The Tech That Connects Us: Recent Episodes
neuco
A podcast dedicated to the stories of leaders in the technologies industries that bring us closer together, specifically Content & Media, Satellite & NewSpace, Connectivity, and Cyber Security.
Joining us on the last (for now) episode of The Tech That Connects Us is John Spiegel, CTO at Axis Security.
A keen cyclist who changed gear from leading the rollout of Cloud infrastructure role at Columbia Sportwear, to kicking the A out of SASE as Field CTO for SSE Platform vendor Axis Security.
Enjoy!
From soup dumplings in Sydney, the shift from linear to non-linear and becoming indispensable, in this episode we discussed the following topics, along with how Diversity & Inclusion has drastically changed since Mark’s early days in the industry, but also how we still have a long way to go.
Enjoy!
From stargazing in Kenya to living in Silicon Valley as ViaSatellite’s Satellite Executive of the Year, it’s fair to say that this week’s guest has had a pretty interesting history.
We are joined this week by Mynaric’s Tina Ghataore, Chief Commercial Officer and executive extraordinaire, to discuss the current state of the industry, when, if ever, RF will be superseded by lasers and get answers to life’s toughest questions like what is the biggest sin one can commit at a spa.
Enjoy!
Joining us on the week's episode of The Tech That Connects Us is Serge Van Herck, CEO at EVS.
In this episode, we cover how Serge accidentally got into the satellite media space, why he has a special hat for piloting planes and boats, and we explore Serge’s past and look to the future of live production.
Enjoy!
FAST Networks, Cloud Transformation and Imposter syndrome, these are just some of the topics which we spoke about with Srini on Episode 73 of the Tech That Connects us.
We learnt about all things Amagi, from how It began, to hearing about how cloud technology has transformed throughout the industry and where Amagi plays its part, along with Srini’s thoughts on Diversity and inclusion within the business and how to build a culture of excellence.
Enjoy!
Have you ever built a police scanner in your bedroom? What about having a moment of clarity about the future of mobile connectivity as you walk across a bridge?
Well, this week’s guest has and a whole load more to boot. CEO of Rivada Networks, Declan Ganely, joins us this week to talk about the future of satellite connectivity, his thoughts on the current status of the connectivity industry, and how a radio failure led to the creation of, arguably, one of the most exciting projects happening in the market and much, much more.
A man who has made his name developing and deploying technology in the National Security community, Scott Herman has now moved into the commercial world where he is a passionate mentor to a wide variety of NewSpace start-ups.
He’s been on the Executive leadership team of 2 “new space unicorns” and Cognitive Space is an organisation he provides some really interesting insights on.
We cover a wide variety of detail with him, from his career to date, to what he sees and impacting our industry most!
This week we are joined by Christian Massmann, Managing Director and CSO of Qvest Group.
Digital transformation is a central theme which runs throughout this episode, discussing the challenges and the successes associated with this, as the industry pivots and moves towards software and cloud solutions. From watching Bridget Jones’s Diary with his Daughter, Football matches with his Son, to spending the weekends Road Biking, we discussed all things related to Christians prefect weekend.
We may be bias, but this is not one to miss!
What do you get if you cross a leading risk evangelist and a drummer? Security compliance guru Chris Strand! A super polite and humble Canadian… he’s been beating the drum (!) for a positive approach to Board-level risk management ever since founding Carbon Black’s successful Risk & Compliance division.
With 25 years of industry experience, Steve Good, a self-proclaimed education junkie and CCO of Ramon.Space speaks with us this week about all things satellite super computers.
This episode features some great insights about what the industry can learn from the past, as well as why Steve has always wanted to be in the space industry. Steve also gives us some exciting insights into the latest ventures of Ramon.Space, and the future capabilities of Space and Satellite Computing.
Space is hard, we need to make space accessible to all, and the future of SATCOM capabilities are the three key themes for this week’s episode.
This week we are joined by Wolfgang Zeller, Head of Video Centre of Excellence at Vodafone and video delivery industry veteran.
We talk about the ever-growing challenge of video delivery capacity, watch the TV while your car drives itself, how the video industry will never have a ‘steady-state’, and what he would pack in his bag for the perfect getaway.
Enjoy another episode of The Tech That Connects Us.
This week we’re joined by Jillian Kaplan, Head of Global Telecom Thought Leadership at Dell Technologies.
Jillian started her career as a Network Engineer before moving to Product and Marketing, hear all things 5G, Diversity & LTE Robots!
Enjoy this episode of The Tech That Connects Us!
In this episode, we're joined by Allan Delaurier CEO at Glookast.
