We're going to dig into the electricity sector now and we're going to have Commissioner Potter give us a brief status update on selected dockets. And this will be followed by a discussion that looks at the roadblocks in four different buckets. We're going to look at regulatory policy challenges. We're going to look at equity and community challenges, technical and cost. For the panelists, we have, we have, so for the moderator, we have from Tyus Ripp, Plain Age Department of Electrical Engineering. We have David Bissell from Kauai Island Utility Cooperative. We have Scott Seuth from Pine Electric. Brian Kealoha from Kauai Energy and John Cole from Kauai Natural Energy. These are the highest-profile dockets that we have at the Commission in getting the most national attention, I believe, except for those who have distributed energy resources. So I'm going to talk a little about our integrated grid planning, which is with the HECO companies and their initiative that's underway. I'll talk about the performance-based regulation docket, microgrid docket, and the distributed energy resources DR grid services docket. So I'm going to kick off with my favorite docket. This is the performance-based regulation docket in April of 2018. The Commission opened this proceeding. Subsequently, the legislature and the governor signed into law the Act 5, which focused on the Ratepayer Protection Act. That is, and the act and the proceeding focused on, it's focused on breaking the link between capital investments and utility revenues. So what it's trying to do is create the utility of the future. A utility that's going to focus on customer service, resiliency, grid investment, decentralized renewable resources, and really try and transform the way that they do business in order to help their integrity financially, as well as serve the residents of the life. So the proceeding began. We opened it with, by bifurcating the proceeding, the first phase of proceeding focused on the existing regulatory structure that's in place and tried to identify various aspects of that regulatory structure that needed to be addressed, modified, or improved in order to help transform that utility business model. In the second phase, which is currently underway, we are focused on the actual mechanisms that are going to be utilized in the final decision in order and basically those include the revenue adjustment mechanism as well as the performance incentive mechanism. The commission issued an order in the second quarter of 2019, which closed the first phase of the proceeding and we began deliberations with the working groups in quarter two and quarter three of 2019. The working groups are a group of stakeholders. There's a great representation of Hawaii entities that are participating in that process and providing feedback. It's been an extraordinary opportunity and very interesting to watch the work and the collaboration within those stakeholder meetings. So that we anticipate that the working groups will submit the proposals for phase two in May of 2020. We'll hold evidentiary hearings in October of 2020 and then we'll actually issue a decision in order in December of 2020. And this is really the most transformational, I believe, in the energy landscape docket that we have in the energy landscape right now because it really is focused on identifying, changing the regulatory structure to reward the utilities for how they perform rather than just for the capital investments. And so it's going to be a pretty big overhaul of how we regulate the utility in our relationship with the utility and the utility's relationship with the customer. So the next is our distributed energy resources and DR docket. This is our demand response grid services. This is a recently opened docket and it is we currently have an arena's in place and we're setting up a procedural schedule. So we're actually just beginning this initiative. We opened a new docket and closed the 2014 DR docket because we felt that it was imperative for the commission to evaluate grid services and distributed energy resources in one proceeding because we can evaluate time varying pricing, different programs and services for both DR and for distributed energy resources and also to look at different types of services that we can provide to customers utilizing the different infrastructure that's going into place right now. So this proceeding will continue likely for many years. It's not going to be a one size fits all. We open and close it. It's going to be numerous iterations as we design programs and different rates and tariffs that best serve our customers here in Hawaii. Next is the integrated grid planning proceeding. This began in 2018 and the initiative was in the proceeding was opened to respond to the company's need to integrate the integrated resource plan, not the grid planning, but the resource plan which is at the bulk power system and the distribution system planning. And the reason that was imperative was the distribution system has seen such high penetrations of photovoltaics, of distributed photovoltaics. It is a disservice to not incorporate that into the planning process. And this planning process has actually gained a lot of public attention and national attention as well. We're one of the first utility, our utility is one of the first in the country that's undertaking this type of initiative. And it's very comprehensive and it is something that's actually taking several years. It began in 2018 as I mentioned and the company submitted a work plan in that year. And the commission approved it in 2019 work began with the stakeholder deliberation which is the working group, something effort and that's currently underway. However, the companies did submit a released soft launch RFP that's attempting to gain some of the, incorporate some of the knowledge about what's available as resources out in the industry that they can bring into the distribution and the integrated grid planning. That also includes non-wires alternatives. So that's very exciting for us because we want to see the different types of resources that can serve this without just being infrastructure that the utility is investing in. We anticipate that the working group will continue meeting through 2020 about quarter two and then the companies will begin their analytical process. For at least six months we anticipate a plan provided to the commission in about mid-2021 and then we'll have to reiterate that process. This also is not a one and done kind of initiative. They'll will accept or deny that initial proposal or plan and then once it's approved they'll continue doing operations so that we can really build a resilient grid that's interconnected and thinking holistically about how we deliver energy both at a decentralized plan or either at a bulk power system plan. So utility scale, distributed scale, it's all going to be included and thought about within this plan. And third, we have the microgrid tariff. We're the first state in the country and almost the world but in the country that's actually developing a microgrid service tariff this initiative has taken place over the last year. We have working groups that are working on the details right now. We anticipate the working groups will submit a draft tariff proposal in February of 2020 and then a final in the following month in March and then we expect a decision by the commission in around June or July which would accept that proposal. One of the things that's interesting about this is we really tried to tease out the types of microgrids that are necessary in the state of Hawaii. We focused on resiliency and outreach response first and foremost and that being the greatest need and also under the direction of the legislature and the governor and Act 200. This is really intended to address some of these long transmission lines that lead across the island away from the centralized load generation. So we need different mechanisms in order to produce load in a decentralized way so that we're able to have a more resilient communities out there that are able to produce their own energy and perhaps service their neighbors within a connected microgrid. And this is, I'm leaving you with our spaghetti chart of the regulatory landscape here in Hawaii. There's actually a couple of things missing from this but there's a ton of things that we're working on in order to advance energy here in Hawaii and try to transform the way that we think about how energy should be produced, how we compensate the utility, how we serve our customers, we build resiliency, we think about the renewable portfolio standards and there's a whole host of items up there that really are contributing to that kind of effort. So look forward to talking with any of you after this if you're interested. Thank you very much. So we're going to kind of rotate through the topics, the sort of subtopics that we had here and I think each of you have responses to that and then we'll try to have a quick discussion about it. We don't have super long. So I guess beginning with the roadblocks and the regulatory and policy area would any of you like to say something about that? No. I would like to regulate the utilities here and the commissioners so I'm sure they're really excited about talking about that. I'll start. I almost feel obligated to say something. But as Commissioner Potter just laid out for you, there's a tremendous amount of activity that's happening on the regulatory side of the house to modernize our regulatory system. We at Hawaiian Electric, along with Dave on Kauai, we are full bore trying to move forward to modernize the electric system from the actual infrastructure perspective. And to go along with that, we have to modernize our regulatory system, which also by the way includes how we as a company do business. So we're also modernizing our own business practices because that goes hand in glove with this performance based regulation document. So I think that the ship has already been launched. And as we look forward in 2020 and beyond, it's going to be absolutely critical that we are paying attention to all of the very important objectives we're trying to achieve. And Commissioner Potter, you just nailed everything down there, right? It's at the end of the day, you know, for me as the electric company guy, it's about what do we need to make sure that we can maintain reliable and affordable and clean energy service so that all of the businesses, all of our customers can continue to live their lives and also to thrive in their lives. If we don't hit all of those, then we are ultimately failing in what our obligations are. And I think that's a collective obligation on all of our parts. So it's a big task, but it's absolutely imperative that we modernize all of these things in parallel. Otherwise it's just not going to work. I'll add a little bit to that as a former commissioner. I'm more on the technical side now, but I agree with Scott that a lot of the things that, when I was a commissioner, I wished would happen in the process of happening now. And that includes things like the performance based ratemaking docket to go ahead and align the utilities and incentives and profit motives with our energy goals better than they are right now under the old model. And secondly, I think the pricing aspects, I mean, we've kind of, I think, been really behind on that, but the commission is addressing that now with DDR and market track type issues. So I think those two things, like Scott said, are on their way to being developed and will help us solve a lot of the issues that we're going to be faced with. So I'm going to add from a little bit different perspective as Carl had shared and showed on his graph just what we need to get to for the 100% goal and the energy efficiency component. I mean, there was two parts, right? There was the programs and the quality energy is running and then there's that other piece that others deliver. I mentioned energy