What happens when the biggest technology trend is built on economics that don't make any sense when viewed end-to-end? Eventually, some aspect has to change, but which one? 

SHOW: 968

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #968 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.

SHOW NOTES:

• Tokens are getting more expensive
• Nvidia Earnings, Moats and China, Nvidia vs. the AI Labs
• Oracle Assures Investors on AI Cloud Margins as It Struggles to Profit From Older Nvidia Chips

WHERE ARE THE BIGGEST AI RISKS?

• Jensen Huang (NVIDIA CEO) is convinced that the future will be built on always having the most advanced GPUs and Frontier Models. 
• Oracle is telling investors that they will significantly increase profit margins between now and 2028-30, although they have low margins now and they don’t make high margins on older chips
• The economics of AI (reasoning models, high#s of AI tokens) is in contrast to the established SaaS business model.
• Right now everything AI-associated has a high valuation, but these forces are working against each other. 
• Which one is going to give first? 

FEEDBACK?

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Animesh Koratana (@akoratana, Founder of @playerzero_ai) discusses how agentic AI is transforming software quality assurance through predictive code simulation, and how teams can shift from reactive debugging to proactive problem prevention in the era of AI-generated code.

SHOW: 967

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #967 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast

SHOW NOTES:

• PlayerZero website

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show Animesh. Tell us about your background and your involvement in.

Topic 2 - Let's start with the core problem you're solving. What is "predictive software quality" and why is this becoming critical now, especially in the era of AI-generated code?

Topic 3 - How does agentic code simulation work, and what makes it different from traditional testing approaches?

Topic 4 - This feels like it democratizes software quality beyond just engineering teams. How does PlayerZero work across different roles - developers, QA, product managers, and support teams?

Topic 5 - Integration and workflow - how does PlayerZero fit into existing CI/CD pipelines and development workflows? What does the implementation look like

Topic 6 - Let's talk about scale and complexity. How does PlayerZero handle large, distributed systems with microservices, databases, and complex architectures

FEEDBACK?

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Three years since the launch of ChatGPT, what does the landscape of Enterprise AI look like today? What’s working, what’s struggling and what’s still unknown?

SHOW: 966

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #966 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.

SHOW NOTES:

HOW ARE ENTERPRISES USING AI IN LATE 2025?

• 5% have a clear vision of how to apply Predictive and Generative AI to a set of use-cases that drive differentiation, productivity improvements and cost reductions. They are keeping the details close to the vest.
• 10% have allocated about 3-5% of their IT budgets to AI, typically from a C-level mandate, and have given it to Microsoft or Google. They have checked “the business is AI-enabled” and signaled to the market that they have fully embraced AI. The market is rewarding these companies at higher multiples. 
• 85% aren’t sure what use-cases to focus on, have unrealistic expectations during POCs, and are focused on the “no” areas instead of their own learning curves. 
• Enterprises don’t have great visibility into AI costs, and limited baselines of what AI should cost - pay for outcomes, pay for seats, pay for tokens, or pay for GPUs?
• Enterprises don’t have easy access to GPUs outside of via SaaS services - makes it challenging for Private or Sovereign AI demand to be met
• Right now, there is no simple way for Enterprises to build AI Agents
• Right now, there is no simple way for Enterprises to share AI experience / learning curve - AI is a very individualized experience

FEEDBACK?

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Alan Lefort (CEO, @StrongestLayer) discusses how LLM-powered reasoning is transforming phishing security from reactive pattern-matching to predictive threat detection, and why traditional rule-based systems can no longer defend against sophisticated AI-generated phishing attacks.

SHOW: 965

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #965 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast

SHOW NOTES:

• Website
• StrongestLayer Research

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show Alan. Tell us about your background and your involvement in Cybersecuity.

Topic 2 - Let's start with the core challenge. You've said that "if only AI can defend against weaponized AI" - what specific gap in traditional email security did you identify that led to this philosophy? How are AI-powered phishing attacks fundamentally different from what we've seen before?

Topic 3 - How does this attack vector demonstrate the limitations of rule-based security systems, and why can't traditional pattern matching keep up?

