This episode of Over the Edge features an interview between Matt Trifiro and Mike Libecki (National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Dell Ambassador, and Adidas Athlete) and Bill Pfeifer (Edge Messaging and Thought Leadership Director at Dell Technologies). Mike and Bill describe the relationship between Dell Technologies and Mike’s expeditions. Mike and Bill explain how they deploy edge technology in far-away regions. Bill discusses the future of the edge, while Mike explains how it ties into his humanitarian missions and nonprofit.
This episode of Over the Edge features an interview between Matt Trifiro and Mike Libecki (National Geographic Explorer, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, Dell Ambassador, and Adidas Athlete) and Bill Pfeifer (Edge Messaging and Thought Leadership Director at Dell Technologies).
Bill has worked in IT for over twenty years. Hel is an expert expert on the latest details of AI, 5G, IoT, and all the other emerging technologies. At Dell EMC, Bill works on research studies, talks to analysts, and helps shape how the company interacts with the market every day.
Mike Libecki has an obsession with exploring and the world's most remote corners of the planet to climb world class first ascents, support science, conservation and humanitarian projects, and bring these powerful, emotional stories back with hopes to inspire us all to take care of our Mother Earth. Mike has completed more than 90 major expeditions, from Afghanistan to Antarctica, to Greenland and Guyana, and everywhere in between, taking him to over 100 countries. He is a producer, director, videographer, humanitarian (has his own 501c3 nonprofit), conservationist and leads science teams. He is also a math and tech nerd at heart, and uses the latest technologies (Virtual Reality, 3D, Artificial Intelligence etc.,) on his expeditions to succeed on and share the magic, power and beauty of our planet.
In this episode, Mike and Bill describe the relationship between Dell Technologies and Mike’s expeditions. Mike brings Dell technology to the most remote corners of the world; he uses the technology himself, and he gives it to the people he encounters. In an effort to give back, Dell and Mike work hand-in-hand to bring technology, education, and innovation to communities across the globe.
Mike and Bill describe how they deploy edge technology in far-away regions. Bill discusses the future of the edge, while Mike explains how it ties into his humanitarian missions and nonprofit.
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Key Quotes:
Bill: “I could tell you a couple of like high tech wizbang cool things that we see coming with the edge, in terms of home automation and car automation and farm automation and things like that. But then when you're talking about natives who are farming for a living and hunting for a living and don't have any technology, what can they do with just a little bit that's specifically applied to help the trajectory of their village? Or, you know, get their kids into maybe mainstream life, maybe just doing their life better.”
Mike: “One small point that I see when I'm out in the field that you know, this edge technology come in and understand how much water, what's going here, how's the fruit looking? I mean, there's, there's real issues out there that they don't know how to contend with, they just go with what Mother Earth gives them. And to think about edge technology and what Bill understands in his team that I don't, that can be efficient, that can make things metaphorically and literally fruitful, and for them to take that to the markets. I mean, there's so much going on here that it's a whole new excitement of this mystery for me to be connecting with this kind of technology that I don't understand. Because my goal is how do we make the lives better for these people in Bolivia, for the world, for the, you know, to be part of this global family.”
Bill: “We have our view of the edge,and it's technological. Looking at data centers, looking at clouds. How do we help rebalance that technology so it's closer to people? So, it's providing new types of value? [Mike’s] going farther out. And so, that's kind of pushing the definition of the edge. It's taking technology out of the data center and putting it close to where the people are.”
Mike: “When I'm working with Bill and hearing about Edge, the stuff that I've learned that creates that new enthusiasm is that it takes some time, but the impossible takes longer. I feel like there's some impossible things that this edge technology is gonna unfold or unravel. I'm just fascinated.”
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Show Timestamps:
(3:38) How Mike became an adventurer
(4:35) Mike’s partnership with Dell Technologies
(7:23) How to define an expedition
(10:29) Pushing the definition of Edge
(11:28) Dell’s field mission
(14:08) What technology does in remote places
(15:01) Mike’s mission to give back
(16:41) The start of Mike’s nonprofit
(18:45) Making expeditions sustainable
(23:10) Painting a picture of an expedition
(25:57) Investing in the future of Edge
(28:47) Dell’s definition of Edge
(31:50) Making technology fruitful in the field
(34:45) Mike’s Joyineering Fund
(38:40) The importance of giving back
(40:07) Why does Dell prioritize this work?
(45:47) Questions technology can help us with
(47:21) What makes Dell unique
(50:06) The future potential of Edge
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Sponsor:
Over the Edge is brought to you by Dell Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions. From hardware and software to data and operations, across your entire multi-cloud environment, we’re here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting DellTechnologies.com/SimplifyYourEdge for more information or click on the link in the show notes.
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Links:
Connect with Host and Guests
Mike and Dell Projects
Learn more about how Dell Technologies is using edge for good:
Dell Technologies - Who We Are
[00:00:00] Narrator 1: Hello, and welcome to Over the Edge. This episode features an interview between Mat Shapiro and Mike Lebeck, national Geographic Explorer and Bill Piper, edge Messaging Director at Dell. Bill has worked in it for over 20 years. He's an expert on the latest details of ai, 5g, iot, and all the other emerging technologies at Dell emc.
Bill works on research studies, talks to analysts, and helps shape how the company interacts with the market every day. Mike Lebeck was named a 2013 National Geographic Adventure of the Year for his commitment to exploring the world's most remote places. Mike is a climber and has planned and succeeded on more than 60 expeditions.
He's also completed several first descents. Mike has received numerous grants and awards, and he's appeared on pbs, the National Geographic Channel, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and the Travel Channel. In this episode, Mike and Bill described the relationship between Dell Technologies and Mike's expeditions.
Mike brings Dell technology to the most remote corners of the world. He uses the technology himself and gives it to the people he encounters in their mission to give. Dell and Mike work hand in hand to bring technology, education, and innovation to communities across the globe. Mike and Bill describe how they deploy edge technology in far away regions.
Bill discusses the future of the edge while Mike explains how it ties to his humanitarian missions and nonprofit. But before we get into it, here's a brief word from our sponsors. Over
[00:01:38] Narrator 2: the Edge is brought to you by Dell [00:01:40] Technologies to unlock the potential of your infrastructure with edge solutions.
From hardware and software to data and operations across your entire multi-cloud environment. We're here to help you simplify your edge so you can generate more value. Learn more by visiting dell.com for more information, or click on the link in the show notes.
[00:01:59] Matt Trifiro: Two years ago when I started the Over the Edge podcast, it was all about edge computing.
That's all anybody can talk about. But since then I've realized the edge is part of a much larger revolution. That's why I'm pretty proud to be one of the founding leaders of a nonprofit organization called the Open Grid Alliance for oga. The OGA is all about incorporating the best of edge technologies across the entire spectrum of connectivity.