codes, appliance standards. So when we look at it from a policy perspective, there's only so much that incentives and programs are going to be able to do to get us to where we need to go and even listening to what's happening in North Carolina. They have a more aggressive energy efficiency goal than we even have here in the state of Hawaii. So as we look forward, we have to be really careful when we talk about the standards and the policies that we set forward that we are doing things that are progressive and pushing the envelope forward to what we need to do to hear our goals because we can't do it just through programs and incentives and I think a lot of the conversation that's happening now in opposition for things that are pushing for energy efficiency, talk about customer choice and there's a lot of things where we don't give customer choices on, whether it be seat belts, there's talk about baking. So one of these things, as we look at what the real customer choice is, especially in new development, are the homeowners really making that choice or are the developers making that choice worried about first costs rather than long-term costs? So that's one of the things we have to, if we're going to be serious about it, we have to develop the policies to really support that. You're good. From our side on Kauai, we've actually been very pleased with the transition and the commission. Years ago, we were always complaining about speed and certainty on dockets and particularly on renewable energy project approvals. We're always working, almost every project done in this state is being done with a partner. A lot of them are mainland high-tech companies doing innovative things and one of their concerns is they don't want to come mess around and spend time and resources and not get approval. I have the approval to drag out of a long period. We're seeing real progress in that. Approvals are coming through really quickly. I don't think there's much fear of good projects being turned down or unnecessarily delayed, so we've been quite pleased with that change. I think that's part of the modernization and refocus the commission. Yeah, actually, I feel like everyone's being really nice because I'm sitting here. So, we recognize at the commission that our regulatory structure right now and the way that we actually conduct ourselves and the way that we regulate the utilities is antiquated. And so there's certainly ways, for example, the last round of PPAs that came in from the phase two with Hawaiian electric companies. They submitted eight renewable projects to us on December 31st of 2018. And internally we said, you know what, we're not going to be the bottleneck at all in this, so everybody just buckle down. Let's get this done by the time of Hawaii Energy Conference comes, and I think that was March 24th. So we cleared six PPAs in three months where it normally took, for one PPA, it took six months at a minimum. And so with the idea of if we want to move in this renewable energy space, the commission has to be responsible for fast tracking this stuff because we put those pressures on the utilities to get there, we have to be equally as motivated to get this stuff done. And I think that that's really a shift in the way that things have happened and we've had to actually retool our processes for evaluating how we look at these types of projects in order to move that quickly. You know, before we go through very lengthy processes in order, an information request in order to determine whether the project was right, justified, you know, in the public interest, and we still conduct very thorough analysis, but because we've now moved into a competitive bidding process and that's how we've asked the utilities to conduct these types of procurements for renewables, then that's exactly... We don't necessarily need to do those types of deep digging in order to evaluate whether the projects are prudent and in the public interest, whether they're reasonably priced, because the market has already determined that they are. So that's a way that we're still partnering with each of the utilities to determine what makes sense, how can we move Hawaii that more quickly and performance-based regulation is the same thing. How can we as regulators allow the utility to move into the utility of the future? They need to be nimble. They need to have freedom to be innovative. They need to be able to reflect on their business practices and ensure that they're getting... that they're meeting the goals through methods that are the best for them. And we need to stand back and allow... give them some flexibility to do that. And so that's a different way of... It's not micromanaging anymore. We're actually trying to say, okay, here's the rules to the game. And basically, let's see how you do when you perform and then we can compensate you on those type of that performance rather than it just being... it being something like, we're giving you a rate of return and make investments so that we are able to update the profits. So really important for the utility to... for the commission to make changes structurally and the way that we do things in order to help get us to 100% renewable, focus on climate change, looking at greenhouse gas reduction, et cetera. Okay, sorry, can I just... Sure. If I could just add, you know, something that you just said, Jenny is so critical, which is, you know, we are the regulated party and of course, as a regulated person, you always hope for more freedom and more flexibility. You know, tell us what the expectations are but then step back and allow us to figure out how do we best meet those expectations and you're absolutely right.  Sometimes there has been more flexibility but then at some point there is a sense that, well, you know what, we have to get more into the details of how are these guys running the business, are they truly doing what they should be doing and then we start increasing the level of oversight and it can get into almost like a micromanagement situation. So then, hopefully, I think where we are today is we are now on the upswing where we all recognize that, you know what, that is extremely inefficient. You end up having spending so much of your time just going through process and process and process versus being able to execute and I think that's something that I'm very excited and really looking forward to which is as we move forward to the PBR framework and then also all of the other things that we're working on that we will be able to focus on execution and meeting the expectations. I mean, we still have to be held accountable, obviously, but having that flexibility is going to be so critical to being able to be successful not only ourselves but our developers and our customers. All right, so I'm going to try to move it along. We've got three more topics in 15 minutes, so I'm accumulating questions but I think I'm going to save them till the end so we can get some coverage here. So I guess the next topic up is equity and community and to some extent, some way I see that is there can be sort of a tension between, well, one example is we want to bring customers in providing services back to the grid but that can create tension. One customer's profit is another customer's cost and that can create difficulty sometimes in moving ahead. Are there issues like that that we need to worry about? Are there obstacles and challenges that we need to overcome? Feel free to move quickly too if there's not much to say. Yeah, absolutely, particularly on distributed generation. I think we're moving again positively on that where there's more of a recognition that just because it's not utility, from the utility it's not necessarily great for everybody and I think the great making starting to catch up and the analysis is catching up with trying to really properly evaluate, properly cost things so that we don't have that inequality between a lot of times the wealthy and the less wealthy taking advantage of the system so I think we're moving positive in that direction really at the, maybe not the total lead in the United States, pretty close. From the Hawaii energy perspective, I think as we try to work with Hawaii's families, particularly impacted by the heavy energy burdens that we all face, whether it's electricity, gas, you name it, there's certain things that are within their control and others that are not from an efficiency standpoint. A lot of times those that are the most impacted have the highest energy burden, they're renters so their ability to again make choices and decisions around the equipment that they're using is very limited so that's a real challenge and I think for me personally and I'm excited Scott's here as well, I mean when we look at who are a lot of the disadvantaged communities, it's the native Hawaiians and as we look to move forward and push towards our 100% clean energy goals, we also address there have been some inequities in the past whether it's some of the distributed generation that's happened or others and by getting to a more equitable place means there may be a little more inequity to get there and not everything is going to be fair. The other thing I wanted to add from an energy use perspective that we find very interesting but also concerning is that if we're going to be able to hit our clean energy goals and based on the projections that were shown earlier that was the basis of the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative, a lot of that didn't factor into increased utilization of EV at the time, also didn't factor in just what's happening with the climate and how many more people are installing air conditioning. So we're seeing now another inequity that's coming to have and have nots who has air conditioning and who doesn't and what happens there and the last part that I would say is some of the early adopters to PV and I'm one of them. I was a NEM PV adopter. I put in AC and I probably use more today as the head of Hawai'i Energy who's supposed to be using less than I did six years ago and it's a real challenge. So even if I'm having that struggle with my family, I know that there's a lot of people who have put in PV for the right reasons but a lot of areas are going in the wrong direction. So our pricing and our tariffs have to really evolve to a place where we're bringing some of that equity back. I'll comment on this question from a slightly different area which is the current issues that we're starting to see more and more of in terms of community concerns about renewable energy development projects in their neighborhoods. I think that let's use the wind farm, the Puomakani as an example. We all as those in the industry, we know that you can only site wind farms where you have the wind resource. And even then it can't just be sort of windy. It's got to be a certain standard of consistency and strong in order to make it a feasible wind project. So that really drives those types of projects in a certain location. But more and more we're starting to see that it doesn't really matter if it's a wind farm or a solar farm or like on Dave's Island, hydro we are starting to see where renewable energy projects are being lumped into just the overall issues of an infrastructure project. And you know folks have very real concerns about proximity to their houses, visible impacts and so on. And I think that as we go forward from a policy perspective we are really going to have to think more creatively about how do you address these issues and perhaps the old way of putting it on a developer to say alright you have to engage with the community, you have to figure out is there a community benefits package you can offer. I mean yes that is still a potential tool but I think we have to do better from a policy perspective and actually it may even trace back to how do we go forward in deciding what are the resources that are needed who gets to participate in that discussion and having that type of engagement