Thought Leader | Technology Consultant

ZKast

ZKast, is a thought leadership series where Zeus Kerravala interviews thought leaders from the technology community. To be a guest on ZKast, please contact Zeus Kerravala at zeus@zkresearch.com

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I recently sat down with I'm here with DD Dasgupta, VP of Product Marketing at Equinix, to dive deep into the unique architectural demands of Artificial Intelligence. 🧠💡AI is not like any other workload we've ever seen. It’s inherently multi-stage (training, fine-tuning, inferencing) and multi-location, forcing every company to completely rethink its infrastructure.The AI Architecture RevolutionThe old approach of centralizing data in one cloud is dead. Between crushing egress costs and rapidly evolving data residency/digital sovereignty laws (172 global privacy laws and growing!), the new mandate is clear: move the AI model to the data, not the data to the model.DD explains that AI workloads must run in specific locations to perform:Training: Where compute (GPUs) is abundant.Fine-Tuning: Often behind the corporate firewall for security.Inferencing: At the edge, where the data is being generated, for low latency.Equinix's Two Big AnnouncementsEquinix is stepping up to solve this interconnection challenge with a two-part strategy:Distributed AI Architecture: An architectural approach to unify these fragmented AI stages across a global footprint of 270+ data centers.Fabric Intelligence: A powerful new module for Equinix Fabric that monitors AI traffic 24/7 and makes dynamic routing decisions in real-time. This is essential for controlling what data leaves a sovereign border and for maintaining digital sovereignty.Ecosystem is EverythingNo single vendor can deliver the full AI stack. Equinix’s neutrality is key, offering a massive ecosystem of partners:Hyperscalers (AWS, Google, Azure).Neo Clouds (like Groq, Lambda, CoreWeave) for specialized GPU services.AI Hardware (NVIDIA, @Dell, @HPE ) for turnkey solutions like Equinix Private AI with @NVIDIA DGX.With over 250 AI partners in their data centers, Equinix provides the choice and flexibility to fast-track your AI journey.Advice for the IT ProIf your CEO is pushing for an AI strategy, DD's advice is to start with a full infrastructure assessment to understand your AI maturity. Don't risk locking your company (or your job!) into a rigid, non-compliant architecture.Watch the full interview for the complete breakdown and details on how to get started!#AI #DistributedAI #Equinix #FabricIntelligence #DigitalSovereignty #DataSovereignty #ITInfrastructure #EdgeComputing #HybridCloud #NVIDIA #GenerativeAI #TechTrends #ZKResearch @Equinix

Zeus Kerravala 21.4K

2025 ZKast #154 - Equinix's Distributed AI Strategy: Why You Must Move the Model to the Data

Zeus Kerravala 13 hours ago

2025 ZKast #154 - Equinix's Distributed AI Strategy: Why You Must Move the Model to the Data

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2025 ZKast #154 - Equinix's Distributed AI Strategy: Why You Must Move the Model to the Data

Zeus Kerravala 4.4K views 13 hours ago

2025 ZKast #153 - What's New In CX Episode 7 with Juanita Coley - WebexOne, Zoomtopia, and Five9

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2025 ZKast #153 - What's New In CX Episode 7 with Juanita Coley - WebexOne, Zoomtopia, and Five9

Zeus Kerravala 4.9K views 16 hours ago

Revolutionizing Farming with AI: Meet the Founder of Farmer Lifeline TechnologiesJoin Zeus Kerravala from ZK Research as he interviews Esther Kamami, the inspiring founder of Farmer Lifeline Technologies and this year's Cisco Youth Leadership Award winner!Esther grew up seeing her farming community in Kenya lose nearly half their crops to pests and diseases every season. She realized the devastating impact of traditional methods—relying on guesswork, unaffordable drones ($100/hr), and slow, expensive lab tests ($60/test).Her solution? #AI-enabled cameras mounted on farms that provide 24/7 surveillance. Using her background in Computer Science and Data Science, Esther and her team developed a model that identifies pests and diseases in real-time. Farmers receive a simple, timely SMS alert in their local language detailing the problem and recommending a solution.This ingenious technology is not just about saving crops; it's about combating global food insecurity and empowering women, who make up over 50% of the agricultural labor force but lack access to basic services. Farmer Lifeline is already achieving its mission for just $3 per month per farmer.Learn how this small team is using the Cisco Youth Leadership Award grant to scale their one-camera solution from serving 4−5 farmers up to 30 farmers and how they plan to reach 1 million smallholder farmers by 2030.In This Interview:The Problem: Why 47% of food produced in Africa is lost pre-harvest.The Solution: How AI and simple SMS technology solve the detection gap.The Impact: Empowering women farmers and creating enough food to feed an additional 1.2 billion people annually.The Tech: Building proprietary AI models and integrating with a global pest database for universal applicability.The Future: How the Cisco award supports R&D to increase camera range and scale across East Africa and the Global South.Visit Farmer Lifeline Technologies: www.farmerlifeline.co.keTo learn more about Global Citizen: https://www.globalcitizen.org/Information on Cisco's participation in Global Citizen: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/partners/cisco/#Agriculture #FoodSecurity #CiscoYouthAward #FarmerLifelineTechnologies #YouthLeadership #TechForGood #GlobalCitizen #SmallholderFarmers #AgriTech #MachineLearning #Innovation #SustainableFarming

