Tom Smith
(He/Him)
As seen in:
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Agile, AI/ML, APIs, Application Development, Cloud, Databases, Data & Analytics, DevOps, Integration, IoT, Java, Kubernetes, Microservices, Open Source, Performance, Security, and Web Dev
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AI Content Strategist | LLM Training Expert | Solving Business Problems with AI | Former Google Bard Trainer | #GoHeels | #CBB | #CFB | #ChipotleTweets
Articles by Tom Smith
The Future of Manufacturing: Strategic insights
The Future of Manufacturing: Strategic Insights A 6‑episode video series Manufacturing leaders are navigating profound structural change—shifting supply chains, accelerating technology adoption, regulatory complexity and evolving geopolitics. The Future of Manufacturing: Strategic Insights is a six‑episode video series that brings together senior industry and legal experts to explore what these changes mean in practice for global manufacturing and industrials businesses
Best of 2025: Platform Engineering vs. DevOps: Building Better Developer Experiences
In the rapidly evolving software development landscape, organizations are constantly seeking ways to improve developer productivity while maintaining robust governance and security. Two approaches have emerged as frontrunners in this quest: Platform engineering and DevOps. While both aim to streamline the development lifecycle, they differ significantly in their methodologies, team structures and impact on developer experience.
Best of 2025: AI in Platform Engineering: From Automation to Predictive Analytics
The Evolution of AI in Platform Engineering Platform engineering has emerged as a critical approach for modern development teams, with Gartner predicting that 80% of software engineering organizations will establish dedicated platform engineering teams by 2026. As businesses increasingly adopt cloud technologies, AI in platform engineering has become crucial in handling complexities such as system integrations, performance optimization and technology adaptation.
Best of 2025: Google Cloud Unveils Agent2Agent Protocol: A New Standard for AI Agent Interoperability
Google Cloud has launched the Agent2Agent Protocol (A2A), a groundbreaking open standard designed to enable AI agents to collaborate across enterprise systems regardless of their underlying frameworks or vendors. The protocol, announced on April 9, 2025, has already garnered support from over 50 technology partners including Atlassian, Box, Cohere, Intuit, LangChain, MongoDB, PayPal, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow and Workday.
The Innovation Landscape.
1. ITIF (Information Technology and Inovation Foundation) China has emerged as the leading global power in the creation of emerging technologies, dramatically outperforming the United States in the vast majority of critical technological fields. A key indicator of this is that China is dominating the United States when it comes to scientific publications. This is concerning as it threatens to erode U.S. leadership across the innovation landscape.
AI Fulfilling IoT's Promise
Ten years ago, I wrote an article for DZone on The Future of IoT. When General Electric unveiled their digital twin technology for aircraft engines, we were on the cusp of an industrial revolution. The idea was compelling: create virtual replicas of physical assets that could be monitored, analyzed, and optimized in real-time. However, as many early IoT enthusiasts discovered, the gap between concept and widespread implementation proved wider than anticipated.
Phison unveils E28 AI-enabled SSD controller and aiDAPTIV+ platform for developers and AI workloads.
Phison Breaks Ground with World's First AI-Enabled SSD Controller and Enterprise-Grade AI Solutions The storage industry just witnessed a paradigm shift as Phison Electronics unveiled breakthrough technologies that blur the lines between traditional storage and artificial intelligence computing.
Graid's SupremeRAID uses GPU acceleration to eliminate storage bottlenecks, delivering 28M IOPS for developers.
Graid Technology Revolutionizes Storage Performance with GPU-Accelerated RAID for Developers The storage landscape for high-performance computing and AI development is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Traditional CPU-based RAID solutions have long created bottlenecks that limit application performance, forcing developers to architect around storage constraints rather than focusing on optimal code design.
A Developer's Guide to AI-Assisted Code Understanding
Legacy codebases present unique challenges for modern development teams. Whether you're dealing with a decade-old monolithic application or attempting to modernize an e-commerce platform, the complexity of understanding and updating legacy code can significantly impact development velocity. This article provides practical strategies and technical approaches for effectively navigating, understanding, and modernizing legacy systems.
