Next in Tech
Define your digital roadmap. Weekly podcasts featuring specialists from across the S&P Global Market Intelligence research team offer deep insights into what’s new and what’s next in technology, industries and companies as they design and implement digital infrastructure. To learn more, visit: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/topics/tmt-news-insights
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Agentic Customer Experience
11/18/2025
Agentic Customer Experience
As the holiday shopping season gets into full swing, this year thoughts are turning to agents and the changing role of AI in commerce. Sheryl Kingstone returns to discuss the impacts and offer insights into strategies for putting agents to work and working in a world of agents with host Eric Hanselman. AI is spanning generations in technology adoption and engagement in ways that previous technologies have struggled. Search and digital engagement had strong splits between different generations. The natural language capabilities of chat interfaces are stepping across technology hesitancy. But it is creating challenges for businesses in reaching their customers. Search engine optimization is well understood, but how can a business ensure it’s found by AI entities? Making more information available, but being more selective about which interactions get what data is a critical balance to achieve. Bot management has become a lot more complicated. Building trust in autonomous experiences is the next big hurdle that AI technologies have to accomplish. Gen Z users are more comfortable with automated actions, but trust is still key. Building connections with brand advocates is just as important as it’s always been and now has to be delivered through AI. Internal chat can be a good start and it needs to be extended to become a more complete assistant-style interaction. It requires a significant improvement from legacy chatbots and the business it creates can make it worthwhile. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Money 20/20
11/11/2025
Money 20/20
One of the biggest banking and payments conferences, Money 20/20, has wrapped up and the enthusiasm for all things stablecoin has continued. Jordan McKee, Sampath Sharma and McKayla Wooldridge return to discuss how this is evolving with host Eric Hanselman. The cryptocurrency has become the buzzy headline in so many of the conversations at Money 20/20. But consumers are still wary of stablecoins and the larger questions is around how financial services companies will deliver valuable services using them. Unlike previous years, there were no dark clouds hovering over the payments markets. The industry is generally upbeat and starting to embrace agentic AI. Efforts are underway to standardize agent-driven commerce with the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). It’s a point of cooperation across payments companies that normally compete for share of consumer wallets. There’s still work to be done in developing governance mechanisms for agentic transactions and those efforts will also need to build consumer trust. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , , Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Open Compute Project Summit
11/04/2025
Open Compute Project Summit
The equipment that fills data centers is evolving rapidly, driven by the need to fulfill the seemingly insatiable appetite of AI applications. The Open Compute Project (OCP) was founded by Meta/Facebook to promulgate equipment standards and its annual Summit has grown from a small specialized gathering, to an event that strains the capacity of the San Jose Convention Center. Senior research analyst Perkins Liu returns to offer his take on this meteoric growth with host Eric Hanselman. AI requirements are pushing ever greater scale both logically and physically, with the width of server racks doubling in the Open Rack Wide (ORW) specification to support greater density and better serviceability. The OCP Foundation is also working on silicon interoperability and is setting specifications for chiplet integration. Liquid cooling has moved from a nice to have feature to a required capability as a means to dissipate the huge amount of energy drawn by ever denser GPU arrays. Energy delivery is changing with the advent of higher voltage DC power. The early OCP efforts on 48 volt DC are paling in the face of new 800 volts designs. The OCP Foundation is also expanding its mission to include education, with the establishment of the OCP Academy. It aims to raise workforce skills in open hardware and will offer online training in data center technologies. That underscores not only the expansion of the OCP Foundation’s mission, but also the increasing scale of the ecosystem that supports data center environments and complexity and interdependency that AI creates. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Security Gravity
10/28/2025
Security Gravity
There are many ways to frame conversations around cyber security. They can take on many aspects of security, ranging across the technical to the human. With the press towards platform consolidation, it’s critical to reconsider the interaction between the human and technical elements and research director Scott Crawford and Javvad Malik, CISO advisor at KnowBe4, join host Eric Hanselman to dig into this important interplay. It’s all too easy to fall into security practices that focus on technical requirements and don’t account for the friction that is created for the people who use them. It’s also easy to drop into a mindset that better security is just a matter of user education. Effective security requires thinking about user experience, as well as technical controls. Authentication is one of the most frequently experienced security interactions and also one where a technical focus can have the highest impact on the people using. Authentication happens often and is also a key element in securing IT environments. The push to multifactor authentication, for example, is an important step in security enforcement and can require a significant change in how people interact with the systems that support their daily lives. A wholistic approach to security can help teams move beyond the frustrating cycle of user training and shift to collaborative security implementations. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Is there an AI bubble?