We discussed summers in Valencia, emerging technologies and what it takes to be a great leader. Across Allan's career he has grown, empowered and lead successful teams and as he steps into his new CEO role, its something which he is going to continue to do!
This is a perfect listen whilst you're on the flight back from NAB!
From humble beginnings to VP Data Integration for Conviva, Krishnan Nair shares his take on the industry with us, as we discuss Smart TV, Streaming, Data and emerging technology.
Plus we take a dive into all things Tradeshow as we prepare to head out to Las Vegas for NAB 2022!
Enjoy our latest episode of The Tech That Connects Us.
This week is a very special week for The Tech That Connects Us as we are joined by not one but two incredible guests Sebastian Asprella and Vojtech Holub, CEO and CTO respectively of ThinkOrbital.
Join us as we learn more about the technology behind ThinkOrbital, discuss whether they are ambitious or just crazy, and pick their brains on who is doing it right and where the industry is headed.
Always an entertaining conversationalist, Hash took us from his early days toying with a BBC Micro - to attending the decisive meeting which began Splunk’s security journey - though to his current adventure as GM of Cloud observability pacesetter Cribl.
Enjoy the latest episode of The Tech That Connects Us.
Join us as we speak with Thomas Grübler, CEO & Co-Founder of Wildfire Detection & Monitoring From Space players, OroraTech. Thomas’ passion for protecting the environment is as hot as the wildfires his technology identifies and tracks. This innovative company is the future of a sustainable Earth and Thomas tells us exactly how technology like this can be used for the betterment of life on Earth.
Eugina is the current VP Marketing at Parallel Wireless and an influential figure throughout Open RAN ecosystem. We talk with her about all things Open RAN, MWC22 & Diversity in the Industry.
If you're attending MWC22 and would like to catch up with the neuco team do get in contact with our team.
Miguel Ayala, is the CEO at Aphelion Aerospace, an exciting nano-satellite systems and services company looking to revolutionise access to space.
Before joining the ranks of successful space entrepreneurs, Miguel had an equally successful career with over 20 years in space engineering, having been involved in some incredible programs, including the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets while with SpaceX and working on the ISS habitat module with Honeywell.
Miguel heads up Aphelion Aerospace, an exciting NewSpace business aiming to make access to space feasible for everyone.
Andy Hooper, VP Product Management B2B for Agile Content talks us through how he began his career in video, his thoughts on the current state of the industry and what’s in store for the future within the Content and Media sector.
We enjoyed hearing Andy’s thoughts on Diversity, the future of content creation, the metaverse, virtual reality and then finishing with Andy’s perfect weekend.
This is not one to be missed!
As the human race continues to put more and more assets in space, orbital debris and what should be done with it is fast becoming one of the most important topics in the industry, and no one knows more about tackling this problem than this week’s guest Gary Calnan, CEO of CisLunar Industries. Not just content with clearing space debris, CisLunar are also hoping to provide the first on-orbit recycling service. We talk to Gary about how a Finance Director found himself Co-Founding a New Space company, why de-orbiting debris isn’t good enough and learn about some of the exciting developments to look out for from CisLunar Industries.
With over 20 years experience in telecommunications, Olli has been at the forefront of innovation throughout his career. We talk with Olli about Open RAN, as well as what the future hold for Benetel with some bits about sailing thrown in!
Enjoy our latest episode of The Tech That Connects Us.
When you think of barriers to space colonisation what comes to mind? I’m sure, for many, the first thing that they think of won’t always be how we will feed ourselves.
However, anyone who has watched ‘The Martian’ will appreciate any lengthy stay on Mars dictates the need to be self-sustaining. This is exactly the challenge that Eden Grow Systems and their CEO, Bart Womack, are taking on head-first. Having licensed some exciting technology from NASA.
Bart joins us to talk about how he is trying to find a way to not only feed the planet we currently inhabit but to make sure we continue to eat the fruits and vegetable we know and love rather than bug paste and freeze dried rations.
With over 20 years’ experience in telecommunications, Francois has been at the cutting edge of next-generation technologies throughout his career. We talk with Francois about OpenRAN, Private networks and 5G, as well as what the future hold for Casa Systems (and some bits about hiking and boats thrown in!).
With over 20 years of experience in the industry and being number 9 on TVB Europe’s The Watch List for 2021, Carrie Wootten is changing the Media Broadcast Industry! This week on the podcast, we take a deep dive into issues surrounding Diversity, Inclusion and all that comes alongside. Have a listen as we talk about where the industry is with tackling these issues, discuss how we can overcome things such as Impostor Syndrome and address sustainability.