Topic 4 - Let's break down your TRACE (Threat Reasoning and AI Correlation Engine) architecture. You've described it as "LLM-as-master" rather than "LLM-as-add-on." What does this fundamental architectural difference mean for threat detection, and how does it help?

Topic 5 - You discuss "pre-campaign detection," which involves identifying potential phishing campaigns weeks before emails are sent. This sounds like moving from reactive to predictive security. How does your system correlate technical intelligence with business context to achieve this early warning capability?

Topic 6 - From an implementation standpoint, how do organizations integrate LLM-powered reasoning into their existing security stacks? What's the deployment model, and how do you handle the challenge of reasoning about business context without exposing sensitive organizational data?

FEEDBACK?

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As cloud matures, could the hyperscale cloud providers start looking to acquire SaaS providers to build out a bundled application portfolio? Or are the demands of AI investment too much to pursue that strategy? 

SHOW: 964

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #964 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.

SHOW NOTES:

• Clouded Judgement (Jamin Bell)
• 100 Biggest SaaS Companies

COULD THE CLOUD HYPERSCALERS START LOOKING TO ACQUIRE SAAS COMPANIES?

• Do the hyperscalers start acting like Private Equity to acquire SaaS revenue streams?
• Do the hyperscalers start moving from primitive providers to bundlers?
• Do the hyperscalers have to make a choice between AI/CAPEX investment and SaaS investment?
• Do the hyperscalers figure out a way to spin-off the AI/CAPEX portions of their business for a period of time?

FEEDBACK?

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Brian Gracely (@bgracely) and Brandon Whichard (@bwhichard, @SoftwareDefTalk) discuss the top stories in Cloud and AI from September 2025.

SHOW: 963

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #963 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast

SHOW NOTES:

• Link to August 2025 News and Articles

FEEDBACK?

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Between the bold predictions, VC economics, and rising usage-patterns are stories of limited ROIs, undefined use-cases and associated job losses. AI is in an awkward phase of maturity and it’s not clear how it will evolve into the next phase. 

SHOW: 962

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #962 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.

SHOW NOTES:

THE SPECTRUM OF AI

• The early years of the Internet, we tried to replicate physical-based activities
• The early years of the Internet, the whole industry/world-economy wasn’t depending on “the next thing”
• The early years of AI, “the leaders” are talking about curing cancer and double human longevity
• Cloud had “lift and shift”; AI has “get everyone a GenAI license”
• Where is the middle? Where is the rational discussion?
• Massive Funding
• Massive # of Consumer Users
• From Ed to Sam, from Dario to Satya, from Jensen to Larry …. Big spectrums of opinions
• Unprofitable (except NVIDIA, Broadcom)
• Near monopoly of GPUs by NVIDIA
• Every couple months, the landscape seems to shift (OpenAI partners, Leading models, 
• Questionable Enterprise ROI - lots of “we gave everyone GenAI, but we don’t know how to measure it”
• Companies are laying off workers, or avoiding hiring because of promises of AI
• Unknown “killer” use-cases beyond chatbots, therapy, developer-assistants, writing, document handling
• Today’s mantra is “Rub some AI Agents on it”

FEEDBACK?

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Stephan Donze (@sdonze CEO @AODocs), discusses the enterprise unstructured data crisis, where 80% of business data remains untapped due to legacy system limitations and the challenges of AI-powered document management at scale. We explore how AI agents can transform document workflows while maintaining trust and compliance, the architectural principles needed for cloud-native document management, and why traditional search fails in the age of generative AI.

SHOW: 961

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #961 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST - "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast

SHOW NOTES:

• AODocs website

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show, Stephan. Give everyone a quick introduction.

Topic 2 - We hear all the time about unstructured data and the continual growth in the Enterprise. I’ve heard numbers of upwards of 80% of all corporate data is unstructured. I’ve worked at several companies and supported a significant number of customers over the years, and I can count on one hand how many say they have “control” of their data. How did this come to be, and is the problem as big as I think?

Topic 3 - The second part of this, and this might be an even bigger problem, is how much of the data is used? Too many needles in the haystack, if you will. How does Agentic AI address this challenge, and where do traditional document management systems fail?