The Convergence of API Management and Platform Engineering: Breaking Down Enterprise Silos
In the era of AI agents and automated integration, the roles of platform engineers and API managers are rapidly converging. As enterprises seek to break down technological silos while maintaining governance, a new approach to API ecosystem management is emerging—one that balances centralized control with the flexibility to support diverse technology stacks.
How Agentstudio and AI agents transform integration work from code-heavy to conversation-driven.
Beyond Integration: How Boomi's AI Evolution Is Making Developers' Lives Easier At Boomi World 2025 in Dallas, the integration leader unveiled a vision beyond traditional iPaaS capabilities. After conversations with multiple Boomi customers and executives, it's clear that the company's AI-driven approach is fundamentally changing what it means to be an integration developer. "We are a heavy user of event streaming," explains Tapash Bishoi, Senior Integration Manager at Crane Worldwide Logistics.
HPE Revolutionizes Private Cloud With Morpheus Software Integration
In a significant leap forward, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced an important evolution of its private cloud portfolio that promises to transform how organizations approach hybrid IT modernization. The announcement, made today, introduces the integration of HPE Morpheus Software across HPE’s private cloud offerings, combining flexible virtualization and management capabilities with the company industry-leading disaggregated infrastructure.
Komprise transforms unstructured data management for AI, delivering security, governance, and 70% storage cost savings.
Komprise: Building the Intelligent Data Engine for Enterprise AI In an era where unstructured data growth continues to explode and AI adoption accelerates, organizations face significant challenges managing their data estate. Komprise has evolved from a pure storage optimization company to a comprehensive data management platform that serves as the critical intelligence layer between storage infrastructure and AI initiatives.
Crystal DBA brings AI-powered PostgreSQL expertise to dev teams, bridging the database optimization skills gap.
Crystal DBA: AI-Powered PostgreSQL Optimization for Development Teams In the ever-evolving database landscape, PostgreSQL has become a powerhouse for application development, but mastering its nuances presents significant challenges. During the 60th IT Press Tour, Crystal DBA unveiled their innovative approach to democratizing PostgreSQL expertise through AI, offering developers and engineers a way to optimize database performance without specialized knowledge.
Discover how Panzura's cloud-native file system eliminates collaboration headaches for developers in distributed teams.
How Panzura Makes Developers' Lives Easier in Multi-Cloud Environments In today's distributed development world, collaborating on projects across multiple locations can be a nightmare of file conflicts, version control issues, and performance bottlenecks. Panzura, a leader in cloud-native file services, has developed solutions that directly address these pain points for developers, engineers, and architects working in complex multi-cloud environments.
TrueNAS delivers API-driven open storage with OpenZFS reliability at 30-70% lower cost than proprietary alternatives.
TrueNAS: The Developer's Guide to Open Enterprise Storage In the world of enterprise storage, proprietary solutions with eye-watering price tags have long dominated the landscape. But a different approach has been quietly gaining traction among developers, engineers, and architects who value transparency, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness: TrueNAS from iXsystems.
Platform Engineering vs. DevOps: Building Better Developer Experiences
In the rapidly evolving software development landscape, organizations are constantly seeking ways to improve developer productivity while maintaining robust governance and security. Two approaches have emerged as frontrunners in this quest: Platform engineering and DevOps. While both aim to streamline the development lifecycle, they differ significantly in their methodologies, team structures and impact on developer experience.
The Democratization and Adoption of Platform Engineering in Mid-Sized Enterprises
Platform engineering is no longer the exclusive domain of tech giants. What started as an innovation at companies like Netflix and Spotify is rapidly becoming a standard practice across the business landscape, with mid-sized enterprises and startups eagerly adopting these principles to compete in today’s digital-first world. The Shift From Tech Giants to Mainstream Adoption The landscape of platform engineering is experiencing a fundamental transformation.