Luis Beute, VP Global Sales for Content Providers at Qwilt takes us through how he made the jump from telecommunications to CDN and moved halfway around the world to do it too. Focusing on how he has taken as many lessons from colleagues and partners as from managers and mentors, this was a really great insight into Luis and his approach to balancing work and life.
Kate Wendelboe describes her career as a Tapestry, and indeed having started in journalism she now heads up BT’s security strategy. With an unusual blend of senior experience in Broadcast Media and Security, Kate shares with us her take on the market, creating a culture and moving forwards with Diversity and inclusion.
Enjoy our latest episode of The Tech That Connects Us.
This week we spoke to the very personable Cyber Sales Leader David Brown (who has worked at Gentrack, Security Matters/Forescout & ZeroFox). We heard his insights on the OT domain - where he’s headed up both IPOs and acquisitions, what really keeps CISOs up at night, alternative models for industry events, how to recognise the potential in new hires and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Gas stations, tow trucks, manufacturing, mining, permanent jobs, permanent residents, tourism, entertainment including films and sport - a vibrant, self-sustaining economy. Now imagine this entirely in space! That’s what Orbit Fab and Daniel Faber are doing!
Join Andrew Ball and Ewan Lawrenson for episode 49 of The Tech That Connects Us as they speak with the inspirational Daniel Faber, CEO and co-founder of the pioneering on-orbit servicing company, Orbit Fab, as they discuss the future of the space industry and how Orbit Fab will fuel it. The vision Daniel has for the future of space is nothing short of spectacular, come and hear how Orbit Fab are working hard to make it a reality.
Did you know what you wanted to do at the age of 9? Do you have a dream that you’ve always wanted to fulfil? Do you want to know how to make the industry more environmentally friendly?
Joining Tegan Lloyd Williams and Henry Johnson on this week’s podcast of the Tech That Connects Us is Darren Long the Head of Group Operations Transformation design CT&I for Sky. Darren has been working for Sky for the past 32 years across News, Sports Entertainment and Production, as a director in a range of different capacities, such as Group Content Processing, Production and Services and Operations.
We enjoyed hearing Darren’s thoughts on Diversity, inspiring a healthy culture, the future of content creation and the importance of owning a dog.
This episode is not to be missed.
Joining us on The Tech That Connects Us this week is Trish Cagliostro Head of Worldwide Alliances at Wiz.
Wonderful insights from Trish Cagliostro current Wiz and previous AWS & Anomali thought leader. It felt we only scratched the surface in a conversation which spanned Cloud Security, threat intelligence, the partner landscape, Cyber’s diversity challenge, the joys of softball and much more!
Do you think it’s possible to launch a rocket from a Toyota Prius?
What if I told you the rocket also used a bio-derived, non-toxic and nearly carbon neutral fuel? Well, that is exactly what this week’s guest has achieved, and much more besides. Sascha Deri is CEO of bluShift Aerospace, an exciting New Space company aiming to not only drastically reduce the cost of space flight but also offer a much more environmentally friendly solution than any other launch provider out there at the moment.
Not content with running a successful renewable energy company, altE, Sascha talks to us about how he discovered his love of space, why not being able to become a pilot, and subsequently an astronaut, set him on his current path in revolutionising the launch market, how the most important discovery in bluShift’s history was made on a windowsill at a small New England farm and also makes some exciting announcements!
Joining us on this week's The Tech That Connects Us is John Kinney VP of Quality Assurance with Intelsat / Gogo.
John has an impressive background with over 20 years at Motorola and beyond, having worked at Rockwell Automation, Blackberry, Honeywell, Gogo who are now part of Intelsat. John experience in software, hardware, and service environments in five different industries, gives him a unique perspective on business optimization, quality, and customer experience.
Join us as we talk, golf, trumpet, segways and aircraft connectivity!
Enjoy another fascinating episode!
Joining Tom Wilding and Laurie Scott on this week's Podcast Omar Qaise the founder and CEO of OQ Technology, an exciting international NewSpace customer-focused start-up in Luxembourg that is building a global 5G LEO satellite constellation dedicated to "Internet-of-Things"
communication.
What a year Omar has had, becoming a father, along with OQ Technology 1st commercial satellite launch - Tiger 2.
Omar's career includes working for the European Space Agency - ESA (ESA), (German Aerospace Center (DLR)), SES Satellites & OHB System AG.
Listen as they talk about Indian & Mexican food, Horror movies, BackStreet Boys, Baby Qaise junior becoming the youngest space launch spectator, IoT and the evolution of M2M, Albert Einstein & Elon Musk.
Enjoy another fascinating episode!
