Special edition: Why Wichita is about to stake its claim in the AI revolution

On this special edition of Connected Nation, we head back to Wichita, Kansas one last time for the AI Interconnection Summit, which took place on Thursday, September 11th. 

This time we talk with leadership from Stevens Fiber Group and Moonshot Energy about what they do, why Kansas is on their radar, and the reason this summit was their can't miss event.

Recommended links:
AI Interconnection Summit website

Stevens Fiber Group's website 

Allen Meyer's Linkedin profile

Moonshot Energy's website 

Bryan Lubin's Linkedin profile 

Chapters

• 1:43 Sponsors and collaboration
• 4:09 Conversations about Internet Exchange Points and AI
• 6:29 Operations in Stevens Fiber Group
• 11:20 Allen's background
• 16:08 What is Moonshot Energy?

Transcript

Jessica Denson, Host (00:02):

This is Connected Nation, an award-winning podcast focused on all things broadband from closing the digital divide to improving your internet speeds. We talk technology topics that impact all of us, our families, and our neighborhoods.

(00:16):

On this special edition of Connected Nation, we head back to Wichita, Kansas one last time for the AI Interconnection Summit, which took place on Thursday, September 11th. This time we talk with leadership from Stevens Fiber Group and Moonshot Energy about what they do, why Kansas is on their radar, and the reason this summit was their can't miss event.

(00:41):

 I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation.

(00:45):

Let's have some fun, let's have some fun. Alan Meyer, who's with Stevens Fiber Group. That's how you just said as we started this podcast. And I, I love that. Let's have some fun. Um, we're at the AI Interconnection Summit. We just watched people have a big marble race over there. We're super excited about <laugh>. It's a demonstration of effects. That

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (01:04):

Was a great illustration of what we're talking about and, and the challenge that people have.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:08):

Uhhuh

  (01:08):

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (01:09):

You know, like my, my presentation said, we are using consumer type internet to solve big, big real world problems. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Ai, vr, things like that. And, and the internet that we're using is really designed for watching Netflix, maybe playing some games and checking your email.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:29):

Right. <laugh>. So, and a lot of bigger than that. A lot of things bigger than that are coming.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (01:33):

Absolutely, absolutely. The need right now is for commercial grade, enterprise grade.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:34):

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (01:39):

Internet connections. And that's what we're here to talk about today.

Jessica Denson, Host (01:42):

Well, Alan, first I have to say thank you for being our platinum sponsors of this event, which was such a great event because it brought people together from different parts of this infrastructure and different agencies, different companies, different areas. Talk about that. 'cause I really was, I, I really thought that that comment you made, it really struck me, like, oh yeah, these conversations aren't just happy about

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (02:05):

Collaboration.

Jessica Denson, Host (02:05):

Yes.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (02:06):

Well, first of all, I want to give credit to Austin Stevens. He's the owner and founder of Stevens Fiber

Jessica Denson, Host (02:10):

Group. And such a nice guy.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (02:11):

He's a great guy. Yeah. And, um, I, I, I've known Hunter Newbie for a long, long time, and he invited us to, uh, do this. And Austin, what's great about Austin is that he didn't hesitate even a moment. And he said, yeah, let's, let's be involved. I see the vision, let's do it. Uh, so credit to him. When I mentioned the collaboration, it, it, it really is heartfelt because, um, people cannot appreciate how difficult it is to get people from, I'm in construction, <laugh>, and I'm having dinner last night with the guys that are, uh, running, running the interconnect software that, that maximize the efficiencies of exactly what we're talking about, the internet exchange. And, and we don't talk together. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But, but this summit has brought all of us together. Um, how many were there? 10 of us.

  (03:10):

(03:10):

And, and, and, and we're collaborating. We're all talking. We're all chatting. How does, okay, so yours affects mine this way.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:17):

(03:17):

And that just doesn't normally happen.

(03:19):

It, it was cool to see now, hunter again, give Hunter where credit, where credit is due. Absolutely. Hunter Hunter told me, just make

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (03:26):

Sure you a great connector.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:26):

Make sure, yeah. Make sure you put these presenters in this way. 'cause it really,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (03:29):

Which was brilliant.