actually feed into the RFP process. Right now we issue RFPs and it's all sources all technology types and it's pretty much left to developers to go find the locations to put these projects in. And then that's when typically the communities are engaged with. I think we're going to have to rethink that and how do we up front the engagement and participation. Amen. So I'm going to lump together the last two here because they're kind of related. Every technical problem has a solution if you have enough money. So are there sort of technical or cost obstacles that you're seeing in trying to move ahead towards these deep decarbonization goals we're talking about? I'll take the first shot at this but first I want to say I agree with Scott I think the biggest challenge to getting where we need to go is going to be citing community acceptance or lack thereof and we really need to find new ways to approach it up front and get by because especially like on Oahu with the amount we need and the limited land space the biggest challenge to be faced. On the technical side I kind of prepared this question specifically I'm not going to use a slide but the general concept is that I think we need to find some solutions to the grid services that we need to assure grid reliability and there's a lot of work going on in this area the grid services docket and things like that but there's certain services that the grid needs and traditionally all of those services were able to be provided by thermal generation because we're moving more and more towards renewables particularly the intermittent resources wind and solar and those thermal units retiring something has to step in to be able to provide those services and a lot of them can be provided by other things there's definitely technical potential there for those to be provided but we're not quite there yet particularly things short grid strength type services inertia and then those are the quick responding things and then on the other side just general capacity batteries can do an awful lot of it there's other options like DR and charging EVs and flywheels and synchronous condensers and things like that but all of it needs to be assessed and some of it still needs to be developed and I won't go into any more details but there's just going to be some challenges in that area and people need to understand I hear a lot of people seem to have the impression that if we put enough PV and batteries on we'll get there and we don't have to worry about it but there's definitely issues that have to be considered and overcome with filling some of the gaps that will be there with that type of mix and as a grid that's operating at 100% renewable multiple days now last week we were five hours at 100% renewable the technical challenges can be overcome but following up on John's point solar's not the answer in total we're already looking past solar and going we can't have our old grid we're not going to get close to 100% just on PV and batteries long duration batteries are still very expensive and really the technology's not there to move past four or five hours the real outside is probably eight hours you can do economically to some degree of economically and we get long periods of rain and cloudy weather and we're starting to do this on Kauai like how do we move past 80% 100% renewable and we're working hard at investigating pump storage hydro where you can get massive amounts of storage 100 hours, 200 hours of storage versus four or eight the problem is how do you value that how do we look at it if it comes up more expensive than PV if you can get PV for 8 cents with batteries and it might cost 15 cents with the same thing with water storage that can move you past it's a different technology but we're increasingly saying well we think we got to do that if we're going to be serious about reaching 100% because the battery technology may evolve but it's rather doubtful that you'll be able to get the vast amount of storage that we need so I think long explanation trying to shorten it as we move further and further some of these easy technologies with the battery we're going to have to stretch further and get into more they may be more expensive, they may be harder but we're rapidly moving throughout the state to that I think Oahu's got real challenges with its genocide with land and how much more solar can they put down after this next round of projects so we're all going to start I think some of the low hanging fruits have been harvested and we're getting into tougher and tougher technical problems so I've got a lot of questions here we've been given a five minute extension I just have to be kind of selective with the question so I'm going to start with one which was kind of actually sets us up for the next panel but going down the line to each of you is your organization dedicating any policy resources to extending EV benefits the writer said that's very key to extending the curve so what are you doing or are you doing anything to encourage EV I actually will probably defer to Brian to talk about the EV rebate program that the legislature so kindly gave us several hundred thousand dollars to basically to encourage installation of level 2 EV chargers and Brian's actually facilitating that program so why energy has taken over that for us I'm excited so he can talk about that sure I'll touch on it real quickly it's a small part of really Hawaiian electrics electrification of transportation roadmap but obviously one of the barriers that was identified through that is just the EV charging infrastructure so again as commissioner Potter said it's exciting to see that there's some state taxpayer resources that are being put towards this four hundred thousand dollars in total so that's great but it's probably just a drop in the bucket the infrastructure that's needed not only in the cost of the actual charging systems but as well as just all the upgrades that need to happen to install EV charging stations so it's a great first start I think part of the China plan that was approved by the commission earlier last year I guess in 2019 now did create a little more runway for Hawaii Energy to be participating in EOT efforts as it makes sense to combine with again PICO's roadmap and carbon reduction so it is an expansion of the services that we are doing so as Commissioner Potter and Brian mentioned electric transportation is a huge part of where we see the future not only for transportation getting transportation decarbonized but also to help us decarbonize our system I'm going to say probably everybody knows that the secret sauce is if you can get more good load during the daytime the more we can take that renewable energy that's produced during the daytime and think about it from the perspective I'm living in a decoupled system where the state has these very aggressive energy efficiency goals we're trying to reduce the load if anything and meanwhile at the same time we still need to pay for the overall electric system Richard is this your phone? I wasn't sure who I was being recorded by but anyway so if we can build that electric charging infrastructure more quickly more aggressively I know there's always going to be this issue of well at what point are you getting too far ahead of the market but I absolutely do think that we have to be more aggressive so what is the role that the state plays the whole energy of course we have our roadmap when we talk to developers of condominiums or a new construction one of the challenges that they face is if I'm going to be mandated that I have to provide X number of stalls would be charging that can be hugely expensive so where is the is there any financial support that can be provided to them or another discussion that they often ask us is with utility what role do you folks have to provide that make ready infrastructure you know PUC, consumer advocate I see Dean standing in the back in the room right where they're always going to be working with us to decide at what point does it make sense for the utility to pick up those types of infrastructure costs if this is a hugely important state policy then I think it may end up being where we have to have the discussion about what the role the utility can play to provide that make ready infrastructure so that it can make things happen a lot more quickly I guess the question though was are we dedicating resources to help think about these policy issues the absolute answer for us is absolutely yes it's very important we have to keep the momentum going with transportation I'll do a quick on Kauai yes but we're so different than Oahu and all the other islands are a whole different outlook on electric vehicles and we don't have the big condos that make it difficult for people to buy a vehicle and charge them we haven't had an overwhelming push for charging infrastructure in Kauai most people are charging them at home at night time Ben will talk about it in the next session but we have a real good relationship with the county and some other organizations working on potential rebates and ways what we're concerned with is we want to incentivize people not to charge right during our peak demand period so from a utility side we're more interested in giving incentives to set up chargers that will stop charging during 8 to 10 o'clock at night during our peak and we are actually getting them to the people for the ability to charge I just have to add because I see Mitch standing there that hydrogen vehicles are electric vehicles too if we can figure out how to make the hydrogen economically and it can be used for those fuel cell vehicles and maybe we can convert some gas stations and don't need a lot of extra infrastructure but that could be part of the solution thanks John so since we're at the capitol and we have a PUC commissioner here do any of you have can each of you give sort of one thing that would be on your wish list for a new law or a new order from the commission that would help us move ahead in meeting our objectives I'm all ears we're really not questioning for anything we like certainty and really the more from a co-ops side the more we're left alone the happier we are that's kind of we're not pushing for anything I would just reiterate a couple of things I said earlier the alignment of the utilities incentives with the state policy goals and some really smart pricing programs for customers to help them to do the same thing achieve the energy goals of the state through pricing and economic decisions I wouldn't add much to my first answer around some of the policies that are needed I think from an energy efficiency perspective I think probably what I neglected to say when I was sharing that is that energy efficiency already is extremely cost effective especially when you look at the life cycle cost versus first cost and I think that's where we get hung up so it's not as if these policies will have a economic a negative economic impact actually it's going to have a positive economic impact and thus kind of advocating for the expansion of a lot of what's on the books in particular we got the energy code finally passed at a state level two and a half years ago we're working through the counties the different counties are going through their stages but it's a heavy lift every three years if we're going to do this and we got to find a way to just be adopting new codes right when they come out so my wish would be beyond just energy we have a challenge in this state I think where we have so many good well intention state policies but there's not really a good way that I see where people have been able to integrate them well together so land use policy housing development environmental protection cultural energy transportation all of these policies are starting to really butt up against each other and it's hard to try and execute and implement well on any one of those because you just cannot do that in a silo and we need to if anything it may not be a single law but there needs to be some sort of mechanism where periodically you have to take a look at these policies and recalibrate given what you see happening in other areas and as a state what are the highest priorities of this state that we need to pay attention to I mean we all live and breathe in the energy space but we've all been in those discussions where somebody says you know what you folks want to raise rates because you want to modernize the grid and so on but I can barely afford to pay my rent and I can't even you know think about having my kids get new clothes for school or whatever it is and boy what do I say to that right so I think that that has to have I mean in this building as well as in our other areas that's where we really need to have that good force discussion to help people prioritize all right well thanks a lot I've got a lot of more good questions here and more spinning in my head but unfortunately we're out of time so I'd encourage all of you to ask our panelists questions afterwards if you can catch them in the hall or in the auditorium and I'd like to ask you all to join me in giving them a big thank you