From the centralized data center to the end user devices, the open grid will span the globe and will improve performance and economics of new services like private, 5G and smart retail. If you want to be part of the open grid movement, I suggest you start@opengridalliance.org where you can download the original open grid manifesto and learn about the organization's recent projects and activities, including the launch of its first innovation zone in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And
[00:02:43] Narrator 1: now please enjoy this interview between Matra Firo and Mike LaBeck, national Geographic Explorer and Bill Heifer, edge Messaging director at Dell.
[00:02:53] Matt Trifiro: Hey, bill. Hey Mike. How are you guys doing today? Doing well. How about yourself, Matt? Oh, I'm doing terrific. This is a, a really interesting interview. We have a technologist.
Bill, you're from Dell Technologies. Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and, and what you do? I am
[00:03:08] Bill Pfeifer: the Edge Messaging Director at Dell, so that's kind of the overall position of how the Edge is evolving, how it fits into technologies, spaces, how it fits into Dell
[00:03:19] Matt Trifiro: Technologies. [00:03:20] And Mike, I think it's the first time that I've actually met someone with a title that has the word adventure in it.
can you tell us a little bit about your background and, and your relationship to Dell
[00:03:30] Mike Libecki: Technologies? Yeah, I mean, gosh, I. I used to be a a, an old math physics nerd, and I started in second grade. I mean, I'll try to do long story short, but, uh, one of my teachers told my parents that something's going on in his mind with math and it was just things were clicking.
And so through the years, math has just been something I've loved and have been obsessed with all through high school and in college. And that has really defined a lot of my life. I look at my lifestyle as these big equations, but I get a couple fancy titles like National Geographic Explorer. I'm one of the National Geographic Adventures of the Year, but I'm a professional climber, explorer and athlete at heart.
And the relationship with Dell started in about 2014 when the rugged team reached out and said, you're doing all these amazing trips. We'd love for you to test our product on these expeditions, kind of the real world lab. And I kind of thought, okay, you know, a lot of the tech that we have gets destroyed in the field and I'll try it.
And I, we tried it out in the field and we were downloading terabytes of film through it, using it for gps. We were using it for Skype via satellite in these remote places. And I, wow, this really works. And so that relationship started with Dell was a very organic, authentic connection because I need product that, I need product that won't fail in the field, but I needed to work at Optimum Performance.
And that relationship grew into working with Rugged, working with give back projects [00:05:00] with Dell, with their precision, with their monitors, video editing, film, all the way here to Bill with the Edge team. I mean, just all over the board. So I'm technically a Dell Technologies ambassador and we have a lot of teamwork and a lot of really cool projects.
Wow, there's
[00:05:16] Matt Trifiro: so much I wanna unpack in that. Let me just pick a couple of really fun ones. I love that you look at your life as a series of mathematical equations. Could, could you help us understand more of what that's really like from your
[00:05:28] Mike Libecki: perspective? Yeah, so you know, a lot of my lifestyle is big expeditions, so I go all over the world and now 90 plus expeditions, well over a hundred countries.
And these are usually expeditions that are climbing, explorations, science across the board, filmmaking, and really remote places. And I have an expertise that can go out there and really be the difference of. Fail and prevail. And that's my job, is to make sure the expedition is successful in every possible way.
And so when I look at it as an equation, every single constant and variable through that entire equation equals the final product of success. Let's say for example, uh, we did this project in Antarctica last year, and it was with the edge team. It was doing microplastics research. If I'm out in the field and my stove fails, our whole expedition fails.
So that one little tool that I have to fix my stove is part of that equation. I can't forget that. I have to make sure everything is working the entire time to meet that final product of success. So every single [00:06:40] tiny detail in that equation is just as important as the next to be successful on these trips.
Yeah. Wow, that's really interesting.
[00:06:48] Matt Trifiro: It's like you invented your own kind of project management in a way. Mapping all the dependencies and turning that into, into a successful expedition. It, it's hard for me to imagine that there are parts of the world that are, maybe, unexplored isn't the right word, but that are deserving of.
Such a grand word is expedition. It's a world I'm not familiar with. Like who decides what is an expedition and how do you go on an expedition? Well, and,
[00:07:14] Mike Libecki: and you know, I've been asked that question a lot. How do you define an expedition? And for me, it is going to the most remote places in the world, the hardest places to get to.
And there are still places now that you can go to and rescue's. Not impossible, of course, communications via satellite are there. And I utilize those for safety for, you know, we have doctors on call. We can call back to the Dell team and say, oh, hey, we're having a problem with this. Can you help us? Can you walk us through this?
So communications on expeditions are there, but defining an expedition, it really is those most remote places. And there are a lot of places that are still unexplored on this planet. I mean, as a matter of. I've got 22 expeditions planned on paper right now that are still unexplored and unknown out there from a climbing standpoint, as an athlete, from a scientific research, from, you know, figuring out Gana and lower Asia and all these, you know, there's meteors and dinosaur bones.
I mean, it's been a real, i I would say, an honor and pleasure that my life has evolved to work with [00:08:20] so many different people in the world of exploration and science and athletic accomplishments. It's just an organic enthusiasm and I can't get enough of it, and I'm, I feel really fortunate that I have that enthusiasm, that drive, because these expeditions, they get really intense and if you don't love 'em, they're gonna be really hard to do.
And I'd say I'm obsessed. Some people would say there's an addiction here of some kind, but. I love what I do and I'm grateful and it, it all comes back to this one term of teamwork. I mean, I'm sitting here with you guys, I'm working with Bill and Dell and so many people that come together to make these expeditions possible, and what a beautiful thing to be out in the field.
But I think the most important part of it is coming back and telling these stories and getting people to, to see and feel and be part of these expeditions and what's going on out, out in the world on these trips. That's really cool. Um,
[00:09:16] Matt Trifiro: now I'm excited to go dig up so many of your, the information about your past two expeditions now and really look into some of these.
So, so Bill, Mike is out there figuring out where the edge is , right? And you know, and I'm so used to thinking of the edge in these kind of industrial or retail or urban environments, but what Mike's doing is really of a, in a different world. Can you tell us how that fits into Dell Technologies conception of edge and what your relationship is with these expeditions and, and what the company wants its relationship to be with these expeditions?
So, little
[00:09:54] Bill Pfeifer: bit roundabout, but we had talked to Mike about. Engaging in some future projects. And he sent a list [00:10:00] of what he was planning and I looked at it and I'm like, wow, 12 year old me would've listed that out as the stuff I wanna do for a living. And then I grew up and got a job. And those are four choices, apparently.
So he actually figured out a way to make that work for the world and make it useful. Like kudos to him. Man, I just, it's phenomenal the stuff that he's doing, but we have our view of the edge, right? And it's, it's the technological, you know, looking at data centers, looking at clouds. How do we help rebalance that technology so it's closer to people, so it's providing new types of value, but he's going farther out.
And so that's kind of pushing the definition of the edge, but it's, it's taking technology out of the data center and putting it close to where the people are now. Those people don't happen to be technologically advanced right now. They're living, they're subsistence farmers. He's working with a group now that their first contact with outsiders, specifically with white people, was 10 years ago.