This week we are joined by Nuno Sanches, General Manager for Telecom and Media at Kaltura. He boasts one of the more impressive broadcast video pedigrees in the industry having worked at ZON (later NOS) at the dawn of IPTV technology then going on to Vodafone to found their central TV development organisation and grow their global TV brand. Now at Kaltura, Nuno has just experienced their highly successful IPO and their future is looking bright!
Talking to us about all things video, Nuno shares his views on the lessons learned throughout the pandemic, talks about the ‘Industrial Revolution’ moment the video industry is experiencing, and gives his advice on what someone getting into the industry today should think about.
Wonderful speaking with global Cyber marketing expert Reuben Braham (ex-Check Point, SailPoint and now leading marketing for Cyberint) on what makes him tick, how his wife is his biggest influence, why Israel is such a cyber powerhouse, how “in the Cyber Space there is no Fort Knox… there is always a way in” – plus perspectives on post-Covid marketing trends, and on creating meaningful marketing content which cuts through the noise.
Subha Shrinivasan is Senior Director, Customer Success for Robin.io who provide industry-leading solutions for Kubernetes Application and Data Management. She has over 20 years’ experience across virtualization, datacenter and cloud native technologies. Join us this week to hear about Subha’s journey and her opinions on the future of the industry.
The current CEO of BBC Studios Andrew Moultrie, reminds us of the importance of focusing on People, the Planet and Profit (PPP), and in that order. A hugely passionate individual, Andrew has taken a different path to many in his journey to the top of the Content & Media industry but it’s no surprise to see him there. Experience formed from major FMCG brands, a global outlook and sheer belief that he could succeed have clearly been key factors.
A huge advocate of all things people and thinking differently, he has some great things to say around the future of the industry, how workforces will change and what part technology needs to play. If you’re looking for a bit of zip and inspiration for your day, listen to this!
Having been at Ross Video for 30 years, David knows a thing or two about culture and he quoted – from something he read recently – that ‘Culture is what you ignore’. The premise being, that what you ignore will become normalised, and that will become your culture, either good or bad, reminding us all of the importance to highlight the good bits and to call out anything that does not meet your company standard.
In a wide ranging interview, we also cover how and why he joined his father’s business in 1991 (it hadn’t always been the plan!!), his thoughts on the industry and the tech that will affect things moving forwards. In addition, he raised the important issue of sustainability around Broadcast as well as having some excellent advice for those entering the industry – have two great skill sets, not just one!
Mohammed Akhlaq, ITN’s current CTO had an early desire to work for the BBC and was fortunate enough to make that a reality in the late 80’s. He recalls some wonderful memories of his time there, along with some amazing people who inspired him along the way.
From the BBC, he went on to join Al Jazerea where he played a key role in launching their first US studio and channel. He talks with passion, and authority, and you have a real sense that his experience results in a very level-headed leadership style.
Obsessed by television and technology as a child, Pedro Bandeira to that passion and turned it into a dream career. Fast forward to the present day, and he’s still trying to make dreams come true, only now that manifests itself in an endless quest to deliver the ultimate content consumption experience in his role as VP New Products at Deutsche Telekom.
Pedro has been lucky enough to be at the forefront of most of the modern time developments in Content & Media and it was fascinating to hear his insight on the early days. One of our favourite parts of the interview was his recollection of him being the very first IPTV customer for Portugal Telecom, a fitting tribute to his ideas and efforts to make that release a reality – the default pin for the service remains the date of that installation to his home nearly 20 years ago!
If you want to hear from one of the leading voices transforming the way we view and consume content, then you MUST listen to this episode!
Brian Pemberton leads corporate sales and marketing activities for Omnispace, which is redefining mobile connectivity for the 21st century.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in global wireless, terrestrial and satellite communications to his role and is therefore brilliantly positioned to help usher in a new era of global connectivity.
Join us for this weeks’ episode to hear all about a connected world, what it means for the future of society and how to get there.
We had an engaging conversation with ethical hacker entrepreneur and author Ted Harrington to understand how he was drawn to security, what motivates cyber criminals, common app security pitfalls, and the mindset giving attackers the upper hand. He’s a founder of IoT Village, a hacking event responsible for discovering 300+ zero-day vulnerabilities, and winning 3 DEFCON Black Badges.
A true historian, and ex-Gartner VP, Richard is to Cyber Security what Herodotus was to the Ancient Greeks & Romans – researching, writing, and commenting on security since ’95. Experience helps him to separate buzzwords from business value, so we were delighted to chat with him about all manner of topics, including how his working life has changed during Covid, what he feels are the key Cyber innovations, and where he sees the future of the market.
A former champion speed skater, Ilijana used this forward momentum to complete a Master’s in computer science, before gliding into sales leadership roles for the likes of Microsoft (where she spent a decade), Oracle, Kaspersky – and most recently threat detection platform VMRAY.