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Thanks to our patent pending refinement technique, Beyond Tobacco gives off a smell and taste that is almost identical to tobacco. So I think this is game changing. This has always been a game changing company with a game changing product. I said this since day one. And to be honest with you, that hasn't changed. In fact, if anything, they just continue to get better. They just continue to get better and they continue to evolve and they continue to achieve their goals. And that's why I think this is such a special company. Now in saying that, I think that they may have got ahead of themselves. I mean the stock went ahead really, really well, did extremely well, but the reality is the revenue is still just getting started. So it's important for you to get to know TAT, understand what they're doing. In a world that feels increasingly complex, stressful and regimented, we're for the freedom to choose your own path. Smokers 21 plus are looking for alternatives to smoking tobacco but they have been unable to find a suitable replacement that also lets them enjoy the experiences and rituals they enjoy while smoking a cigarette. Until now, we welcome you to the TAT family, learn more about a new lifestyle choice for adult smokers. And you can just click on the link here and learn more about TAT. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through some of the news that came out this week. And I think it's really big news for TAT fans across the country. TATs are crafted to emulate the smoking experience. Smokers 21 plus have been sampling free packs and providing great testimonials to our teams across the country. Don't just take our word for it, watch the reviews. So you can even go and watch reviews of smokers 21 plus and party with team TAT. At TAT, we are the party. Instead of waiting for an invite, we're throwing a ton of parties across the nation as we roll out and you can see all the upcoming events for TAT. And they are literally nonstop. So this is the website, TryTAT.com. And you can find the store locator here. Pretty cool tool where you can see all the different stores now over well over a thousand stores. You can just put in your nearest location and take a look. I mean, literally all over America. And eventually the goal is to be all over the world. Super, super excited about TAT. Now, there's another website, TATglobal.com.  And let's get through the news because I think it's extremely important. So first and foremost, this news came out. And then we will take a look at the stock, which actually had a big hit today. It was down 10% in Canada at 320, down 10% in America at 260, and down 2% in Germany at 246. And I'm going to go through that and we'll talk about that. But you can see here that it's down and I feel like it's getting close to our buy zone. We've been saying for quite some time that we believe that TAT over the last year, you can see it's going back to our, you can clearly see here, it's going back into our buy zone. And you can see that we like that $3 mark. $3 or less seems to be the new floor for TAT.  So a lot of our communities kind of positioning themselves, thinking about position themselves, thinking about, you know, where potentially they want to get in. And some members were looking at the 350 mark, we really believe here rich picks daily and a rich TV live. And you guys can join the club and you can learn about this and get access to this information too, that this is in a good buy zone when it gets to $3 or less. So that's what our plan is, is once this gets into this zone here, this red, these two red lines with the gray zone, we see the magnet here, when it gets to that $3 or less mark, that's where we're going to be looking to get into TAT. And obviously we always be looking to get in as low as humanly possible. But that's, that's really what we talk about in our trading club. And you can see here, T O B A F in America, it's literally right in our zone, but we think it might go a little bit lower. So we'd like to pick it up as low as humanly possible. And same thing in Germany, you can see it's entering into our zone. So going really walking right into our buy zone. And let's talk about the news because they did have three press releases this week, TAT adds 19 US wholesalers in 60 days, adding distribution in new states to include Virginia, Oregon, and Missouri, Tag Global Alternatives Inc, T A A T in Canada, and T O B A F in the OTC QX, T to P, sorry, to TP in Frankfurt, Germany is pleased to announce that over the past 60 days, it has secured 19 new relationships with US wholesalers to carry TAT, adding distribution in new states. Such as Virginia population 8.5 million, Oregon population 4.2 million, and Missouri population 6.1 million. In a press release dated August 17, 2021, the company announced it had obtained distribution in seven new US states in just two months and announced shortly thereafter in a press release dated September 24, 2021, that the count of TAT retailers across the country officially surpassed the 1000 store mark. Just three weeks later, the company has confirmed that more than 1200 stores in the United States now carry TAT at retail. An interactive store finder map of TAT retailers can be found at the company's Tritat portal. At the following link, you must be 21 plus. And we showed you guys the store locator earlier in this video. In addition to TAT being available for purchase by the majority of smokers aged 21 plus in the United States through e-commerce, the company is also undertaking its first international launches in markets to include Australia, as well as the United Kingdom and Ireland, for which a 43,000 pack shipment landed in late September 2021 by adding more than a dozen new distributors in the United States and bringing its new manufacturing facilities in Las Vegas, Nevada into operation last month. As announced in the September 3, 2021 press release, the company is confident it can further scale its commercialization of TAT between increased production bandwidth and an expanded network of retailers. Pretty cool branding. You can see they're doing a really good job of branding TAT. Feel free. Zero tobacco, zero nicotine. In the past 60 days, the company has added 19 new distributors in the United States. We have contributed to the rapid growth of the company's store count, which recently surpassed 1200 stores within just 10 months of the initial launch of TAT in December 2020. TAT chief executive officer, Sethi Koskala, commented, as more smokers age 21 plus are choosing TAT instead of tobacco cigarettes, we believe consumer level demand has influenced retailers of tobacco products and their respective wholesalers to begin carrying TAT as part of their tobacco category offerings. Huge, huge, huge. Additionally, we have held TAT's exhibits at several commercial trade shows in recent months to include the NACS show in Chicago, which is the largest and most prominent such event in the US convenience industry. These events have enabled us to start dialogues and form relationships with wholesalers who we have converted into TAT distributors at a remarkable rate. Now that we have increased production capacity through our new facilities in Las Vegas, we're picking up the pace at which we are adding new distributors, states, and points of sale across the country. I'm very pleased with the momentum we have achieved with 19 new distributors in the past 60 days and a 20% increase in store count in the past three weeks. This is mind boggling how fast they are growing guys. And we look forward to building upon this growth for our first international launches that are presently underway. So this was just a week ago, okay? Literally a week ago on October 15th. So when we go back to the previous news, there was another press release just two days ago on October 20th. Viva TAT Vegas TAT secures first store placement on the Las Vegas Strip across from the Bellagio. So I've been to the Bellagio beautiful hotel. We'll take a look at the hotel and the photo here, but tagglobal alternatives is pleased to announce that its flagship product TAT has been placed in its first retail point of sale on the Las Vegas Strip. Congratulations guys for breaking the Las Vegas Strip. My goodness, this is the place to be guys. And this is where TAT has their facilities in Las Vegas, the world famous stretch of more than two dozen casino resorts, which welcome many of more than 42 million visitors. Guys, this is going to be great for them to get global visibility. Because remember 42 million visitors from all over the world are going to Las Vegas area each year. Following the initial launch of TAT in Ohio in Q4 2020, the company expanded its efforts to commercialize product in other U.S. markets and announced an oppressorly stated October 15, 2021 that its store count in the United States has cleared 1200 inclusives of stores, inclusive of stores located in the greater Las Vegas area. In October 2021, the company confirmed the first on-strip placement of all three TAT varieties in Viva Vegas gifts souvenir retailer located in the Grand Bazaar shops across the street from the 3950 room Bellagio 3950 rooms. Wow. Whose musical fountains are world famous. They are absolutely lovely. They're magical and hold the Guinness World Record for most fountains at a hotel. See, I didn't know that. Look at that. TAT beyond tobacco at the Bellagio.  