They had just never seen anybody outside of their subsistence farming local native economy. And so they don't have access to modern education and to modern communications and to modern information on farming methods and the technology for farming methods and things like that. And so Dell's mission at a high level is to create the technologies that drive human progress.
And that's not to say the Silicon Valley technologies that drive Silicon Valley progress, right? It's, it's humanity's progress and we have whole communities. that just haven't had access to education. And there could be brilliant people in those [00:11:40] communities that will do amazing things. Or there could be really, you know, functional advances.
And so we're getting involved with him and trying to give them access to technology. What are they gonna do with it? We don't know. I could tell you a couple of like high tech wizbang cool things that we see coming with the edge in terms of home automation and car automation and farm automation and things like that.
But then when you're talking about natives who are farming for a living and hunting for a living and don't have any technology, what can they do with just a little bit that's specifically applied to help the trajectory of their village or, you know, get their kids into maybe mainstream life, maybe just doing their life
[00:12:27] Matt Trifiro: better.
Yeah. Okay. So I want to come back to that because I think there's two relationships that Dell Technologies has with Mike in a sense, from a technological standpoint. And the first one's, what he talked about is the gear that I put in my pack and that I bring along with my expedition so it doesn't fail.
And then there's the, it sounds like some of the technology that you guys leave behind to learn with the communities that Mike is engaging with. Right. And so let's, let's tackle those separately. So, so Mike, what's in your gear bag? The nerdy technology that you just can't live without, uh, on your expeditions?
Like what's the techno, I mean, the stove fixing tool, obviously.
[00:13:00] Mike Libecki: Well, yeah. So like the stove fixing tool was a, an example that it's this little teeny tiny tool. The little, this little thing and this huge expedition way out in the field when you have to not only survive, but you have to perform an at optimum level, whether it's the science, the focus, you know, it's minus [00:13:20] 30 degrees, you're emotionally having a tough day.
I mean, there's so much going on. But, you know, getting into the bag of tech, I mean, you can imagine the film cameras, the still cameras, the, the laptops, the hard drives. The satellite communications. Think about the battery power we're using. We have to have a whole solar system set out there. So we're gathering energy from solar, charging our batteries.
I mean, it's a nonstop 24 7 office just to keep things powered. There's that theme on my expedition, whether it's a sleeping bag stove, my rugged laptops. The theme is it absolutely cannot fail. And then back to, it has to work at an optimum performance. If we're gonna succeed at the highest level, bring back the best stories, but particularly on our, you know, recent collaboration with Dell, with Bill, with the whole team there, you know, we were down in Bolivia.
Built two new schools, full set up, complete solar power. We brought 50 new computers. We're teaching natives, digital natives, which I think came up from Bill and team, where one of these villages had not connected with the civilization until 10 years ago. And here we are bringing high tech computers, teaching them software.
They, they'd never touched a, a keypad or a mouse before. I mean, they're like, whoa. And next thing you're doing, they're, they're making art. They're learning this technology. I mean, it is absolutely fascinating. And to Bill's point, you know, we want to enhance the quality of these lives. They want this technology.
They want to advance, get different careers, go to college, have learning skills for better crops, how to manage [00:15:00] their water. I mean, there's so much going on with these, but the most recent trip, you know, is a humanitarian give back trip. And we're bringing education. We wanna bring next level education to help.
Advance the, the human capacity of what they can do. I mean, it's, it's a lot to talk about, but it was all really years ago inspired by my daughter to kind of start these give back trips and these big humanitarian projects and through the world of humanitarianism and giving back, one of the biggest needs is solar power and computer literacy and education.
And that's going to advance the people that are really in need to make their lives a better quality and bringing internet to these communities. Imagine that world of the education that opens up. If they can sit down and go on the internet and learn about our world and learn how to make their lives better.
Again, to Bill's point of, you know, farming, agriculture, hunting, water systems, having shower, having hot water, having clean water, it's a lot. And then that comes back to those equations. How do we figure this out? . Yeah. So let's
[00:16:07] Matt Trifiro: talk about the Bolivia expedition, and that was the most recent one, the Bolivia one that you just completed.
When did you start planning this and what was the purpose? And the reason I ask the purpose is you mentioned that this was a, a humanitarian expedition, and so I imagine there are other expeditions that you lead or maybe there aren't. Maybe you can explain how
[00:16:24] Mike Libecki: that all works. You know, I've been traveling the world expeditions, like I said, over a hundred countries, all these expeditions for years and years.
I'm a father. I have a daughter who's grown up with a very unique lifestyle. I mean, she's traveled all over the world, has been to all seven continents, [00:16:40] over 30 countries by the time she was 16. And we were doing these adventures, really incredible adventures. And we went to Africa and we did this big solar install and we brought some computers from Dell to these orphanages and we're trying to do this project.
And my daughter was like, dad, these adventures are great, but what are we doing to give back? How are we changing the world? And, and really became passionate about that. And I said, you know, we could start an organization and really try to do our part, really try to bring in a lot of teamwork to make a difference.
And that was kind of born of our, our five oh one nonprofit. And then I had been working, started working with Dell and then of course my daughter's like, we want to do this and this. And, and all my friends at Dell are like, oh my gosh, look at this young woman wanting to change the world. How can we support you?
And then we also work with Goal Zero, which is a solar company. And that solar technology and the computer literacy with the Dell team is such a perfect synergy cuz we got a power to the stuff. And then we started bringing a team from Dell along with us on these trips to Africa, Peru, Philippines, Bolivia, Nepal Building schools.
I mean, it's turned into this incredible project of teamwork and support. And then we're, you know, teaching the kids on the computers, I mean, Again, I can ramble on about this, but it, then it comes into, it's working, it's happening. We did this, uh, give back project with Dell in India. 14 kids at this orphanage got that computer literacy, got the education, and now they're in college.
The first time in their [00:18:20] families ever to go get a higher education and imagine the generations to come that that education is going to affect in their communities and their families. I mean, it's, it's a beautiful story and we're just so excited that we can be that nucleus or that constant to, to bring this, and that was how Bolivia, Bolivia is the same thing.
We built two schools. We brought the solar, we brought the computers teachers to educate the Dell team. And what's really important about this that I need to talk about, It's not just going in and here's the new schools, here's the solar, here's the computers. Great. We did our, it's sustainability. That's just the first part.
It's gotta continue. We have to have the software updates, we have to have the teaching. We have to have the continued focus to make sure it's actually working and making a difference. So sustainability and the continuing relationship to make sure everything is working and the education is actually happening consistently.
It's not worth it without the sustainability factor. Yeah,
[00:19:23] Matt Trifiro: that, that makes sense. Yeah. And you mentioned that the, was it a village that you did the expedition, is village
[00:19:27] Mike Libecki: the correct word? Yeah, there were, there were three, three different villages. Oh. But let me, let me note on how do we find these places?
And you, you asked that question. All these expeditions and travel around the world, I mean, so many places, you know, you're going through, and I, I guess I'll use the word, you know, sort of third world areas and countries that are kind of left be behind technologically and many other ways. And I'm going through these places and meeting these people and seeing these areas.