Platform Engineering Maturity: Benchmarks, Challenges and the Impact of GenAI
As organizations increasingly adopt platform engineering practices to streamline software development and deployment, a clear pattern is emerging: Maturity matters. Recent industry research has revealed significant insights into how platform engineering evolves across organizations and the critical role that generative AI plays in this transformation.
The Expanding Horizon of Platform Engineering: Beyond DevOps
From DevOps Evolution to Platform Revolution Platform engineering has emerged as a transformative force in software development, extending beyond the traditional boundaries of DevOps. While DevOps focuses on integrating development and operations through continuous automation and collaboration, platform engineering takes a more comprehensive approach by creating standardized, self-service platforms that abstract away infrastructure complexities for developers.
AI in Platform Engineering: From Automation to Predictive Analytics
The Evolution of AI in Platform Engineering Platform engineering has emerged as a critical approach for modern development teams, with Gartner predicting that 80% of software engineering organizations will establish dedicated platform engineering teams by 2026. As businesses increasingly adopt cloud technologies, AI in platform engineering has become crucial in handling complexities such as system integrations, performance optimization and technology adaptation.
Google Cloud Unveils Agent2Agent Protocol: A New Standard for AI Agent Interoperability
Google Cloud has launched the Agent2Agent Protocol (A2A), a groundbreaking open standard designed to enable AI agents to collaborate across enterprise systems regardless of their underlying frameworks or vendors. The protocol, announced on April 9, 2025, has already garnered support from over 50 technology partners including Atlassian, Box, Cohere, Intuit, LangChain, MongoDB, PayPal, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow and Workday.
Digital Twins Reborn: How AI is Finally Fulfilling the Promise of IoT
AI is revolutionizing digital twin technology, finally overcoming IoT’s integration challenges and delivering real business value across industries. Ten years ago, when General Electric unveiled their digital twin technology for aircraft engines, we were on the cusp of an industrial revolution. The idea was compelling: Create virtual replicas of physical assets that could be monitored, analyzed and optimized in real-time.
Model Context Protocol: The New Standard for AI Interoperability
The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape is poised for significant transformation with the latest Model Context Protocol (MCP) update. On March 26, 2025, developers behind the open standard finalized a new version that promises to revolutionize how AI agents interact with tools, data and interfaces across different platforms.
Solo.io's Kagent Brings Agentic AI to Cloud-Native Operations
Solo.io introduces Kagent, the industry’s first open-source agentic AI framework, explicitly designed for Kubernetes environments. Kagent enables DevOps and platform engineers to automate complex cloud-native operations. “Kubernetes is already the go-to platform for predictive analytics, MLOps, and inferencing, and now it provides the modern architecture to deploy AI agents dynamically,” said Keith Babo, chief product officer at Solo.io.
Boomi AI Studio: Bringing Order to Enterprise AI Agent Chaos
In the race to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) agents across enterprises, a critical question has emerged: Who’s managing these autonomous digital workers? Boomi has an answer with the launch of AI Studio, a first-of-its-kind governance platform designed to bring order to what could quickly become AI agent chaos.
Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte arrested for crimes against humanity - a blow against impunity Original
The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte, who served as president of the Philippines between 2016 and 2022, for crimes against humanity for his part in the country’s violent “war on drugs” is a welcome blow against impunity. Duterte was arrested on March 11 by Interpol, which was carrying out an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) charging him with crimes against humanity.
Lucidity AutoScaler automates cloud storage management, cutting costs 70% and eliminating manual provisioning tasks.
Lucidity's AutoScaler Eliminates Storage Headaches for Developers With Zero-Downtime Automation For developers working in cloud environments, few things are more frustrating than storage management bottlenecks that interrupt development workflows. Manual disk provisioning, capacity planning guesswork, and downtime-prone scaling operations have long plagued engineering teams trying to focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.
Hunch's AI workspace automates developer tasks using multiple AI models, eliminating busywork and boosting productivity.
