About the Podcast
Smarter Strategic Thinking is a podcast hosted by Ray Quattromini of Fortuna Data — created specifically for senior technology leaders navigating complex decisions around cybersecurity, data infrastructure, storage strategy, and risk.
Each episode is shaped by real conversations Fortuna Data has every day with organisations responsible for keeping critical systems running — often under cost pressure, regulatory scrutiny, and increasing cyber risk. Rather than focusing on products or headlines, the discussions explore how leaders think through decisions before something goes wrong.
Guests include CIOs, CISOs, technology founders, and enterprise specialists who operate at the sharp end of modern IT — sharing practical perspectives on preparedness, resilience, and long-term strategy. Fortuna Data is a trusted partner of IBM, Lenovo, Seagate, HYCU, QNAP, Qualstar and many more.
Topics Covered
This is a data storage podcast, cybersecurity podcast, and enterprise IT podcast combined — covering the full range of challenges facing UK IT leaders today.
Ransomware & Cyber Recovery
Stop reinfection during restore with vault and air-gap strategies, Zero Trust, and on-box detection.
Data Storage Strategy
Tape, disk, flash, cloud and hybrid — choosing the right tier for each workload and lifecycle stage.
AI & Edge Infrastructure
Designing storage and GPU environments for AI inferencing, training, and edge workloads.
Cloud Cost & Repatriation
Reducing cloud cost volatility without sacrificing resilience — and when to bring workloads back on-premise.
Hyperconverged Architecture
HCI consolidation, sizing for recovery and performance, and simplifying complex environments.
Compliance & Governance
UK GDPR, RTO/RPO, immutable storage, and building recoverable architectures for regulated industries.
Dealing with a challenge discussed on the podcast? Fortuna Data can help you map your options — no vendor pressure, no obligation.
Speak to our team →Recent Episodes
New episodes released weekly. Each conversation stays relevant long after release — many listeners return to specific episodes as their priorities and responsibilities change.
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What You Will Learn
How to reduce cloud cost volatility without sacrificing resilience
How to defend against ransomware at the infrastructure layer — not just the perimeter
How to design recoverable architectures for AI workloads
How to justify infrastructure investment at board level with real benchmarks
What modern RTO/RPO actually looks like in UK regulated environments
Practical frameworks you can apply this quarter — not theoretical models
Vendor-neutral decision criteria that survive board scrutiny
When Strategy Becomes Action
Many of the challenges discussed on the podcast — ransomware recovery, cloud cost volatility, hybrid infrastructure design, and compliance-driven architecture — are the same challenges organisations come to Fortuna Data to solve.
If a conversation resonates and you'd like to explore what this could look like in your own environment, our advisors can help you map options without vendor pressure or obligation. We've been doing enterprise infrastructure since 1994 — we'll give you a straight answer even if the answer is that you don't need us.
Ready to talk through a challenge from the podcast? Speak to our team — no obligation, just a straight conversation.
Talk to a specialist →Frequently Asked Questions
Who is this podcast for?
Smarter Strategic Thinking is designed for CIOs, CISOs, Heads of Infrastructure, and senior IT decision makers in UK enterprise organisations. It covers cybersecurity, data storage, infrastructure architecture, and risk — with a focus on practical decisions rather than theory.
How do you keep product episodes vendor-neutral?
Every product discussion is anchored to measurable outcomes — recovery time, throughput and latency targets, security controls, and operating costs. Guests are briefed to focus on problems solved, design trade-offs, and where the product is not a good fit. The goal is to help listeners make better decisions, not sell them something.
Can we pitch a product episode?
Yes — if your topic maps to a common enterprise problem such as ransomware recovery, AI and edge performance, HCI consolidation, backup and archiving, or sustainable infrastructure, we'll consider it. Please share customer context, deployment references, and any benchmarks you can disclose.
What is the difference between disaster recovery and cyber recovery?
Disaster recovery rebuilds systems after a failure. Cyber recovery ensures clean data is available by isolating backups in a vault or air-gap environment and scanning for malware before restoring to production — preventing reinfection after a ransomware attack.
Is this a UK-focused podcast?
Yes — while the topics are relevant globally, every episode is produced with UK enterprise context in mind. UK GDPR obligations, UK regulatory frameworks, and the specific challenges facing UK IT leaders are central to how we frame every conversation.