And I can go back from all of my travels. I think, gosh, there's all these places [00:20:00] that I want to go visit and ask, do they want the help? Do they want solar and computers? So I know these places from my travels over the last, you know, 25 plus. of people that look like they could use some help that they don't have the help from their government or other, but we can make our little difference by going back and trying to help these communities.
So all the locations I mentioned, Bolivia was one of them. I had been there climbing, adventuring, went back to these places. I have meetings. I just show up in the villages. Hey, we would like to give back. We would like to see what, if you have wants or needs in these villages, how can we help? And it usually comes down to helping with access to water.
But it really, the big things are solar energy and computer literacy and education. Cuz they want that education. They want to go to college, they want to have different careers. So we find these places because I've been, I've just been all over the world and I know where to go look and it, I, I just show up outta nowhere.
Have a meeting with the chief or the leader or the, the mayor of these towns or villages. Hey, are you guys interested in this? Next thing you know, oh my gosh, we would love this. And then, then it starts. And to answer your question about when this started, you know, this particular trip was quite the challenge because we started this in late 2019, early 2020.
And so I went down, we started getting this construction going, got the thumbs up from Goal Zero, solar and Dell. And then of course, boom, COVID hit. We were, you know, we were shut down. So it has been perseverance and focus and staying in touch as soon as we [00:21:40] felt post covid, which is, you know, that dance that we're still sort of mingling with.
But we got down there, we finished it, and we got it done. And so now we'll be going back here in a few months to continue that process. I hope that answers that question well,
[00:21:56] Matt Trifiro: yeah, it does. And I, and I wanna paint a really detailed picture because, you know, we're dealing with audio here and most of us, including myself, have not been to Bolivia.
So pick one of these villages. What was the, what's the name of one of these villages?
[00:22:09] Mike Libecki: So you could pick Porta Russo, um, LT Gray, fly into La Paz, go into another little flight to this little town of Ro Abake. Take a big bus for several hours, get in four by fours. Go out deep into the jungle. Imagine these are very remote places.
And in today's day and age, and Bill reminded me of this, when these people first connected with the outside world just 10 years ago, that's pretty remote. Just imagine this village where you come in and, you know, it's pretty old style of, of living, hunter gather, farming, agriculture, and there's no power, there's no lights, there's candles.
and now they have full solar. All the buildings, all the houses, everything have lights. Now from solar. In this particular village, there's probably about 600 people and all, you know, from K through 12, but adult. So on that note, every age of, of learners from, from students to adult learners that wanna learn this technology.
But if you, I think that's one of the things of painting the picture. Imagine having no power, no [00:23:20] lights at all in your life, and then leaving. And we took 6,000 pounds of solar equipment. I mean, this is, these are huge projects. I mean, we're shipping all this down. There's customs, there's paperwork, there's logistics, legalities.
They're all done through NGOs that are down there that I connect with and meet through the government. It's all legitimate stuff. I mean, there's a lot that goes into these. They're really, really big projects and they're, I mean, they're really impactful. But I like that vision of Imagine living with no lights or power.
And then the whole entire village has solar, over a hundred solar panels and solar batteries. And now there's a, a huge school building with desks and chairs that we had built by the locals there. And, you know, we're trying to keep this in the local area. It's, it's a complete change of life for them. But it's also
[00:24:08] Bill Pfeifer: important to note, I mean, to pay attention and not miss the point that you're working with the village elder.
to coordinate what happens. Yeah.
[00:24:17] Matt Trifiro: They're getting what they want and what they ask for. In your partnership with you, Mike has
[00:24:21] Bill Pfeifer: seen places where, you know, a corporation donates a bunch of laptops. They drop them off and say, there you go. You have technology. And then they leave and they don't have power and they don't have operating system updates and they don't have training on how to do anything.
And they just sit there getting older. And so Mike is going in and talking to the village elders and saying, do you want this? Is this a good change for you? Is this gonna help your lives and your village? Or is it just gonna take away your kids and kill the village? Or, you know, just be a waste of money and time.
And so I, I think one of the, the biggest pieces of value to this is that he's actually forming relationships and he's going back for a couple years. And it's not disrupting their lifestyle, it's [00:25:00] enhancing. Right? So we wanna give them opportunities as opposed to just, here's technology, right? As of today, none of them are tired this morning because they were up until two o'clock in the morning.
Doom scrolling, TikTok, is that really what we wanna do to the village?
[00:25:13] Matt Trifiro: Probably not. We, we have light, but now we also have scream time problems with the children. Right? Yeah. That's really interesting. So Bill, what is the, the package of technology that Dell technologies brought to these villages in Bolivia, and what is it being used for and how is it thought of in the ecosystem of edge computing?
[00:25:31] Bill Pfeifer: in this case, it's, it's the first real foray there. So it was laptops and, uh, a couple of, um, teacher units that had, uh, Mike loaded up some educational software and he's working on some internet access and things like that. So it's just getting the kids access, um, and actually some of the adults access to basic tablets and laptops just to get technology into their hands and start to get them into an educational system, right?
Because they never had access to that before. And so from an edge perspective, it's more, more than anything else. It's number one, a future investment. I'll, I'll touch on that in a second, but also building the next generation of people who are gonna do interesting things at the edge. We understand like how to improve a factory with cool high tech stuff and how to improve a data center with cool high tech stuff and rebalancing that technology.
But if you put just a little bit of technology, out in the field where there's never been any, we don't know what they're gonna do with it, but it may improve their water safety or help them hunt and survive during a lean [00:26:40] year. Or even just give their kids the option of going to college, maybe send some money back to help build up more infrastructure, maybe come back and do some clever coding and put in some clever automation or maybe none of that we don't know.
Uh, but it at least gives them the option to start understanding what that could be. And then from an edge perspective, we would start with just basic laptops, basic education, a basic, um, school system. And from there, if we start putting in advanced edge technology, as soon as it breaks, nobody has a clue what it is or what it does is just this black magic that sits there and does a magical thing until it stops.
And so they have to come up to a certain level before we can say, Hey, let's automate that. and you know, put in some mechanisms and a little bit of python coating and stuff like that. And so maybe down the road we can work with them to start to identify how they can use that edge, that offline compute with sensors, with video cameras, with water sensors, with temperature sensors, with proximity sensors.
Where do they need help? Where are they fine right now and should be left alone? I don't know. Um, and until we know more about that stuff, it doesn't make sense to just jam technology in. It makes a lot more sense to give them what they can absorb now and go back in a year and see what can they absorb next, what do they need next, and we will start to learn more about how to help in more primitive spaces like that.
where, I mean, I come from suburban Detroit right now. I don't know what it's like to be a subsistence [00:28:20] farmer in the jungle and what they need. And so, you know, trying to come up with my own idea of a solution seems like a bad idea. Mike's at least been there and even he couldn't come up with exactly what they would need next.
So we'll give them some education and some time, and then we'll ask them
[00:28:38] Matt Trifiro: what is the difference between edge computing in a village in Bolivia and providing laptops to people in a village in Bolivia, because we've been providing laptops to people in villages for decades. Right? Why is this edge computing?
