged users doing and how to answer questions like “Have I identified all of the PII?” and “What insider threats exist?”, and the challenge of reevaluating and modernising mainframe security can deliver a savings in time and a reduction in risk. Also discussed is the top of how building skills and automation help make your security more strategic, efficient, and deliver greater business value, in particular around the issues related to automating routine, simple tasks enables security staff to focus on higher-value activities, and how shifting away from security “firefighting” affords time to implement capabilities that mitigate larger security risks. Another mission critical topic discussed is that cybersecurity automation, and how it helps organisations address the shortage of skilled security workers and supports less-experienced staff with best practices, and that modernising security across all systems minimises risk and simplifies audit and compliance, and that skills are a critical factor in eliminating risk and ensuring compliance We also talk about where Broadcom invests in customer success and helps organisations up-skill, to develop & build skills based on the experience and mentorship of others to deliver the ultimate in training, and build skills and experience simultaneously with the Broadcom Mainframe Vitality Program. And we delve into what Broadcom’s portfolio offers and what the team from the Broadcom Mainframe devision can do to help ensure the issues above are addressed and that your security strategy is competitive and strong - specifically around the challenge to reduce risk with a comprehensive modern mainframe strategy, while securing the world’s most securable platform involves more than simply setting a few IDs, and how organisation can advance their mainframe protection with modern security capabilities built for all three ESMs – ACF2, Top Secret, and RACF, and conduct an automated mainframe security health check. Tune in now for all of these amazing topics and more. This podcast was made in partnership with the Mainframe division of Broadcom. For more information please visit: - http://j.mp/BroadcomMainframe For a free MRI Security Essentials assessment today visit: - https://bit.ly/broadcommritrial .

I recently caught up with Erin Rohlfs, a Industry Solutions Architect for Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality for AT&T Business at the 2020 National Retail Federation (NRF ) "BIG Show" on Manhattan island in New York City, New York, in the USA, to get the latest news and updates, trends and insights around Retail, Resturant and Hospitality markets and industry segments, and what AT&T Business has on show at NRF 2020 in NYC. In this conversation Erin and I discuss: + Product Availability and the impact of technologies such as IoT, Mixed Reality, i.e. AR/VR & Digital Experience + Shopper Convenience and the the role things like Efficiency, Convenience, Lifestyle & Service play + Immersive Marketing including Digital Signage & Proximity Marketing and how these are changing the face of Retail + Customer Insights and where new and emerging technologies such as 5G, Analytics, Customer Sentiment, and Data Driven Decisions are having Erin shared her views and experience around the increasing challenge for the Retail industry to leverage AI, ML & Sentiment Analysis for Data Driven Decisions? In particular Actionable Data, for example, Product Availability & Flexible Fulfilment play in Shopper Convenience. A fun coinage we cover included that of “Retail-tailment” ( retail entertainment !! ) and what it is, where it is being leveraged and who is taking advantage of what it can offer customers. Erin also shares key thoughts around the challenge of levering the benefits of new and emerging disruptive technologies AT&T Business are rolling out, such as 5G, IoT and Realtime Sensors to the Retail industry, and how Data underpins all of this, should the Retail industry best mitigate today’s challenging cybersecurity risks. Tune in now for this amazing conversation and insights. Tune in now for all of these amazing topics and more. This podcast was made in partnership with AT&T Business. For more information please visit: - AT&T Business homepage: http://j.mp/attbusiness - AT&T Business retail solutions: http://j.mp/attbusinessretail - AT&T Business hospitality solutions: https://bit.ly/attbusinsshospitality #sponsored #attinfluencer .