Though she speaks six languages fluently, it’s listening which she prizes most highly. In our conversation, we discussed how understanding the individual is key to building a successful global sales team – plus predictions on the key battlegrounds for cyber security at the start of a new decade.
From professional rock climbing and snowboarding to the EVP of Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at the Kudelski Group and Nagravision, Nancy has walked a very different path to most people in her position. Nothing in her life was pointing to a corporate job or indeed to the Content and Media Industry. But after meeting her musician husband and being inspired by her mother, Nancy was encouraged to be fearless and always bring that quality to the table. In this episode we discuss how leadership has evolved during the pandemic, what drew Nancy towards a role within an organisation that has a security focus, the importance of culture within teams and the opportunities emerging in the current landscape.
Some people just ooze passion for what they do and Matt Westrup is certainly one of those individuals. Whether discussing the current wealth of great content, the importance of metadata, or the importance of having a strong company culture as we emerge from Covid, Matt’s passion shines through, and we love that!! Starting as a cameraman, Matt was easily and understandably – lured into the broadcast industry. From there he progressed into more Operational roles and now heads Tech & Ops for A+E Networks. His feelings on culture and its importance post-Covid are especially relevant and extremely well voiced.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to go to space camp? How about what it was like to attend every Space Shuttle launch? Or even what it would be like to meet Buzz Aldrin? Well this week’s guest can shed a little light on all if this! Mark La Penna is the CEO and Founder of Xenesis, an incredible new company with lofty aims of breaking down the digital divide and providing connectivity to the unconnected, and they have made great headway already creating and delivering the first low-cost optical communications service with speeds ten times that of traditional RF solutions. Mark joins us to talk all things space and connectivity as well as touching on other subjects he is passionate about, including his love for F1, who he has taken inspiration from in his career as well as revealing some never heard before announcements for the near future.
This week we’re joined by Jamie Dunn, COO of Lawo a pioneering IP-based video and audio technology company for broadcast production. John Clifton and Tegan Lloyd Williams hosted an honest and fantastic episode and one of the key messages that shone through was Jamie’s great advice about taking opportunities when they present themselves. He’s taken this advice himself on several occasions which has led to a rich and varied career and the chance to travel and live overseas. It was also wonderful to hear Jamie extol the virtues of just how powerful and longstanding radio and audio really is – visual content is having a boom right now, but Audio has never been so popular.
From model, to CERN Engineer, to CEO of one of the most well-liked businesses in the satellite industry…just how did Alvaro Sanchez get himself into the position he is today? Well, this week the neuco podcast sheds light on the how, the why and the who!
As well as that, Alvaro shares his views on the ever-changing world of satellite and his feelings on why his business, Integrasys, has been so successful for so long when so many other businesses have faltered.
He talks about how he has made Integrasys a software business with 35% female staff and how excited he is for the future of the business.
We are joined this week by Giovanni Pondolfi Bortoletto, co-founder and CSO of the Italian ground-segment-as-a-service provider, Leaf Space.
As co-founder and CSO of this exciting NewSpace start-up, Giovanni has been through it all and played a pivotal role in it becoming the company it is today!
Laurie Scott and Ewan Lawrenson sit down with Giovanni to discuss topics that include what it’s like to build a NewSpace company straight from university, the challenges and successes Leaf Space encountered as a start-up, where their future lies, and why the space market is looking increasingly exciting.
Have you ever accidently created a company that serves an industry you never intended to and had little understanding of? Me neither, however, this week we speak with David Gelerman the Co-founder and CEO of Spacebridge, who are a dominant global player in satellite communications systems technology based in Montreal, who did exactly that. With over 40 years of experience, David shared with us how he has seen the industry change since he started, what was then, Advantech Wireless, what technology outside of the satellite industry truly excites him, the benefit of running a small, family business rather than a big corporate and, most importantly, how the backing of a good woman made him the man he is today.
Often regarded as the “Voice of The Industry” Dan Rayburn has worked in and analysed the streaming media and online video space for nearly 25 years. We sat down with Dan to get his take on topics including where the next big leaps in the streaming are coming from, how to be truly impactful and remain current, and what the future of the conference business looks like in a post-Covid-19 world.
The ultimate SpaceWatcher, Torsten Kriening, sits on the opposite side of the table to join us in this weeks’ podcast as the interviewee rather than interviewer! Between all of his fantastic SpaceWatch.Global articles, the Space Café’s he has hosted and the space convention panels he has led, we thought it was about time he have a well-earned break and answer some questions rather than ask them. From how space inspired him and what the next decade holds, to marathons and mountain climbing, we learn more about Torsten Kriening, the professional, the person and always the passionate.