10/21/2025
Is there an AI bubble?
The enthusiasm for AI has been impressive and it’s leading to the inevitable questions about whether or not all of it is warranted. Melissa Otto CFA, head of S&P Global’s Visible Alpha research team, returns to discuss concerns about an AI bubble with host Eric Hanselman. Defining what actually indicates a bubble might be the trickiest aspect of the question. Is it outsized levels of debt? Unrealistic valuations? Both debt and valuations are high, but are they unreasonably so? So much depends on seeing what AI capabilities can deliver and we’re still in the early days of understanding what ROI really is. There are still challenges in getting the domain approaches right. Doing real analytical work is more challenging and there is still more work to do in integrating with business processes. And it’s not just the technical aspects that are in play. It’s possible that macroeconomic restraints are holding back even more enthusiastic spending that could create a bubble. Current interest rates create caution in taking on additional debt. It’s also possible that rate cuts could unleash more risk taking and overextension through debt. That might be an indicator of a looming bubble. Or maybe not… More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Stablecoins
10/14/2025
Stablecoins
The world of cryptocurrencies has seen no shortage of upheaval, but regulatory clarity that has arrived with recent legislation has created opportunities. Stablecoins are an area that’s seeing renewed interest in FinTech as a means of reducing friction for global payments. Jordan McKee, Sampath Sharma and Nathan Stovall return to the podcast with host Eric Hanselman to look at how stablecoins are being put to work and how they’re being used. For applications like cross border trade and the remittances trade, stablecoins can increase speed and potentially reduce costs. They can be considered another payment rail through which to conduct business. Stablecoins are not without challenges. There are regulatory imperatives to be met, like anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC). Trust needs to be built in the market and education is needed around their potential benefits and risks. Traditional banks are getting involved, but they have additional stumbling blocks. There are technical hurdles, such as the readiness of backend systems to handle the higher precision values of stablecoins. And there are new concerns around custody risk, as handling wallets and the enhanced security required are new skills for many. The potential benefits and lucrative markets may give them enough incentive to take the plunge. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Industrial Metaverse
10/07/2025
Industrial Metaverse
Some might think that the metaverse has been a passing technology fad, but rumors of its demise are greatly exaggerated. While the language may have shifted to things like spatial computing and augmented reality, the technologies and use cases have been flourishing. Analysts Neil Barbour and Ian Hughes return to discuss recent study results and industrial metaverse progress with host Eric Hanselman. Companies are working to build a digital thread that runs through their organizations, linking the physical and virtual worlds. They’re leveraging digital twins to simulate operations and putting AI to work creating and populating the virtual environments in which they run. When gaming companies shift to building virtual large world models in partnership with defense contractors, the metaverse has clearly shifted gears. Virtual environments are being used for training as well as strategic planning. Smart phones are being integrated into retail space planning and assessment and emergency teams are playing Tetris to secure helicopter landing sites. The metaverse is alive and well and making some large steps forward. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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HR Tech
09/30/2025
HR Tech
Managing the capabilities of an organization’s workforce is challenging in the best of times, but the current upheaval created by AI technologies entering the workplace makes it all the more complex. The technologies that have put to work around this problem are many and varied and analyst Ethan Ray joins host Eric Hanselman to look at where we’ve come from and where we could be headed. There’s a rush to determine if new technologies are making workers more productive and what skills are needed to leverage them. Both a recent S&P Global study and the HR Tech conference showed some trends that could be transforming working environments. Workforce intelligence approaches are looking to build a wholistic picture of knowledge, skills and ability of employees and then do skills matching and development planning. As in other technology disciplines, a proliferation of tools has made many organizations’ efforts at workforce management complicated. It’s another place where many are considering integrated platforms that that can bring together HR, IT and financial teams to better understand the use of tools and resulting productivity. There are questions about what we can and what we should measure to truly understand efficiency and effectiveness. How can we understand what combination of skills and tools are generating the best financial outcomes? Better technology should hold the answer, but the path forward is not always clear. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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Data Migration
