ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The Data Center is changing, becoming more virtual, fungible, ephemeral... a whole load of adjectives that describe flexible infrastructure, whether delivered via the public cloud, an on-prem consumption-based model, or even a hyper-scale data center provider like Equinix, and its Equnix Metal offerings.
Matt & Steve are joined by an expert in this field, Zac Smith. Zac is the co-founder of Packet, and the current head of Edge and Metal Infrastructure at Equinix.
There isn't much talk about Equinix -- this conversation quickly focuses on how data center architecture is evolving, embracing various alternate consumption models. Cloud, hosted, consuption-based, and other emergent models are supplementing and, in many cases, replacing traditional on-prem infrastructure.
This is one you don't want to miss.
00:00 Fade In.
01:00 Introducing Zac Smith
02:00 Zac's different thinking about the data center world and the founding of Packet
05:37 Shifting, often generational, views of data center and workload management
07:15 It's all about the workload: why servers may not ever fully commodtize
09:35 Where do providers like Equinix fit in data center architecture?
16:09 The Rise of ARM-based processors in the data center
20:08 What IT customers are choosing the ARM path, and why?
24:05 Open compute initiatives, and the Linux Foundation's Open19 Project
31:30 The Sustainabilty Impact
35:55 Consumption-based infrastructure's place in data center architecture
39:08 Fade to black.
Special Guest: Zac Smith.