One of the most passionate, enjoyable and fun podcasts to date, with Dara McCann, Former EVP Human Resources at SES Networks, which covers being a Mum of 4, Super Cool working mum going to rocket launches, being the rugby team first aid mum, getting into space by accident, expertise is in ‘people’ and empowering and encouraging is crucial, diversity, space launches, sailing, loving working in a start-up at 03b Networks in the early days.
"I haven't seen anything like this in the last 25 years!" Quite a statement from our guest this week, Willem Hendrickx, SVP of Vectra AI.
Certainly, the scale of digital transformation since Covid hit has been profound, and it’s now clear that life will never be quite the same again.
Chatting to Willem we explore the magnitude of the current challenge, touch on Dutch/Belgian business relations, what the future might hold, and how best to motivate a team in these choppy waters!
He’s certainly in a good position to give an overview, with a quarter century of leadership experience in Enterprise Technology.
Space lasers. Yes, the future is here. We speak with Ohad Harlev, CEO of the revolutionary space-based storage in motion start-up, LyteLoop Technologies, to discuss how this innovative means of storing data securely in space using photonics (light) technology is set to change the way in which we think about and store an ever growing and increasingly crucial aspect of society, data.
Ohad has held many senior positions during his career, including President of RRSat (now MX1) and COO at WorldLink Communications, and we dig deeper to understand how and why Ohad came to lead this new, exciting LyteLoop endeavour. We also discuss topics such the current state of the satellite and space industries, where they are heading, how COVID has impacted them, and of course we make sure to ask the truly important questions, like wine or beer and cats or dogs.
As a young girl growing up in India, Kaitki Agarwal was fascinated by technology and communication. Despite often typical societal pressures, Kaitki was given the full blessing of her parents to explore her passions and make them her career, and cites her mother as the person who's had the greatest influence on her life. Her early working years were spent with the likes of Hughes, Cedarpoint and Cisco, before she helped to co-found Parallel Wireless in 2012, and in late 2020, her entrepreneurial spirit rose again and saw her launch A5G Networks. It's clear that disruptive technology in telecoms is where her passions lie, and it was fascinating to get her insight on the telecoms industry as a whole, what's to come, and what we can expect as users of communication networks.
Sometimes it isn’t what you know but who you know and that certainly rings true for Ernst Peter Hovinger, Co-Founder of satellite IoT company Hiber, who joins us this week to talk about how he got his start in the satellite industry. Since getting his introduction to the world of satellite and space technology, Ernst Peter has worked with some of the biggest names and most exciting names in the industry before helping to found Hiber and now spends his time mentoring and inspiring new entrepreneurs passing on his wealth of knowledge and experience. Amongst other things we discuss how he nearly missed the most exciting moments in Hiber’s history so far in the company of some marines in Colorado, how the space industry can save the world and why inspiration doesn’t always come from those above you.
It all started with a bet! When he and some friends needed a new job, Gilles – the only non-football fan of the group – made a bet that he would get a job in the digital group at UEFA. And guess what, he did! Since then, he’s been fortunate to be at the forefront of the digital transformation of how we consume sports content. From his happy memories of UEFA, through to realising that the 2014 World Cup was the moment when digitisation of sports content truly came of age, this is a wonderful conversation full of insight. Gilles is an incredibly positive person, most definitely a glass-half-full man, and for a man who’s in an industry that lost the Euro’s, the Olympics and the endless mass disruption or cancellation of live sport in the last 10 months, that’s fabulous to hear. He also said that his chat with us was like having a whisky with old friends, we’ll take that as a huge compliment Gilles 😉
From the humble beginnings of a hotline engineer to the Executive circle at Ericsson, Damien Montessuit has a fabulous story to tell and insight to share. Damien is currently the SVP, Regional Head EMEA for MediaKind, and has spent the last two decades working for two of the largest corporations in the world - Microsoft and Ericsson. His passion for the Content & Media industry, specifically video, is wonderful to hear. He also talks with great optimism about where video is currently positioned, and why despite challenges the industry has faced during the pandemic, there are huge growth opportunities emerging as video and streaming has become the epicentre of how we communicate. That he puts video and biotech in the same sentence as two of the key global industries right now, speaks volumes. When discussing his leadership style, you get the sense that you'd like to be in his team - he talks with passion and fondness of those who have helped him in his career and how he aims to do the same.
Tom Pirrone has over 38 years of operations experience in the Space Industry. Listening to someone who is so passionate about the industry and who's biggest inspiration was getting to work for Pete Conrado the Apollo 12 commander. This podcast was fun to record. You get an insightful overview on the space industry, Tom working for three woman CEO's and then being involved in 4 successful start-ups embarking on his 5th at Infostellar where he will be vital in driving Infostellar's future achievements.