Jessica Denson, Host (03:30):

It was, it really layered things. And even for me, I'm not a techie. I'm not a, I'm not, and I'm a comms person. <laugh>, I

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (03:37):

Know what you're

Jessica Denson, Host (03:38):

Gonna say, and I understood it

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (03:40):

When you put it in order like that. Yeah. And then you see that, okay, so we're gonna construct a building, then we're gonna put in the servers, and then we're gonna put in the intelligence behind the servers. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Oh. And then we're gonna start working on the streets, and we're gonna put the access points in the street, the handholds and manholes, and then we're gonna build the conduit from point A to the interconnection point.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:03):

Yeah.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (04:03):

Then it all starts to go, oh, now I see mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:07):

Because it's, it's not something that, you know, it's not necessarily the other than dinner that maybe y'all had last night. It's not really, you know, dinner table conversation, what an internet exchange point is. But AI is dinner, dinner time conversation right now.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (04:20):

Yes, absolutely.

Jessica Denson, Host (04:21):

And so when you put it in ways that people understand, it just really helps,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (04:24):

You know, there are very few things that you can talk about that you can't say, oh, and what's it gonna be like with ai? And, and just not start a whole great conversation talking about the interaction between the different aspects of the, of the development of a, of a program like this. You know, you think about, I had this conversation with somebody not long ago about building a house and about how you have to coordinate with all these different, you know, the plumbers, the electricians, the, the roughing, carpenters, the roofers, the concrete people mm-hmm <affirmative>. All these people have to do, and they don't collaborate. That's my point. They don't collaborate. We collaborate. And, and those, those things, at some point, they're all gonna be driven by ai. Mm-hmm

Jessica Denson, Host (05:11):

<affirmative>. It's so fascinating.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (05:14):

Yeah. It

Jessica Denson, Host (05:14):

Really, it is fascinating to see

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (05:15):

That whole process.

Jessica Denson, Host (05:16):

It's, for me, it's fascinating to hear where different people think it will go. And then I think it's gonna be a really interesting journey to see where it really goes. <laugh>. Yes.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (05:24):

Yes. I

Jessica Denson, Host (05:25):

Think we're gonna be surprised by some of that. You know,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (05:28):

You know, the, uh, the, the, the common saying is, well, it'll, it'll wind up somewhere in the middle.

(05:34):

(05:34):

I don't know. I I think it'll end up in the middle for a little while. My presentation talked about the evolution of mankind, civilization Yeah. And technical problems that we're solving along the way.

(05:45):

(05:45):

And how it's, how the time span has shrunk. And now just look at what has happened in the last two years, two years as AI has come about. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. It's absolutely

Jessica Denson, Host (06:02):

Incredible. It is. It really is incredible. And I, I do want our audience to know that I will be putting your full presentation with a corrected slide that I messed up <laugh>, um, on, on, on the web. And I'll, I'll include a link to that in this, in the description of this podcast. So you can see that. 'cause it was a really great, uh, way of just bringing us through where we've been and some incredible things humanity has done to where we're still going. And for, for Steven's fiber group, what does a day like this this really mean? I mean, beyond collaboration, is it, is there like that you see a global Audi, a global, global reach beyond where you are, you're national. I know, right?

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (06:45):

Right, right. We worked, we worked, uh, all over the country, but again, thanks to Connect Nation for including us, they had the foresight to say, look, this isn't just about putting servers into a, a, you know, four walls and a roof. This is also about putting conduit in the ground. We don't wanna get invited to these big picture things too often. So it's, it's really, it's really wonderful. But it, but it's, it's relevant

Jessica Denson, Host (07:17):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (07:17):

And that's what I appreciate about it.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:19):

Yeah. Um, what's, what do you see for the future for Steven's Fiber group now? Like yes, in the spring when this launches, that's a wonderful step, but what do you see down the road five years, 10 years down the road?

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (07:33):

Well, we're, we're absolutely in a growth mode. We're, um, taking on new customers. We're, we're building up our crews. We're buying more equipment. And, um, I've got a five year plan on building out locations. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Actual field offices in strategic parts of the country to support our efforts in different states.

Jessica Denson, Host (07:53):

That's awesome. Uh, I, I love that you, um, that you said, uh, here at the cocktail hour as we were kicking it off. Hey, if you wanna know how this can help you, talk to me.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (08:03):

Yeah,

Jessica Denson, Host (08:04):

Well explain that.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (08:05):

Um, really it's me. Um, it comes down to, I'll, I'll be your point of contact, whatever you want to do. But we, we, this hall starts with, if you've got a business, especially in Wichita,

  (08:18):

Uhhuh,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (08:18):

And you need to get access to the internet exchange point, we need to work together to say, okay, what are your needs? What is a path a, a physical path now, which streets mm-hmm <affirmative>. Which sidewalks are we gonna have to follow? And let's get that onto a map. Because then company that your company A, now company B, there's gonna be, they're gonna be asking me the same thing. So now let's make sure that we can, over the next six to nine, maybe 12 months, we can build this kind of a map and then utilize economies of scale to reduce the cost for everybody on making that network built.