TAT original smooth and menthol are now available for purchase for smokers aged 21 plus in Viva Vegas gifts on the Las Vegas strip located directly across Las Vegas Boulevard from the iconic Bellagio casino resort. Historically, the Las Vegas strip has attracted tourists primarily in the 21 plus age range due to the prevalence of entertainment offerings that are restricted to those aged 21 plus or older. For example, casino gaming, sports wagering, cocktail lounges, and nightclubs, as such, the company is embracing the opportunity to introduce TAT to smokers aged 21 plus who are pedestrians in the high traffic area of the Las Vegas strip with prominent casino resorts to include Bellagio, Caesars Palace, ballies, and Cromwell on the intersections for corners. This store placement complements the existing presence of TAT in the Las Vegas area, which can be seen on the TAT store locator feature of tritat.com must be 21 plus to access. Based on the performance of TAT in its first store on the Las Vegas strip, the company intends to seek placements in additional retail outlets nearby. This is huge guys and possibly implement enhanced store level activation tactics to drive conversions of smokers aged 21 plus in each store. This is huge, absolutely huge, very exciting guys. And this is just like watching one of your children grow up, watching TAT grow up from an idea to a product that's now on the Las Vegas strip and is being sold and distributed in multiple countries internationally and has the chance to be a global product is very exciting. And we've had investors that have done extremely well with TAT and full disclosure, Rich TV Live, we want to make sure you guys understand we're strictly for information and education purposes. Please do your due diligence, do your research before you invest anything that we talk about here on Rich TV Live, invest in the best, the best is blessed. We'd love to bring you the best. TAT has been absolutely one of the best picks that we've talked about in the last year in a bit. And you can see now that they're not just doing well as a stock, but they're also doing well as a business as they compete in the $800 billion tobacco industry. And this is a company that's really just in the first inning. TAT Chief Executive Officer, Seth DeCasper, commented, we have organically built the 1200 store retail footprint of TAT throughout the United States by strategically making it available in the same point of sale at which smokers age 21 plus purchased their preferred brands of tobacco cigarettes. Those who have switched to TAT will invariably want to purchase it wherever their travels may take them, which is why a store placement in a high traffic tourist area such as the Las Vegas Strip is an important milestone in our U.S. commercialization journey. Furthermore, millions of smokers age 21 plus visit Las Vegas each year, which also makes this placement an opportunity to introduce TAT to those who are not familiar with the product and its unique value proposition as a nicotine-free and tobacco-free alternative to tobacco cigarettes. We believe the store placement could be a pivotal development for us as we continue our efforts to develop TAT into a mainstream brand in the tobacco category. What do you guys think of these videos? If you like these videos, please smash the like button, like button, comment down below, share the video everywhere, and subscribe. Now, this is the news that just came out today, the breaking news, UK tobacco wholesalers enthusiastic about TAT falling a rival of first commercial shipment. So this news just broke out today on October 22. Tag Global Alternatives, Inc., TAAT in Canada, TOBAF in America, 2TP in Frankfurt, Germany is pleased to announce that several large-scale tobacco wholesalers in the United Kingdom have received TAT and expressed a high level of enthusiasm about the product based on its several advantages compared to traditional tobacco cigarettes. In a press release dated September 29, 2021, the company announced that more than 43,000 packs of TAT arrived in London as part of an over $1.2 million worth of purchase orders for the United States, for the United Kingdom, and Ireland issued by Green Global Earth GGE. In less than one calendar year, the companies placed TAT in approximately 1200 retail stores across the United States through strategies that intends to employ as part of its first international launches of TAT in markets to include the United Kingdom. So they are now in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Huge, huge, huge, huge. As a non-tobacco product, TAT stands to benefit from freedoms that are not afforded to products containing tobacco or nicotine. This is why TAT is a game changer. Tobacco wholesalers in the UK who received TAT through October 2021 noted that in-store promotional graphics can be displayed for TAT to cultivate interest in the product among smokers of legal age, whereas such advertisements would not be permitted for tobacco cigarette brands. Furthermore, being exempt from certain taxes on tobacco and nicotine products, TAT can be sold at a lower price point in the United Kingdom compared to leading brands of tobacco cigarettes. That is a game-changing advantage, and especially important consideration in the United Kingdom where the average price for a pack of tobacco cigarettes is approximately double the average price in the United States.  TAT is going to be huge in the UK. That was described in the company's April 30, 2021 press release. Additionally, tobacco product packaging laws in the United Kingdom required tobacco cigarettes to be sold in a uniform pack design with negligible brand identifying elements such as colors and logos through the company's distribution partners in the United Kingdom have confirmed that TAT packs can be sold in a substantially similar format to the standard design currently used in the United States bearing the respective colors of each TAT variety. Wow, look at this. Smoking this product damages your health. Wow, this is what they look like, folks. The company has produced compliant pack designs for TAT in the United Kingdom where one of its competitive advantage is its exemption from the plain packaging laws that apply to tobacco products. Pictured above is the complete pack design for TAT original, which can be sold at a lower price point than leading tobacco cigarettes in the United Kingdom. Guys, this is a game changer. They're going to be able to sell their product at a lower price than their competitors. They also have no tobacco and nicotine, which allows them to operate without paying as many taxes and is going to allow them to maneuver in certain markets where traditional tobacco can't. This is a game changer. Based on outcomes for the company's existing dialogues with tobacco wholesalers in the United Kingdom, TAT intends to dispatch a full container shipment to the United Kingdom during Q4 2021, from which TAT would be placed in retail points of sale to include wow supermarkets and convenience stores. This is huge. As part of these dialogues, the company is also forming a collection of in-store promotional graphics to include window decals, which can enable UK TAT retailers to capitalize on their ability to promote the product to their patrons who are smokers of legal age. Wow, guys, this is just such a game changer. TAT chief executive officer set the cost ground and commented. It is very exciting for us to be in these stages of executing the first international expansion of TAT. We have extensively discussed how we can be competitive in the United Kingdom based on price, pack design, and the merits of the product itself. One thing we have not gone into detail about, however, is that it appears to be much easier to launch nationwide in the United Kingdom in the absence of the complexities of individual state and territory laws, such as those commonly found in the United States. That is huge. I didn't know about that. We look forward to finalizing our first international store placements with tobacco wholesalers in the United Kingdom as part of our next steps in building tobacco industry market share globally. Wow, this is so exciting, guys. And to see this company grow and to evolve and to now be literally going into new countries, not just states, but new countries is so exciting. I can't tell you guys how excited I am to be a part of this and to tell the story. And I really believe that this is a game-changing company. Now, in saying that, the stock is up. We brought it to you guys pre-op at $0.41. It's been as high as $5. Every time it gets to $4, $5, it seems to get resistance. And then it comes back to about $3, sometimes a little under $3, and then it bounces back. So it's getting back into that buy zone for our community. So we're going to be watching you very carefully and we'll let you know exactly what we do from here. If there's any other big breaking news, we'll break it to you first. Thank you guys for watching. If you're not winning, you're not watching. We bring you the winners and we bring them to you first. We absolutely love that. This is a game-changing company. It's been a game-changer for our community. You can go to their website, Tritat.com, enter your email, subscribe to their monthly newsletter, and get special offers, free giveaways, and once-in-a-lifetime deals only with TAT Global Alternatives, a game-changing company that we brought to you guys first. You can also follow them on Instagram. You can see I am following them on Instagram. You can see right there. And you can follow them on Facebook and you can see I am following them on Facebook. And you can follow them on YouTube. You can see that I am following them on YouTube. If you guys have any questions, please feel free. Oh, here we go. Subscribe. If you guys have any questions, please feel free to comment down below. Let me know what you think of these videos. And this is their Twitter. Feel free to follow them also on Twitter. They've come a long way, but the reality is they still have a very long way to go. And I plan to be here every step of the way. Congratulations to investors on TAT Global Alternatives. We've got investors all over the world that have made an absolute fortune on TAT. And the reality is they're literally just in the first inning. They're just getting started. All right, guys, if you're not winning, you're probably not watching. We're bringing the winners. We brought you TAT first, and we got more up our sleeve. Stay tuned. Get your popcorn ready. Hit that bell for notifications every time we have any big breaking news for TAT Global Alternatives or any other amazing super high growth explosive stocks. You'll know first, your boy Rich from Mississippi Live. And you can join the club at richbigdaily.com absolutely free and get access to rewards. You can upgrade and be a VIP member, get access to our education center and be a part of our growing community of profitable traders that are finding companies like TAT first. It's true. And finding buying opportunities and dip buy opportunities. We love to buy the dips and sell the reps. It's your boys out. Peace.


It's been a pretty incredible year for me. I won like 707,000. All right, we got us some three-year-old here, little bay mare. She's a daughter of S.R. Instant Choice. And this one has a tendency to want to think about me quite a bit. But so I try to feed the cow to her as much as I can.  I like to hold that line as much as possible without putting too much pressure on the cow. You definitely want that cow to come to you if you have a lot of looks, if you're pushing too much, you won't be able to get that up in that ground just a little bit. Nice move to get a little more control of him right there and then let him get comfortable again. And moving across that cow. A lot of people have their own theories on how they want to work cattle, where they work across to round. You know, I think you can do it in any way you want. Everybody's looking for the same thing. They want the finished product that you can go be competitive with. There's a lot of different ways of training and a lot of ways of working to achieve that. This is a four-year-old. She's my high-brow cat. I have a mare called Ms. Echo Wood. I've trained her from the start. Shoulder up to the insane shape of 30 last year. I think I split fourth and fifth. Thinkin' good there. You gotta keep this mare tightened down a little bit.  And sometimes she overextends herself a little bit. But as you can see, she handles herself off as well. Keep her slowed down a little bit. She gets over doing right there. You want a horse to get across that pin and control that cow. But certain times you gotta play a little more defense than normal. I like the horse to be tied on a cow and if I wanna ask them out there, they need to respond and get out there. And then tighten back up when I want them to. All right, now see right there?  Make her stay in that stop. Make her back up a little bit.  Yeah. All right, well, when you do that, when you feel that, go ahead and hold her in it. See, same thing right there. What? Hold her back in that stop. Make her take a step back before she turns around. Just when you stop real hard. That was really good. Very good.  And when you do, when she leans up on that count, she's going somewhere and you can't just use your hands as you draw.


