The ITPro Podcast

Digital sovereignty is an issue that has been bubbling away in the background of IT for some time but doesn’t often see the limelight. In this episode of the ITPro Podcast, we’ve decided to change that.

From sovereign clouds to AI, Jane McCallion and Ross Kelly dig into what digital sovereignty is, how it’s being used, and its relationship with AI, cloud, and national data regulations.

Highlights

“The World Economic Forum des...

In a recent episode of the podcast, we discussed the potential for AI to actually replace developer jobs. This is a complicated issue, as one has to consider both the accuracy of outputs – how well LLMs can code – as well as what execs think it can do.

Well, AWS CEO Matt Garman has weighed in this month, calling replacing devs with AI “the dumbest thing” he’s ever heard.

Elsewhere in August, Cisco has engaged in a round of layoffs, d...

This episode was first published on 13/10/23.

The role of chief information security officer is among the most important in any firm. CISOs shoulder a heavy burden, with responsibility for protecting their company’s data, infrastructure, and associated assets.

As the tech stack has grown, so too has the pressure on those in the role. CISOs have to shepherd technologies including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and edge com...

Every now and then, international law enforcement announces a stunning takedown of a cyber crime group.

Typically realized in the form of website shutdowns, in which the National Crime Agency logo is emblazoned across the dark web site of would-be hackers, these are powerful PR moves to show that cyber crime doesn’t always pay – and the seriousness with which law enforcement approaches these crimes.

But the truth is, hackers continue...

For years, we humanities graduates have been told variations of the following message: you’re better off learning to code, because we’ll always need developers but writers will go the way of the dodo.

But advances in AI since 2022 have put this to the test. While human writers are no doubt being forced to compete with AI-written content, developers are also being asked to outsource more and more of their work to large language model...

As the old saying goes, it never rains but it pours. And, seeing how we’re based in the UK, it would be fitting that the month this most accurately described in 2025 so far has been July.

In the past four weeks, two almighty security stories have broken, with far-reaching implications for the tech sector and beyond. First, we learned that the China-backed hacking group Salt Typhoon had critically breached the US National Guard for m...

Ransomware payments could soon be a thing of the past in the UK – at least that’s the hope of new controls and mandatory reporting requirements to prevent ransomware from inflicting damage on UK businesses.

Under government proposals, public bodies and operators of critical national infrastructure would be banned from paying up when they’re hit by ransomware – and other businesses would have to be transparent when they decide to cou...

Cyber attacks can feel a layer detached from the real world. Yes, businesses frequently see IP stolen, get frozen out of systems, or have data wiped by malicious actors. But if you haven’t got your finger on the pulse, cyber attacks can also fail to register in your day to day.

But there are instances where cyber attacks come crashing into the lives of everyday people, and become impossible to ignore: when attackers go after critica...

As organizations race to train more and more advanced AI models, as well as deploy existing models at scale, an enormous amount of time and money is being invested in expanding AI infrastructure.

All around the world, data centers are becoming more and more important, bringing data and computing power together to get the most out of AI workloads.

But this is far from a simple process. Without the right data center architecture, assem...

The level to which firms are already using AI varies according to technological maturity, strategic focus, and on an industry by industry basis.

But what’s clear is that from the smallest to the largest businesses, the landscape is already shifting. We’ve spoken about AI agents on the podcast before – the promise of autonomous AI activity – but it’s only now that businesses are beginning to put more faith in these tools.

How is AI al...

This episode was first broadcast on 20 September 2024.

When people talk about the environmental impacts of data centers, normally the discussion focuses on energy usage. It’s something we’ve talked about at several points this year already, with reference to growing efforts to house AI workloads in green data centers that run on renewable energy to reduce their carbon impact.

But while we can generate nearly limitless amounts of gree...

If you’re looking to adopt AI right now, you’ll likely have heard the term ‘AI agents’. These systems can complete complex tasks autonomously, without user input.

But no doubt some of the audience will be thinking: “haven’t we heard this before?” Indeed, robotic process automation and software robots have been available since the turn of the century, completing multi-step, repetitive tasks for businesses without human oversight.

How ...

AI reasoning models have emerged in the past year as a beacon of hope for large language models (LLMs), with AI developers such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic selling them as the go-to solution for solving the most complex business problems. 

However, a new research paper by Apple has cast significant doubts on the efficacy of reasoning models, going as far as to suggest that when a problem is too complex, they simply give up...

Any modern enterprise generates reams of data, which can be difficult to correctly store, process, and use without the right approach.

This has become even more important in the face of AI. Before any leader can begin implementing AI across their workflow, they must first ensure they’ve prepared data at the right scale – and across its entire lifecycle.

Data integration, in which data from across a business is combined into a single ...

In the fast-changing world of cybersecurity, IT leaders have to keep up with evolving threats and new technologies to stay ahead of attackers.

With nation states lending a hand to threat groups with more pointed aims than ever before, alongside the double-edged sword of greater AI adoption in cybersecurity, there’s never been a more worrying – and exciting – time to specialize in the field.

This episode was recorded live at RSAC conf...

We’re past the peak cloud hype of the 2010s and now well into the era of cloud maturity. But even as businesses have come to terms with multi-cloud and hybrid cloud models, new considerations have arisen, such as the growing push for cloud sovereignty and regional data center demand.

AI has put additional pressure on firms to figure out exactly what they’re running in the cloud – as agentic AI drives organizations to consider ‘alway...

May has been a busy month for news in the IT world, with cyber attacks hitting retailers across the UK and Microsoft laying off over 800 developers.

In this episode of the ITPro Podcast, Jane is joined by news and analysis editor Ross Kelly to discuss three of the most significant news stories of the past month and wish Java a happy 30th birthday.

Highlights

“A significant portion of [the redundancies] are in Washington state...

Dell Technologies World has just come to a close in Las Vegas and there is no doubt that the company is – in its own words “all in on AI”. From laptops to services, data center infrastructure and partnerships, everything is being led by AI.

What this means in practice for IT decision makers and business leaders can sometimes be hard to divine, however. This week, Jane sits down with John Roese, chief technology officer and chief AI ...