I caught up with Val Bercovici, Founder & CEO at Chainkit, a Software-as-a-Service company that builds cyber security solutions, with a corporate mission to eliminate blind spots in cyber security and data privacy. In this show we discuss the every present and increasingly mission critical topics of Cybersecurity, Cyber war, and the over arching theme of Cyber crime in today's increasingly digital and "always on" / "always connected" modern world, with the added challenge of a global population challenged with living through a global pandemic in the corm of the COVID19 novel derivative of coronavirus. We kick off with a fun introduction to Val and his early life and inspirations, through to his academic and career path which lead him to this amazing challenge to build and run a business which aims to help solve what for want of a better description is ( as we discuss on this show ) a "digital World War 3". Val also gives us great insights as to why the war against Cyber Crime and Cyber Security requires thinking akin to Playing Chess with a strategic approach rather than playing Checkers in reaction mode. We also discuss the emergence of what are in effect now Military-Grade Cyber Weapons being used more often than not by "state actors" as well as highly organised professional cyber criminals and cyber crime organisations - hacking is a well oiled business now, it's no longer the realm of "script kiddies" and bulletin board modem dialup phreakers. Val shares his thoughts around why we’re seeing unprecedented growth in Cyber Attack headlines over the past few years, and in particular what’s changed to bring this about. In keeping with the great Chess vs Checkers analogy, Val also covers why he and his team recommends CxO's need to thin like a Cyber General, that is Play chess, anticipate adversarial counter-measures (i.e. to address the reportedly now %39 undetected attacks) to prepare / react. I also ask Val for his thoughts on where we are head and his recommendations regarding "next Steps", in particular around the likes of Audit Trails, why they are the lifeblood of any modern Cyber Defence strategy & solution, knowing that still today, most organisations unfortunately only have event logs to fall back on. And we wrap up with Val's "over the horizon" views on what's coming over the next 12 to 18 months, what big topics organisations need to be discussing today in board rooms, what actionable takeaways they can immediately consider putting in place, as Val's view is: "The Future is already here, but unevenly distributed. We saw this with income gaps pre-COVID19 and now with business growth OR failure in the coronavirus era. InfoSec maturity will play out the same way. Companies that don’t evolve their InfoSec rapidly to the reality of COVID and associated Cyber Risk, simply won’t survive (due to Ransomware + Cyber Insurance financial pressures)." Val's very much of the view that these are national economic and international security priorities right now, which will foster public-private sector partnerships for the likes of: 1. Increased national Cyber Warfare (defensive & offensive) investment & transparency 2. New government cyber policy/regulation (that transparency part) and 3. More direct law enforcement coordination with the business sector and their insurers. Tune in now for all of these amazing topics and more, and enjoy a great fireside chat with one of the most innovative thinkers in the world of cyber security, and indeed on of the leading forces in thought leadership in the war against cyber crime. This podcast was made in partnership with Chainkit. For more information please visit: - Chainkit website: https://bit.ly/chainkit-homepage - Chainkit on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/chainkit-linkedin - Chainkit on Twitter: https://bit.ly/chainkit-twitter - Chainkit on YouTube: https://bit.ly/chainkit-youtube #sponsored #chainkitinfluencer .

