Phil Lees
Co-founder & CEO
Dual CCIE for 25 years
Phil is a co-founder of WhiteSpider and a technologist with over 30 years’ experience in IT solutions integration. A dual CCIE for more than 25 years, he brings deep architectural expertise shaped by a distinguished military communications background, helping organisations design secure, resilient, and highly scalable infrastructure that supports long-term strategic growth. His blog content focuses on enterprise IT strategy, network architecture, and the future of software-defined infrastructure.
Phil is a co-founder of WhiteSpider and a technologist with over 30 years’ experience in IT solutions integration. A dual CCIE for more than 25 years, he brings deep architectural expertise shaped by a distinguished military communications background, helping organisations design secure, resilient, and highly scalable infrastructure that supports long-term strategic growth. His blog content focuses on enterprise IT strategy, network architecture, and the future of software-defined infrastructure.
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The operational questions organisations need to answer before scaling AI
Most organisations don’t need another AI maturity model, they need practical answers. This framework helps uncover the operational gaps that often derail AI adoption, from workload placement to governance, support, and measuring long-term value.
AI starts below the model: The 6 foundational areas that determine AI success
AI pilots often fail not because the model is weak, but because the infrastructure beneath it isn’t ready. Explore the six operational foundations, from data and networking to governance and observability, that turn AI experimentation into scalable business value.
HPE Discover 2026: Looking over the fence
A week after Cisco Live, WhiteSpider attended HPE Discover to compare visions for AI and infrastructure. The takeaway? AI may dominate headlines, but without resilient networks, storage, compute and governance, none of it works. Infrastructure matters more than ever.
Cisco AI Live … Erm, Cisco Live 2026
From water-cooled Nexus switches to AI agents everywhere, Cisco Live 2026 delivered a big vision. But for real-world enterprises running complex multi-vendor estates, the key question remains: does AI enable freedom, or create the next generation of lock-in?
Cisco’s Secure AI Factory: A powerful framework – but not the whole answer
Cisco’s Secure AI Factory provides a solid framework for enterprise AI, but true value comes from outcomes. At WhiteSpider, we help organisations turn AI ambition into operational reality with measurable, production-ready use cases that improve efficiency, reduce manual effort, and accelerate decision making.
Who benefits from AI? Lessons from Cisco’s AI Partner summit
At Cisco’s AI summit in Paris, the focus was scale — AI factories, GPU-ready data centres, and automation at every layer. But the real opportunity lies in making AI accessible for all. Discover how WhiteSpider and Cisco are bringing practical, outcome-driven AI to every organisation.
How Application-Centric is your ACI?!
If your ACI fabric is still running in network-centric mode, you’re not alone. But now’s the time to unlock its full potential. Learn how to ...
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Cisco ACI: Answering the FAQs and debunking the myths
Cisco ACI is a powerful solution for transforming data centres, but it’s not without complexity. In this post, we unpack Cisco ACI FAQs, tackle deployment ...
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Cisco ACI: What it is, why it matters, and how it’s helping our clients
Looking to simplify, secure, and scale your data centre? Cisco ACI delivers agility, automation, and control. Read more to discover how it differs from traditional ...
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