Topic 4 - We’ve talked about data quality in the past on the show, and I’m wondering if this also becomes an issue. Let’s say you have a bunch of draft documents leading up to the final version. Is it possible that improper version control and/or we’re back to a data quality problem of finding the “final version” needle in the haystack? How does AI prevent this and also not hallucinate an answer that may not be true?

Topic 5 - Some have called AI’s ability to absorb and report on data just fancy search. What are your thoughts on this? Where and how does traditional search differ from Agentic AI management?

Topic 6 - I also see this as being so much more than indexing and reporting on documents. There is also the concept of automation and workflows that agentic AI can improve upon. What use cases are your customers implementing?

Topic 7 - Where do you think the industry will go in the next 2-3 years?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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How is it possible that smart people both love and hate AI? Does it matter how smart you are, or just how you interact with AI? 

SHOW: 960

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #960 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.

SHOW NOTES:

WHAT TYPES OF SMART PEOPLE LOVE AND HATE AI?

• Acquihires
• Early Stock Buyouts
• AI = Aggregated (or Augmented) Interns
• Domain-Experts
• Senior White Collar Workers

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Todd Robinson, Founder and President of OpenMetal.io, discusses the resurgence of bare metal infrastructure driven by AI workloads, digital sovereignty requirements, and companies reassessing public cloud economics. The conversation explores how organizations are finding cost and control advantages in bare metal solutions, particularly for long-running applications. It examines OpenMetal's open-source approach using technologies like Ceph and OpenStack to deliver flexible infrastructure alternatives.

SHOW: 959

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #959 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS" 

SPONSORS:

• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast

SHOW NOTES:

• OpenMetal website

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. Tell us about your background, and you developed a passion around bare metal and cloud services?

Topic 2 - Between AI (GPU rental), digital sovereignty initiatives, and even virtualization alternatives, it feels like bare metal is having a resurgence. Give some a sense of what the demands for bare metal solutions look like today?

Topic 3 - As companies understand the economics of having used public cloud services, are there certain use-cases that become immediately obvious where more private, hosted, bare metal services just make more sense? 

Topic 4 - OpenMetal is based on open source technologies like Ceph and OpenStack. How important to customers about the technologies under their applications, or do the economics and control aspects play a bigger role in their decisions? 

Topic 5 - I’m often asked if there is a model about when it makes more sense to use on-demand service vs. more fixed services. Is there a rule of thumb (e.g. longevity of an application, amount of change, etc.) that you’ve found drives the most success at picking the right environment for applications?

Topic 6 - OpenMetal could be described as a public or private cloud service. Do you find that there is still the stigma over “private cloud” that we saw when the hyperscalers were initially growing so quickly?

FEEDBACK?

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How did Oracle Cloud (with OpenAI) suddenly command the news cycle, with a chance to potentially overtake much larger clouds in a few years? Let’s explore how Oracle’s focus on bare-metal and bandwidth might have ripple effects on Cloud and AI.

SHOW: 958

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #958 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search “Interconnected by Equinix”.

SHOW NOTES:

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVE PATHS FOR AI? 

• The Cloudcast #330 - Oracle’s Next-Generation Cloud IaaS
• Oracle Chosen as TikTok’s Secure Cloud Provider- [Oracle Press Release]
• Oracle Cloud and OpenAI sign $300B deal - [WSJ]
• Oracle Cloud - [Platformnomics]
• Oracle and OpenAI - [Ed Zitron]

FEEDBACK?

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Ole Lensmar (@olensmar, Founder/CTO at @TestKube_io) discusses how Kubernetes-native testing platforms are designed to address limitations in traditional CI/CD testing workflows. The conversation covers how TestKube differs from existing testing environments, expands test coverage opportunities for development and QA teams, and provides best practices for testing in Kubernetes environments.

SHOW: 957

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #957 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS" 

SPONSORS:

• [Interconnected] Interconnected is a new series from Equinix diving into the infrastructure that keeps our digital world running. With expert guests and real-world insights, we explore the systems driving AI, automation, quantum, and more. Just search Interconnected by Equinix.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• TestKube - A Kubernetes-native platform that powers Continuous Testing for today’s AI-accelerated development
• TestKube (open source)
• Why did we start TestKube (Ole Lensmar)

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. Tell us about your background and what led you to start TestKube.