I caught up with Lisa Spelman, Vice President and General Manager of Intel Xeon Products and Data Centre Marketing at Intel Corp. to talk about her her role at Intel, current trends and the latest product announcements from Intel. Lisa is corporate vice president in the Data Platforms Group and general manager of the Xeon and Memory Group at Intel Corporation. She leads the end-to-end product planning, management, support, marketing and roadmap ownership of Intel® Xeon® processors. She also leads those same functions and the engineering for Intel® Optane™ Persistent Memory. Additionally, her organisation’s responsibilities span strategy and technology across our Xeon platforms. In this show we talk about: - Updates from Intel’s response and investments related to COVID-19 - Intel’s latest news from the Data Platform Group - Accelerating Analytics, the journey from the Core to Cloud and the Edge - Solutions, Software & Customer insights - And what’s look into AI and Analytics in the next decade We talk about Intel’s response to this global pandemic outside the business, from financial contributions to community projects, staff lead initiatives, through to opening up your portfolio of intellectual property to researchers in the battle against COVID-19. We discuss a range of the data-centric infrastructure and the investments Intel is making to help customers overcome the fundamental challenge and opportunity that data represents, and why is it important for enterprises to think about their data strategies from cloud to the edge. Lisa introduces us to Intel’s newly announced 3rd Generation Xeon Scalable processors, and how it has benefitted from a pedigree spanning a couple of decades as well as leading the market, and how Intel is building on-chip features we’ve historically had to add to server platforms to enable AI functionality, in particular Machine Learning. We also delve into how Intel’s 3rd Generation Xeon Scalable have been tailored to address today’s demanding analytics and AI workloads, and how Intel has fortified their 3rd Generation Xeon Scalable processor instruction set to fundamentally accelerate AI workloads. Also discussed is how the AI market requires many different solutions, and that FPGAs are another ingredient which makes sense depending on where you are on your AI journey, for those who ready to accelerate their workloads, but require flexibility to adapt to changing models, FPGAs are an excellent choice. We discuss a number of key trends and topics around Edge Computing, and why the edge is demanding more and more compute closer to where data is being created and consumed, driving a new wave of multifunction, compute hungry devices. Some key points included challenges to: - Reduce application latency - Improve quality of experience - Optimise total cost of ownership - Comply with data locality requirements Lisa also speaks about how their strategy is to enable the broadest ecosystem in the industry by giving developers a wide variety of tools, languages and frameworks on which to build, for the likes of both open source programs like Linux and Apache Spark, ISV-delivered software like Oracle or SAP, and direct customer enabling as they do with cloud providers like Microsoft or Alibaba - for example Intel has thousands of engineers working across the ecosystem to equip, train and enable developers to optimise solutions on our hardware. We close with me asking Lisa what do she thinks is coming over the horizon for AI & Analytics over the next decade and what should key business and technology decision makes be talking about now to prepare for tomorrow? Tune in now for all of these amazing topics and more. This podcast was made in partnership with Intel. For more information please visit: - Intel Atom® P processors: https://intel.ly/3aNHDqS - Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors: https://intel.ly/2wNTV3Q - 5G Technology Overview: https://intel.ly/39NfMHb #sponsored #intelinfluencer .

I had the pleasure of catching up with both Zee Hussain, Senior Vice President of Global Business, across Finance, Healthcare, Sports & Entertainment and Industry Solutions at AT&T Business and Patrick Hale Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer at VITAS Healthcare, to talk about the launch of the AT&T and VITAS Healthcare Virtual Reality Study for Hospice Patients. Zee is responsible for leading the enterprise sales teams focused on bringing AT&T products, services and industry specific sales plays to customers in Finance and Healthcare, and in all other industries headquartered in the eastern U.S. Patrick oversees all aspects of large-scale IT operations for Vitas Healthcare, and has over two decades of experience spanning multiple business verticals, including healthcare, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, financial services, retail and government. AT&T and VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, have launched a study that intends to combine 5G with virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) to test if it can help reduce chronic pain and anxiety for certain hospice patients. The study aims to assess a potential alternative therapy that is easier for caregivers to implement at a time and place that makes the patient most comfortable during this most difficult time. In this conversation we start with Zee let’s start with Zee Hussain giving us an update on how new & emerging technologies like 5G are opening up across the likes of the Financial Services Industry ( FSI ), Sports & Entertainment. We also discuss key topics around how specifically at Healthcare, and where are the biggest Digital & Mobile Transformation opportunities right now within the Healthcare industry. Patrick Hale also provides us, from his point of view as a CIO, what impact technology has had within VITAS over the last 5 years, in particular with patience experience. We're treated to some great insights from Zee around what lead to the opportunity for this collaboration, and what the actual VR Trial, it’s business & technical aims / goals etc were from the outset. Also shared, by Patric, is how the collaboration with AT&T Business came about - i.e. were VITAS already looking into VR technology prior to this collaboration with AT&T, what brought this 'match made in Heaven' about?". With his very unique position in that he literally live with his finger on the pulse every day around this space, Zee shares his views on where he sees the future of Digital Health evolving from a Service Providers point of view. I also ask Patrick what he sees as the larger potential for 5G at VITAS or in healthcare in general - for example how 5G will change the way clinicians treat patients - and does he envision 5G enabling a more mobile workforce. We wrap up with medium to long term views from my guests, regarding their views on upcoming trends, challenges, opportunities, key topics organisations should be talking about now from their Board rooms at strategy level all they way down to day to day operations, key things businesses should be actioning now, i.e. “orgs should be gearing up to have a 5G Strategy in place and be running PoC’s in 2020 and much more.

