Edge Ready: Cisco, AI, and the Next Network Wave

The Godfather of AI Ready Data Centers

Finding a gigawatt gets headlines, but securing a single megawatt can feel nearly impossible. In this episode of Uplink, Michael Reid sits down with Tony Rossabi, Founder & CEO of OCOLO and one of the industry's most experienced operators, investors, and builders of digital infrastructure. As AI drives unprecedented demand for compute, data centers have become the critical foundation of the modern economy. But delivering new capacity isn't as simple as building more facilities. Power availability, cooling requirements, permitting challenges, supply chain constraints, and accelerating deployment timelines are reshaping the industry from the ground up. Tony shares his perspective on what has changed since the AI boom began, why power has become the industry's most valuable commodity, and how liquid cooling is forcing a fundamental shift in data center design. He also explains why retrofitting existing facilities is emerging as a major opportunity and why operators must balance speed with long-term reliability. The conversation explores: • Why power is now the defining factor in data center development  • The realities of liquid cooling adoption and AI infrastructure readiness  • How chip innovation is moving faster than traditional construction cycles  • The growing opportunity in retrofitting existing facilities  • What it takes to secure powered land and bring new capacity online  • Permitting, community engagement, and infrastructure planning challenges  • Why "AI bubble" concerns may be missing the bigger picture  • The multiple demand drivers fueling long-term digital infrastructure growth Whether you're building, operating, investing in, or relying on digital infrastructure, this episode offers an inside look at the forces shaping the next generation of AI-ready data centers. 🚀 Uplink explores the future of connectivity, cloud, and AI with the people shaping it. Hosted by Michael Reid. 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.uplinkpod.com/   📺 Watch on YouTube: https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube   🔗 Learn more about Megaport: https://www.megaport.com/

Storage For The AI Tidal Wave

AI doesn’t slow down because we run out of ideas. It slows down when the data can’t move fast enough, the racks can’t get enough power, and the infrastructure stack can’t evolve quickly enough to keep up with GPU-scale reality. In this episode of Uplink, Michael Reid sits down with Renen Hallak, Founder and CEO of VAST Data, to unpack the infrastructure challenges shaping the next era of AI. Renen shares the long arc behind what looks like “overnight success,” and why he believed early on that AI would fundamentally change the requirements for storage and data platforms. The conversation explores how software-defined storage eliminates old trade-offs between performance and capacity, why decoupling software from hardware creates leverage during supply shortages, and what efficiency really means when supporting modern AI training and inference workloads. They also dive into the rise of neoclouds, the changing competitive landscape around hyperscalers, and why AI infrastructure is being rebuilt layer by layer. Finally, the episode looks ahead to agentic AI, where thousands of specialized agents behave more like artificial workers that require orchestration, observability, and governance at scale. Join a conversation about AI infrastructure, cloud evolution, storage architecture, and the next bottlenecks shaping the future of compute. 🚀 Uplink explores the future of connectivity, cloud, and AI with the people shaping it. Hosted by Michael Reid. 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.uplinkpod.com/ [https://www.uplinkpod.com/]  📺 Watch on YouTube: https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube [https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube]  🔗 Learn more about Megaport: https://www.megaport.com/ [https://www.megaport.com/]

Edge Ready: Cisco, AI, and the Next Network Wave

What if the real AI boom hasn’t started yet? Brink Sanders, SVP of Global Networking Sales at Cisco, joins us to map the shift from GPU-packed data centers to edge networks where AI operators, robots, and latency-sensitive apps will live, and why simplification is now the most valuable feature in enterprise networking. We dig into the unification of Meraki and Catalyst with a single license model, how G2’s product leadership is speeding innovation and slashing complexity, and why customers want hybrid choice without penalty: cloud where possible, on‑prem where required, and a smooth path between them. We get candid about the next bottlenecks – not model size, but campus and branch design. As inference grows and agentic workflows proliferate, east‑west traffic inside sites surges, and the security model must evolve beyond user-only thinking. Brink lays out how segmentation, identity, and observability adapt when AI agents become first-class actors. He also shares Cisco’s AI Canvas approach to cross-domain operations, plus a peek at a deep networking model trained on Cisco’s knowledge to assist CCIE‑level operations. If you’re choosing between platforms, clouds, and models while trying to keep options open, this conversation offers a pragmatic path forward. 🚀 Uplink explores the future of connectivity, cloud, and AI with the people shaping it. Hosted by Michael Reid. 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.uplinkpod.com/ [https://www.uplinkpod.com/] 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube [https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube] 🔗 Learn more about Megaport: https://www.megaport.com/ [https://www.megaport.com/]

Breaking the Egress Trap: Redefining Cloud Economics

What if cloud storage were fast, predictable, and free of egress surprises? In this episode of Uplink, Wasabi CEO & Co-Founder David Friend joins host Michael Reid to break down how a clean architecture and a simple, one-price model reshaped the economics of cloud storage – especially for AI-driven workloads. David shares why S3 compatibility was essential, how software-driven durability achieves eleven nines without late-night rebuilds, and how Wasabi scaled from a bold prototype to selling a petabyte every few hours. We explore hidden cost traps like egress and API fees, the rise of SSDs over HDDs, and the demands of next-gen AI applications. He also walks through sovereignty and compliance options—from replication strategies to fully managed, isolated deployments—and shares founder stories spanning ARP synthesizers, trend-spotting apps, and decades of building with the same engineering team. 🚀 Uplink explores the future of connectivity, cloud, and AI with the people shaping it. Hosted by Michael Reid. 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.uplinkpod.com/ [https://www.uplinkpod.com/] 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube [https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube] 🔗 Learn more about Megaport: https://www.megaport.com/ [https://www.megaport.com/]

Reinventing the Internet: SCION and the Future of Connectivity

The internet’s greatest strength—connecting everything to everything—has become its biggest risk for industries that can’t afford downtime or hijacks. In this episode of Uplink, we sit down with Martin Bosshardt, CEO of Anapaya, to explore how the SCION protocol brings private-network control to the public internet – without replacing BGP. Martin unpacks how this architecture enables multiple trusted paths, keeps routing invisible to attackers, and confines data flows within national boundaries, all while improving performance and resilience. From banking to healthcare, he shares real-world examples of how SCION protects critical infrastructure and enables digital sovereignty in an increasingly hostile landscape. If you care about securing critical systems, reducing attack surfaces, and building reliable networks for AI-era workloads, this episode is for you. 🚀 Uplink explores the future of connectivity, cloud, and AI with the people shaping it. Hosted by Michael Reid. 🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts: https://www.uplinkpod.com/ [https://www.uplinkpod.com/] 📺 Watch on YouTube: https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube [https://mp1.tech/uplink-on-youtube] 🔗 Learn more about Megaport: https://www.megaport.com/ [https://www.megaport.com/]