Topic 2 - Let’s talk about the origins of TestKube. What were some areas where you saw people having frustrations or limitations that were holding back their ability to do proper testing to get things into production?

Topic 3 - Let’s talk about the basics of TestKube. Can you talk about how it’s different from existing testing environments, or how people use CI/CD today

Topic 4 - Does TestKube expand what a typical Dev-team, or QA-team would test, or does it create new opportunities for test coverage that were very difficult before? 

Topic 5 - What are some of the results or feedback you’ve heard from people using TestKube?

Topic 6 - What are some best practices you’re seeing as people begin to evolve how they test for their Kubernetes environments?

Topic 7 - What’s the best way for people to get started with TestKube

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Apple’s iPhone had the Android ecosystem, but where is the Android of AI going to come from to challenge the OpenAI/NVIDIA duopoly? Let’s explore the possibilities. 

SHOW: 956

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #956 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast

SHOW NOTES:

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVE PATHS FOR AI? 

• Consumer: Ad-supported
• Consumer: Understandable tiers
• Enterprise: ELAs for Co-Pilot, Gemini
• Enterprise: Model building tools (e.g. AWS Sagemaker, Google Vertex, etc.)

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Brian Gracely (@bgracely) Aaron Delp (@aarondelp) and Brandon Whichard (@bwhichard, @SoftwareDefTalk) discuss the top stories in Cloud and AI from August 2025.

SHOW: 955

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #955 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [TestKube] TestKube is Kubernetes-native testing platform, orchestrating all your test tools, environments, and pipelines into scalable workflows empowering Continuous Testing. Check it out at TestKube.io/cloudcast
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• Link to August 2025 News and Articles

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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From extreme ups to startling downs, every week can feel like the peak of expectations and the trough of disillusionment for AI.  

SHOW: 954

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #954 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.

SHOW NOTES:

THE UPS AND DOWNS OF AI - THE CONSTANT HYPE CYCLE

Healthy Competition [YES]

Consumer and Enterprise Markets [YES]

Market leader(s) [YES, sort of]

Well-Defined, profitable business model [NO]

Open, lower-cost alternative emerged [YES/NO]

Usage patterns emerging [YES/NO]

• [ups] Constant high-profile VC, Sovereign wealth, hyperscaler funding of AI startups
• [ups] Constant high-profile CAPEX spending by hyperscalers, model builders, data center builders
• [ups] Rapidly growing user-bases
• [ups] Growing revenues at some companies (NVIDIA, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Anthropic)
• [downs] Growing losses at high-profile companies  
• [???] Frequent, high-profile movement by key people at high-profile companies (engineers, leadership)
• [downs] Frequent, partial acquires of founders and key engineers, but not entire companies
• [downs] Secondary market scales of startup shares, bypassing traditional secondary and public markets
• [downs] No “NetFlix of AI” company
• [downs] No “AI Agent” success stories
• [???] Consumer “winner-take-all” mindset from AI companies
• [downs] Enterprise companies struggling to create ROI+ projects (in early days)
• [???] Enterprise “bundles” raising prices (CoPilot, Gemini, etc.)
• [downs] Unclear if new frontier models are getting better than previous versions (e.g. GPT-5)
• [???] Are inference prices coming down? 
• [ups] Consumers have many excellent AI choices
• It’s unclear if AI companies have created any moats yet; it’s unclear if LLMs can be differentiated
• Chatbots, developer-assistants and document management are use-cases. What else?
• Are agents ready to be mainstream yet? 
• Pick-axe providers are making the money right now (NVIDIA, Broadcom, etc.), but is there moat entirely on super-premium HW?
• User-experiences are still being understood
• Will AI + Ads (business model) be a big bang event, or happen gradually? 

FEEDBACK?

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Amit Kinha - Field CTO @DoITInt | FinOps Foundation Board Member discusses how the relationship between technology and financial accountability has evolved, and how mainstream FinOps is shifting IT focus around innovation. 