2025 ZKast #152 - Revolutionizing Farming with AI: Meet the Founder of Farmer Lifeline Technologies

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2025 ZKast #152 - Revolutionizing Farming with AI: Meet the Founder of Farmer Lifeline Technologies

Zeus Kerravala 8.4K views October 8, 2025 10:47 pm

2025 ZKast #151 - Zscaler on the 'Trust Gap,' Zero Trust Everywhere, & Securing GenAI at ZenithLive

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2025 ZKast #151 - Zscaler on the 'Trust Gap,' Zero Trust Everywhere, & Securing GenAI at ZenithLive

Zeus Kerravala 19.6K views October 3, 2025 6:18 am

2025 ZKast #150 AI Everywhere at Ryder Cup: An Inside Look at the First AI-Enabled Tournament ⛳🤖

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2025 ZKast #150 AI Everywhere at Ryder Cup: An Inside Look at the First AI-Enabled Tournament ⛳🤖

Zeus Kerravala views October 2, 2025 12:13 pm

2025 ZKast #149 with Gilad Shainer of NVIDIA on the role and evolution of the network for AI

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2025 ZKast #149 with Gilad Shainer of NVIDIA on the role and evolution of the network for AI

Zeus Kerravala 10.9K views September 29, 2025 11:34 am

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Real-Time, Recorded

The Heard is a weekly talk/chat format where Dave Michels and Zeus Kerravala discuss current topics in enterprise communications.

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Dave and Zeus discuss NICE Interactions and Five9.

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RealTime Recorded: CCaaS June

Real-Time, Recorded June 28, 2024 10:57 pm

RealTime Recorded: CCaaS June

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RealTime Recorded: CCaaS June

Real-Time, Recorded 18 views June 28, 2024 10:57 pm

Dave and Zeus provide updates on 5 recent events: #MWC24, #8x8AnalystSummit, #RingCentralAnalystSummit, #HPAmplify, #Five9AnalystSummit.00:00 Intro00:55 MWC4:55 RingCentral Summit7:40 8x8 Summit13:25 HP Amplify.18:44 Five9 Analyst Summit25:25 EC24 Upcoming27:55 NVidia and AI

Real TIme Recorded Q124 Events

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Real TIme Recorded Q124 Events

Real-Time, Recorded 2.1K views March 19, 2024 7:14 am

Dave and Zeus discuss recent earnings reports in enterprise comms.

Real-Time, Recorded Earnings Reports

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Real-Time, Recorded Earnings Reports

Real-Time, Recorded 41 views February 24, 2024 2:57 am

Real-Time, Recorded - AI

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Real-Time, Recorded - AI

Real-Time, Recorded 131 views January 3, 2024 11:34 pm

Real-Time, Recorded! Zoomtopia 2023

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Real-Time, Recorded! Zoomtopia 2023

Real-Time, Recorded 50 views October 4, 2023 10:42 pm

Dave and Zeus discuss the Zoom Analyst event #ZoomPerspective23.

Real-Time, Recorded Zoom Perspectives 23

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Real-Time, Recorded Zoom Perspectives 23

Real-Time, Recorded 26 views August 8, 2023 6:02 am

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ZKast

2025 ZKast #154 - Equinix's Distributed AI Strategy: Why You Must Move the Model to the Data

Real-Time, Recorded

RealTime Recorded: CCaaS June