Built For Trust With Nick Lippis

When a model learns your secrets, it never forgets. In this episode, Nick sits down with Tom Gillis from Cisco to explore one of the most pressing challenges of the AI era: data sovereignty. As AI models absorb sensitive information and operational data at unprecedented scale, organizations are facing a new reality: once that knowledge is embedded, it can’t simply be erased. Tom unpacks how Cisco...

In this episode, Nick sits down with David Reilly from World Wide Technology to explore how trust and structure must guide every AI transformation. Riley shares the five-question framework he used to evaluate technology decisions, from cost and reliability to risk and talent, and why it’s more critical than ever as enterprises race to adopt AI. Together, they discuss how CIOs can balance innovatio...

Hyperscalers have redefined what modern networking looks like, and now those same principles are reshaping how enterprises build for the AI era. In this episode, Nick sits down with Marc Austin from Hedgehog to explore how open networking, SONiC, and cloud native automation are converging to make hyperscaler level networking accessible to organizations of any size. Marc shares Hedgehog’s origin st...

AI is advancing fast, but the networks underneath it aren’t.  In this episode, Nick and Andy Bechtolsheim from Arista Networks break down the real bottleneck slowing AI performance and why traditional networking models can’t keep up with today’s training and inference demands. They explore what Ultra Ethernet brings to the table, why packet loss and traffic scheduling matter more than ever, a...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis talks with Holland Barry, Global Field CTO at DXC Technology, about how AI is transforming the way enterprises identify, measure, and manage technical debt. What was once a cost of doing business is now becoming a catalyst for modernization. Holland shares how DXC is developing a Tech Debt Scoring System that uses AI and community collaboration...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis sits down with Ben Hickey of IBM to explore how AI is transforming network operations, automation, and lifecycle management, and why trust is the defining factor in every stage of that journey. Together, they unpack what it takes to build truly autonomous systems, from improving signal-to-noise ratios in data to establishing “LLM scaffolding” th...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis is joined by Jason Edelman, founder of Network to Code, for a conversation about the evolution of network automation and the rise of AI-driven operations. Together, they explore how enterprises are moving from scripts and workflows to multi-agent systems capable of managing complex infrastructures. Jason shares how data, skills, and culture are...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis sits down with Ritesh Agrawal from Zscaler, to explore how AI is reshaping the future of cybersecurity. Together, they discuss how artificial intelligence is not only a new target but also a new line of defense. They examine why Zero Trust is essential as AI systems gain autonomy, how identity and policy evolve in a world of intelligent agents,...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis sits down with Susie Wee, founder and CEO of DevAI and creator of Cisco DevNet, to explore what happens when human expertise meets artificial intelligence. From her early work pioneering HDTV to leading global developer communities and now building AI powered solutions for IT teams, Susie has always seen technology as more than innovation. It is...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis sits down with Chalan Aras to explore how AI is reshaping the future of networking and IT operations. From the rise of observability and automation to the challenges of multi-cloud sprawl and massive data movement, they unpack why only a fraction of AI projects succeed and what enterprises must do to close the gap between ambition and readiness....

Artificial intelligence is reshaping healthcare from groundbreaking cancer research to everyday clinical operations. In this episode of the Built for Trust podcast, Nick chats with Tsvi Gal, CTO and Head of Enterprise Technology Services at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Tsvi shares how one of the world’s leading institutions is applying AI in practice. You’ll hear how AI is driving break...

In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis sits down with Eric Hanselman to explore the fine line between innovation and risk in today’s enterprise technology landscape. From the evolution of networking and security to the rise of AI and automation, Eric unpacks why so many organizations hesitate to “flip the switch” and what it will take to build the trust needed to move forward. Hear c...

What do nuclear submarines and modern security operations centers have in common? More than you'd think. In this episode, Peter Campbell joins host Nick Lippis to explore how lessons from sonar blind spots on submarines mirror the visibility challenges in cybersecurity today. They dive into the origins and impact of the Cloud Security Notification Framework (CSNF), the growing problem of telemetry...

What happens when you stop scripting and start reasoning?  In this episode of the Built for Trust Podcast, Itential CTO Chris Wade joins Nick Lippis to explore how the shift from human-driven workflows to AI-powered automation is transforming infrastructure forever. From the early days of CLI and OpenFlow to the rise of programmable controllers, LLM integration, and agentic protocols, Chris s...

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick sits down with legendary Cisco CEO and JC2 Ventures founder, John Chambers, a tech visionary known for accurately predicting market transitions and building one of the most valuable companies in the world, at the AI Networking Summit. This candid discussion explores how artificial intelligence and a new wave of emerging technologies are reshaping business,...

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick sits down with Jeremy Rossbach from Broadcom to unpack what’s really driving (and blocking) progress in enterprise AI. From early-stage skepticism to real-world validation, they explore how infrastructure (not just models) is the unsung hero of trustworthy AI. You’ll hear why data movement is becoming a liability, how maturity models are reshaping AI readin...

What happens when AI agents, cloud infrastructure, and increasingly complex threat vectors collide? In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick sits down with Krishnan Badrinarayanan from Zscaler to unpack how Zero Trust architecture is evolving to meet the moment, where human attackers aren’t the only concern, and GenAI-powered systems introduce new layers of risk. From protecting OT devices to insp...

What does it really take to scale AI responsibly and why is trust at the center of it all? In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick and Kevin from NVIDIA dive into the critical role infrastructure, governance, and architecture play in shaping AI systems that are not just powerful, but trustworthy. From permission-aware data access to the importance of automation and scale, this conversation unpack...

What happens when AI meets the limits of real-world infrastructure? In this episode of Built for Trust, host Nick Lippis sits down with Darren Thomason from Arista to unpack what’s actually not working in today’s AI environments, from unpredictable network performance to the hidden risks that derail large-scale deployments. Drawing on decades of experience and deep customer insight, Darren reveals...

What happens when cutting edge AI meets the high stakes world of cancer research? In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis sits down at the AI Networking Summit with Disleve Kanku from Dana Farber Cancer Institute about working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and oncology. From building secure, scalable data pipelines to supporting real time decision making in clinical enviro...

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick sits down with Gene Sun, Chief Information Security Officer at FedEx, to explore what it really means to lead through disruption.  He has said that AI will not take your job, but people with AI skills will.  We dive into that concept. From his unexpected journey to the U.S. to overseeing massive shifts in infrastructure and cybersecurity, Gene sha...

Go behind the scenes with Nick Lippis and Andrea Witt as they reveal how one of the most trusted enterprise AI events comes to life. From keynote planning to real-world use cases, from SONiC-powered infrastructure to the Triple-T presentations, this episode gives you a rare peek into the strategy and structure that power the AI Networking Summit. You’ll hear how the agenda is hand-built from a bla...

In this episode, Nick Lippis talks with Neil Anderson from World Wide Technology to unpack how AI (especially agentic AI) is driving a fundamental shift in enterprise infrastructure. From data gravity and edge computing to lifecycle automation and the limitations of legacy routing protocols, they explore the urgent need to rethink architecture for a real-time, data-intensive future. Learn how Worl...

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick and Helen Gu from InsightFinder explore how AI is transforming the way complex systems are monitored, maintained, and managed long before human teams even know there’s a problem. Helen shares a fascinating journey from early neural network experiments at NASA to building cutting-edge unsupervised learning systems that detect invisible patterns in massive da...

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis talks to Raj Purkayastha from Tata Communications, and they explore how modern enterprises are rethinking their approach to global networking. From the rise of Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) to the integration of AI and SASE, Raj shares how Tata is building dynamic, scalable infrastructure globally, especially in regions where traditional connectivity f...