

Unexplored Territory
Duncan Epping
The Unexplored Territory Podcast takes you deep into the world of datacenters and cloud (native) tech, with a special spotlight on VMware, Broadcom, and everything happening in the ecosystem. Hosted by Duncan Epping, blogger at Yellow-Bricks.com, and co-author of the vSphere Clustering and vSAN Deep Dive books! Each episode brings on top industry experts to unpack the latest trends, share real-world insights, and talk about what’s next in the world of enterprise IT.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 28, 2024 • 39min
#073 - What was announced for vSAN in the last month? Featuring Pete Koehler!
In episode 073 Duncan and Pete discuss various updates and changes related to vSAN, including ReadyNode configurations, licensing, vSAN Max, capacity reporting, and compression ratios. They highlight the improvements in compression ratios with vSAN ESA, which can result in significant space efficiency gains. They also discuss the use cases for vSAN Max and vSAN HCI, as well as the flexibility in making changes to ReadyNode configurations. Overall, they emphasize the ongoing development and ex...

Apr 14, 2024 • 48min
#072 - Chris Gully and the rise of Small Language Models
SummaryChris Gully discusses his current role in the new Broadcom organization and highlights of his career. He emphasizes the importance of staying relevant in the technology industry and the value of working with cool and smart people. The conversation then shifts to the topic of small language models (SLMs) and their role in the landscape of gen AI applications. Gully explains that SLMs offer a more progressive approach to working with large language models (LLMs) and enable more efficient...

Apr 1, 2024 • 52min
#071 - Developer Experience & Spring with DaShaun Carter
In this new episode of the Unexplored Territory Podcast, DaShaun Carter, a Spring Developer Advocate at VMware Tanzu and Broadcom, discusses his career highlights, his home lab setup, and his passion for Spring. He explains the concept of developer experience and how Spring and Tanzu contribute to it. DaShaun also highlights the innovations in Spring, such as AOT processing and native images, and their impact on use cases. He discusses the relationship between the open source aspect of Spring...

Mar 18, 2024 • 35min
#070 - vSAN performance with Patryk Wolsza (Intel)
In episode 070, we spoke with Patryk Wolsza about vSAN performance. Patryk wrote some great whitepapers on the topic of vSAN OSA vs ESA, vSAN on AMD vs vSAN on Intel, and vSAN with RDMA and 100GbE. In this episode, we discuss the benefits of ESA, Intel CPUs, and RDMA/100GbE.Some links to topics discussed:vSAN and RDMA/100GbEHow Server Consolidation with VMware vSAN 8 Boosts Performance by more than 7.4x!VMware vSAN and 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors Outpace AMD GenoaBoost Performanc...

Mar 4, 2024 • 48min
#069 - AI on CPUs with Earl Ruby
In episode 69, we spoke with Earl Ruby on running AI and ML workloads on CPUs. Earl is an R&D engineer at VMware by Broadcom focusing on AI/ML accelerators. He provides us with an overview of the do's and don't of successful deployments of AI-enabled applications on CPUs.Some links to topics discussed:earlruby.org/AI without GPUs: Accessing Sapphire Rapids AMX instructions on vSphereEarl Ruby on LinkedinFollow us on X for updates and news about upcoming episodes: https://x.com/UnexploredP...

Feb 19, 2024 • 37min
#068 - Diving into the VMC on AWS announcements with Niels Hagoort
In episode 067, we invited Niels Hagoort back to the show to talk about the latest VMC on AWS announcements.Topics we discussed:The new M7i instance, including its use cases and specsThe Cloud Management Add-on for VMC on AWS and how Aria can add valueThe differences between the M7i instance and the other instance types, and the deployment considerations.More about these announcements can be found here:https://vmc.techzone.vmware.com/closer-look-m7i-instance-vmware-cloud-awsFollow us on X for...

Feb 5, 2024 • 44min
#067 - Securing the world's data with Rubrik featuring Jerry Rijnbeek
In episode 067, we spoke with Jerry Rijnbeek on the topic of Rubrik, and how Rubrik enables customers to secure their data against natural disasters as well as ransomware, but more importantly, also helps customers to develop a data security posture.Follow us on X for updates and news about upcoming episodes: https://x.com/UnexploredPod.Last but not least, make sure to hit that subscribe button and share the episode with your friends and colleagues!Disclaimer: The thoughts and opinions shared...

Jan 22, 2024 • 50min
#066 - Data Platforms for AI/ML workload with Vaughn Stewart
In episode 66, we spoke with Vaughn Stewart on data platforms for AI and ML workloads. Vaughn is the VP of Systems Engineering at VAST Data. He provides us with an overview of the needs and requirements of a data platform for successful deployments of AI-enabled applications.Some links to topics discussed:VAST Data PlatformVAST Data DASE architecture VAST DatabaseVAST Data Similarity-Based Data ReductionFollow us on X for updates and news about upcoming episodes: https://x.com/Unexplored...

Jan 8, 2024 • 46min
#065 - Oracle Cloud VMware Solution update featuring Jatin Purohit!
In episode 65 we spoke with Jatin Purohit on the topic of Oracle Cloud VMware Solution. Jatin is the Senior Technical Marketing Architect at VMware by Broadcom for this solution and provides us an overview of what the benefits are of the solution and what was introduced since episode 23 where we discussed OCVS with Richard Garsthagen.Some links to topics discussed:Jatin's Explore session - https://www.vmware.com/explore/video-library/video-landing.html?sessionid=1682515883297001PzAV&video...

Dec 25, 2023 • 54min
#064 - Homelabs for AI featuring William Lam
William Lam, expert in home labs and running AI workloads, discusses the different hardware options for home labs, the value of having a home lab for career progression and skill development, the concept of private AI and its potential applications, the use of pre-trained models and fine-tuning in AI, and the relevance of learning Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and related technologies for running ML and AIML applications.