Stephen Foskett

Stephen Foskett

About the Author:

Stephen Foskett is an active participant in the world of enterprise information technology, currently focusing on enterprise storage, server virtualization, networking, and cloud computing. He organizes the popular Tech Field Day event series for Gestalt IT and runs Foskett Services. A long-time voice in the storage industry, Stephen has authored numerous articles for industry publications, and is a popular presenter at industry events. He can be found online at TechFieldDay.com, blog.FoskettS.net, and on Twitter at @SFoskett.

Articles by Stephen Foskett

Cloud Field Day 18: After-Action Perspective From the Delegates

October 26, 2023

Cloud Field Day 18 brought together a great delegate panel, and many of these joined Nathan Bennett for an “after-action report” immediately following the event. This panel included Field Day delegates Nathan Bennett, Eric Wright, John Hildebrand, Chris Hildebrandt, and Ken Nalbone. Later, Matyáš Prokop, also a Field Day delegate, and event organizer Stephen Foskett joined in. Check out the full video, and read on for a summary!

ISS Cleveland and the Current Market | Gestalt IT Rundown: October 25, 2023

October 25, 2023

We are at the 21st annual Information Security Summit in Cleveland today, and it’s been an interesting event for us. Not only is this close to home in Northeast Ohio, the long-running ISS event attracts a wide range of attendees and presenters across the information security space. Ransomware and AI are high on the agenda of course, but we’re also hearing about budgets and employment in the industry.

Mind the Gap Between Hyperscale and Enterprise IT

October 17, 2023

Hyperscale-inspired technology is everywhere in enterprise IT, from Kubernetes to S3 to OCP, but these technologies may not be applicable. This episode of On-Premise IT features Cloud Field Day 18 delegates Allyson Klein, Eric Wright, and Nathan Bennett discussing the cloud gap with Stephen Foskett. Looking at AI, we see a very different deployment model in hyperscale cloud as opposed to enterprise cloud, with this gap in technology, implementation, and talent widening. One impact of the needs of hyperscalers is an increased focus on sustainability, specifically energy consumption. We should also consider how the hyperscale use case distorts the development of technology, which is obvious in CXL, GPUs, and networking technologies. Looking at Cloud Field Day, we see that many of these companies are attempting to bridge this gap, connecting hyperscale cloud technology to the enterprise. This is what makes the event so interesting!

Automation, Analytics, and More at Cloud Field Day 18

October 12, 2023

Cloud Field Day is broadcast live on LinkedIn and on the Tech Field Day website starting at 8AM Pacific on Wednesday the 18th and Thursday the 19th, with more presentations throughout the day. All of our sessions will be recorded and posted to YouTube in case you miss anything. We’ll start with Juniper Networks on Wednesday at 8AM and it’s all about automation and analytics. We’ll talk about HashiCorp Terraform and AI clusters with Apstra as Juniper helps customers to become data center analytics superheroes. Then we’ll have a special introductory session with a brand new company in the telemetry and log analytics space, Mezmo. Prosimo presents after lunch following on their well-received sessions the previous two years. They’re enabling developer friendly self-service cloud network infrastructure connecting just about anything out there. We’ll wrap up the day with AMD who gave us a lot to think about last month during the Tech Field Day presentations at VMware Explore. Thursday starts with VMware at 8AM. They’re presenting Day Zero through Day 2 Solutions with VMware Arya Transformer, Arya Operations for Networks, and Tanzu. Then we’ll have WEKA at 11AM presenting their amazing data platform that is powering the AI revolution. Fortinet presents at 2PM automating threat response in the cloud to inform the application development process. If you’re worried about application security, you can’t miss this session. You can also catch the Tech Field Day delegates on a special episode of the On-Premise IT podcast on Tuesday and we’ll have more behind the scenes Shorts, Tech Talks, and extras recorded live from Silicon Valley.