I had the pleasure of catching up once again with Stuart McIrvine, Director, Product Management for Mainframe Security and Compliance; Mainframe Database Tools at Broadcom. This is Stuart’s second guest appearance on the show. I also had the pleasure of catching up with Stuart recently in Pittsburg at the SHARE Mainframe user group event in America. If you have’t seen that interview please do tune in & check it out after you’ve listened to this podcast at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL6j92qLcpM In his role as Director, Product Management for Mainframe Security and Compliance; Mainframe Database Tools at Broadcom, Stuart is responsible for leading the offering teams managing Security and Compliance as well as Database Tools; developing and leading strategy to ensure products meet customers’ needs and have competitive edge in the marketplace. In this show, we discuss the latest news & updates from his team and the Broadcom Mainframes division - in particular mainframe security, and what security entails in a modern world living with an incredible lack of predictability as well as what Broadcom is doing to ensure an airtight security experience for their customers. Key highlights in this show include: - Current events/Secure Access Cloud Offering and how Broadcom Mainframe products ensure the security and monitoring of your mainframe - Broadcom’s Symantec division and their free offer for a period of time, of their secure access cloud offering, which allows customers to come into the Symantec cloud service to ensure proper access to their network and mainframe; which is helpful when people are working from home esp. so a VPN doesn’t get overwhelmed - Why Symantec’s secure access cloud is one of the most secure solutions, how it can be used to tightly control it gives users / staff access to with it’s application specific features, more so that than standard basic VPN offerings - Broadcom mainframe components which tightly align with Secure Access Cloud to augment mainframe security such as CA AAM, CA TAMz and CA CEM, when combined can ensure that mainframe access is secure, properly monitored, and not overly elevated - The ever present need for security cycle and how mainframe should be part of every enterprise strategy and the importance of ensuring that your mainframes are as well protected as your distributed systems - The need to deliver proper access, ensure privileged users are managed, critical data is ID’d, unusual events are managed appropriately, and automation is used to aid routine, albeit important, tasks - Broadcom’s Mainframe Security Centre (which is about understanding how mainframe network security is configured) We also discuss why the mainframe is under a new types of pressure due to new and emerging technologies and business trends such as 5G, IoT, more mobile working, changes in the profile of what Security means today in context of 2020, both current state of the world given we’re currently dealing with life under a global pandemic with #COVID19, compounded by the fact that everyone effectively has a Star Trek “Tri-corder” in their hands that runs our lives – email / buying”. And Stuart closes out the show by sharing his medium to long term views on key upcoming trends, challenges, opportunities, topics organisations should be talking about now, actioning, i.e. “orgs should be gearing up to have a 5G Strategy in place and be running PoC’s in 2020. There is so much in this show for both Mainframe and Business decisoin makers we know you’re going to get a great deal from this conversation as well as key takeaways you can action right now. For more information on the Broadcom Mainframe offering please visit: https://www.ca.com/us/why-ca/mainframe.html .