09/23/2025
Data Migration
Getting data to where it’s needed has always been an infrastructure challenge, but the scope and scale of the problem has become much more acute as data volumes rise and AI demands more. Research director Henry Baltazar returns to look at the latest results from the Voice of the Enterprise Data Migration study with host Eric Hanselman and reflect on how organizations are addressing the crunch in data movement. There’s been a significant increase in the number of enterprises reporting that they’ve moved to migrating petabytes of data and they’re now not only shifting to cloud, but moving between clouds, as well. They’re also enlisting the help of service providers more often, an indication that the scale of these activities requires professional support to manage risk. Data movement at this scale demands a shift in tactics and more are using physical transport, the shipping of storage media to cloud providers, to get the job done. They can’t risk the downtime needed for network transit, although network capacities are also rising. There are opportunities that cloudy environments present in managing data costs and new strategies that enterprises can put to work to lower not only costs, but risks, too. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Feranmi Adeoshun Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Kyra Smith
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AI Infrastructure
09/16/2025
AI Infrastructure
To get to the benefits that AI offers, organizations have to address their technology infrastructure in ways that are much broader than historical approaches. Senior analyst Greg Macatee joins host Eric Hanselman to delve into what’s required and what enterprises are identifying in the recent Voice of the Enterprise AI and Machine Learning study. Enterprises are struggling with raising the success levels of AI projects. Over 60% report moderate to severe challenges in achieving AI success. Bringing together the computational power and the right quality data in the right locations can be complicated in the hybrid environments that more are operating. It’s not just a matter of being more selective with use cases, AI requires a set of organizational skills that have to be honed. Starting small and iterating can reduce risk while building competency. Infrastructure has to shift in new ways, as well. Data management processes that can build the necessary data pipelines to feed AI applications bring together a broader set of tech disciplines. There are new wrinkles in AI infrastructure ecosystems, with new providers looking to address supply chain constraints, like the Neocloud or GPU as a Service (GPUaaS) providers. Even hyperscalers are looking to them to meet surging demand in a tight market. Those new options offer new choices, but enterprises need to match them with their AI goals. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Broadcom VMware Explore Conference
09/09/2025
Broadcom VMware Explore Conference
The annual gathering on infrastructure virtualization that is the VMware by Broadcom Explore conference has wrapped up and there are important takeaways from both the formal program and informal discussions. Analysts Jean Atelsek, Henry Baltazar and William Fellows join host Eric Hanselman to talk about their takes on the event. The newly integrated VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 (VCF) suite has shipped and along with it a new approach to the product portfolio. AI-focused capabilities have been added as VMware aims to create a private cloud portfolio to rival the public cloud offerings. Higher level data services are the first service abstractions available, with the promise of more to come. In the new organizational structure, the Tanzu product offering is now in its own division in Broadcom. While that offers it independence, it’s also meant that in areas like AI functionality, there is some overlap between it and AI capabilities being built into VCF 9. The larger challenge for Broadcom is to motivate customers to fully implement VCF 9 and put all of its capabilities to work. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: , , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Data Integration for AI
09/02/2025
Data Integration for AI
Can you have too much data for an AI application? In the mad dash to collect the raw material for AI applications, it can be tempting to pull in as much as you can. Product manager Emily Jasper returns to the podcast with a set of recommendations for more strategic use of data with host Eric Hanselman. Just as it might not be wise to load up on everything on a buffet, being strategic about using the data that best suits the goals of your project can improve outcomes and help to manage risk. By understanding the data that you’re putting to work, you can bound the universe of outcomes and simplify the process of bringing it into the AI application pipeline. At the same time, the process of data governance becomes clearer when the sources are better understood. Bringing an understanding of the set of data resources that an enterprise has is critical and has to be accompanied by knowledge of the quality of that data. The principles of library sciences are back in focus in AI, as organizations work to curate data characteristics and provenance. As in so much of AI, matching the ecosystem of tools, data providers, and capabilities to the use cases being built is fundamental to project success. Managing risk in AI has become a process of bringing the right data to the right problem. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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The ONUG Tech Community