It isn’t often that we use the phrase game-changing technology and truly mean it, but that is exactly what Quadsat offers and we recently had their CEO, Joakim Espeland, join us for a conversation to tell us more about it. Covering what it is like to be a young CEO in the industry, why just having a great idea is never enough, how to weave diversity into the fabric of your business as well as asking one of the most fundamental questions in the industry today (Musk or Bezos?), we loved having the chance to learn more about the man behind the business.
Today we’re delighted to talk to someone with both an illustrious career in the Space industry, as well as an individual who is truly creating huge change for the better. Shelli Brunswick, if you didn’t already know, is the COO of the Space Foundation, a fantastic organisation bringing awareness of the opportunities in the space industry for everyone, she is also Executive Leader for the Center of Innovation and Education, as well as the winner of numerous of accolades and awards for her efforts at challenging diversity and inclusion in the industry. This week we learn about the incredible journey she has been on to become such a well-respected leader in the industry, her perfect weekend, why she thinks that trains are the best way to travel (unless you get the chance to go on a rocket) and why it is up to all of us to help create chances for everyone in the industry.
How does someone start in this industry? This week's guest Niels Daalhuizen, joined Liberty Global as a 'summer job' after a chance meeting with his friends brother. Fast forward 15 years and he was their Director of Digital Entertainment Strategy! Now the Chief Product Officer of music video streaming platform XITE, Niels has a fantastic insight on the consumption of content, but crucially where it's headed in the future. If you're interested to hear more about where the industry will move to over the next few years, you'll enjoy listening to this one!
A veteran of the Satellite industry, and big on the value of mentors, it was a pleasure to have Steve Tunnicliffe join Laurie and I this week. Entering the Satellite industry after starting his career in Broadcast, he’s never looked back and he remains incredibly excited about the future of the industry and what it can achieve. From future applications, to 5G and that access of connectivity, it’s great to get his take on all things future related, and what the industry can benefit from by the likes of Amazon and Google being a part of things. A keen mentor and mentee, we love his passion for gathering knowledge to help him and likewise using that to pass on to others. A fabulous listen.
Interviewing someone who’s daily job is to drive innovation in an industry we love was always going to be a good episode! Carmel is Intelsat’s VP for Systems Innovation, having spent 4 years at OneWeb prior to that as their Chief Systems Engineer. She’s been fortunate to be a part of some great teams and projects over the years which is fascinating to hear about. We cover the last few months and how despite the pandemic, there’s been a tremendous amount to be proud of in terms of achievements for her team and Intelsat as a whole. As with all our guests, we cover diversity in the industry. A key takeaway being the pitfalls of organisations having incoming metrics of diverse talent, but ignoring the subsequent retention through a lack of inclusion and equality, such a valid point that many miss.
Today’s guest is Joachim Bergman, CEO & COO of 24i and Board Member of Amino. Joachim’s early career was spent with Ericsson where he was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time overseas and also exploring a variety of technology areas before finding broadcast technology and making that his ‘thing’. Perhaps it’s the Nordic nature, but the concepts of collaboration and diversity are a core part of his ethos, and it’s great to listen to who has inspired him during his career and likewise his views on D&I and how that can be improved. It’s also great to hear that despite everything going on around them, 24i/Amino are just embarking on a new graduate enrolment scheme, awesome to hear about the plans to get the next generation of talent into the industry! Personally, nature is a big thing, and his ideal weekend of heading to his lakeside cottage via his RIB sounds like heaven.
Steeve Huin, CMO of Irdeto is this weeks guest. From joining them on an internship in 2001 to 19 years later being their CMO, Steeve has seen many changes in the world of content security. One of his crowning moments has to be his involvement of the shift of CAS being underpinned by hardware (the smartcard) to it becoming fully driven by software as it is today. Having managed teams on a global basis for many years, his insight on running remote teams is insightful. He makes the really valid point that right now, focusing on those who you used to see regularly in the office - as opposed to those who've been used to remote working and management - is so key as they are the ones who're feeling the difference the most. Having left Irdeto to join him at International Datacasting, and then re-joining him at Irdeto a few years later, it's no surprise to hear that Doug Lowther - current CEO of Irdeto - has been a significant influence on his career. But it's not all work work work, as we draw out his other passion of motorsport...you can hear the enthusiasm ooze as he describes how he'd recently travelled at 280kmph on a motorbike at Hockenhiem! Fantastic insights and personal stories as always :-)
Evelyn Clough has been in Network Operations her whole career and speaks with so much passion and love for what she does. Tom Wilding and I were lucky enough to have her on the podcast this week where things kick off by us learning that her path in tech seemed set when as a young girl in a small village in the Philippines, she set to work fixing the new family TV that has exploded! People who have their main influence as one of their parents often make for very passionate people and it's no surprise to learn that it was Evelyn's mother who played that part. From a Connectivity industry standpoint, we discuss all things Network Operations and explore how automation of the NOC is the future. On joining Ericsson - an extremely diverse organisation - she realised there was no specific internal group dedicated to the Asian community. A woman of action, she had it set up in a matter of weeks and it's now one of the most engaged employee groups in the business.