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Janet Giesen, Vice President of Operations and Programs for Metallic, a Commvault venture, to talk about SaaS Data Protection and considerations for remote workers. This conversation begins with a quick 30,000 foot point of view introduction to Metallic, what it is, where it fits with data protection & what drove the decision for Commvault to develop & launch Metallic. Also covered are the three key market focused offerings Metallic was launched with, and insights into why those three initial service offerings in particular, which included: 1 - Metallic Office 365 Backup & Recovery, to protect SaaS office automation tools & data 2 - Metallic Core Backup & Recovery, focused on Virtual Machines & their data 3 - Metallic Endpoint Backup & Recovery, focused on laptop & desktop backups Janet outlines their strategy regarding the global roll out, from Metallic initially being launched within the American market in the USA, and which regions will follow with great insights into the challenges of deploying any SaaS offering, esp. one where data protection is the key offering, and how data privacy, encryption etc play into this. Another key highlight from this conversation is a walk through what the first six months so far has been like, since Metallic.io was first launched at the Commvault GO event in Denver in the USA late 2019, and some of the key highlights and learnings from those exciting first six months. An interesting key insight also discussed is that as with the ever important issue of Endpoint Protection, the current COVID19 global pandemic, and the huge increase in remote work and "work from home", the trend of mission critical data moving to the edge has become even more critical now that we have seen people, our human resource, literally "moving to the edge" as it were - in effect tipping the traditional Enterprise data protection model on its head. Janet talks about how she and the team at Metallic have seen the Business & IT community react to the dramatic changes brought about by the COVID19 global pandemic, and whether or not organisations were fully prepared to handle the broad challenge of remote data protection for laptops, and what organisations should they be thinking about as they continue to address this challenge, and how Metallic is supporting organisations in meeting this critical business & technology challenge. Also discussed is the topic of security, which is always front and centre in any conversation around Data Protection - Janet shares how and why this has been a key consideration from day #1 for Metallic, and how security is built into Metallic across the portfolio - from encryption, security certificates, access controls & data policies, to anomaly detection and more. Another key insight discussed is a remarkable finding that more than two thirds ( 66% )of I.T. security professionals say their company experienced one or more endpoint attacks which compromised their critical data assets or IT infrastructure in 2019. Janet shares insights into what Metallic is doing to support companies to avoid this happening to them. Janet also highlights that when Metallic was launched they offered a free trial period, and that now, as part of their response to supporting organisations through the COVID19 global pandemic, they have extended the Endpoint Protection offer, and shares details of how organisations can now take up this amazing free offer. The conversation wraps up with views on what the next 12 to 18 months might look like regarding key challenges around data & endpoint protection, in particular the next big challenge we’re about to face - the transition from a global pandemic “lockdown” WFH model, back to “normal”, and what that new “normal” might look like. For more information visit => http://j.mp/metallic-io .

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Ulf Jönsson, Head of NFVI Portfolio Strategy Management at Ericsson, to talk about Network Function Virtualisation ( NFV ). In particular, what NFV is, why it is needed, where it fits in the grand scheme of the future of modern software defined infrastructure & software defined networks in the telco & carrier service provider world. Ulf Jönsson is responsible for the NFV Infrastructure solution & product portfolio strategy at Ericsson. He has had several leadership positions in Ericsson with business and strategic product management responsibility in areas such as NFV infrastructure, Telco Cloud, SDN, and IP & Broadband. He is currently driving the next generation Cloud Native infrastructure optimized for 5G telecom applications and Edge computing. Ulf holds a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Ulf shares insights into what the most important topics he and his team are discussing with customers currently and what their key concerns are at the moment. Also discussed is the broad topic of Edge computing, and why Edge has become a term we have become familiar with, why edge computing is needed, and Ulf elaborates on the relation it has with NFVI. Ulf also shares insights as to how much interest they are seeing from Communication Service Provider customers currently to discuss NFVI in an edge context. He also gives us an introduction to Ericsson's new Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution which is based on a bare metal architecture - a very exciting new initiative to gain maximum performance from compute infrastructure at the edge. We also discuss various key benefits CSPs can expect to see from deploying Ericsson's new Cloud Native Infrastructure Solution at the edge. Ulf also offers his views of what is ahead of us, as we look forward 12 to 18 months, and where he thinks we will be by then with cloud native, bare metal and so on, and much much more..