08/26/2025
The ONUG Tech Community
The typical process of deploying technology has been one of enterprises designing infrastructure around vendor capabilities. The Open Networking Users Group (ONUG) was founded to reverse that equation and define enterprise requirements for technology and work with vendors to achieve them. Co-founder Nick Lippis joins host Eric Hanselman to talk about the approach that ONUG takes, the nature of its community and the work that they’re doing today. While their roots are in the networking world, they’ve expanded to address a wide range of enterprise concerns. The current collaborations include security related work in cloud and security operations automation, WAN connectivity and a reference architecture for AI infrastructure. The ONUG fall conference takes place in New York on October 22-23. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guest: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Black Hat and DefCon
08/19/2025
Black Hat and DefCon
The annual “security summer camp” that is made up of the Black Hat and DefCon conferences is just past and the security analyst team, Scott Crawford, Dan Kennedy, Justin Lam and Mark Ehr, join host Eric Hanselman to examine what they saw and discuss the implications. Despite the heat of a Las Vegas summer, it’s become bigger than the two main conferences, with a number of side events, like B-Sides, there’s a lot going on. AI conversations are evolving and maturing. We’ve mostly moved beyond blaming user foibles for breaches, but AI is expanding the attack surface with new and more complex tactics for user manipulation. AI is lowering the barriers for attackers. The days of script kiddies have morphed into Claude Code-fueled attack development. The larger question is how security vendors are responding to AI risks. Claims that tier 1 security analysts should start looking for another job just seem irresponsible in the current environment. AI augmentation can reduce toil and digest the masses of events that security teams struggle to deal with today. At the same time, AI is scaling attack volumes. It’s the constant hegemony that’s always played out at the core of security. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , , , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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FinTech Advances
08/12/2025
FinTech Advances
The FinTech market has seen considerable upheaval in activity and valuations. But spring may be coming to the funding winter that FinTech has seen and Jordan McKee and Sampath Sharma return to examine the green shoots with host Eric Hanselman. Data platforms, payment rails and insurance tech are seeing renewed interest, while riskier areas, like lending, are not seeing the same focus. FinTech companies are looking at addressing infrastructure and process challenges faced by the banking sector as they transition to the world of instant payments. Interest in cryptocurrency is roaring back, particularly in stablecoins. The U.S. GENIUS Act has delivered a framework for their use and opened the door to new experimentation. It’s another area where FinTech’s have an infrastructure opportunity, as a number of FinTech companies already have stablecoin experience and can put it to work for their banking partners. All of this and more will also be on the agenda for the upcoming Banking Infrastructure Modernization webinar at the link below. More S&P Global Content: Upcoming FinTech Webinar: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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The Creator Economy
08/05/2025
The Creator Economy
While advertising is a fundamental part of business, the creator economy has become a fundamental part of advertising. Analyst Zach Ciampa joins host Eric Hanselman to explore the many facets of which it’s composed and look at the market impacts. Businesses are working to balance the mix of paid, earned and owned content that they’re putting to work to establish, guide and strengthen their brands. The process of influencing buying behavior and brand loyalty and the media mix as part of it continues to evolve. While TikTok may be the view that many have of user generated content (UGC), it’s a much richer palette that businesses can use. Social media has become a large part of advertising, in no small part because of the allure of virality. But is this just gambling on an outcome? The human connection of social media and its people-first nature can have great power, but can be challenging to manage. Technology is being thrown at it in various forms, from influencer management platforms, to agency-driven tech M&A. AI has a role to play, but the human aspect is often the most powerful. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Advertising and Tech
