In this episode of Hands-On IT, Landon Miles explores the history of servers and enterprise IT infrastructure, from early mainframe computers to cloud computing, Linux servers, virtualization, containers, and AI-driven data centers.

This episode connects decades of server evolution into a clear, accessible story, focusing on the people, technologies, and ideas that shaped modern computing. From IBM’s System/360 and minicomputers, to Unix and Linux, virtualization, cloud platforms like AWS and Azure, and container orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes, this episode explains how servers became the foundation of today’s digital world.

Topics covered include:
 • Server history and early computing systems
 • IBM mainframes and enterprise computing
 • Minicomputers and distributed computing
 • Unix, Linux, and open-source software
 • Virtualization and data center efficiency
 • Cloud computing and hyperscale infrastructure
 • Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native architecture
 • AI workloads, GPUs, and modern server hardware

Landon also highlights key figures in computing history, including Grace Hopper, Ken Olsen, Linus Torvalds, Dave Cutler, Diane Greene, and Jeff Bezos, and explains how their work still influences IT operations today.

This episode is part of our December Best Of series, featuring some of our favorite moments and episodes from the past year.

Originally aired March 20, 2025.