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with with Nic Charrington, founder & creator of Bio Blast, a fundraising mobile phone game app, created in the record time of just two weeks, as a fund raising effort to raise much needed funding for the National Health Service coping with the COVID19 global pandemic. Nick is an entrepreneur from Bristol, what some might call a serial entrepreneur which in startup circles is a badge of honour earned by those go “get stuff done” - in response to COVID19, Nic created a novel approach to the COVID19 novel Coronavirus! I came to know about him and his latest project Bio Blast through social media myself, and instantly felt compelled to get onboard and support Nic and the Bio Blast project. As soon as he learned about the project Dez instantly tweeted about it to help promote it, and almost immediately Nic commented saying "Hi Dez thanks for the tweet. I am the founder, would love to speak to you more about it if you have a min ;-)" After a quick call the plan was to schedule a recording session the very next day to get Nic on the show as time is of the essence with this project so we wanted to get the show on air as quickly as possible. Through this wonderful conversation Nic introduces us to Bio Blast the game, what lead him to decide to design & develop the game, the journey and key steps or the process from the initial idea to launching it on app stores, from screen designs, level layouts, to finding a developer on UpWork, the exciting two weeks from ideation to a working Minimum Viable Product, to getting it through the Apple & Google app store review process and approved and published for download. Nic also shares details on how to get involved and what’s ahead from here, how can individuals, the media, organisations etc. can get involved and where do you want to see it go from here. He also shares his thoughts around what the next few months might hold, as the world eases out of the COVID19 global pandemic, and in particular how the future of fundraising with Bio Blast might play out ( pun intended ). Nic is such a charming individual and an inspiring fellow, a bona fide change agent, and there is no doubt he is well on his way to do great things and we look forward to watching his success in the near term with the awesome Bio Blast project, his Photography startup, and what will surely be many more amazing projects. Please get involved right now, grab your phone, download the game from http://BioBlast.me and get involved! All support through playing the game, sharing it on social media, posting your high score screen shots, tag 3x friends and challenge them to download Bio Blast and try to beat your best high score by posting the screen shot and high score on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn for Facebook etc and @tag a few friends and give them an Ice Bucket style "challenge" to "beat my high score". Any media support or enquiries would be welcomed by Nic to help share this amazing story, and get the message out - every single download and player helps raise much needed funding for social good. Nic can be contacted via the project's website at: http://BioBlast.me Nic Charrington can also be reached via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nic-charrington-61230a142/ .

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

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Anne Chow, Chief Executive Officer at AT&T Business, to talk about AT&T's response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, both with their own challenges throughout AT&T and AT&T Business, as well as their customers and challenges being faced by their customers organisations. This amazing discussion covers the broad range of challenges organisations of all sizes are faced with throughout the COVID19 pandemic, from core Business Continuity ( BCP ) to Disaster Recovery ( DR ), to supporting their staff, their own organisations from the core need "keep the lights on" to continuing to operating and support their own customers as well. Also covered are the depth and breadth of the challenges AT&T Business and their partners, resellers & integrators, and in turn their end line customers face, from fundamental core mission critical network services such as Fixed-line, Wide Area Networking, Mobile, Broadband and Virtual Private Networks, through to Security services, Cybersecurity, Data Protection, Capacity, to in-field Emergency Services & First Responders and the world leading AT&T "FirstNet" initiative. We also delve into the issues individuals and families face while dealing with their own challenges to make the shift to Work From Home, challenges faced by the Education Industry while schools are in shutdown mode and students need to pivot to a learn from home model, as well as the challenges faced by families with young children now dealing with the need to juggle of Work From Home whilst also managing young children at home due to Child Care centres being shut down. For key insights and advice from Anne Chow, tune in and hear what the CEO of AT&T Business has to share, from her personal challenge of making the transition to work from home, to the 24x7 challenges of leading a global team and business, to working with her peers across AT&T Business to CEO's to CIO's / CTO's et al throughout their global customer base, at what can only be described as one of the most unique moments in time in human history. For more information on AT&T Business and their products & services please visit: http://j.mp/attbusiness

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

Dez Blanchfield gets up close & personal with Mo Katibeh, Chief Marketing Officer for AT&T Business, to talk about his academic & career path, his role at AT&T Business, the latest updates around AT&T's rollout and deployment of 5G, the state of 5G & the Edge, how enterprise & service providers can leverage 5G, insights into how AR / VR and Mixed Reality are being deployed in industries from Manufacturing through to Healthcare, the many direct & indirect benefits 5G is bringing throughout our lives, the broad range of key business & technology / telecommunications differentiators AT&T Business brings to the marketplace for business and organisations of all shapes and sizes. Mo also shares amazing insights, examples and anecdotes from the world of AT&T Business from full immersion sports & entertainment, to emergency services capabilities through the American FirstNet project, rebuilding an Air Force base after a hurricane, to the use of Virtual Reality to alleviate pain & distress for Healthcare patients in hospice care with virtual tours of remote locations from modern day Paris to the 15th century Inca citadel Machu Picchu - tune in for all of this and much much more, and for more information on AT&T Business and their products & services visit http://j.mp/attbusiness