Jessica Denson, Host (08:55):

That's fantastic. I, I really thought that was interesting too, that, uh, people were saying, you know, businesses wanna have more control of their own data. Yeah. Are you, are you hearing some of that out in the

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (09:04):

Future? Oh, absolutely. I've had some great conversations just this evening during the cocktail hour. And, um, it, it's, it's funny because I sometimes have these conversations and I go, well, you know, retail, internet providers, you know, they wanna limit you in this. And to talk to people that get that, and they stop me

(09:25):

(09:25):

And they go, no, no, no. <laugh>, I know <laugh>. They're gonna have me sign a new contract.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:30):

Uhhuh.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (09:31):

I go, yeah. And if, if that, if, if your business erupts and that, um, amount of capacity is not good for you in the next year, they're gonna make you sign yet another contract and pay even more money. But what we're doing is giving you full control, full control. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Virtually limitless capacity and speed.

Jessica Denson, Host (09:52):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So, uh, Stevens Fiber Group is a, is a Kansas group, right? Yep. Kansas based group. Talk about what this means for Kansas, how excited you are for the state.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (10:02):

Oh,

Jessica Denson, Host (10:03):

Itself.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (10:04):

Yeah. I, uh, other than a few years as a toddler, I've been in Kansas all my life.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:08):

Oh, okay.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (10:09):

Yeah. Uh, so for me, and, and, and I, I think it's in my bio, but I'm a huge advocate of rural broadband

  (10:09):

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (10:17):

And this is, this is one of those things. So look, we've got, um, uh, Coleman Industries is what, like 30 miles away, but there are big manufacturing facility, and the whole world knows 'em.

(10:30):

(10:30):

They're one of those people. They, they are in a rural community that, that does not have real great commercial grade internet service. So this is an opportunity for them to become more innovative than they already are. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, and we can do that and replicate that all over the state.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:48):

And we talk connected nation. We're very concerned about rural areas. People don't realize that that represents millions of Americans.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (10:55):

It does.

Jessica Denson, Host (10:55):

And if we don't do something to connect rural America, we're gonna lose that wonderful small town, uh, world that we have, that a lot of Americans are really proud of.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (11:05):

You know, people don't realize that there's some really, really good ideas mm-hmm <affirmative>. Out in rural America. Ideas for businesses that can serve a humanity. And that's what we want to help support.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:18):

Yeah. So what about, what's your background? Tell me a little bit about you.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (11:22):

Oh my God. I've, I've been in telecom for, uh, over 30 years. Um, I started in telecom, uh, when I helped open the first cellular phone store in the state of Alaska,

Jessica Denson, Host (11:34):

Uh, wow. Back in the eighties. That's cool.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (11:36):

<laugh>. And, yeah. And, uh, I was in wireless, and, uh, I've been on the internet server provider side. I, I worked for Sprint, like so many people in Kansas City have

  (11:36):

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (11:46):

And, uh, then evolved into the engineering side, and then the construction side for over a now.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:53):

So is Sprint, uh, is Kansas a base for Sprint? Because you said so many people. They were world,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (11:57):

They were the world, world headquarters. Yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (11:59):

Oh, it was? Yeah. Okay.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:00):

Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:00):

All right. So, uh, your, your, uh, I don't wanna call him your boss 'cause he seems almost like your friend Austin keeps taking pictures. Oh, yeah. We're, we're both And looking

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:08):

Over at both. Yeah, absolutely.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:09):

Does everybody tell me he looks like Chris Hemsworth, <laugh>?

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:12):

No, but you know what? <laugh>,

Jessica Denson, Host (12:14):

He really, really

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:15):

Does. How did I miss that?

Jessica Denson, Host (12:16):

I don't know. But when he shook my hand earlier, I was like, are we strongly, Chris Hemsworth,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:19):

I'm gonna have to teach him how to, how to talk with an Australian accent. <laugh>, we're gonna use that.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:24):

So what do you, what's next after today the summit, what do you hope to see happen, um, as we move forward?

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:30):

Next step? Um, I hope that next week I can get on some collaboration calls with some of these other fine folks, uh, and we can start talking about some of the people and start sharing information. Some of the people that we've talked to, some of the challenges that they've shared with us, and we start putting together solid plans on, um, on solving all these problems.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:50):

You feel pretty proud that Wichita's gonna be kind, is going to be the standard bear moving forward?