07/29/2025
Advertising and Tech
Advertising is fundamental part of business and it’s one that has been buffeted by the impacts of technology in both the path to markets and the management of its delivery. Creating a brand reputation and influencing consumers is the core function and analyst Natalie Colakides and Ian Whittaker, managing director of Liberty Sky Advisors, join host Eric Hanselman to discuss the nuances of advertising and technology’s evolution around it. Shifts in media have had a profound effect - the reach of linear television media has decreased significantly, while digital advertising options have expanded. Businesses are looking to blend linear and streaming advertising, but it can be complex to make an effective distinction. There is significant global variation in media consumption and advertising potential. While the UK was the first market where digital spending overtook traditional, the European market is diverging from patterns in the U.S.. Many businesses are looking to AdTech to make the process more efficient, but there are limits its capabilities. Agencies still have a significant role to play, but the advertising buying and planning that has been a big part of their business could be under threat from advances delivered by AI. Enterprises have a lot to wrestle with, but they need to keep focused on the fundamental task of winning hearts and minds. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Managed Security Services
07/22/2025
Managed Security Services
Effective security management has never been simple and the expanded threat landscape enhanced by AI has only widened the gap between defenders and attackers. Scott Crawford and Greg Zwakman return to discuss the managed security services market with host Eric Hanselman. Security services have been an option for enterprises since the earliest days of IT, but the need for more depth and breadth in security operations has changed market dynamics and the enterprise security calculus. Part of this shift is driven by the scope and scale of security operations. Expanded attack surfaces with more devices, more SaaS applications and hybrid infrastructure can be all the more difficult to secure. Integrated security operations patterns, like Managed Detection and Response (MDR) can provide more comprehensive services and ones that are targeted at delivering improved security outcomes, rather than just operational support. Changing security requirements are driving M&A activity, as well. Where services had been an augmentation to vendor products, some vendors now see them as a critical part of their portfolio and a key to platform aspirations. Zscaler’s acquisition of Red Canary and Sophos’ pick up of SecureWorks are some of the more notable transactions in this trend. Security management has shifted front of security markets. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Kagan Media and Telecom Summit
07/15/2025
Kagan Media and Telecom Summit
The annual Kagan Media and Telecom Summit in New York is in the books and it not only covered a lot of market activity, but it was also surrounded by a number of media and sports rights headlines. Justin Nielson, Eric Keith, Scott Robson and Seth Shafer joined host Eric Hanselman to look at what was covered in the expansive event and the time around it. There were big shifts in media rights and a couple of sports team sales that led to lively discussions. Networks are balking at some of the lofty prices for sports media rights in the face of streaming services’ higher demand. The realignment of regional sports coverage is still shaking out, as well. Media consolidation keeps hovering, but will it always be next year’s prospect? Macroeconomic uncertainty seems to be playing a role and the pendulum on cord cutting seems to be swinging back around. In broadband, the reset of the BEAD program has states scrambling to reapply under the new, much tighter deadline. Will this drive fixed wireless access (FWA)? Satellite is still a possibility in remote regions, but costs may hold it back. Private equity activity in fiber networks could be reaching a tipping point, as their investments mature and operators’ partners shift strategies. There was a lot in store and much more to come. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , , , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Security for MCP
07/08/2025
Security for MCP
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) specification has helped to accelerate access to a wide range of data sources for AI applications. But there are questions about the security and trust implications around a protocol that is still in its infancy. Scott Crawford and Justin Lam return to the podcast to examine the concerns that have been raised and changes that are underway in the specification with host Eric Hanselman. The previous episode introduced MCP and some of the market forces that are in play. Security considerations didn’t appear to be fully sorted out in the first version of the specification, but more work is being done to move beyond the OAuth-based approach. Automating the data access process can be powerful, but also fraught with the potential for abuse. The larger questions in MCP revolve around understanding risk and establishing trust. Data exposure has been a constant concern in AI, but the more complex issues exist in the integrity of the data that’s being used. AI technology is moving forward rapidly and adversaries that are looking to compromise it and moving right along with these advances. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Context Around MCP