SHOW: 953

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #953 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS" 

SPONSORS:

• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• DoIT - Intent Aware FinOps
• DoIT hires Citigroup FinOps Star as Executive
• FinOps Foundation
• FinOps X (event)

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show. Tell us about your background and your involvement in FinOps.

Topic 2 - We’ve been through the early days of cloud, where we were told that cloud was cheaper, and then after COVID, everyone seemed to realize that cloud was actually more expensive. Where are we with FinOps and companies understanding how to think about cloud spending?

Topic 3 - You work with the FinOps Foundation. What types of roles do you see focused on FinOps, and how is that evolving as there is greater cloud cost visibility across an entire organization? 

Topic 4 - How has the technology around FinOps evolved? How much is still manual? How much is piecing together different costs from different systems? And how much is evolving to have an AI component? 

Topic 5 - How do the tools and platforms from DoIT help to make FinOps easier for companies? What are some of the key areas of focus, and some insights you’re hearing from the companies that you work with directly? 

Topic 6 - If you had to give a CIO or CFO guidance on how to best think about FinOps, what are the top things you would focus on? 

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Bluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
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As we begin to transition from the Cloud era to the AI era, what types of changes can we expect to see happen in the market, within our businesses, and for individuals? 

SHOW: 952

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #952 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.

SHOW NOTES:

WHEN TWO ERAS OVERLAP - CLOUD AND AI

• The early stages of a new era tends to be separate (cloud-native, AI-native), but eventually tends to build upon the previous era’s foundations
• It usually takes a decade before an era stops being important or prioritized 
• It usually takes 3-5 years before best practices for new applications emerge
• Finding new era talent is difficult (and expensive), but current era technology can be optimized (reduce costs, modernize)
• We’re going to see “Shadow AI” and “Bi-Modal Cloud/AI”
• The will be a lot of “X is Dead” during the first few years of the transition, until people (again) remember that nothing in IT dies - especially in the enterprise
• There will be a lot of numbers/reports coming out that seem completely contradictory - $B investment, but $0 ROI from users

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
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After a very long roadtrip, let’s explore the lessons we can learn from some of the greatest business models in tech and how or if they apply to the AI era companies. 

SHOW: 951

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #951 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• 7 Powers of Competitive Dynamics
• Microsoft (Vol 1, Vol 2)
• Google 
• Meta 
• AWS
• NVIDIA (Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3) 

LESSONS FROM THE GREATEST BUSINESS MODELS

• Founder control, nearly immediately profitable, growth strategies, 
• How long Enterprise businesses take to mature
• Is there an AI business model that’s profitable? 
• Is there a business model that isn’t Enterprise or Ad-supported?
• Microsoft - commoditize your compliments, understand market expansions, 
• Google - Customer acquisition, scaling economics, AdWords, AdSense
• AWS - 
• Meta - Adapting the offerings
• NVIDIA - Vertical integration (HW + SW)

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
• BlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
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Haseeb Budhani (@haseebbudhani, CEO @rafaysystemsinc) discusses the evolution from traditional DevOps to platform engineering and what "Enterprise Ready" Kubernetes looks like in 2025. We explore AI workloads running on Kubernetes and how modern orchestration solutions can transform teams from bottlenecks into enablers. We also cover the security considerations for GPU-enabled AI workloads and balancing developer self-service capabilities with proper governance and control.

SHOW: 950

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #950 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.

SHOW NOTES:

• Rafay website

Topic 1 - Welcome to the show, Haseeb. Give everyone a quick introduction.

Topic 2 - Let’s start by talking about the evolution of Kubernetes as a platform. You’ve said and we’ve talked about on this show for some time how Kubernetes is more of a platform to run platforms. We’ve also seen trends in the industry and shifts in what it means to be DevOps or Platform Engineering in recent years. You've positioned Rafay as a Kubernetes Operations Platform that's now evolved into a Cloud Automation Platform. How do you define the difference between Kubernetes management and true platform engineering?

Topic 3 - What does “Enterprise Ready” Kubernetes look like in 2025?

