Severalnines CEO Vinay Joosery and guest Sanjeev Mohan, principal analyst at SanjMo, kickoff Sovereign DBaaS Decoded’s 2026 season with their annual discussion on the state of the cloud — this time through the lens of AI infrastructure economics, agents going primetime, and sovereignty becoming mainstream.

In this episode, they have a lively discussion on what 2026’s AI hype train truly means for data and cloud strategy: why the next wave isn’t just “bigger models,” but reliable AI driven by post-training and reinforcement learning so organizations can actually deploy agentic systems without sleepless nights. They also unpack cloud's evolution into an operating model that increasingly extends on-premises, as enterprises chase the unstructured and legacy data that remains outside of the public cloud.

Sanjeev offers sharp perspectives on why sovereignty is shifting left, i.e. moving from residency checkboxes and contract language into architecture (keys, control planes, operational boundaries, and assurance engineered up front). They also dig into the rise of compute-to-data and zero-copy patterns (SEE ETL's slow death), why Kubernetes is getting a second wind for AI workload orchestration, and how power and grid constraints are starting to shape where capacity gets built, who gets it, and how pricing behaves.

Whatever your level of responsibility, this episode is jam-packed with practical calls on the constraints and opportunities shaping 2026—and what to prioritize if you’re building, buying, or operating data platforms in the age of agents.

Find out more about Sovereign DBaaS at https://severalnines.com/sovereign-dbaas

Renowned cloud strategist and author David Linthicum unpacks the evolution of enterprise cloud strategy—from the rush into public cloud, to today’s growing trend of cloud repatriation and portfolio rebalancing, sharing candid insights on why so many enterprises are hitting the reset button, the hidden costs of herd mentality, and the complex realities of a hybrid, multi-cloud world.

Many organizations, he notes, lacked a real business case or cost analysis before migrating, and are now rebalancing their implementations for performance, cost, and control—oftentimes quietly, for fear of reputational risk. Vinay and David’s conversation highlights a maturing perspective on digital infrastructure: while public clouds remain powerful tools for agility and scale, a one-size-fits-all mentality is out. True success means customized, data-driven strategies that balance innovation, efficiency, and sovereignty.

To hear more from David Linthicum — and gain actionable advice for your own infrastructure strategy — listen to the full episode. This essential discussion provides clarity for anyone navigating today’s rapidly shifting IT landscape.

Find out more about Sovereign DBaaS at https://severalnines.com/sovereign-dbaas

The pendulum swings or has it swung? Over 80% of CIOs now plan to repatriate some of their workloads from the cloud back to on-prem environments. In this episode, we sit with industry veteran and COO of US Signal, John White, to discuss what repatriation actually means in today's polyglot world, its drivers, current, state, and what the future will look like for workload placement.

In his no-nonsense style, John gives us key insights, including a stunning figure on the estimated percentage cloud spend that is wasted (which side of 50% do you think it is), AI's role, if any, in repatriation and how latency will be the future's currency and key driver for a diversified workload placement strategy.

If you're considering moving some workloads back on-prem or to alternative environments, or if you're looking to understand the lay of the current landscape, how it's evolving, and what that'll mean for you, then this episode is for you.

Find out more about Sovereign DBaaS at https://severalnines.com/sovereign-dbaas