07/01/2025
Context Around MCP
Linking generative AI models to the agents that are going to use them now has a standard for queries, the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Suddenly all sorts of things are vying to be your data source of choice. What could go wrong? Analysts Jean Atelsek, James Curtis and Henry Baltazar join host Eric Hanselman to provide an introduction to what MCP is, what all the fuss is about and where this is headed. Since Anthropic released the standard in November of 2024, there has been significant progress in expanding and clarifying it, but it is still very much a work in progress. Database providers and storage vendors have been the obvious participants and many others are joining in. The larger questions are around ensuring trust and transparency in this market. Basic authentication has been worked out, but more sophisticated authorization mechanisms need to be defined. The mad dash is already leading to M&A activity, with storage vendors looking to expand their opportunities and maintain their relevance. Microsoft has released its MCP definition and Google has created an agent-to-agent (A2A) protocol for direct agent interactions. There are many pieces that are coming together to enable fully agentic operations and there is still a lot of work to be done. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Developer Experience and Automation
06/24/2025
Developer Experience and Automation
Developer experience is one of the areas where AI applications are showing significant return on investment, but there are significant hurdles to overcome in both changing established development patterns, as well as integrating AI tooling. Analyst Jean Atelsek and AWS vice president for developer experience Deepak Singh join host Eric Hanselman to explore the current state of AI code assistance and look at where it’s headed. Auto-complete, where the next bit of a line of code is filled in for a programmer, has been evolving over a number of years, but the arrival of agents to augment code generation and task automation is being to revolutionize software development. Changing development patterns is hard, but the benefits offer strong incentives to change habits. Where early uses had AI engines generate smaller code snippets that developers integrated, that’s changing to having AI tackle full functions that are then reviewed and corrected. Tooling around AI implementations are tailoring they way in which they interact with individual developers, enhancing their experience. Application modernization is an area where AI can shine, as it can assess a massive codebase whose authors are no longer available and provide not only documentation, but also prioritize recoding efforts. It’s a task where the hours required for manual assessment can be daunting and error prone. Leveraging AI code generation securely requires that organizations have sufficiently secure development pipelines. Mitigating risks from confabulation and errors in AI generated code is the same process as ought to be in place for human coders, an area where some less mature organizations may have some catching up to do. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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FinOps – Managing Cloud and AI Costs
06/17/2025
FinOps – Managing Cloud and AI Costs
Managing IT costs has always been challenging and the FinOps movement is working to tackle this problem. Analysts Jean Atelsek and Melanie Posey return to the podcast to discuss their research and what they saw at the FinOps X conference with host Eric Hanselman. Cost angst has been exacerbated by the move to cloud. The shift from capital expense to operational expense has been a complicated transition for many. The infrastructure spending growth that being driven by AI initiatives has only just begun, but is already concerning. As cloud costs have become material expenses, more focus has been put on managing them. There are a host of startups that are looking to provide tools and cloud providers all have some form of cost management tooling. The shift to virtualization opened the door to optimization, but was one that only few walked through. Efforts at charge-back and show-back accounting created better visibility, but FinOps is looking to take things a step further by identifying costs early in the development cycle. Putting the vast quantities of operational data that cloud throws off to work requires a new focus. It’s another area where AI can help businesses work their way out of the looming costs that AI applications create. It requires bringing together lines of business, development teams and IT operations, but the benefits could be significant. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Datacenter Slowdown?