Topic 4 - Let’s flip over to AI/ML and GPUs with Kubernetes for a bit. Many developers and data scientists aren’t aware of the underlying platform they run on. I saw a stat recently that about 95% of AI runs on Kubernetes, either on-prem or in the cloud. Despite this, Platform teams are often stuck doing manual GPU provisioning, which doesn't scale with AI adoption. How do modern GPU orchestration solutions change the platform team's role?

Topic 5 - With GPU workloads often handling sensitive data and AI models, security becomes even more critical. How should organizations approach security and compliance in their GPU-enabled Kubernetes operations?

Topic 6 - "Most developers don't want to write YAML or manage clusters — they just want to ship software." How do you balance giving developers the self-service capabilities they want while maintaining the control and governance that platform teams need?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Bluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
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Shay Levi (@shaylevi2, CEO @UnframeAI) & Larissa Schneider (COO @UnframeAI) discuss the complexities of building an enterprise-grade AI platform. Topics include what an AI platform is, the advantages of adoption, and the efficiencies gained.

SHOW: 949

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #949 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:  http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• Unframe website

Topic 1 - Shay & Larissa, welcome to the show!  Give everyone a brief introduction and a little about your background. 

Topic 2 - Today, we’re discussing AI Security and Enterprise Platforms. What are the problems or issues you see with AI development today?

Topic 3 - Is this where an AI platform comes into play? I’m seeing more and more about this term and wondering what it truly means to be a platform. What is your definition of a platform, and what are the advantages?

Topic 4 - Shay, considering your background in APIs and API security, how does that knowledge transfer into this space?

Topic 5 - Larissa, with your background in operations, where do you see the inefficiencies in AI development and lifecycle management of the AI models and the datasets?

Topic 6 - Let’s talk about Unframe. Give everyone an overview. Is this a SaaS service? How and where does it fit into your typical AI development stack?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Bluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
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Are we beginning to see the dawn of a 2nd phase of Cloud Computing, as AI begins to become a workload that impacts every aspect of the previous era of Cloud? Let’s explore…

SHOW: 948

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #948 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.

SHOW NOTES:

CLOUD 1.0 vs. CLOUD 2.0

• Cloud 1.0: On-demand services, OSS innovation, Core Building Blocks, Affordable Infrastructure with declining costs, 1st and best customers, limited gov’t involvement, varied competition levels, 
• Cloud 2.0: AI is a now technology, GPU vs. CPU costs, vertical application stacks?, unknown economics, highly funded competition, unknown gov’t involvement, unknown investment into OSS, AI gravity vs. cloud gravity

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Brian Gracely (@bgracely) Aaron Delp (@aarondelpt) and Brandon Whichard (@bwhichard, @SoftwareDefTalk) discuss the top stories in Cloud and AI from July 2025.

SHOW: 947

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #947 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• Link to July 2025 News and Articles

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Bluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
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The hardest thing for any growing company to do is manage the transition from hypergrowth to the dual tracks of growth and stability. AWS is entering their Hybrid phase, or the transition from Day 1 to Day 2. How will it go?

SHOW: 946

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #946 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.

SHOW NOTES:

• Amazon Q2 (July 2025) Results
• Reviewing Amazon/AWS Q2 2025 Results (CNBC)
• AWS QoQ Earnings Growth Rates (2014-2025)
• Andy Jassy defends Amazon/AWS AI strategy
• Amazon Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
• Update from Andy Jasay Amazon Generative AI (Amazon Internal)

HOW WILL AWS HANDLE DAY 1 AND DAY 2?

• Has AWS missed the Generative AI transformation?
  • Not investing in GPUs at the same rate as their cloud market share
  • Don’t have a Top 5 Frontier LLM
  • Don’t have a productivity suite to attach AI to (on-going revenue)
  • Don’t have a leading coding-assistant app
  • Don’t have an immediate “acquisition” target (e.g. Anthropic valuation near $150B)
  • AWS isn’t breaking out their AI revenues
• AWS’s growth has plateaued over the last 6 quarters (around 17%), while Azure, GCP have been growing at 1.5 to 2x, specifically around AI revenues. 
• AWS is up to 18% of Amazon revenue, and current AWS (CPU-based) is driving the majority of Amazon profits. 
• Jasay is trying to make AI an add-on to the AWS “building block” model
  • GenAI buying (at this point) looks similar to Shadow IT going to public cloud – it’s not centrally controlled
• Is AWS focused on GenAI, or moving the other 80-85% of on-premises to their cloud? Can they manage both priorities at the same time? 
• Can you achieve the same levels of growth if non-GenAI startups aren’t getting funding at the same levels as pre-2022?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
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Elliot Shmukler (@eshmu, Co-Founder/CEO @anomalo_hq) talks about the impact of data quality on AI, how unstructured data can be improved, and how monitoring of data lakes can help prevent model drift and give organizations confidence with predictable results.