Hunch Eliminates Developer Busywork with Multi-Model AI Automation Platform Software development teams spend countless hours on repetitive tasks that drain focus from actual innovation. From code reviews to documentation generation, these necessary but mundane activities create what Hunch CEO David Wilson calls "the busywork tax" – stolen hours, mental burden, and wasted potential that plague every developer's workflow.
LangGraph 0.3: Expanding the Ecosystem with Prebuilt Agents
LangGraph has established itself as a foundational framework for building artificial intelligence (AI) agents with adoption by tech giants like Replit, Klarna, LinkedIn and Uber. The recent 0.3 release marks a significant evolution in the platform’s approach, introducing “langgraph-prebuilt” — a new collection of higher-level abstractions built on the core framework. In the crowded AI framework market, LangGraph has differentiated itself by maintaining a deliberately low-level approach.
Platform Engineering: Scaling DevOps Through AI-Driven Self-Service
Platform engineering is emerging as the key to scaling DevOps practices through self-service capabilities, according to Andi Grabner, Platform Engineering Advocate at Dynatrace. The focus is on delivering the right data to the right people at the right time. At Dynatrace Perform 2025, the company introduced Observability for Developers, providing development teams with easy data access, advanced analytics and the new Live Debugger.
Alluxio Enhances AI Model Training Speed with Enterprise AI 3.5 Release
Alluxio today announced Enterprise AI 3.5, the latest version of their artificial intelligence (AI)/ machine learning (ML) acceleration platform. The new update introduces significant improvements to accelerate AI model training workflows and optimize infrastructure utilization. The releases addresses critical bottlenecks in AI training processes – particularly for organizations managing large-scale GPU deployments.
Microsoft's DocumentDB Goes Open Source: A Game-Changer for NoSQL Development
A new standard for NoSQL emerges as Microsoft open-sources DocumentDB, bringing PostgreSQL-powered document database capabilities with built-in vector search to developers. In a significant move that could reshape the landscape of document databases, Microsoft has announced the open-source release of DocumentDB, the engine powering Azure Cosmos DB for MongoDB.
Aux Philippines, une guerre des clans au sommet de l’État
Une lutte de pouvoir à couteaux tirés entre deux familles, égales en ambition et en influence politique, se joue actuellement, non pas à Vérone, mais dans l’archipel des Philippines. Cette querelle, incarnée par le président Ferdinand Marcos Jr. d’un côté et sa vice-présidente Sara Duterte de l’autre, prend un tournant sensationnel, au risque de jeter le voile sur les préoccupations de la population. Aux Philippines, la vie politique est depuis longtemps une affaire de rivalités de clans.
open-source data management platform
In the era of big data, researchers and organizations face unprecedented challenges in managing, storing, and analyzing vast amounts of information. Traditional file systems and databases often fall short when dealing with petabytes of data distributed across multiple locations. This is where iRODS (Integrated Rule-Oriented Data System) comes into play. As an open-source data management software, iRODS offers a flexible and scalable solution for handling large-scale research data.
Oracle CloudWorld 2024: Key Takeaways
Oracle CloudWorld 2024 showcased a range of innovations and strategic shifts that will significantly impact the work of developers, engineers, and architects across industries. From AI integrations to multi-cloud strategies, Oracle is positioning itself as a key enabler of digital transformation. Here are the most important takeaways for technical professionals: 1.
Cloud Cost Optimization: Strategies for the AI Era
In today's volatile economic landscape, enterprises are scrutinizing their cloud bills more than ever. Platform teams are at the forefront of this challenge, tasked with finding innovative ways to optimize usage and drive down costs. To gain insights into this evolving field, we spoke with Kapil Thangavelu, co-founder and CTO of Stacklet and the creator and lead maintainer of Cloud Custodian. Let's dive into his perspectives on the latest trends in cloud cost optimization.
Java 23: What Developers Need To Know
As Java implements its 23rd major release on September 17, 2024, developers are in for a treat with many new features and improvements. Oracle's latest release promises to make development more efficient and enjoyable while enhancing the platform's performance, stability, and security. Let's dive into the key aspects developers should be excited about in Java 23. The Six-Month Release Cadence Continues Oracle is sticking to its six-month release cycle for Java, now in its seventh year.