I
[00:28:52] Bill Pfeifer: wouldn't argue that it is necessarily, this is actually a major point of contention because everyone disagrees
[00:28:58] Mike Libecki: on what? Totally, totally. So,
[00:28:59] Matt Trifiro: okay, so fair enough. What is your definition of edge?
[00:29:02] Bill Pfeifer: So the definition that we've settled on as Dell Technologies is the edge is where data's acted on nearest point of creation to drive immediate essential value.
So if we're collecting data that can't get to a data center or a cloud either because there is no internet connection or because it's too big, too fast, too private, something, right? And you act on it with some sort of automation. To provide new value to solve a problem that you couldn't before. We're not doing that in this case.
There aren't sensors around that village that are piping information in with automation and AI to run around and say, oh, we recognize this thing, so we're doing this action and that makes their life better. Again, it's, it's more foundational than,
[00:29:47] Matt Trifiro: Right. So in your view, installing the technology, I mean, obviously you can't have computers without power , and so installing the solar panels and getting, getting the village up to a level where it can even support the [00:30:00] technology is like the first step.
And then you're saying that, that it becomes edge computing probably some point in the future when mm-hmm. , they attach their first sensor, whether it's a rain sensor or a solar sensor or something that then starts collecting some data and is then acted upon. Okay, so I'm gonna challenge your definition anyways.
is the microcontroller with a little bit of code and a little bit of operat assistance in my dishwasher that's stopping it from being imbalanced when the thing spins too fast, right? Is that edge computing because it's taking data at the edge, it's not sending it to a data center and it's processing it locally.
Is that edge computing?
[00:30:32] Bill Pfeifer: You know, embedded microcontrollers have been around for a very long time. And is it immediate and essential value? Is it essential? Is it changing your life somehow? Is it solving a problem that couldn't be solved before?
[00:30:46] Matt Trifiro: I mean, you know, as a messaging guy, right? Like there's always these, these subtleties and you can never be specific.
I actually did get a great definition of edge computing though, that I've, I'm most fond of. It's very similar to yours, but a little bit different. The definition was, Edge computing is where the digital world meets the physical world. Mm-hmm. , your definition certainly fits within that. Right?
[00:31:04] Bill Pfeifer: Right. So we started with that a while ago.
You know, like you could say that every video camera, every sensor is the edge, cuz that's where the physical world turns into digital something. Okay, sure. But that doesn't explain why it's taken off. Right. That's just what it is. And so we wanted to talk. Why do our customers care? Why is there this massive technology inflection happening across the industry, across the world?
Right. It's because it's generating new value. It's solving problems that we couldn't
[00:31:35] Matt Trifiro: touch before. Yeah. That's interesting. That's interesting. So you've included the outcome in the [00:31:40] definition. All right, so back to you Mike. I didn't get one of the questions, the answers that I wanted that was unfair.
Cause I asked you like 20 questions in a row. , what is the most valuable piece of Dell Technologies equipment that you take on your expeditions?
[00:31:51] Mike Libecki: And I wanna answer that and please ask that again. But you know, listening to Bill, you know, what's coming to mind is one of the reasons that, that I do all this stuff, especially the expeditions.
There's a major drive called mystery. You never know what's gonna happen on these trips, and specifically these give back humanitarian trips and bringing technology and education. What I'm excited about with Bill and team is it's taking the give back intention and the intention of the enhancement of the quality of lives here.
to a whole new level that I don't even understand. So they have issues of drought and containing water. How much water are they using, how much do they actually need? And if this is one small point that I see when I'm out in the field that you know this edge technology commitment and understand how much water, what's going here, how's the fruit looking?
I mean, there's. There's real issues out there that they don't know how to contend with. They just go with what Mother Earth gives them. And to think about edge technology and what Bill understands in his team that I don't, that can be efficient, that can make things metaphorically and literally fruitful, and for them to take that to the markets.
I mean, there's so much going on here that's a, it's a whole new excitement of this mystery for me to be connecting with this kind of technology that I don't understand. Because my goal is how do we make the lives better for these people in Bolivia, for the world, for the, you know, to be part of this global [00:33:20] family.
I just wanted to say that this edge technology excites me because I think especially for the third world places I'm going, Bolivia, all the places these can take leapfrogs of things. And make their lives so much better that they've been dealing with for who knows how long, and all of a sudden, boom, their problems are being solved.
They're healthier, they're happier, they're again, I, I like that word fruitful. Literally. And, you know, metaphorically, it's, it's an exciting thing for me to, to listen to Bill talk about this and the conversations that we've had and what I don't still understand, but what can be possible. And that's a lot of work ahead.
That's a lot. Again, I was like, Hey Bill, come down to Bolivia. Like, let's get you and your team down there. Let's look at what's happening and getting, you know, e-bikes or, or e cars that can take their fruit instead of having to walk. I mean, there's just so much that could go on with this technology that can, can make these lives better.
Look at our lives sitting here. We are so privileged. We have such comfortable, amazing lives and to imagine helping. Get those comforts, technologies, education, efficiency, whatever it is. And I just wanted to throw that out there because I'm very grateful to have connected through the normal channels with Bill and the Edge team, that we can do more technology, can actually advance the human race and to comforts and happiness and join everyone deserves that on this planet.
Anyway, I'm gonna throw that out there, but a lot of gratitude, but please ask that question again and I'll, I'll answer it for you, . Well, tha
[00:34:51] Matt Trifiro: thank, thank you for that, Mike. I'm, I'm glad that you said that thank your passion is in infectious and we will put in the show notes for anybody wants to get involved.
What is the name of the, [00:35:00] the, the nonprofit organization you and your daughter founded by the way?
[00:35:03] Mike Libecki: So it's called the Joy Engineering Fund. And if you imagine engineering or mountaineering, it's joy engineering. So it's the act of how do we bring joy, you know, how can we bring joy to those that actually need it?
Like I said, we're all sitting here in a very, very comfortable, privileged life. I believe it's the act of bringing joy. How can we do our part to bring joy to those who need it? So
[00:35:23] Matt Trifiro: the question I was, I was asking, uh, originally Mike, was what piece of essential Dell technologies gear do you find yourself bringing on every expedition or almost every expedition if, if there's such a thing?
[00:35:33] Mike Libecki: I mean, I mean, that's an easy one. There's a lot of different stuff that I take, but it's the rugged tablets and the rugged laptops. This last trip that we did with Dell, I mentioned we were in Antarctica. We were doing some of the first microplastics research. In the most remote place on the planet and we're out with snow and freezing rain.
Literally. We have our rugged laptops gathering data, transferring terabytes, connecting, you know, with everything you can imagine from GPS satellites. And we've got a laptop that is just got frozen rain and it's crusted with ice or the these wet snow coming down. I'm talking soaked. We're soaked, our laptops are soaked.
