Contact
Let’s talk.
Podcasts, keynotes, consulting, 1:1 conversations.
If we should be working on something together, this is where it starts.
Three decades in enterprise infrastructure. Storage, networking, virtualization, cloud, and now AI. Not just the infrastructure underneath it. Building with it too. I write, speak, and consult on the shifts reshaping our industry, with a particular focus on practitioners who have been here for every previous one. If that overlaps with something you’re working on, this is where to start.
Booking
Ways we can work together
Conference keynotes & breakouts
Platform shifts, infrastructure economics, building with AI, career navigation. Tested in front of partner audiences, customer events, and engineering rooms. Available for keynotes, breakout sessions, and panels.
Podcast appearances
Long-form conversations on infrastructure, AI, the industry, and what thirty years of pattern recognition looks like up close. Reasonable notice preferred.
1:1 conversations
For engineers thinking through where the industry is heading, founders looking for an experienced ear, or anyone wanting to talk shop. I keep a few of these slots open each month.
Consulting & advisory
Short engagements helping organizations think through infrastructure strategy, AI adoption, and the decisions that come with platform transitions. Selective on availability.
Speaking
Topics I cover
Platform Shifts and Pattern Recognition
Three decades of watching enterprise IT reinvent itself. Virtualization, cloud, containers, AI. Every major disruption follows the same arc, and the engineers who have survived the previous ones are further ahead than they think. They just need the new vocabulary.
Building With AI
Not just understanding the infrastructure underneath AI, but actually building with it. Agents, agentic workflows, and AI-powered systems. The practitioner experience of crossing from operator to builder, from someone who ran the stack to someone building on top of it.
Enterprise Infrastructure in the AI Era
Storage, networking, data management, and the architectural decisions organizations are actually making right now. What changes, what does not, and where the instincts you built over 20 years still apply.
Technical Authority in Public
Fifteen years of writing, podcasting, and community building alongside a full-time career. How credibility compounds when you work in the open, and what it looks like to build a technical voice over decades rather than a quarter.
Career Navigation Through Disruption
How to stay relevant across multiple platform shifts without losing what you have already built. The honest version of a career conversation the industry is not having. Designed for the engineer staring at the next wave wondering if their 20 years still counts.
Reach
By the numbers
Combined reach across platforms. Updated periodically.
6,134
followers
TikTok
10.8k
followers
YouTube
8.2k
subscribers
DCD Dispatch
449
subscribers
Notable
Where I’ve shown up
A starter list. Conferences, podcasts, panels, and partner events from across the years.
- Tech ONTAP Podcast · Founding host, originally as the NetApp Communities Podcast
- VMworld · Multi-year speaker including the Cohesity launch in 2015
- Oracle OpenWorld · Speaker on virtualizing Oracle on VMware, 2010
- More to come as this list gets refreshed.
Press & Media Kit
Headshot, logo, and bios at three lengths. Right-click to download or copy.
Short bio (1 sentence)
Nick Howell is a 30-year enterprise infrastructure veteran, builder, and writer covering AI infrastructure and the technology shifts reshaping the enterprise datacenter.
Medium bio (paragraph)
Nick Howell is a 30-year enterprise infrastructure veteran and the voice behind DatacenterDude.com, where he writes and speaks about AI infrastructure and the broader enterprise tech landscape for practitioners who have spent decades in the field. He was an early employee at Cohesity, where he helped launch what became a multi-billion dollar data protection company from stealth. Nick is based in Las Vegas.
Long bio (3 paragraphs)
Nick Howell is a 30-year enterprise infrastructure veteran who has worked across storage, networking, virtualization, cloud, and AI. He consults and speaks for organizations navigating platform transitions and AI adoption, and writes about the infrastructure decisions reshaping the enterprise at datacenterdude.com.
Earlier in his career, Nick was employee #46 at Cohesity, joining while the company was still in stealth and helping bring the platform to market in late 2015. Before that, he spent years building production infrastructure across federal, healthcare, and finance environments and co-founded what became the Tech ONTAP Podcast. He attended the US Merchant Marine Academy.
Nick writes with a particular focus on translating the shifts reshaping the industry for practitioners who built careers on the stack that now has to run AI. He is based in Las Vegas.
Book time with me
Choose the conversation type that fits. All meetings are via Google Meet.
Got something on your mind? Want to talk shop about infrastructure, AI, or where the industry is heading? This is the catch-all slot. If you’re not sure which type fits, start here.
For conversations that need room. Serious consulting discussions, complex technical topics, or anything that deserves more than half an hour. Come with context.
Book a time →You host a podcast and want me on it. This slot is for the pre-interview conversation. We’ll align on angle, format, and timing. The recording gets scheduled separately.
Book a time →You’re organizing an event and want to talk about having me speak. Keynotes, breakouts, panels. Let’s figure out if it’s a fit.
Book a time →For organizations thinking through infrastructure strategy, AI adoption, or navigating a platform transition. This is a working conversation, not a sales call. Come prepared.
Book a time →Multi-vector. Recruiter or hiring manager with a role worth discussing? This is the slot. Engineer navigating your own next move and want a senior ear? Same slot. Mentoring conversations welcome too.
Book a time →The DCD Dispatch is growing and I’m opening conversations about sponsorship and advertising. If you’ve got something worth putting in front of experienced infrastructure engineers and enterprise tech decision-makers, let’s talk.
Book a time →