Cloud‑Native AI: A Blueprint for Faster, Safer Innovation

AI Proving Ground Podcast

Cloud‑native AI is rewriting the enterprise playbook; in this episode, guest host Robb Boyd convenes data strategist Ina Poecher and cloud architect Zaid Elkhateeb to unpack why 2025 belongs to firms that treat hyperscale cloud as their default R&D lab. Reporting from WWT’s AI Proving Ground, they reveal how on‑demand GPUs, modular services and policy‑as‑code governance collapse GenAI timelines from quarters to days —without riling security auditors. Tune in for a four‑step blueprint — clean data, outcome‑driven architecture, elastic cloud services and continuous guardrails — that turns experiments into production‑grade advantage.

More about this week's guests:

Ina Poecher is a Technical Solutions Architect at World Wide Technology (WWT), and collaborates with customers and internal teams to design and validate innovative technology solutions. Working within WWT’s Advanced Technology Center, she leverages extensive experience across IT infrastructure, cloud, networking, and automation to develop and test complex architectures that drive business outcomes and support strategic initiatives.

Zaid Elkhateeb is a Technical Solutions Architect at World Wide Technology (WWT), specializing in Google Cloud Platform. He brings deep expertise in cloud engineering, data architecture, and AI/ML services, joining WWT's GS&A team from another leading Google partner. Zaid helps enterprise clients design and implement scalable cloud solutions that power innovation and drive real business outcomes.

Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground.

The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others.

Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

The AI Proving Ground Podcast leverages the deep AI technical and business expertise from within World Wide Technology's one-of-a-kind AI Proving Ground, which provides unrivaled access to the world's leading AI technologies. This unique lab environment accelerates your ability to learn about, test, train and implement AI solutions.

Learn more about WWT's AI Proving Ground.

The AI Proving Ground is a composable lab environment that features the latest high-performance infrastructure and reference architectures from the world's leading AI companies, such as NVIDIA, Cisco, Dell, F5, AMD, Intel and others.

Developed within our Advanced Technology Center (ATC), this one-of-a-kind lab environment empowers IT teams to evaluate and test AI infrastructure, software and solutions for efficacy, scalability and flexibility — all under one roof. The AI Proving Ground provides visibility into data flows across the entire development pipeline, enabling more informed decision-making while safeguarding production environments.

Chapters

1. The Million-Dollar AI Lie (00:00:00)

2. The Data Scientist's Perspective (00:01:38)

3. Rescuing Failed Cloud AI Initiatives (00:03:28)

4. Security: Not Just Whipped Cream (00:06:01)

5. POC vs Production Architecture (00:11:39)

6. Starting Small: The Spiral Approach (00:16:41)

7. Governance, Regulation and Education (00:21:29)

8. Final Thoughts and Conclusions (00:25:20)