06/10/2025
Datacenter Slowdown?
A set of questions are being asked about whether the velocity of datacenter build outs is wavering. Analyst Dan Thompson returns to the podcast to explore the realities of the market with host Eric Hanselman. There are some facts that raised the questions, including Microsoft demurring on some datacenter projects, and they have fueled concerns that the heady pace might slacken. The DeepSeek model’s debut with claims of lower training requirements spooked the tech markets in January. There have been layoffs. Are these harbingers of AI doom? In the same way that DeepSeek signaled the next phase of optimization in AI models, datacenter markets can be expected to adjust over time. The difference is that the time scales for the two areas are vastly different. With AI ecosystems seemingly cycling daily, the multiyear scheduling of datacenters might appear glacial by comparison. But it’s a market influenced by many factors, including a complex supply chain. Capital spending across hyperscale cloud providers remains healthy and maintains an eye on a future with much greater density of AI functionality. We’re still a long way from a correction. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Personal Data
06/03/2025
Personal Data
In the rush to build out AI applications, a full understanding of the dynamics of personal data management can be difficult to achieve. As we kick off Pride Month, the complexities of personal data handling deserve more attention and Emily Jasper and Alan Moore join host Eric Hanselman to discuss the concerns and approaches to address privacy issues. Enterprises accumulate both operational and self-reported personal data, some with regulatory requirements for collection and reporting and some in support of employee development. Is that data the new oil that can fuel their efforts, the new water that can leak or the new plutonium that can be powerful, but also dangerous? With many systems accumulating data, it can be difficult to ensure that right data is in the right places. Data migration is hard, but can be necessary in technology transitions. Data is the raw material that builds AI value, but personal data increases the risks of not only expose, but of creating presumptions by AI models of association and affiliation. There are additional risks in inadequate datasets for training. As we’ve pointed out in previous episodes, organizations need to be aware of how well their training data reflects the populations they intend to serve. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Risk to Resilience
05/27/2025
Risk to Resilience
Around the globe, municipalities are facing a set of challenges managing the impacts of more extreme weather, while addressing aging infrastructure and more chronic issues, such as rising heat and sea levels. There are a set of technologies that can help them to both be aware of the risks and improve planning to work on mitigating them. The Internet of Things (IoT) can play a role in sensing and advances in digital twins can aid in simulating climate-driven events. It’s a set of tools that, when applied well, can help to better build resilience. At the same time, the resilience of utility systems are being challenged by tech advances. Power consumption by datacenters is impacting the load on electricity grids. The transition to greater use of renewables is changing grid dynamics and investment is needed to maintain stability. Climate impacts can have differing impacts across society and efforts manage equity are critical. The upcoming webinar will dig into all of this in more detail – join us to continue the conversation! Join the webinar: More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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AI and Storage
05/20/2025
AI and Storage
With all of the drama associated with AI, it’s easy to miss the need to understand the foundations that deliver the data that is the raw element from which AI value is built. Databases and storage infrastructure are critical components that have to work in concert with AI plans and returning guests Henry Baltazar and James Curtis join host Eric Hanselman to discuss what’s been happening and what enterprises need to know about the future. Databases and storage management systems have been intertwined for a long time and AI pressures are tightening that connection. Storage systems perform analytics on the data they store to optimize its handling, tracking use and characteristics. The same insights that aid in compression and tiering are also useful in classifying data for AI. Data classification has always been a challenge for enterprises, as storage systems are typically disconnected from the data owners and applications that use them. Intelligent storage systems have been able to intuit the nature of content, including mapping databases and virtual machines. Databases have been able to leverage storage capabilities like snapshotting for resilience. Into this mix a new set of AI focused storage and database offerings arrive that target AI uses. The question is whether the native database and storage systems can do enough of what’s needed. They already store key data and have valuable insights and classification capabilities. Some vendors are attaching GPU clusters to storage systems to provide high performance AI model training functionality. The major issue for most, is the matter of data placement. Shifting petabytes of data is no small task and concerns about data security and the costs involved now loom much larger. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Technology at the NAB Show
