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 the most common failure points in AI infrastructure and how forward-thinking teams are fixing them. You’ll hear how enterprise networks are being reimagined for speed, scale, and trust, and why staying close to the customer is the key to reliable innovation.

If you’re deploying AI at scale, or planning to, this is the conversation you need to hear.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

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 environments, they explore what it takes to apply AI responsibly in healthcare.

You’ll hear about the transition from engineering to bioinformatics, lessons learned in precision medicine, and how trust is built not just in the models, but in the cross functional teams that power them. Whether you’re designing infrastructure or developing algorithms, this conversation offers an inside look at how AI can support life saving work when it’s done right.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

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 shares how he’s navigated decades of change and why his philosophy is simple: disrupt yourself before AI does. He recounts the NotPetya attack that encrypted 50,000 devices in just five minutes, outlines how FedEx is using AI to streamline global shipping, and explains why asset management and incident response must move at machine speed.

If you’re a tech leader wondering how to stay ahead of the next wave of transformation, this conversation offers the mindset and practical insights you’ll need.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

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 blank canvas, why peer-led conversations matter more than vendor pitches, and what to expect from major sessions, including a can’t-miss fireside chat with John Chambers on the disruptive power of AI.

If you’ve ever wondered how an event like this gets made or why it matters more than ever, this is your inside look.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

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 World Wide Technology’s Advanced Technology Center is helping enterprises navigate this transformation and what leaders must do now to stay ahead.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

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 data environments.

You’ll hear how today’s AI isn’t just surfacing alerts, it’s identifying root causes, reducing noise, and driving proactive resolution. We dig into the limitations of rule-based monitoring, the rise of edge intelligence, and how distributed AI models are redefining enterprise reliability.

Plus, real-world stories: a slow router that silently triggered a massive system crash, and the surprising role a forgotten Redis cache played in false fraud detection.

Whether you’re a practitioner or decision-maker, this conversation will change how you think about what AI is truly capable of and what’s coming next.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

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 falls short. They dig into real-world use cases like pop-up retail and predictive AI-powered operations, and discuss why solving the “needle-in-a-haystack” problem requires more than just dashboards; it calls for agentic AI and intelligent automation at scale.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

What if network infrastructure could think for itself?

In this episode, Nick Lippis sits down with Vishal Shukla, CEO of Aviz Networks, to explore how AI is reshaping network operations, and why SONiC is at the center of it all. From breaking the traditional “haystack” model of troubleshooting to deploying agentic AI directly on devices, they unpack the future of open networking, the rise of SONiC as the new enterprise standard, and what it really takes to support AI workloads at scale. If you’re thinking about network transformation, this is the conversation you need to hear.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

In this episode of Built for Trust, Nick Lippis sits down with Kelly Ahuja, CEO of Versa Networks, for a candid and insightful conversation on the future of secure networking—and why agentic AI is at the center of it.

From Versa’s early vision of “security built-in, not bolted on” to the company’s unified software stack powering SD-WAN, SASE, and beyond, Kelly shares how the team is reshaping the way organizations protect and scale their infrastructure. You’ll hear how agentic AI moves beyond observability to autonomous action, why AI is essential for reducing operational burden, and how Versa is enabling global customers to detect threats at the edge, adapt in real-time, and build predictive, resilient networks.

Whether you’re leading IT strategy or just trying to stay ahead of the next wave of innovation, this episode is packed with practical insight into the intersection of AI, security, and scalability.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!

What do self-aware switches, open source firmware, and AI agents that talk back have in common? Parantap Lahiri, VP of Infrastructure at eBay, joins Nick Lippis to unravel the evolution of networking—from the first internet connections in India to today’s sprawling, AI-assisted infrastructures.

In this episode, Parantap shares why BGP became his second language, how eBay turned its alert storm into a whisper, and why networks should be built like air and water: everywhere, reliable, and invisible. You’ll hear stories of surviving “hairball” architectures, pushing complexity to the edge, and designing systems that don’t break when humans do.

Whether you’re deep in the weeds of network ops or just wondering how AI can help you stop firefighting, this one’s for you.

New episodes of the Built for Trust Podcast come out every Thursday. Subscribe to get notified. See you next week!