The Modern Software Podcast: From Apple iPad Pro to What’s Driving the Great Enterprise Cloud Migration

I couldn’t be more excited to launch New Relic’s brand-new podcast series: The Modern Software Podcast. Monthly to begin with, and more often as we ramp up, our podcast is designed to give everyone interested in modern software and software analytics a way to hear directly from New Relic and outside experts about the topics we think you care about most, from application monitoring to software analytics and cloud computing, from development methodologies to programming languages and more.

For each episode I will be joined by special guests and co-hosts. In this premiere episode I’m thrilled to welcome co-host Tori Wieldt, New Relic developer evangelist; Todd Etchieson, our vice president of product management, Analytics; and “cloud computing visionary” David Linthicum, currently senior vice president of Cloud Technology Partners; for a lively discussion about recent news and trends, ripped from the pages of our This Week in Modern Software (TWiMS) blog series.

We focus on Apple’s big reveal earlier this month, and how the company’s giant new iPad Pro could alter the balance of Web and mobile development. We also address key topics like cross-platform cloud management and cloud security in the wake of well-publicized online breaches (that aren’t really cloud related).

The second half of our show features an informative one-on-one discussion with New Relic Senior Director of Solutions Marketing—and “recovering industry analyst”—Abner Germanow about the implications of the “great cloud migration.” (More on that below.)

Listen to the entire podcast here or follow on SoundCloud, and be sure to read on for some additional thoughts based on my discussion with Abner:

New Relic was the host of the attached forum presented in the embedded podcast. However, the content and views expressed are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of New Relic. By hosting the podcast, New Relic does not necessarily adopt, guarantee, approve or endorse the information, views or products referenced therein.

Enterprise Cloud Migration

Perhaps the most interesting part of my discussion with Abner centers around what’s really behind the migration of enterprises to the cloud. As Abner explains, the cloud is not just about gaining new efficiencies or agility in performing traditional back-office IT tasks, it’s ultimately about enabling enterprises to offer their customers compelling digital experiences.

Abner Germanow

That’s a much more ambitious and important goal—it’s also one that’s not optional. We discuss the idea that as new digital native disruptors enter more and more markets, in order to survive and thrive, enterprises must be able to deliver the competitive digital experiences their customers now expect. As Abner says, enterprises are asking, “Why don’t we have something that can touch these various devices? Why don’t we have something that can meet people where they are? How come we don’t know who is walking into our stores?”

Further, we talk about how we think the cloud—and associated practices such as agile development, DevOps, and continuous deployment—are the basic components to succeeding in this huge transformation. The cloud can not only power these new experiences, but it can also make it possible to cut costs on existing back-office tasks to help enable development of the new, new things. It’s about as clear a win-win as anyone could imagine.

There’s lots more in our discussion, so please have a listen.

Fredric Paul and Tori Wieldt, your co-hosts for our inaugural episode of The Modern Software Podcast.

Don’t Miss The New Stack @ Scale

Finally, if you enjoyed The Modern Software Podcast, be sure to also listen to The New Stack @ Scale, produced by The New Stack and sponsored by New Relic. Co-hosted by The New Stack founder and editor-in-chief Alex Williams and myself, The New Stack @ Scale podcast is intended to address developing and managing dynamic services and systems in the new world of scaled-out architectures. You can listen to the first episode here, in which Alex and I—along with our guests the inimitable Bryan Cantrill, CTO of Joyent, and the thoughtful Patrick Reilly, CEO of Kismatic—discuss the paradigm shift behind “cloud native” computing.