The UPSTACK Podcast

The UPSTACK Podcast image

The UPSTACK Podcast is an ever-evolving conversation on all things digital infrastructure, giving CTOs, CIOs, CISOs and other tech leaders “food for thought” as they push to stay ahead of the technology curve. Greg Moss, UPSTACK Partner and Managing Director, invites guests to talk candidly about the latest technology infrastructure topics. Co-hosted by SVP of Marketing, Alex Cole, this is sure to be a podcast worth listening to.

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Episodes

The Role of Sustainability in IT – Zachary Smith & Jacob Smith

Co-hosts Greg Moss and Alex Cole are joined by Zach and Jacob Smith to discuss how businesses can find cost-efficient and sustainable solutions. Zach and Jacob Smith are the co-founders of the digital infrastructure company Packet. After the company was acquired by Equinix in 2020, Jacob helped integrate and scale what became Equinix Metal and led various aspects of GTM strategy and marketing, focusing primarily on customer success, product-led growth, startups, developers, and open source. Zach served as the Head of Edge Infrastructure at Equinix. He’s also spent the last five years at the Open19 Foundation (https://open19.org) leading innovation in data center hardware and finding sustainability standards for the industry.

2 Nov 2023 · 68 minutes

Powering AI Solutions – Dr. Jonathan Koomey, President of Koomey Analytics

In episode 04 of the UPSTACK Podcast, co-hosts Greg Moss and Alex Cole are joined by Dr. Jonathan Koomey, an expert on the energy and environmental effects of information technology, to discuss the current power demands behind Artificial Intelligence. They break down the past hype cycles of the dot-com bubble, how the tech industry has adapted to large scale energy demands, and how the race for power behind AI might play out. Dr. Koomey holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, and an A.B. in History and Science from Harvard University. He is the author or coauthor of more than 200 articles and reports and ten books, including Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving and Solving Climate Change: A Guide for Learners and Leaders.

17 Aug 2023 · 42 minutes

Show Links
Koomey, Jonathan, and Eric Masanet. 2021. “Does not compute: Avoiding pitfalls assessing the Internet’s energy and carbon impacts.” Joule. vol. 5, no. 7. June 24. pp. 1625-1628. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2542435121002117]
Masanet, Eric, Arman Shehabi, Nuoa Lei, Sarah Smith, and Jonathan Koomey. 2020. “Recalibrating global data center energy-use estimates.” Science. vol. 367, no. 6481. Feb 28. pp. 984. [http://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6481/984.abstract]
Koomey, Jonathan, and Ian Monroe. 2022. Solving climate change: A guide for learners and leaders. Bristol, UK: IOP Publishing. [http://www.solveclimate.org]
Koomey, Jonathan. 2017. Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving. 3rd ed. El Dorado Hills, CA: Analytics Press. [http://amzn.to/2wY1m7x]
Koomey, Jonathan. 2019. Estimating Bitcoin Electricity Use: A Beginner’s Guide. Washington, DC: Coin Center. May 7. [https://coincenter.org/entry/bitcoin-electricity]
Creutzig, Felix, Daron Acemoglu, Xuemei Bai, Paul N. Edwards, Marie Josefine Hintz, Lynn H. Kaack, Siir Kilkis, Stefanie Kunkel, Amy Luers, Nikola Milojevic-Dupont, Dave Rejeski, Jürgen Renn, David Rolnick, Christoph Rosol, Daniela Russ, Thomas Turnbull, Elena Verdolini, Felix Wagner, Charlie Wilson, Aicha Zekar, and Marius Zumwald. 2022. “Digitalization and the Anthropocene.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources. vol. 47, no. 1. pp. 479-509. [https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-environ-120920-100056]
Kaack, Lynn H., Priya L. Donti, Emma Strubell, George Kamiya, Felix Creutzig, and David Rolnick. 2022. “Aligning artificial intelligence with climate change mitigation.” Nature Climate Change. vol. 12, no. 6. 2022/06/01. pp. 518-527. [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-022-01377-7]
IEA. 2017. Digitalization and Energy. Paris, France: International Energy Agency. November 5. [https://www.iea.org/digital/]

Strategic Technology Sourcing – John Marchisin, Managing Director at AArete

Co-hosts Greg Moss and Alex Cole sit down with John Marchisin, of the global management consulting firm, AArete, to chat about strategic technology sourcing and procurement in Episode 03 of The UPSTACK Podcast. They talk about the cost drivers of Information Technology, why technology leaders are under the microscope with IT spending, and what questions they should ask themselves about their technology stack. Our special guest, John Marchisin is an innovator and catalyst for change with over 30 years of experience in assisting clients in various industries, including higher education and healthcare. He has helped these clients conceive and implement strategic decisions that change the concept of their business to adapt to emerging challenges, regulatory changes, and market demands. John has worked with both public and private universities, academic medical centers, large physician organizations, and specialty hospitals to develop and implement strategic plans, enhance their digital capabilities, and improve their profitability.

20 Apr 2023 · 46 minutes

Cybersecurity – Ariel Pisetzky, VP of IT & Cyber at Taboola

In our second episode, co-hosts Alex Cole and Greg Moss are speaking to Ariel Pisetzky about cybersecurity. They discuss the best strategies to reduce risk at your weakest link, the importance of backups being immutable, and how you can stay on top of cybersecurity in the world of innovation. They even touch on pop culture references from Ghost Busters to the origin story of cybersecurity in the 1984 movie “War Games.” For the past 25 years, Ariel Pisetzky has been working in all aspects of the IT world. Managing AS1680 (one of the first ISPs networks in the world), building data centers pre-cloud era, running all-cloud native operations and back to hybrid solutions. Today, Ariel leads a group of IT professionals that work to implement state-of-the-art solutions, from Open Source to home grown to traditional enterprise software, across Taboola’s global infrastructure. Ariel has held multiple positions as CIO and CISO for web-facing operations from startups to publicly traded companies. Ariel also worked as a cyber consultant for government agencies and cyber defense sector.

19 Jan 2023 · 30 minutes

The Power of Power – Kevin Sanders, Principal Consultant, Data Center Strategy, EYP Mission Critical Facilities

On this episode co-hosts Alex Cole and Greg Moss are joined by Kevin Sanders, Principal Consultant, Data Center Strategy. Kevin has over 35 years of experience in the planning, design, implementation and management of data centers, information systems and networks/communications systems. As a consultant for the past 25 years, Kevin has worked with many colleges and research universities, healthcare, pharmaceutical and financial institutions, including from the Fortune 100 list. Kevin is responsible for all client strategic data center consulting work for EYP Mission Critical Facilities. Kevin spearheaded the use of both financial and technical architecture models to allow clients to understand the “cost timeline” for infrastructure, technology and organizational options to assist CIO’s / CTO’s / and CFO’s in the control and predictability of their Hybrid IT and Data Center budgets.

27 Oct 2022 · 34 minutes