Hidden in the corner of a carpark in Bristol lies Isambard AI, the UK’s fastest supercomputer. This week, Technology Now is visiting Isambard AI to find out how the system works, how it was designed and assembled in a modular way, and to discover what sort of projects it runs. Professor Simon McIntosh-Smith, Director of the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations. This episode is available in both video and audio formats.

About Simon:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonmcintoshsmith/

Sources:
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/research/centres/bristol-supercomputing/articles/2025/isambard-ai-launches-july-2025.html
https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/studies/broadband-speed-statistics/

How safe is our data from internal threats? This week, Technology Now dives into the world of confidential computing. We ask why regular encryption when data is at rest or in transit might not be enough, we explore how confidential computing works to keep our data safer, and we examine why this concept is so important in the first place. Dr Nigel Edwards, Director of the Security Lab at HPE Labs, tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Nigel:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-edwards-170591/

Are we ready for emerging cybersecurity threats in the world of AI? This week, Technology Now looks at how AI has changed the world of cybersecurity for both the good and the bad. We ask how AI is harnessed by attackers to try and gain access to our systems while also exploring how AI can be used defensively too. David Hughes, SVP SASE Security, HPE Networking, tells us more.
 
This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hughes-42751636/

Sources: https://www.totalassure.com/blog/cyber-attack-statistics-by-year-2020-2025

How do you update a network without downtime? This week, Technology Now is diving into the world of telcos and how they keep critical infrastructure running while continuing to improve their systems. We ask how silos have been used historically by telcos, how AI and cloud are being embraced and how you manage the switch from old to new architecture without impacting users. Franz Seiser, Head of the Data Tribe at Deutche Telekom, tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Franz:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/franz-seiser-658b94/

Do we have enough energy to go around? This week Technology Now investigates how organisations can use their energy more efficiently. We ask how important energy sovereignty should be, we consider the financial benefits of savvy energy use, and we explore potential ways in which waste heat could be repurposed. Karim Abou Zahab, a Principal Technologist with the Sustainable Transformation Team at HPE tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Karim:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/karim-abouzahab/

Sources:
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2025/electricity

https://www.neso.energy/energy-101/great-britains-monthly-energy-stats#:~:text=Great%20Britain's%20energy%20explained:%20March,lower%20demand%20across%20the%20country.

How would we integrate quantum computers into our current infrastructure? This week, Technology Now is exploring the practicalities of quantum computing, not just how they work but how we would physically build one. How would it be used alongside traditional HPC, what would it be used for, and what would be involved in the process of actually building one.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Masoud:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/masoud-mohseni-12b00214/

Quantum Computing 1-0-1:
https://hpe.lnk.to/quantumfa

How could considering the whole lifecycle of technology help save money? This week, Technology Now is diving into the world of HPE Financial Services and examining the importance of reuse and refurbishment in the rapidly changing technology ecosystem. Maeve Culloty, President and CEO of HPE Financial Services tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Maeve:

https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/leadership-bios/maeve-culloty.html

Bathtub episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYAGoSXPceU&list=PLtS6YX0YOX4c12MoKvNgYw6zwNogLW3E7&index=52

Sources:

https://weee-forum.org/ws_news/of-16-billion-mobile-phones-possessed-worldwide-5-3-billion-will-become-waste-in-2022/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28802646

0.034g gold per phone

0.034 x 5.3x10^9 = 180,200,000g = 180,200kg

180,200 x 2.2 = 396,440lbs

What is a self-driving network? This week, Technology Now is diving into self-driving networks 1-0-1. We explore what they are, how they work, and what benefits they have over regular networks to find out why an organisation might choose to use a self-driving one instead.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Sujai:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujai-hajela-270a83/

Why is data so important in the healthcare sector? This week, Technology Now is diving into the world of data analysis in healthcare. We will be asking how different methods of data analysis can lead to different outcomes, we’ll be exploring how AI can be used to help find patterns in huge quantities of data, and we’ll be asking how historical legal rulings still influence our healthcare sector today. Lisa Marceau founder and CEO of Joyous and Alpha Millennial Health, tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Lisa:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisamarceau/

Sources:
 https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/john-snow-cholera-broad-street-pump/

Tulchinsky TH. John Snow, Cholera, the Broad Street Pump; Waterborne Diseases Then and Now. Case Studies in Public Health. 2018:77–99. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-804571-8.00017-2. Epub 2018 Mar 30. PMCID: PMC7150208.

https://orwh.od.nih.gov/toolkit/recruitment/history

 Petersen I, Peltola T, Kaski S, et al., Depression, depressive symptoms and treatments in women who have recently given birth: UK cohort study, BMJ Open 2018;8:e022152. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-022152

How are data centres tied to countries’ data strategies? This week, Technology Now takes a step back to look at why and how countries are investing in AI projects. We ask how large data centres are funded, built and powered, we explore how technology is procured for these projects, and we examine the impact of these giant structures on data sovereignty. Talal al Kaissi, interim CEO of Core 42, tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About Talal:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/talal-m-al-kaissi-20059a5/?originalSubdomain=ae

Sources:
https://www.cargoson.com/en/blog/number-of-data-centers-by-country

https://regional.chinadaily.com.cn/hohhot/2022-06/08/c_793607.htm

https://www.seas.upenn.edu/about/history-heritage/eniac/

https://www.vailwilliams.com/from-first-generation-to-hyperscale-the-whirlwind-evolution-of-data-centres/

 https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/worlds-first-general-purpose-computer-turns-75#:~:text=ENIAC%20weighed%2030%20tons%2C%20took,five%20million%20hand%2Dsoldered%20joints.

https://www.themeasureofthings.com/results.php?search=10%2C700%2C000+square+feet+%28sq.+ft%29%2C+a+measure+of+area&unit=f2&comp=area&amt=10700000&searchTerm=10%2C700%2C000+square+feet+%28sq.+ft%29%2C+a+measure+of+area#google_vignette

How can technology be used in the fight against modern slavery? This week, Technology Now is exploring the impact of modern slavery and how technology can be used to try and reduce it. We ask what the scale of the problem is today, we examine what modern slavery can look like, and we discuss how organisations and consumers can work together to try and combat this practice. John Schultz, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer and Corporate Secretary for HPE, tells us more.

This is Technology Now, a weekly show from Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Every week, hosts Michael Bird and Sam Jarrell look at a story that's been making headlines, take a look at the technology behind it, and explain why it matters to organizations.

About John:
https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/leadership-bios/john-schultz.html

Sources
 https://www.hpe.com/us/en/newsroom/blog-post/2025/12/when-good-intentions-are-not-enough-the-importance-of-data-and-ai-in-solving-the-modern-slavery-epidemic.html

https://www.hpe.com/uk/en/leadership-bios/john-schultz.html