Live from the San Jose Mechanery Convention Center, it's theCUBE at Open Compute Project US Summit 2015. Okay, welcome back everyone. This is SiliconANGLE Media's theCUBE, our flagship program. We go out for the events, extract the synth from the noise. I'm John Furrier with my co-host, Jeff Frick who's a general manager of our CUBE business. Jeff, we've got Aaron Sullivan, Distinguished Engineer of Rack Space. Welcome to theCUBE. Thanks, good to be here. Open power, open compute, power's huge. But let's get back, let's get into the conversation. Tell us what's going on with you this year and your perspective, looking back from last year, what's going on? I mean, bigger, smaller, or robust? Yeah, lots of stuff, lots of advancement since last year. When we talked last year, we were just launching our Open Compute systems onto most of the apps that are running Open Compute at Rack Space today. We've launched eight applications at Rack Space supporting Open Compute. We run it in our back office for some of our business intelligence and analytics platforms. We run it in front office for a variety of our OpenStack cloud services. We built our on-metal cloud service, which we're very proud to launch a very distinctive offer last summer. We built that on Open Compute. It was an exclusive sort of thing. Like we couldn't have done it without Open Compute. Like in which way? Like what was there that wasn't, like gave you the ability to do that? So we needed to design a service that gave people bare-metal cloud at hypervisor cloud provisioning and security-type speeds and feature sets, right? So that's a tough thing to do. You gain a lot from that hypervisor in terms of security and speed and ease of provisioning. And when we took that out, we had to do things in the firmware of the server to replace some of those core functions and safety mechanisms that we needed. And the fact that we had Open Compute and the engagement with all the different engineers in the community to work with helped us get there. But we also kind of hit a wall at that point. We sort of realized the limits of where we could take open on the platform we were at at that point in time. And we think the cloud is going to continue to evolve and need to get vastly more efficient than it is today. In order to do that, we need to let developers like the guys that work on our on-metal platform and so forth, get deeper down into those systems, right? And they're all developers and hackers, right? Those sorts learn best when you just open the whole thing up and let them- Yeah, but you guys built a great system on Open Source as well. And here you have a community that's bringing Open Source. We were just talking to the GM at Microsoft. They brought large-scale management templates and reference architectures to the table. That's real IP. That's real IP. That's real IP. And we need more of that, right? That's what we need. We need IP exposed at that layer and deeper on all the systems that Open Compute delivers today. All right, explain to the folks out there what this means. Cause it's like, to me, I look at it like Christmas. You know, the presents are all there.  As an engineer, what's it like?  Are you a kid in the candy store? What's happened? What's the psychology of the in the trenches developer?  And then after a while, this is the new normal and you feel much more empowered than you did before and you realize how much more you could do. But now you got to go do it. And it's a new, it's a more competitive world that's enabled by all of this open technology. So it changes the playing field and it forces people to be innovative because I know everybody else can be that much more creative and innovative as well. Right, right. The Mark Shuttleworth demo today with the metal as a service. If you saw that John MAAS first time to ever see that and that would look like a pretty spectacular amount of automation. That's what on metal is at Rackspace, right? They have MAS in that service. There's a similar service in OpenStack that we built called Ironic that delivers a very similar service, right? We call it Ironic. You can use Ironic to stand up your OpenStack hypervisor cloud. You can also use it to run a bare metal cloud service. So same idea. I point, I click, and in moments I get a bare metal image on a server configured the way I want it. So on the OpenStack Rackspace situation here, where does all this intersect with say OpenStack? Because you have OpenStack growing significantly with a vibrant governance model, the community's growing. That's the past, that's infrastructure service. Now you talk on the bare metal as a service. Softlayer was bought by IBM. So you got all this kind of lines going on. How does this relate to this development ecosystem with OpenStack? It seems to be a nice hand in glove situation. Yeah, I think it does. I mean, there doesn't have to be overlap, but there are many places where it overlaps really nicely. Where having openness at each layer actually enables advancement from all the communities. All three groups can benefit from having open access to some other parts. If you think about what you see in bare metal provisioning prior to on metal, you usually had to wait a few hours to get that server. And the way it came up, you know, it may not have all of the pre-configuration, all of the, it may not be set up exactly like you want it. You know, a lot of clouds you can upload your image and you can say, just launch another one, launch another one. With on metal, it's the same sort of idea only you get it bare metal, right? OpenStack enabled that, right? If we hadn't had everything that was already in OpenStack in orchestration, you know, it would have been that whole thing plus a bare metal element we would have had to add. And instead we were able to just take that piece, that bare metal provisioning piece and build it in. So tell us what's going on with OpenPower because that's something that's very interesting. It's a consortium that's coming together. Can you give us an update what you guys are doing with that? What's it mean to the end user? Who's driving it? What's happening with that? Yeah, so Rackspace got involved with OpenPower before it launched. We were engaged in with the group of companies that were talking about the bylaws and the board and the formation of it. We decided not to go public at the time that it launched, but very involved. We'd been looking at power for about a year and a half prior to that. There were certain things about power that were far more efficient in some of its core features for some of our applications than what we had with any other platform. So we were excited about it but we kept coming back and saying, you know what, our data center operators grew up in the next 86 world with all of the stuff around it. You know, not just the processor but the management systems, the tools, all the rest of that. And if we want to leverage this cool new technology and power, we need to go enable it by changing all those other parts around it. And over time, that conversation switched from changing a feature, changing another feature, changing a feature to just, you know, we're changing things so fast. Why don't we just open everything up, right? And a lot of those things that we wanted to leverage a few years ago were still there and they're advancing. You go out, you can do a search for something OpenPower did with a company called Redis Labs.  You can use some functions that are available in OpenPower and only open, right, in OpenPower. So it's a much wider sort of product ecosystem that can plug into it. You can take and enable that for Redis and you can take a server where you needed 20, 25 of them on any other platform and on a power platform, you can do it with one, right? I mentioned, when's the last time we had an advancement in servers that was that order of magnitude, right? It's been a long time. So what's the interest in the ecosystem here right now this year for last year? So you're seeing, like, the scalities here. You're not necessarily making hard of it. It was a good storage solution. There's a software thing going on here. Software defined data center we were speculating earlier. Is it a land grab? I mean, I'm looking at this going, hey, if I'm an entrepreneur, I'm in these trenches. Orchestration, automation. These are cloud concepts. This is a software construct. You can come in and say, I want to own the software defined data center. That means you have the data center operating system is on the table. Can there be one more than one? Is there only one? What's your take on that? I know it's kind of outside your scope but as an industry observer, you got to see people making their move here. I think for our company, I think that we sort of exist outside of that fray to a certain extent. We've had to be operating with that mentality, the whole verticalized data center stack in order to work at the scale we are. I think that's becoming a reality for smaller organizations and operations today. In a large part because of what we and some of the other cloud oriented movements went, whether it's a service provider or software developer, I think that has turned that on. I think there's some sort of, I don't know if land grab is the word I would use but there's definitely a new stack forming and there's competition to say what's that top to bottom stack but I don't think it's just software defined stuff. That's there, right? Software defined network, software defined data center, like software defined storage, those things are all there. They're going to take a while to become a real products that people want to use. Some things are there, some things are not. Like we use a lot of software defined network at Rackspace today. But to see it hit like everywhere else in the industry, I think we're still, we're going to keep moving there. There's going to be another thing that gets turned on and another thing that's turned on over the course of the next few years. I think there are some really radicals changes down at the bottom of that stack in the chips and the servers where we're going to realize, like I was saying earlier, if we rethink that stack all the way down, not just the software defined stuff but all the way down to the bottom, we can get a great deal more efficiency and flexibility in what we have today. So what looks like software defined sort of stack wars today I think turns into a whole vertical, top down stack, not just servers that are abstracted for 50 different purposes, but servers that are extremely vertically integrated but also open. Open and here's the thing that we're learning and the queue for the folks watching they know the queue workloads matter. And now it's not a one trick pony for every single workload. You can't have general purposes over now. You don't have to have a general purpose computer. You're going to have a purpose built app that on purpose built provisioned open hardware with tailored software, virtualization. Talk about that trend, how real is that now? And where are we from the start line I guess? Or are we on the start line? Is it happening now? I think we're past the start line. I think the demand of our customers and our end users for ever more efficiency and performance, ever more scale and ease to start their app and their idea, it's pretty relentless. So we've been feeling that heat for years now and it forces you to evolve, right? It forces you to evolve to stay relevant and keep giving those customers what they want. So it's really workload centric tuning as opposed to just system tuning as well, right? That's right, because for many of them, for many of them the system itself, generation over generation is not delivering the returns that it was. You know, we went from high clock speeds to multiple cores and we would regularly get huge boost generation over generation and performance. Right now that's really slowing down and so you start looking for other ways to squeeze more value out of the system, right?  