Mark your calendar: Connected Data London, Synshine Cyber Conference, Eurocrypt and BSides Austin
Missing an important tech industry speaking or award deadline is a bummer. TechNews’ Deadline Tracker is a once-weekly update to help you remember.
VC Rewind: Quantum Systems, Supabase, Ujet, Torq and other recent funding events in enterprise tech
Meet the tech companies that have attracted funding in this environment.
Future of Application Security: Devs in the AI Era
In an era where software vulnerabilities can lead to catastrophic breaches, application security has never been more critical. Yet, for many developers, security remains a complex and often frustrating aspect of the development process.
Trending: Botnets, AI Policy, Kubernetes, Cloud Cost Optimization and More
Here are the conversations on the rise in enterprise tech this week. To dig into what’s trending in your domain, sign up for a TechNews trial. Botnets (+61 New Authors | +305% vs. Rolling Weekly Average) Botnets are networks of hijacked internet-connected devices that can be controlled remotely by cybercriminals to carry out malicious activities like distributing malware or launching DDoS attacks.
Simplifying Data Compliance - DZone
In an era of increasingly complex regulatory landscapes, IT professionals face unprecedented challenges in managing data compliance. The evolving nature of regulations across various industries demands a proactive and sophisticated approach to data management. I spoke with Steve Leeper, VP of Product Marketing at Datadobi, to learn how StorageMAP 7.0 addresses these critical issues and simplifies compliance management for developers, engineers, and architects.
AI + Tech Debt: Balance Innovation, Sustainability
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience. Join For Free As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize the tech industry, developers, engineers, and architects face a new challenge: managing the technical debt that comes with rapid AI adoption. Jeff Hollan, Head of Apps and Developer Tools at Snowflake, shares invaluable insights on how to balance innovation and sustainability in AI projects.
Optimizing Data Management for AI Success
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues transforming industries, organizations face increasing challenges in managing and utilizing data for AI initiatives. Recent industry surveys and expert insights highlight the critical role of effective data management in AI success.
Protecting Systems in the Age of Generative AI
The rapid adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace. Nearly 90% of organizations are actively implementing or exploring LLM use cases, eager to harness the power of these revolutionary technologies. However, this enthusiasm is juxtaposed with a concerning lack of security preparedness. A recent GenAI Readiness report by Lakera reveals that only about 5% of organizations are confident in their GenAI security frameworks.
Uncovering the Hidden Challenges in Cybersecurity
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, staying ahead of threats requires more than just keeping up with the latest technologies. As we delve into the insights shared by industry experts at Black Hat 2024, it becomes clear that some of the most critical challenges facing security professionals today are often hidden in plain sight. This article explores these overlooked areas and their implications for developers, engineers, and security professionals.
Defending LLM-Based Applications in the Age of AI
As artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) continue to revolutionize the tech landscape, they also introduce new security challenges that developers, engineers, architects, and security professionals must address. At Black Hat 2024, we spoke with Mick Baccio, Global Security Strategist at Splunk, about their research on the exploitation of LLM-based applications and how organizations can implement the OWASP Top 10 framework to better defend these systems.
Charting the Future of Cybersecurity
The 2024 Black Hat conference in Las Vegas brought together some of the most influential voices in cybersecurity, offering critical insights for security professionals navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape. From the philosophical underpinnings of software development to practical strategies for securing critical infrastructure, the keynote speakers provided a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.
API Security: The Cornerstone of AI, LLM Protecion
As artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs) continue to reshape the technological landscape, the importance of API security has never been more critical. In a recent interview at Black Hat 2024, Tyler Shields, Vice President of Product Marketing at Traceable, shed light on the evolving relationship between API security and AI/LLM applications. This article explores key insights for developers, engineers, and architects navigating this complex terrain.
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