Ep 149 - Microsoft deploys the FDEs (Kevin Shatzkamer)

Every telco has hundreds of AI use cases, dozens of pilots, thousands of agents. So why can’t they get to production at scale? I sat down with Kevin Shatzkamer, corporate vice president of the Telco and Media Engineering Studio at Microsoft Frontier Company, the hyperscaler’s new operating unit. His team embeds forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) at enterprise customers to build and run AI at scale. **Listen now to hear:** - Where AI actually breaks inside a telco \[05:13]; - What happens when Frontier engineers embed at an operator \[08:38]; - The real bottleneck for running AI at scale \[09:30]; and - What telcos bring to the table that Microsoft can’t manufacture \[14:09]. **Links and Resources:** - Read the announcement of Microsoft Frontier Company—the hyperscaler’s $2.5B, 6,000-engineer bet on embedding teams inside enterprise customers. - Learn about Frontier’s outcomes-first model, where success is measured by the customer’s business result rather than the product shipped. - Check out Kevin’s LinkedIn post about taking the Telco and Media lead position for Frontier Company. - Want to go from idea to production in days instead of months? This is how Totogi builds: FDEs and twice-weekly capability sprints, feedback to shipped code by Thursday. - Kevin mentions John Chambers, the former Cisco CEO who said, “the Internet will change the way we work, live, learn, and play.” Read his thoughts on AI’s impact, including moving five times faster than the internet, with bumpy jobs transitions along the way. - Catch me with VIVA Bolivia CEO Ryan Alvarez at TM Forum’s Innovate Americas in Dallas on October 6, where we make the fast-cadence thesis concrete. Ryan runs every cell site as its own P&L on the Totogi Ontology. We’ll walk through the next-G upgrade calls VIVA is weighing right now. - My advice to kids going to college in the Age of AI? Become an expert! Just like Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel-san karate. Wax on, wax off. - Check out this episode on our YouTube channel. - You can find the episode transcript here. Wanna talk AI and public cloud? Telco execs, set up a meeting with our team to learn how to tap the immense business value they can bring.  **Follow DR:** - Have an idea for a Telco in 20 podcast guest or topic? Send it in! - Want to sponsor a podcast? Let us know. - Follow DR on X @TelcoDR The Telco in 20 podcast is ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally by Listen Notes! 🎉 We’ve won 2026, 2025, and 2024 Hermes Creative Awards, and 2025 and 2024 MarCom Awards. We are also recognized as a TeckNexus Top 12 Telco and Tech Podcast, Forrester Top 100 Channel Podcast and Feedspot Top 10 Telecom Podcast. If you enjoy the podcast, would you leave us a review? It takes seconds to do in your app and really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests. And I love reading your feedback and reviews! **This week’s guest:** Kevin Shatzkamer is a corporate vice president of engineering at Microsoft Frontier Company, leading the Telco and Media industry verticals and customer experience transformation across industries. With more than 20 years of experience driving AI, digital transformation, and technology innovation, he partners with customers to design and scale enterprise AI solutions that deliver measurable business outcomes. Prior to Microsoft Frontier Company, he led Strategy and Operations for Microsoft’s Customer Experience & Success organization. Kevin is the author of two technology books, holds more than 50 patents, and earned degrees from the University of Florida, MIT, and Indiana University. **Podcast Credits:** - Executive Producer and Host: Danielle Rios, TelcoDR - Senior Producer: Lindsay Grubb, TillCo Media - Senior Editor/Brand Manager: Alisa Jenkins, Springboard Marketing - Audio Editor: Andrew Condell - Supervising Producer: Amanda Avery - Associate Producer: Kriselda Dionisio - Music: Dyami Wilson