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

What's in a name? Cloud, private and hybrid cloud, on-prem and other terms are bandied about in an attempt to clarify, but also confuse and separate. We set out to unify these terms once and for all and discuss Kubernetes's role in making that possible with Justin Garrison, Head of Products at Sidero Labs.

We'll explore the shifting landscape of cloud adoption, the rise of repatriation, why and how organizations are reasserting control over their infrastructure, and even make the case for a new term, grounded computing.

Through the lens of his experiences with Disney and AWS, Justin sheds light on why some enterprises are migrating workloads from public cloud and how K8s can unify operations across infrastructure.

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

Severalnines CEO Vinay Joosery and guest Sanjeev Mohan, former Gartner Research VP and now principal analyst at SanjMo, kickoff Sovereign DBaaS Decoded's 2025 season with their annual discussion on the state of the cloud.

In this episode, they have a lively discussion on the current state of data management, cloud adoption, and emerging AI trends. They look back at how 2024 fueled widespread AI investments and debate whether we’ve reached “peak AI hype,” then explore what the rapid rise of cost-efficient open-source models such as DeepSeek mean for the U.S.'s investment strategy and AI adoption.

Sanjeev also offers insights on the market's move toward hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, the factors that are driving the apparent ongoing repatriation trend, how Europe's attempts at regulation are unnecessary, misguided and will only stunt growth; and of course, what all of this means for databases and their ops.

Whatever your level of responsibility, this episode is jam-packed with valuable perspectives on the challenges and opportunities shaping 2025—and beyond.

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

In the frontier of AI, vector databases have emerged as a pivotal technology, sitting at the intersection of everyday ops concerns, AI application frameworks, and data compliance.

Join our CEO Vinay and Stephen Batifol, a seasoned Developer Advocate at Zilliz as they explore the fundamental differences between vector and traditional databases, their symbiotic relationship with AI, and the implications of the large-scale adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) driving AI’s current evolution, including the data sovereignty/AI dilemma. They also shed light on the strategic and practical implications of vector databases in today's tech environments, envision their future trajectory, and much more.

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

In this episode, we explore the shifting paradigms of cloud with Todd Robinson, President and Co-founder at OpenMetal, an award-winning open-source cloud. He joins Vinay to unpack how traditional views of the cloud as a destination/location are evolving and as a result, has lit a fire under businesses to adapt and rethink their cloud strategy.

They discuss cloud as a philosophy, the ongoing open-source debate, recent market developments that have motivated organizations to reconsider their strategies, how OpenStack has matured and how that has and will continue to improve accessibility and much, much more.

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

In this episode, Vinay dives into the world of Kubernetes and stateful systems with Eddie Wassef, VP and Chief Architect at Vonage.

Together, they discuss compare the Kubernetes of yesterday to today and how its stateful systems use case has matured and how it has become a viable option for enterprises who are looking for multi-environment automation of their database ops.

For example, Eddie believes that K8s is a great equalizer because it provides a standard implementation layer across environments. But, he also cautions that it is not for every use case and that, like any technology, it needs to be justified against a higher need.

They address the if / when question, both acknowledging that Kubernetes is not for the faint of heart and requires a base level of expertise due to its quirks and the downstream effects that can result from seemingly innocuous changes.

But, for those who have a use case it makes sense for, they help frame the decisional process, exploring the workload, environmental, organizational, and operational considerations that you'll encounter when making decisions.

They then focus on daily ops considerations like multi-environment conformance and the database workhorse, Operators, how they compare to StatefulSets, using them out-of-the-box vs forking them to better fit your needs, etc.

And finally, they look into the future and try to divine where Kubernetes is going more generally and in terms of stateful systems use cases and what is needed to get there.

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