This year he's saying we're saving all this money by taking a holistic look at the stack, right? All the way through, we're, you know, we're wringing out extra performance and efficiency by doing that, right? But the trend of what you're arguing basically is the future, which is there will be unlimited opportunities to have differentiated stacks. So it's not an interest, it just brings up the open source thing, okay? Standardized hardware and everything, but I'm a developer. I can create a unique stack for a unique workload and have some differentiation. Yeah, competition's always going to be there, but there's no lock-in, but I can build my own stack. I can, I can.  I think what it forces you to do is burn your boats. It forces you to say, this got me here and I got this much value out of it, but it's open and I can't just sit on that anymore. I have to go do the next big thing. I think one of the next big things in that space is going to be, you know, we'll come up with a name for it that's different because this one's been used, but it's going to be middleware for these very advanced purpose-built systems, right? Which is called that software. Yeah, it's going to be something that basically says that server is an alien compared to what we saw four or five years ago, but I have software that knows how to intelligently use it for what it was built for so that my services developers don't have to have all of this, you know, deep system stuff. Yeah, but this is interesting. Burning the boats is a great analogy to deal, hey, we burned the boats, now we're stuck on the island, we're going to make it work, but platforms are out there, so there's an island, if you will, a land to live off of, you have a platform, so what this brings to question is value-shifting. So commoditization raised to zero, so-called, you know, cloud or whatever, is one thing that's commoditization, but value-shifting. So we've heard from executives saying, hey, you know, entrepreneurs, value-shifting to where the apps are. So there's interesting debates in the tech community right now of that's a bad business model.  We've dealt with that last year in a big way, right? They're all these price cuts in the cloud, and we were wondering for a little while, you know, there were people wondering, is this the end of us? Cause we're just, if it's a race to zero on cost of infrastructure, right? And the people who get all the value are the ones writing the apps, right? Then many of us are, you know, we're doomed, right? But it's really hard to run this stuff at scale. The clouds we've created today were sort of built to help people prototype and experiment at a really low cost, and just iterate constantly, right? So the entry cost to your idea is really low, but when that idea really takes off, where do these apps sit? They live in Google's cloud or Facebook's cloud, or it's like a Netflix with a huge engineering staff. Most of the customers that come to Rackspace don't have that level of expertise. So what they said was, look, we're moving into more advanced applications, so we need you to move with us, right? We're customers. Well, more advanced applications, but also they're adding more features, faster, more agile. That's right. On a software release cycle, so the software life cycle's fast. Yeah, and as they reach a certain size and scale, their customers are going to demand more, so they're going to keep feeling that pressure, and they're going to say, look, it was easy when I only had 10 servers to run this app, but now I'm at 1,000, and I don't have the expertise, you know, to optimize all of this to run on a cloud. I need your help, you know? I want the best kind of cloud and the best kind of integration service and support to help me run my app. You know, Jeff and I and Dave Vellante, who's not here, who's at back east, I'm our other co-host, we always talk about this. Competitive advantage in an open world. The old world was, we all know Microsoft, operating system monopoly with the, with the apps. We're probably one of the best competitive strategies in the history of the computer industry. Cisco's up there too, and there's Oracle. You name the big apples now in there, so they have competitive advantage. It's some lock-in, but now in open, it's harder to do lock-in. So the new barrier to entry or inimitability or competitive advantage is scale. So the fence to jump as a new entry into the market is scale. Do you agree? I do, but I think it's not just infrastructure scale. It's operational scale, scale of expertise, right? All of those things are, how do I do it bigger, smarter, with better service at scale? We always use the Chipotle example on our team. Chipotle's real simple concept, but they scale. It's hard to emulate that fast. So there's just economies of scale. So what you're saying is, like software, it's concepts, hey, I want to do a cloud. I'm going to be like Amazon. Well, good luck with that, right? I mean, try to copy Amazon over decade. So what do people do? So maybe this consolidation happening, so engineers are worried about platforms, right? They don't want to build on a platform that's not going to be closed down tomorrow. So they want it open. So what is the developer mindset? I guess the question is, what is the developer psyche right now? Because I want to work with people that I know that are, or have interest levels as me, and I want to get distribution from my product or whatever the code is. And I don't want it to be out of business. Yeah, yeah. I think there's a demographic to developers. At certain points, they care about certain things, right? For years, we face competition from from other companies who offered services like infrastructure services that were like ours at a lower cost. And the way our business was structured around support and everything, we carried overhead to offer that service that they didn't. And so we would have customers that would say, hey, I'm going to this lower cost place, or we had customers that would never start with us because this was cheaper. That's all they were looking at. And then they started selling. It's like the insurance, right? And the app took off and things got hard and they're calling that service provider and they're saying, hey, I'm broken. Get me online, right? At this point, the five buck difference you're going to spend on a virtual machine or whatever, it doesn't matter anymore. You have a business to sustain. You're not a big enterprise yet, but you're mission critical at this point, right? And when I think about that, I say there's differentiated forms of service in this business that different types, different demographics of customers will look for. You have some that say, I'm just going to do it all on my own, right? Every last bit of it from the concept of what the service is down to all the engineering work. A lot of those guys start in big clouds and sometimes they move to Colo or they just master those clouds. You have others that are sort of looking at it more like I already have a business. I have something, I realize I need to evolve it, right? For that sort, they want more of that service and more of that help getting in, right? It's easy to think like all the applications that exist today were just created in the last few years and those are the only ones that matter. To the vast majority of the spend in this market is still with an evolving IT group, right? With an evolving set of apps that people continue to value. And I think it's really easy to forget about them. We want to be able to support all of them, right? But you've got to meet them where they're at. And I think in this market, different providers differentiate on how they meet those customers and where. So Aaron, final question for you. For the folks watching out there, describe to them what's going on at this event. What's the main vibe? What is this all about? I've heard this open compute summit thing. What's happening here on the ground, around us, state of the industry? How would you explain it to them? Yeah, I think we're remaking the systems and the technology upon which most of this world operates. And we're doing it a piece of the world at a time, right? And it's continuing to expand from there. And we're doing it in a way that is empowering the operators, the end users, and every other participant to do it the way that they want to do it and determine which one has the best model. I mean, in microcosm, I think that's basically what we're doing. At a large scale, I think we're actually creating an approach that's going to drive other industries to think and act the same, even if it's not directly IT. You look at what's going on here and how fast this industry is changing as a result of this sort of thing. And then you start looking at some other industries that are more stagnant. And you start saying, man, how could I enable my industry to go through change that fast and that disruptive? And I think some want to go drive and do that. That's great. We appreciate your time on theCUBE. We've opened Power and Rack Space. You guys have done some great work. Congratulations. And again, it's super exciting here. This is where the next industry innovation will come out of. Our prediction is there's unicorns in this room, billion dollar valuations. I was kidding, certainly there are companies here with a billion dollar value. Intel, I mean startups. Big whales are here, but really entrepreneurial activity. It's really hot. This is theCUBE. Of course, we're on the trenches extracting that signal and sharing that with you. We'll be right back with our next guest after this short break. Thank you guys.


Hi Joanna, my name is Ashley and I work here in the internet department at Augsburg Toyota. I wanted to send you over a quick video greeting that way you can see who you'll be working with. Thank you so much for your recent interest in trading in your 2013 Dodge Dart for a new RAV4. I want to hit and send you our current inventory for you to look at your convenience. If anything interests you please let me know, I'll be happy to get more information when you get a moment to bring in your Dart so that we can appraise it. Just let me know with time and I'll go ahead and schedule an appointment. You can give me a call, my number is five zero two, two and four, seven one six six or just email me back. Thanks. Bye.


Thank you everyone. I will be presenting on MR Neurography approach to Traumatic Brachial Plexus Pathology. MR Neurography is a non-vasive imaging technique for dedicated assessment of peripheral nerves. Thin-section high resolution sequences are performed that are dedicated to optimally increase the complexity of nerve tissue signals. Being able to view the nerves help the physician to localize the site of nerve injury and diagnose the underlying etiology. They are typically high-tituated sequences along the high signal nerve to stand out from the darker fat suppressed background of tissue. MR Neurography can image nerves anywhere in the body. It is most commonly used in the diagnosis of abnormalities of the brachial plexus, lumbosacral plexus, thoracic outlet and the shating nerves. Now coming on to the imaging of the brachial plexus. Brachial pyxopathy is traumatic and non-traumatic often present with vague symptoms. Clinical examination and electrophysiological studies are useful but they may not localize the lesion accurately. MR Neurography, with its multi-generated imaging capability and soft tissue contrast resolution plays an important role in evaluation of the abnormal brachial plexus. The aims and objectives are to study the normal brachial plexus anatomy to evaluate the role of MR Neurography in diagnosis and characterization of traumatic brachial plexus lesion. Imaging technique. Patients are imaged in the supine position with arms at the sides using both cervical and body coils. A combination of various sequences in different planes is used for optimal assessment of the plexus. These comprise both 2D and 3D sequences like axial T1, axial T2 fat suppress, coronal T1, stress sequences space, sagittal stress and sagittal 3D T2 space sequences. Scan area extends from C3 to T3 level. The T1 weighted images dilate the anatomy. The T2 weighted images reveal the signal abnormalities within the brachial plexus. Sture images provide uniform and reliable fat suppression. IV gadolinium is administered in patients with tumor or mass lesion and is generally not administered in patients with traumatic brachial plexus lesions. In patients with traumatic injury, in addition to the previous described protocols, sagittal T2 weighted images are obtained through the cervical spines followed by axial T2 weighted images