It's working fine. It's really impressive actually, because when you go to wet places, we're talking jungles, deserts, mountains, minus 40 degrees, and it works. It's really actually very impressive. And then I got to visit, The Dell lab where they, you know, they have all these tests for the rugged devices and it puts it through the ringer.
I mean, we went to this desert and crossed this desert and we were burying these rugged laptops and [00:36:40] like, you know, throwing 'em off cliffs and boom, turning 'em on and here we go. I mean, sometimes I'm trying to destroy them. It's really hard to do that. Anyway, the rugged devices that they make, they're ultra badass.
[00:36:52] Matt Trifiro: That's amazing. And what's the internet connectivity solution usually like? How do you guys approach connecting to a network?
[00:36:59] Mike Libecki: Well, for a long time you can use what's a, a bgan system or explore unit that are made. And so you set up these little sat kind of satellite dishes out in the field and you have a specific connection, coordinate with a satellite you can plug in and connect right away.
I mean, you can even do video chats. And this has been going on for, you know, well over a decade that you can connect anywhere in the world via satellite, you know, with SpaceX and all these other things. We're gonna have internet anywhere. pretty, pretty darn soon. And so that's usually hasn't been a big issue.
And then satellite phones, those have been around for, you know, 20, well, gosh, 30 plus years you can get on a satellite phone and call. But being able to connect a laptop now and connect to a satellite with very high speed connection. I mean, for me, on a side note of my lifestyle, imagine, you know, for the most of my adult life, especially being a dad, being out in the field 4, 5, 6, 7 months a year, one of the most important things for me is, is connecting with my family.
Breaking out my rugged, connecting it to agan, to a satellite and I'm Skyping with my daughter or, or family. So you mentioned earlier, oh, you know, the dream life. I love my lifestyle. There's another side of it where you miss Christmas, you miss birthdays, you get homesick. Mental wellness. There are a lot of challenges on the other side of it [00:38:20] that are.
Very challenging. I'll leave him at that. But the support of family and friends and knowing that we're doing stuff for good is Bill knows. I like to ramble on, but I like to tell these stories that there's a side of this stuff that, you know, like anything, there's compromise, sacrifice. And I want to come back to saying having that technology is one of the most important parts for me on these expeditions with this lifestyle.
Not just the give back part, but just being able to operate in the field. You know, we bring these stories home and for example, right now we're talking about this. If people are listening to this thinking, what am I doing to give back? Yeah, they don't need to go build schools and bring computers and solar, but what are we all doing to give back in any way to our community, locally or globally?
What maybe that's a good point of a lot of this talk is, hey everyone, what are you doing to give back? Are you volunteering at your animal shelter, homeless shelter? Are you stopping using single use plastics? I mean, That question of how are we living with integrity for our families' community world.
There's a lot to lot going on here with all of this stuff. Yeah,
[00:39:24] Matt Trifiro: and I think Mike, especially, you know, you bringing those sentiments to this audience that Bill and I largely represented, which is technology audience. I mean, I have to say three or four times you're my career. I've just looked at what I do and I'm like, it's just software on a box.
And so you have to find those threads. You have to find those threads where, no, this thing that I'm doing that maybe is, you know, three, four steps removed from any human. I know , right? It's like it's managing workloads in a data center or something, right? It's just like something that no, no normal person ever touches.
You do have to place the work you do in that context, which [00:40:00] is like, how am I helping humanity, like Dell Technologies, like something that doesn't, doesn't have a direct profit implication. Tell us how, how does a company like Dell that's. Private, you know, it's a company that's there to make profit. How does it rationalize this kind of work?
How does it hire somebody like you to, you know, give you the time and energy to, to hang out with Mike and make these great things
[00:40:21] Bill Pfeifer: happen? So it does come back to the mission. I've worked for a number of companies in the past, but I haven't worked for one like Dell because the founder, the man whose name is on the company, is still the ceo, and this is his legacy to the world.
And so the mission, we say we create technologies that drive human progress and people go, blah, blah, blah, that's cute. But we really do try, right? And that doesn't necessarily just mean driving human progress by making clouds bigger and data centers faster. That can be how can we help in our communities or in some other community to actually drive human progress in a way that makes sense.
And so helping to improve technology adoption around the world. and provide the some level of equality and equity in less privileged spaces is a fantastic, I mean, it's a noble effort. Everyone feels good about that from a business perspective. Yes. You know, the rest of the world will then develop more and we'll buy more stuff.
Yay. But then the way that Mike is going about this, again, connecting with the village elders and kind of drip feeding things in, in a way that they can absorb and maintain that's sustainable and responsible so that they can drive their own [00:41:40] progress. And in what direction will that go? We may learn something amazing, right?
If you think back to when computers were much more primitive, we would have very limited memory space to use, and now we just have. , like effectively infinite cloud storage and memory, and nobody cares. And so what will they do when they have just this little bit of data and just this little bit of compute and just this tiny little internet connection?
What are they gonna come up with? Who knows? Are we
[00:42:11] Matt Trifiro: starting to see that evolution? So we mentioned the most recent trip to Bolivia. We brought all this technology, we brought the solar panels, we created the schools, we brought the, the laptops and the pads and everything. This becomes like edge when it starts collecting data and maybe doing some analysis locally.
Have any of your projects gotten to that point with doing some, you know, doing some edge computing? And if not, when, when do you anticipate that happening? Even in the, the simplest way?
[00:42:36] Bill Pfeifer: It's a process of maturing and some, some folks inside of Dell joke, that Edge is the oldest emerging technology on the planet.
We've had technology in factories since forever, but now all of a sudden we have high definition video cameras and we have great AI algorithms that can do something with that data. and we have durable, fast, high powered compute that we can put out there in the field to run the AI and do something with the data so that we can automate clever solutions.
And so we're seeing things like, there was a story about, uh, farming combine and it had cameras that would shoot down and look at the plants and as the combine was driving over the plants, it would analyze and say, this one's [00:43:20] a little bit dry. Okay, shoot some water on it. This one has this type of pests.
Great. Put something to control that. This one's getting fungus. Great. Put something to control that. And so you didn't have to carpet bomb the fields with every chemical. You got healthier plants. It costs the farmer less, and it was because you could do this while you were driving over the plants.
[00:43:41] Matt Trifiro: It's the convergence of, of all these technologies that have gone through giant step functions.
Yep. Right. It's emerging in a new form factor, so to speak. We've had the technologies for doing Uber, right? We've had flat panel displays and we've had gps. We've had these things, but never happened until it all got like crammed into an iPhone that was less than a thousand dollars at, at t was selling mass retail
[00:44:03] Bill Pfeifer: and then everyone had them, and then we got something like that, right?
And so like, who would've thought like, you know what? I'm gonna put high-definition cameras on a farm and combine and we're gonna do something that's an amazing thing to solve.
[00:44:16] Matt Trifiro: So do you see these as little experiments? Mike says, let's go here. And you're like, okay, let's, let's drop some, some experiments down and see what happens in a few years.