"My first job out of college was at NASA"...what an answer to our first question to get the story started!! This week, Toni Lee Rudnicki, current CMO of Isotropic Networks, formerly CMO at iDirect and VP Marketing at Speedcast joined Laurie and me for a fabulous conversation about her journey through the world of satellite communications. Toni Lee is a veteran of the industry and knows the market inside out, so getting her take on all things past, current and future was fascinating. From discussing the future of communications and the part mega LEO constellations will play, through to 5G and her view as a marketer on the future of tradeshows, this is a great listen. Toni Lee speaks with such passion and excitement for the industry, it's no wonder that having started in it all those years ago, she's still so drawn to it.
Will and I were delighted to be joined by Simon Farnsworth of Discovery this week. In a wonderfully open and honest discussion, we chat about how this astute and straight talking Yorkshireman entered the world of sports and broadcast (true story, he didn't want to join the family business of the Yorkshire pudding factory!) and take it through his career, hearing about all some of his amazing achievements and the people who've inspired and motivated him along the way. We cover the challenges and opportunities the last 6 months has thrown up and get his take on the future of broadcast and content consumption. Covering diversity as always - a subject he's immensely passionate about - having a focus on education is a key area of our discussion. Getting to know our guests is one of our favourite parts...we love that he's back playing rugby after a 16 year hiatus as a result of zoom-boredom!! A brilliant episode to record, more so to listen to, enjoy!!
Some conversations just flow…it was a pleasure to be joined by Margaret Davies on this week’s podcast. Margaret has held a number of senior commercial roles in her career and is now CMO at Red Bee Media, having rejoined them 3 years ago.
She’s seen a swathe of changes occur during her time in the video/broadcast world, and remains hugely excited about what is still to come.
Among other topics, we explore how she felt very early on that she was clearly “woman in a man’s world” and we discuss some of the ways that has changed, but also what more needs to be done to address the balance.
From her career highlights to her advice of “just say yes!” this was a fantastic episode to record :-)
Today’s guest is Julien Signes, SVP Video Network at Synamedia. We discuss Julien’s founding of Envivio and his early bet on video being the future with the eventual IPO and sale to Ericsson. We talk about Julien’s early fascination with video, the future for our industry, how he’s gone from running a business to SVP for another and much more. Julien is a true pioneer and wonderful character of the industry – anyone who’s not had the pleasure of meeting him should definitely listen to this one!
This week, we talk to Carmen González-Sanfeliu, International Telecoms Specialist. With more than 30 years as a top executive in senior roles with the likes of Intelsat and ABS Global. We discuss the unique gender equality issues in the Satellite and Telecoms industry at length, and crucially how we can all tackle it. Asked about the future, Carmen is clear that it lies in 5G and IOT, and is a passionate advocate that those starting their career need to bring a ton of enthusiasm and innovation to the industry.
For episode 2, we we’re joined by Florian Diederichsen former CTO of sports streaming powerhouse DAZN, as we discuss his journey and challenges faced while building one of the world’s largest streaming platforms. A stalwart of the sport/tech industry, Florian describes his early career in detail and it’s amazing to learn just how much he has been at the forefront of the way we consume sport in the modern era.
In our first episode we are delighted to be joined by Anthony Zuyderhoff, SVP Home Media Solutions at CommScope. The journey starts as we uncover how he ended up in tech and not as a Diplomat as he’d intended. From there we explore his inspirations in his early career, a piece of incredible tech at Motorola that was just too ahead of its time, taking it all the way to his take on the future of the video market. Diversity and Inclusion is also a key topic and we learn more about Commscope’s internal D&I programme, something other companies would do well to emulate.
Ahead of launching our new podcast - The Tech that Connects Us - we wanted to give listeners a small introduction to what the podcast is all about, our guests, who it's aimed at, and what listeners can expect.
The show is dedicated to telling the stories of the the leaders in the technology industries that bring us closer together, and we're excited to share the tales and insights from an incredible group of people!