[ Ai and llms ] 11 min read
Just a Lot of Multiplication: What's Actually Inside an LLM
A large language model is an enormous pile of numbers, and everything it does comes from multiplying other numbers by that pile. Part one of six.
We help executive teams turn technology into a strategic advantage–driving growth, efficiency, and long-term scalability.
Latest posts
All posts →[ Ai and llms ] 6 min read
The First Rule of The Foundry
I asked an AI to tidy up my blog repo and it accidentally organized itself into a nine-member development team. I'm releasing that team, free, on GitHub.
[ Infrastructure ] 21 min read
It's a Series of Buildings
Data centers are eighty years old and already 99% full. We need considerably more of them, and we're making a hash of deciding where they go.
[ Tech field day ] 6 min read
Commvault at TFDx RSAC 2026: Clean Recovery Is a Different Problem Than Fast Recovery
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson One organization Chris Bevil worked with had a genuinely good disaster recovery program. Tabletop exercises, tested runbooks, the whole thing. When …
[ Tech field day ] 7 min read
Object First at TFDx RSAC 2026: If You Can Turn It Off, It Wasn't Immutable
“When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” — Humpty Dumpty, Through the Looking-Glass (1871) I’ve lost count of how many storage conversations I’ve sat through where immutability …
What we do
AI & Agentic Systems
Architecture and design for AI, ML, LLM, and agentic systems that solve a specific business problem, scoped to what your data, budget, and people can actually support.
Fractional CTO & Strategic Advisory
Independent guidance for the technology leaders you already have, or part-time leadership until you hire one: a strategy built around your constraints that the business can actually execute.
Audit Preparedness
Getting ready for SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIST, and other security and compliance audits, with the policies, documentation, and daily processes in place well before the audit begins.
Infrastructure & Network Consulting
Independent assessment and design for enterprise networks and infrastructure, backed by hands-on experience designing, building, and fixing networks from mid-market to Fortune 100.
Analyst Services
Landscape assessments, vendor evaluations, and market briefings, written for practitioners rather than procurement committees and without the analyst-firm retainer.
Custom Writing
Custom writing projects, from white papers to technical guides, by a long-time member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors with a deep portfolio of published and private work.
From the archive
Browse the archive →[ Leadership and career ] 5 min read
We Broke I.T. Purchasing
“What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public.” — Vilhjalmur Stefansson The process …
[ Leadership and career ] 6 min read
Coping with Difficult Bosses
Author Janice Davies said, “difficult people are your key to self empowerment, you need to learn how to cope with them, not let them dominate and affect you.” But what if the difficult person is your boss? What then? In …
[ Leadership and career ] 5 min read
ADVICE FOR THE NEOPHYTE IT ASPIRANT
After 17 years in the industry I have decided that it is time to pass down some advice to the newer entrants in to the field of Information Technology. If you’re just out of school with a freshly minted degree, looking …
[ Everything else ] 6 min read
My OSX
I have decided to take a quick break from my more business-oriented writing of late to focus on something that people seem to have an interest in: how I have my computer set up and configured. This post will necessarily …