Yeah, I
[00:44:24] Bill Pfeifer: mean, he went to Antarctica and we helped support that. And part of that was, you know, we would get lots of video data to train AI and maybe we could do something interesting with that. Count penguins and identify how many unique penguins they have, right? Like, you look at a field of penguins and you go, wow, that's a lot of penguins.
The AI could tell you there's 2,327. Yeah. And just like watch it to see how much do they rotate, how much are they out fishing versus sitting at home with the nest or whatever the AI could identify. There are this many unique ones in that population. Maybe that's interesting and useful [00:45:00] to the world somehow.
Maybe we can come up with some cool new thing that does similar things. Does
[00:45:05] Matt Trifiro: any of this like captured in documentary style where we'll actually get to see the story unfold with like all this, you know, video of penguins and data scientists and laptops that are frozen and, or we just, we are gonna use the, the power of our mind to
[00:45:18] Mike Libecki: visualize this.
We talked a little bit about Antarctica. Uh, you know, we're doing edge computing, a lot of different science down. And we're just getting the results back from the research where we were testing iceberg's, ocean glaciers, air for microplastics, and it takes a little while, there's been some covid stuff, but in the labs, you know, it has to be a hundred percent mathematically clean samples.
So we're getting that back and it'll be really interesting to see what can edge technology identify about these microplastics. You know, bill talked a little bit about, yeah, kind of as an example of, let's say, you know, we were down there shooting eight K footage, 11 K, 360 virtual reality footage. You know, what things can maybe be learned that actually takes it to a real world application that's doing something important.
I love that Bill and teams were kinda like, Hey, we're a little intrigued here. Let's, let's play with this. Because what little thing could come up from somebody or something, or a piece of information that turns into something we weren't thinking about that technology can unfold. Uh, in this exploration of what, you know, what I'm doing in bringing technology.
I mean, it's, it's fun. It's fun. What, what will happen? What's that mystery? What can unfold from this? Because I don't understand it exactly, but I think that I just like the fact that it's a [00:46:40] real world exploration lab with this technology, with the things I'm doing. From the penguins to the microplastics, to the natives, to digital natives.
What are these people thinking from their generations of life and experience and how they're living and they get this technology and they're coming up with ideas that can change their life or their world that spreads to other communities that are like them. I mean, it's. Again, there's a lot of organic enthusiasm here to see what that mystery unfolds.
And I, and I just love that about this. Matt, I wanted to, to kind of just push back a little bit with something that you've said, cuz do we need some drama on this podcast? I don't, . It's not that. Yeah, let's, let's, let's, let's have a little, let's have a little arm wrestling. You know, come on. It's like, what?
You know, any film, you gotta have some drama and some payoff here, so any, anyway. But you mentioned, you know, you were asking Bill about Dell for profit. If we're not making a living, if we're not making a profit, none of this stuff happens. You know, I work with companies that I believe in and, you know, you say Dell or a company, it's people and the amount of ocean plastics that Dell takes to turn into packaging.
The recycling programs, they have the carbon that they're gathering to turn into ink. Dell is a very unique group of people. That are investing in sustainability factors in ways to figure out how this planet is evolving and moving. I've worked with a lot of companies over the years. There's some I don't work with cuz it's profits, profits, profits.
And I'm working with these teams at Dell. So many departments are like, we're trying to do this. We're gonna create a [00:48:20] laptop that you can actually recycle and you can replace this. And I just wanted to put that out there because it's really impressive on the investment that the teams at Dell are doing to, to give back and to try to find sustainability and to try to be with sign of the times of we wanna have integrity in our company and do the best thing we can.
We're taking all these resources, building all this product, how do we do it the best way that we can? And this is a proven thing. I mean, the stuff that's happening there is, is really impressive. And I've been working with these guys a long time in sustainability teams and corporate responsibility and I, I just want to, to get that out there that.
It's some good people doing some pretty amazing things there. So it's a special thing for me to, to work with different people like that They're thinking on the forefront of how do we yes, make profits and make all this amazing stuff, but how do we do it sustainably? How do we do it in the best etiquette we can?
And it's impressive. Yeah, I think that's a great
[00:49:18] Matt Trifiro: message, Mike. And it's one of the reasons I'm happy to dedicate an entire hour or so of my show to, uh, something that's nominally about edge computing. What as, as Bill said, it's not quite yet, it's the future of edge computing. It's where we're going with edge computing.
You know, Mike, one of the things I think is really cool about things like this, where we're going out and we're sticking technology that can gather data and can operate beyond us being there. We can leave it behind and can continue to collect data or, or help the local peoples that, that we left it with.
But one thing that's really neat about it is this emergence of what people are calling citizen data scientists. You talk about all this like data that comes out of Antarctica. Well, Chances are it will get published in some database that's publicly [00:50:00] accessible. And then you can have people all over the world, maybe some kid in a village in Bolivia, , analyzing the data that's coming off of Antarctica because you let an expedition there and collected a bunch of it.
The ability to open up sort of global problem solving to global ingenuity is, is something that should emerge from this. What do you guys think?
[00:50:23] Bill Pfeifer: So there's, there's fascinating potential all around and I mean, it all ties together into how we drive human progress and the sustainability and the survivability of all of this stuff, and just where we're headed as a company, as a world, how we connect everything together.
But it's really gonna be interesting to see as, as the edge develops, what it becomes. And so this is stuff that isn't edge yet, but. What will the edge become as technology continues to decentralize and we get more and more technology out there in our regular lives and out there with people who didn't care about technology or didn't have access to technology or didn't think they need technology, there's all the conversation about 5g.
It's gonna change the world because it's faster, but it's not because it's faster that it's gonna change the world. It's just we don't yet know what it's gonna become. . It's faster than 4g but it has that software. Yeah, it's it's
[00:51:21] Matt Trifiro: raw capability and,
[00:51:24] Bill Pfeifer: and the massive like device to device communication, which is really gonna be about the edge.
I'm convinced that it's that device to device communication. That's how it's gonna change the world. Once it's out there and the devices are out there, then the world will start to interact with [00:51:40] me so that I don't have to interact with the world. Doors will just open and temperatures will adjust and I can call an autonomous car to come pick me up and it will put on my favorite music and adjust the seat to my physical preferences, whatever.
You know, it's gonna be minor stuff like that and some major stuff, but how is that gonna work? We don't know yet. Like in the 3G world, you wouldn't have thought of Uber because we just didn't have that always on high speed internet connectivity. So 4G was gonna change the world cuz it was faster. It's not why it changed the world.
5G is gonna change the world cuz it's faster edge. Computing's gonna change the world because it's pushing compute out there. Well, but then once the compute is out, And it's everywhere, and we can use the data that's out there and we have more sensors. What's that
[00:52:27] Matt Trifiro: gonna do? I was listening to you and thinking about it that we in technology spend all of our time trying to predict how these technologies that we introduce are going to be used to your point bill.
Often we just completely miss the mark, but really the power in what we're doing isn't that we figured out how to solve one use case or two use case center in our head. It's that we've created a platform upon which thousands of use cases that maybe we never
even.
