Vice Chairman & Chief Operating Officer, Netscout
Search every verified Michael Szabados interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Michael Szabados, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer at Netscout, discussed his career and perspectives on technology in a 2017 interview. He described his early experiences in Silicon Valley, including working with figures like Steve Jobs, and reflected on the evolution of the internet from its early days when a phone directory listed every user. Szabados commented on the history of Intel, stating that the company was "forced into a different direction" by Japanese dominance in the memory market, leading to its success with microprocessors. He also noted that Microsoft "did a damn good job keeping its position" against competitors like Apple and IBM. In the interview, Szabados addressed several contemporary industry issues. He described the cloud as "not a new innovation per se but a culmination of many pieces coming together" that is changing IT operations. Regarding 5G, he said the telecom industry is "struggling to get a return on investment" because over-the-top players like Netflix use bandwidth without paying for infrastructure. He characterized net neutrality as a regulation that "prevents internet service providers from differentiating service speeds or prices," which he argued "limits investment incentives." Szabados also noted that bandwidth has become a commodity and that security threats like DDoS attacks have become "very popular and impactful." He suggested that future innovations may be "social and psychological" rather than purely technological.
“Intel was really forced into a different direction because the Japanese were dominating the memory market, pushing prices down, and there was political pressure on our government to counter the dumping. Intel jumped in both feet into microprocessors, which ultimately led to their success with the 8086 architecture and...”
“The marketing campaign for Intel's 8086 processor was not just advertising; every employee, including engineers, was involved in educating and promoting the product, which helped turn the tide in Intel's favor despite the architecture not being the best technically.”
“Microsoft did a damn good job keeping its position in the market with Windows, despite IBM's money and Apple's innovations. The battle between Macintosh and Windows was epic, but Microsoft ultimately prevailed because they operated within the same paradigm and executed better.”
“Ethernet became the dead standard we use today, even though at the time many features were not needed. It was a technology that could scale to gigabit speeds and was adopted widely, illustrating the power of standardization in technology.”
“The cloud is not a new innovation per se but a culmination of many pieces coming together. Today, enterprises are moving all their applications to the cloud because it offers elastic, cost-effective, and fast provisioning of resources, fundamentally changing IT operations and business models.”
“The telecom industry is struggling to get a return on investment for 5G because over-the-top players like Netflix and Skype use their bandwidth without paying for the infrastructure, which undermines the telecom companies' ability to monetize their networks.”
“Net neutrality is a regulation that prevents internet service providers from differentiating service speeds or prices among customers, which some argue supports competition but also limits investment incentives for network infrastructure.”
“Bandwidth has become a commodity, and despite increasing speeds, telecom companies are not able to monetize it effectively because customers expect unlimited data, and variable pricing models face resistance.”
“Security threats like DDoS attacks have become very popular and impactful, with attacks targeting major DNS services causing disruptions, but mitigation efforts have saved many users from outages.”
“The next big innovations may not be purely technological but social and psychological, such as how social media changes personality and social dynamics, which are becoming dominant factors in technology's impact.”
Guest: Michael Szabados, COO of NetScout Title: "My digital journey from microprocessors to the cloud" Moderators: Adam ...
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