Meet W. Curtis Preston, aka Mr. Backup

October 6, 2023

Presenting W. Curtis Preston, known to many as Mr. Backup. Preston is the host and creator of The Backup Wrap-Up Podcast, that discusses all things backup. Preston, who started his career three decades ago as a backup administrator, has built an illustrious career in enterprise tech. Now author of 4 books and scores of articles, Curtis is deemed as something of a savant in the tech community. Designing backup solutions since 1993, Preston’s command on the subject is rivalled only by his depth of knowledge in data protection. Preston does not shy away from identifying as an advocate of old-fashioned backup. With ransomware attacks on the up and up, enterprises need more than ever to back up their data in a safe location, he says. In this fireside chat with Stephen Foskett, Preston recounts his early experiences as a backup guy, and debates the importance of backup in the current context. He also touches on content marketing, the varying reach of blogs and podcasts, and the merits of free distribution of information on the Internet. Thank you for joining us for this conversation, and for being a long-time member of the community.

Edge Innovation is Coming from All Directions

October 3, 2023

As we’ve discussed all season on Utilizing Edge, innovation is coming from all directions, including hardware, software, and applications. This special crossover episode of the On-Premise IT and Utilizing Tech podcasts features Edge Field Day delegates Brian Knudtson, Ned Bellavance, and Jody Lemoine discussing their perspectives about edge innovation with Stephen Foskett. The primary drivers at the edge are integration, efficiency, and connectivity, as well as the unique needs of the applications there. Starting with hardware, customers are headed in two directions, with more enterprise availability features deployed in some locations and less-capable hardware in others, both in terms of compute and networking. At the software level, most edge infrastructure is hyper-converged, meaning that multiple layers of the stack are integrated in software and managed as one. Although intended as an application platform, Kubernetes is being deployed as a packaging abstraction and distribution solution at the edge.

Edge Innovation is Coming from All Directions | Utilizing Tech 05×22

October 2, 2023

As we’ve discussed all season on Utilizing Edge, innovation is coming from all directions, including hardware, software, and applications. This special crossover episode of the On-Premise IT and Utilizing Tech podcasts features Edge Field Day delegates Brian Knudtson, Ned Bellavance, and Jody Lemoine discussing their perspectives about edge innovation with Stephen Foskett. The primary drivers at the edge are integration, efficiency, and connectivity, as well as the unique needs of the applications there. Starting with hardware, customers are headed in two directions, with more enterprise availability features deployed in some locations and less-capable hardware in others, both in terms of compute and networking. At the software level, most edge infrastructure is hyper-converged, meaning that multiple layers of the stack are integrated in software and managed as one. Although intended as an application platform, Kubernetes is being deployed as a packaging abstraction and distribution solution at the edge.

Meet Mikael Korsgaard Jensen, Technology Specialists Team Lead at Kamstrup

September 29, 2023

In this Meet the Delegate interview, Stephen Foskett sits down with Mikael Jensen, the Technology Specialists Team Lead at Kamstrup in Denmark, who has a broad IT background spanning 25 years specializing in virtualization and disaster recovery. Mikael discusses the convergence of storage and security technologies and the growing role of AI, particularly in security and data backup. He also delves into his nerdy hobbies, including 3D printing and Viking reenactments. He also emphasizes the importance of community support in the tech industry and the power of networking and knowledge sharing. Thank you Mikael for sitting down for this Meet the Delegate interview.

The Present and Future of Edge at Edge Field Day 2

September 28, 2023

Our next Edge Field Day event is fast approaching, streaming live October 4th and 5th on LinkedIn and the Tech Field Day website with presentations from StorMagic and HPE, NodeWeaver, Solidigm, and Delegate Roundtable Discussions.

Cisco Set to Acquire Splunk | Gestalt IT Rundown: September 27, 2023

September 27, 2023

Well, it finally happened folks, and I guess the third time is the charm. If rumors are to be believed, Cisco had approached Splunk on two separate occasion to talk about acquisition, but their offers were rebuffed for unknown reasons. This time it appears that all the planets and comets have aligned and Splunk has entered into a definitive agreement with Cisco to be acquired for $28B.

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