05/13/2025
Technology at the NAB Show
The annual NAB Show delivered a more fully digital ecosystem when it convened in Las Vegas this year. While traditional broadcast technologies are still the focus, hyperscale cloud providers, digital media platforms and no shortage of AI were all on display. Returning guests Justin Neilson and Peter Leitzinger join host Eric Hanselman to discuss what they saw at broadcasting’s big event and the impacts of various technologies on the media landscape. The digital television evolution is continuing apace. The ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV standard has been rolling out across the globe, albeit a bit more slowly in the U.S.. The higher resolution, more interactive capability is available to over three quarters of the market. Multi-screening functionality is interesting, but digital advertisers are looking to the direct access to consumers as a better path to monetizing viewers and delivering a direct path to content creators. The smart TV market is also hopeful, driving the uptake of new chipsets and televisions. The show also revealed the greater participation of the hyperscale cloud providers in broadcast media. Greater volumes of digital content are depending on cloud scale in ever greater measure. The creeping incrementalism of AI in media production still has to overcome some fundamental objections from studios and some content creators, but it is working its way into many parts of the industry. It seems like its convenience and velocity may be too much to resist. More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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Rugby Season and Media Rights
05/06/2025
Rugby Season and Media Rights
The game of Rugby is having a moment on the global stage. It’s attracting investment and growing its fan base and audiences. The Six Nations competition has just finished, with France triumphing over Scotland and the Women’s World Cup is on the horizon. With dedicated fans and upmarket advertisers, the media rights are garnering significant interest. An old saying contrasted soccer (football to most of the world) with rugby by saying that football was a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, while rugby was a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen. And today, both the women’s and men’s games are gaining prominence. Unlike soccer (football), the world governing body for rugby spans both leagues and has strong female representation on its board. With high value advertisers driving revenue and both country competitions and national leagues creating a rich game schedule, media valuations are continuing to grow. From its origins as an amateur league, it’s become much more. There’s a nascent shift from free-to-air broadcast to paid media and streaming. It’s quite a scrum! More S&P Global Content: For S&P Global Subscribers: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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RSA Conference Preview
04/28/2025
RSA Conference Preview
The annual RSA Conference on information security is coming up and it arrives during a very active security market. Analysts Garrett Bekker, Dan Kennedy and research director Scott Crawford return to the podcast to discuss what they expect to see in San Franscisco with host Eric Hanselman. The largest transaction ever in the information security world, Google’s acquisition of cloud security unicorn Wiz, has been echoing across capital and technology markets. It’s reinforced the importance of cloud security and its nature as a distinct technology segment. Enterprises have become fully hybrid in their infrastructure mix and they’re struggling to mitigate cloud risks. Part of the struggle is leading to tool consolidation and platform approaches to security management. It’s a situation that’s led by the fact that the average enterprise already reports spending a third of their security budgets on a single security operations vendor. Of course, AI will be front and center and this year agentic AI is being examined as a way to scale up security capabilities. AI capabilities have been part of security tools for many years and the challenge has always been building trust in automated actions. It will be some time before autonomous actions are turned on. There’s a long history of keeping human review in place as trust is built. It’s not that different from previous technology automation transitions, but with security, there’s a greater imperative. More S&P Global Content: Credits: Host/Author: Guests: , , Producer/Editor: Adam Kovalsky Published With Assistance From: Sophie Carr, Feranmi Adeoshun, Kyra Smith
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