SHOW: 945

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #945 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK:  http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

NEW TO CLOUD? CHECK OUT OUR OTHER PODCAST:  "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SPONSORS:

• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.
• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.
• [FCTR] Try FCTR.io (that's F-C-T-R dot io) free for 60 days. Modern security demands modern solutions. Check out Fctr's Tako AI, the first AI agent for Okta, on their website

SHOW NOTES:

• Anomalo website
• The Cloudcast #598 - Data Quality
• Snowflake invests in Anomalo

Topic 1 - Elliot, welcome back! It’s hard to believe it has been 3 years since we spoke! Give everyone a brief introduction.

Topic 2 - Here’s the problem I see when it comes to AI adoption today. There isn’t an “off the shelf” AI model with an organization's data built in; that’s impossible. So, you must bring this data, often unstructured, to the model, often with mixed results. Do you agree?

Topic 3 - I see data quality in two ways… the quality of the data before ingestion is one way, we want the data to be clean going in. But, we also need a way to detect, mitigate, and do a root cause analysis for quality checks along the way, correct? Give everyone an idea of what this life cycle looks like.

Topic 4 - What are you seeing as the barriers to adoption? Is it the tools, the models, the need for RAG pipelines, the lack of data scientists, and AIOps?

Topic 5 - We have this crossroads where proprietary data makes an organization unique, but exposing that unique data puts the organization at risk. How much of a factor does this play, and how do you advise organizations around this complex intersection

Topic 6 - There is always this concept of predictable results. This answer should be consistent and repeatable. We’ve seen things like model/data drift and hallucinations hinder this concept, leading to a lack of confidence in the results. How do you advise organizations to tackle this lifecycle management and predictability over time?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Bluesky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
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If the AI Agent hype ends up being real, how will businesses manage AI Agents from the perspective of people vs. non-people? 

SHOW: 944

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #944 Transcript

SHOW VIDEO: https://youtube.com/@TheCloudcastNET 

CLOUD NEWS OF THE WEEK: http://bit.ly/cloudcast-cnotw

CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: "CLOUDCAST BASICS"

SHOW SPONSORS:

• [VASION] Vasion Print eliminates the need for print servers by enabling secure, cloud-based printing from any device, anywhere. Get a custom demo to see the difference for yourself.
• [FCTR] Try FCTR.io (that's F-C-T-R dot io) free for 60 days. Modern security demands modern solutions. Check out Fctr's Tako AI, the first AI agent for Okta, on their website
• [DoIT] Visit doit.com (that’s d-o-i-t.com) to unlock intent-aware FinOps at scale with DoiT Cloud Intelligence.

SHOW NOTES:

• Batch jobs vs Cron jobs
• Robotic Process Automation
• What is AIOps?
• AI Platform goes rogue, deletes company database (Replit)
• How do consultants think about AI Agents

WHAT IF AI AGENTS ARE SUCCESSFUL?

• What are our expectations of AI Agents? 
• How do we treat AI Agents? 
• How do we organize AI Agents? 
• How do we manage AI Agents?
• Will we have Junior and Senior AI Agents? 
• Will we see internal competition for managers trying to get AI Agent budget? 
• Will companies measure % AI Agent for projects? 
• Will we see managers trying to take their agents with them if they leave a company? How “owns” the agent?

FEEDBACK?

• Email: show at the cloudcast dot net
• Twitter/X: @cloudcastpod
• BlueSky: @cloudcastpod.bsky.social
• Instagram: @cloudcastpod
• TikTok: @cloudcastpod