from C4 to T2 lesion levels. In addition, a 3D gradient eco sequence, GRE, 3D GRE sequence with thin slices obtained to look for the nerve root of the organ. Coming on to the normal anatomy. An artificial assessment of the brachial plexus starts with evaluating the spine, spinal cord and the roots of the spinal nerves. Within the canal, the ventral and dorsal nerve roots exit the spinal cord laterally. The ventral root carries the motor fibres, while the dorsal root carries the sensory fibres. The ventral and dorsal roots course into the neural foramine where they merge to form the spinal nerve. Disturbing the neural foramine, the spinal nerves divide into the ventral and dorsal remi. The brachial plexus is formed as a ventral remi or the spinal nerves of the C5 to T1. The ventral remi are also known as the roots of the brachial plexus. Now, this is the coronal T2 star image showing the roots of the brachial plexus. We can identify the T1 nerve root by its passing inferior to the first rib. The C8 nerve root passes above it. Above it is the C7, C6 and the C5 nerve root. The roots of the brachial plexus course between the anterior and middle scaling muscle adjacent to the subclavian artery. The C5 and C6 combine to form the upper trunk, C7 continue as the middle trunk, and the C8 and T1 join to form the lower trunk. At the lateral-bottom scaling triangle, each trunk is divided into anterior-posture division. The medial cord is formed as prolongation of the anterior division. The lateral cord is formed by the anterior division of the middle and upper trunk, and all the posterior divisions form the posterior cord. The medial and lateral cords course anterior to the subclavian artery, and posterior cord passes posterior to it. The cords run posterior to these pectoralis minor muscle and subsequently give them the terminal branches. The roots and the trunks are supraclavicular in location, while division are retoclavicular, and the cords are infraclavicular. The roots extend from the neural foramin to the edge of the scaling triangle. From the edge of the scaling triangle, we have the trunks. From scaling triangle to mid-clavicle level, we have the divisions. From the mid-clavicular segment to the anterior cord occurred process, we have the cords, and after that, we have the branches. This is a gyraltituated image showing the anterior and the middle scaling muscle with the trunks of the brachial plexus and the subclavian artery. Now, coming on to the pathologies. The traumatic pathologies can be divided into stretch injuries, which are neuropraxia, pseudo-meningo shields, and the root emergence. The common cause of brachial plexus injuries are road traffic accidents and birth palsy. The two most common clinical syndromes are upper brachial plexus palsy, that is, the earth's palsy, and the lower brachial plexus, that is, the clumpkey's palsy. The upper C5 to C7 routes are more susceptible to post-ganglionic injury, whereas the lower C8 T1 routes more commonly manifest with pre-ganglionic injury. Pre-ganglionic injury A pre-ganglionic injury usually consists of an evulsion of the nerve root from the spinal cord. A diagnosis of root evulsion is important because it directly affects treatment and pertains to a worsened prognosis. MRI may show discontinuities of the ventral or dorsal nerve root from the spinal cord as a direct sign of root evulsion. Pseudomaningocies These are formed due to extravisation of CSF fluid through tear of the perineural sheet. They are seen on T2 weighted images as fluid signal intensity lesion at the site of nerve root evulsion. Other sites of pre-ganglionic injury include the spinal cord edema near the level of the root evulsion. Now these are oblique sagittal and axial T2 weighted images which reveal the pseudo meningo seals at site of left C7 and C8 nerve root evulsion. Post-ganglionic injury Chromatic brachial pyxopathies may manifest as a focal caliber change of the nerve trunk, loss of fascicular architecture, nerve trunk, or fascicular discontinuity. Neuromore formation, perineural scarring, or nerve signal intensity abnormality at MRI. Neuropaxic injuries are seen at T2 hyperintense signal in the root, strengths, or cords with or without enlargement. Nerve rupture are seen at discontinuity in the neural structure. Associated findings of denervation edema in the muscle may also be seen. Now this is a coronal ster image which reveals swollen hyperintense divisions and cords of left trawicle plexus, suggesting of a post-ganglionic neurotaxic injury. Again, another coronal ster and sagittal T2 weighted images showing the nerve rupture with fluid collection around the retracted nerve, suggesting of a post-ganglionic injury. Sagittal T1 and star images showing post-ganglionic injury with fibrosis, encasing the cords of left brachial plexus. There is also denervation edema in the supran and interferospinalis muscles seen as ill-defined hyperintense signal on ster images. Brachial plexus injury may be associated with injuries subclavian artery due to their anatomical proximity to each other. Also, post-traumatic pseudoanalysis of subclavian artery may present with delayed brachial plexus paralysis due to compression of the brachial plexus. Now, these are coronal T1 and ster images which reveals post-traumatic pseudoanalysis of right subclavian artery causing compression of adhesin tribrachial plexus. The pre-ganglionic and post-ganglionic lesions. The pre-ganglionic lesions are generally aversion of the nerve roots at their origin and post-ganglionic lesions may be lesions in continuity or nerve rupture. Pre-ganglionic lesions are usually treated with nerve transfer to restore function of the denervation edema muscles. Post-ganglionic lesions in continuity without disruption of nerve fibers have good prognosis and recover spontaneously with conservative management. Post-ganglionic lesions with disruption of nerve fibers are treated with surgical repair that is nerve grafting with good results. Conclusion. To summarize, knowledge of the anatomy and proper planning of the scan are essential for complete evaluation of brachial plexus. Various traumatic pathologies affecting it can be optimally evaluated by MR neurology. Now these are the differences. Thank you.


Look at the emotional gambit. These two went on the sidelines while watching their team. They were happy. They're sad. They're praying for help. They get their prayer. Now they're distraught again. And then finally excitement. One of my favorite celebrations I've seen. This is Kuwait versus the United Arab Emirates in cricket. If you I know my audience doesn't really like cricket that much, but that's so funny. I needed to break it down. They need 17 runs off the next 16 balls to beat the United Arab Emirates, which would be a pretty big victory. This is a qualifying tournament to get to the Asia Cup. There's seven out. So this is they've scored 157 runs and they've gotten seven outs. It's only one inning games. And there's limited amount of pitches in baseball speak. And so once they get 10 outs, they're done. Or once they're out of pitches, they're done. And they need 17 more runs off the next 16 balls. And that one is an out. So now UAE, what's the short form for United Arab Emirates? Emirates, UAE, they say UAE during the game, but they're skipping the A that's taken for the wicket. So that's one way the batsman can get out. They're excited. UAE is now looking like, all right, we're in decent enough shape. The new batsmen come in and they're both pitchers. This is the bottom of the batting order. So they're not hitters primarily. They're bowlers first. This isn't their skill set. They get one run there because they hit it and they ran. That's one. Now they need 15 off of 12. Oh, and that one's going to hit the boundary, which means it's automatically four runs. And that's just a mistake by the keeper. And they're so distraught.   Yeah, I mean, do I really even have to say anything? Just right past the keeper for. Come on, now that one cracked me up and these guys are excited. All right, they're excited. So now it's 11 off of 11 should be able to do that. But that produces no run. So now it's 11 runs needed off of 10 and that one. Everything's live. So that actually gets them a run because the keeper threw it so high in the air that they decided to run. Not great. They need 10 off of nine. That's nothing. That's a dot ball means no runs. That's go and the keeper gets that one. And now they're scared. Now the numbers aren't looking incredibly that great, but that one is okay. That's one. So now you're in the final over a new bowler comes in. That's the last batsman that got out from the start of the video.  It's the final over and over as a set of six balls, they need nine runs. Kind of a big ask. Now the captain is going to set their fielders. He's going to say, get over there. Go over there offside. And he's looking around like, where are you putting them? Okay. He's like, yeah, no, go deep. So they got all these infielders, only one outfielder. And he's way deep on what we would call oppo because it's a lefty. They call it offside and lakeside. And then the batsman is going to look and be like, you got no one behind me. Okay. Cool. Noted. Now these guys are going to start praying. Please help. I would like to win. And the first ball of the over, bam, clobbers it the other way. That's like a pretty aggressive swing with eight outs already. These guys get so scared that the ball's going to hit and the guy in front of them didn't even look. No interest. Must be a UAE fan. But huge from that guy. Oh my God. He hit it where they weren't. His prayers are answered. There you go. That really helps them. I love this. Look how he anticipates that they're going to throw the full distance and bounce it by his feet or come at him hard. So he steps back, crouches, unleashes, and that is six runs. So it's huge.  So they're in like really good shape and they can just dink and dunk their way back. And that's what he's going to do. He's going to go the same way, but very softly and just get one run. So now they need two runs off the next four balls. The other batsman is now up. He nods. Don't worry. I got it. UAE is now terrible. They're going to start praying and that one just puts it right over the infielder's head. A little bloop shot. That's another run. So now they only need one run off the next three balls and these guys, happy UAE devastated. They're hugging. Look at these two. They're hugging. We've already won. Double fist pump coming your way, right? Yeah. They need one run off the next three balls. And look, they have everybody in the infields all in besides this guy who's back there guarding the boundary. They call it boundary rider. Well, even he's coming in. Never mind. Everybody is in to stop the one run. Infield is in and baseball speak and the infield in works because they peg the wicket. So that's the other way you can get out a run out. And now look at these guys. They were just hugging victory in hand and now they're scared. Look at this. He just kind of dings it, tries to play it really shallow in front of the infielders like a bunt almost to get the one doesn't work. The other guy's out and now it's like, oh no, look at these guys. Oh, the emotional gamut is insane because now there's nine outs. So there's two balls left, sure. But if this is a wicket here, the game's over. If the bowler hits the stumps, if he gets caught out or run out, it's over and they don't win. He needs to score here or the next one. And don't worry, they do it. It's a huge win for Kuwait. Kind of shocked the world, beaten United Arab Emirates, UAE. Oh, look at this guy. Fist bump in, fist pump, big fist pumps. A good fist pump country, I'm guessing. And now my heroes are gonna run out. And this is one of my favorite celebrations. High five, high five, nope. Slow about that. All right, running out, running out. High five, high five, high five. No, I'm just gonna hit you in the head and then I'm gonna do my own thing. Ah! Meet number 77. It's a beautiful thing. It's awesome. This was a thriller. Coach of the UAE is not. Not thrilled. Opposite of thrilled.  I am proud of you. That was all you. I don't know that's what he's saying, but it sure seems like it. Trouble here if it hits, yeah, my goodness. Another twist in the tail. Another twist in the tail.