[00:52:52] Bill Pfeifer: We can move forward knowing that we're doing good things now and we're helping, you know, progress things inch by
[00:52:58] Matt Trifiro: inch.
Yeah, that's right. The rocket program that got us to the moon for for what value, what value did we go to the moon for? Like, helped us put thousands of satellites, in orbit that, you know, have changed our, our world miraculously. Yeah. And we learned
[00:53:12] Bill Pfeifer: so much about technology and durability and all that stuff.
Yeah. So,
[00:53:16] Matt Trifiro: so, so Mike, looking forward to your, your long list [00:53:20] of, of expeditions that you've given Bill. Are there any that standouts in your mind that you think are just on your, your short bucket list?
[00:53:26] Bill Pfeifer: I didn't see going to the moon on your bucket list. Would that be
[00:53:28] Mike Libecki: there? ? I would absolutely jump on the chance to do that.
There was actually a project, I, I can't remember the guy's name, but he was offering these, um, to win this thing to go to the moon. And I, I can't remember off the top of my head, but I applied, I sent him the video, I did all the stuff cuz I was like, I'm your guy. Put me as one of these 12 people to bring a unique perspective.
But I'd love to, you know, I've been all over this world, but I haven't, I think William Shatner took your spot. I've sent letters and and things to Elon Musk. I wanna go to space, you know, all these trips and all these ideas, and I have tons of 'em. But really right now my focus is the recent trip to Antarctica and the microplastics research.
What we can take from that, what we can learn, what we can do. My focus right now is the recent Bolivia trip. Staying focused on that with the students, the teachers, the technology, connecting with Bill and his team, my team, and, and staying focused until that isn't a good rhythm and that we can take everything that we can from that and set that up for continued success.
Because as I've mentioned, I'm very excited. about edge computing and this AI type of technology that I don't understand completely. That's, that's one of the things you're hearing me say is the time is now. I wanna stay focused on that. I wanna see how we can keep developing and learning from that because is life not just about learning and growing for all of us in, in so many ways?
And I wanna stay focused on that. I want to keep that momentum, [00:55:00] enthusiasm, try to get Bill to come down to Bolivia with me and just see what this potential is that that can happen here. Again, the, the one or two people in this village that because of their generations of life to this very moment, how are they thinking completely different than we are?
That can be brought into a, a tech sort of mind and go, we've never thought about that. That potential possibility is with what we can learn, what we can do. And then of course, the result of. , wow. It's gonna make their lives better and bring more joy. I mean, what's life about for all of us pursuing joy and comfort that it's that that's where I'm at right now.
So I'll look down the road further, but I wanna stay focused on this stuff and make sure that we're doing the work that we need to do I in every capacity. Great.
[00:55:49] Matt Trifiro: All right. So, so Bill, what, what are you looking forward to? What's exciting to you when you look at the, you know, relatively near term horizon?
[00:55:56] Bill Pfeifer: We've been focusing in this whole conversation on Mike's trips and those things that we've been doing, and it's not necessarily all about business and about the Silicon Valley and optimizing manufacturing and optimizing work, but we in the edge business unit are doing tons of work to optimize manufacturing and improve worker safety and improve efficiency and modernize retail experiences that will change the way we shop over the next couple years.
we're digging into the energy industry and the stuff that's coming. When you put technology actually smart, smart meters in your home to like bid on power usage and have sustainability where the [00:56:40] previously one way grid where you did power generation and sent it out to your customers, now it becomes two way because you have solar and wind and other sources.
Yeah. And so the world will change massively over the next five years. Definitely over the next 10 years. We won't recognize things in 10 years in so many different directions because of what's happening at the edge and just that potential. Right? So the analysts typically agree that the edge opportunity in aggregate is gonna be as big as, or bigger than cloud has ever been.
And if you think about how much has changed because of the cloud over the last 10, 15 years, . Now we're gonna see that again because of the edge that's mind blowing. Like this is a massive technology inflection that's starting right now, and we get to watch that and ride that wave and be part of it. And that's just absolutely amazing.
It's just such an honor to be part of that, especially with a, with a big company like Dell, where we're really helping drive that, helping drive human
[00:57:49] Matt Trifiro: progress. That's super exciting. And to, to end the interview, bill, I want to come back to our, our original, like mini fake debate on what is the edge, because I have another belief really to this and this, when we get to that world that you just described.
Yeah. Right. When we've put all this out in the field and it's all connected and it's all doing this interesting stuff, things that we never imagined, we'll even call it the Edge anymore. No. Or it'll just be
[00:58:11] Bill Pfeifer: the. . Well, so the way customers are buying at this point, it's been changing for, you know, 10 years, right?
10 years ago they wanted to build a data center, and now [00:58:20] they wanna solve, now the last thing they wanna own is a data center , and they wanna solve business problems, right? Like, do you wanna buy a PC for your house? No. You wanna be able to watch TV or walk into the room and have something happen because you walked into the room.
And so it's like business metrics as a service, or experiences as a service. And the technology's so far behind. And so it's this whole business model and the the world of business is changing. And the way people buy and sell and why people buy and sell. We're moving toward Apex, which is the as a service and easier buying, easier ways to package technology.
And the Edge Solutions business is working on partnerships of how do we get to business solutions as opposed to, I want this many cash registers at my store. Great. I have a server,
[00:59:04] Matt Trifiro: right? I want automated checkout as a service.
[00:59:06] Bill Pfeifer: Those are so far apart and so we're moving so fast toward, you know, Dell Technologies as becoming a business partner for our customers.
Over the next couple years, you're gonna see that completely change, which is still line blowing. It's a huge company. You don't just pivot, but we are, there's cool stuff coming. .
[00:59:26] Matt Trifiro: Yeah. Interesting times. Well, Mike, bill, thank you so much for joining us on Over the Edge. This has been a fabulous conversation and we will cram as many links to these projects and next pictures as we can into the show notes.
Maybe we'll have you back in a while to find out what they're doing in the Village in Bolivia
[00:59:42] Mike Libecki: and how it's evolved. Well, this, this was really fun to talk with you guys. I love these conversations. Yeah, thanks. I really appreciate you guys having me hang out with y'all. I do wanna say I was really inspired by historical explorers, which is one of the reasons I became so fascinated.
But it, this is something [01:00:00] that when I'm working with Bill and hearing about Edge and, and the stuff that I've kind of learned that creates that new enthusiasm is. Take some time, but the impossible takes longer. I feel like there's some impossible things that this edge technology is gonna unfold or unravel.
I'm just fascinated. But, um, I do appreciate you having me on. Uh, this was fun to talk about and, you know, my life as an explorer and, and going around the world and connecting with the tech world and the minds and thoughts of what that's doing and, and you know, my stuff doesn't happen without technology.
This is, uh, this is really fun. I appreciate it.
[01:00:36] Narrator 2: That does it for this episode of Over the Edge. If you're enjoying the show, please leave a rating in a review and tell a friend Over the Edge is made possible through the Jenna sponsorship of our partners at Dell Technologies. Simplify your edge so you can generate more value.
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