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:54):

Immensely.

Jessica Denson, Host (12:55):

Yeah.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (12:55):

Immensely. I, I think it's so appropriate in so many ways. Um, look, first of all, Kansas or Wichita, because, because there's so many attributes about Wichita that Wichita is a great city.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:10):

It really is Yeah.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:11):

Of on its own. But the fact that Kansas City, Kansas was ground zero for the g gigabit revolution adds to the whole state of Kansas thing is like, who thinks the flyover country is the center of the internet universe.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:28):

Right.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:29):

I love that.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:30):

Yeah. I, I don't remember who said it. I, I'm sure I will find out when I edit all the videos, but somebody said that not only are we the, um, it might have it was it you that were the intersection, uh, for, uh, air travel, but also the, might have been Mayor. Mayor, right?

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:44):

I think that was, yeah. Yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:45):

Uh, intersection for, uh, air travel and also the intersection for digital

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:50):

Yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:50):

Commerce, or it might've been Commissioner Beatty. I don't know. We'll figure it out. <laugh>

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:54):

Either

Jessica Denson, Host (13:54):

I'll, I'll the video. They

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:55):

Were absolutely correct though.

Jessica Denson, Host (13:56):

Yeah,

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (13:56):

They're absolutely correct. This is, um, you know, Wichita has been home to so many pioneering, uh, situations and opportunities and, and people. And so I think it's just very, very appropriate that this is the next pioneering adventure for Wichita.

Jessica Denson, Host (14:11):

Awesome. Well, Alan Meyer, it's a pleasure talking to you with Stevens Fiber group. My pleasure. I know we'll talk in the future and we'll see each other when it opens.

Allen Meyer, Stevens Fiber Group (14:19):

Absolutely.

Jessica Denson, Host (14:20):

See the lights be opens. Yeah. Thank you so much. I'm at the AI Internet Connections Summit taking place in Wichita, Kansas, and one of our fantastic presenters was Brian Lubin with Moonshot Energy, also our gold sponsor for the event. And he has joined me on the podcast. Welcome, Brian. Thanks.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (14:36):

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Jessica Denson, Host (14:37):

I really appreciate you joining me. Um, tell me why this was important for you to be here today and why it was important for Moonshot Energy to, to sponsor it.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (14:45):

Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, first important to be here in terms of what, you know, Wichita and, and WSU is doing as a whole. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I think it's innovative. It's, you know, something that no other college I've seen is doing and trying to take advantage of not only bringing, you know, interconnection and AI as a opportunity to the university, but also to the state. Mm-hmm

  (15:07):

<affirmative>. And

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (15:08):

Moonshot in itself, its moonshot core, um, is a big advocate of helping grow, right. That learning and educational base and foundation of what critical infrastructure is, and then leads to interconnection, and that leads to ai. So I think the whole thing in its whole, and obviously Hunter was a big advocate of, Hey, you gotta come. What we're doing together, I think is very special. Because once we, and I, him and I started talking in regards to how we can help further bring and be an asset, right? Not only to just the Meet me room

  (15:43):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (15:43):

Um, and to the manhole and the growth of Interconnection and D Cs is to bring another layer of that by adding on, you know, an AI as a service, which has a, a unilateral effect towards providing services to the university. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right. So it's not just, I'm not looking to take it. All right. We're looking to give it back as well. So that was, I think, my long-winded answer of why I'm here.

Jessica Denson, Host (16:08):

<laugh>. It's a good, it's a good answer. Um, first off, let me just say, well, first, second off, moonshot Energy has my favorite logo, <laugh>. Yeah. That's things that you've been, it's a fantastic logo. Um, but beyond that, talk about what Moonshot Energy does for the average person.

  (16:24):

Sure.

Jessica Denson, Host (16:24):

Um, we do have a lot of techies that listen to this podcast, so you can get a little technical, but just for someone like me, how, how would you describe what Moonshot does?

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (16:32):

So, moonshot Energy, um, as I say, like a bifurcated core weave mm-hmm <affirmative>. So Core Weave is a unique animal because they have a full circle of integration and how they are able to acquire sites and then build and deploy GPU as a service.

  (16:47):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (16:48):

The difference there is that they provide you with a software layer, right? They're adding into, I, I, 'cause I'm from real estate, I always relate everything to that. So it's like, imagine going into a, you know, a big mansion, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And there's no furniture. You now have to go furnish that site. When you have a software on top of it, it makes it much more easier. So it might not be everything. It might be a couch and a table and what have you, but it's enough to get you started. And that's what, like Azure and AWS and Google and what have you, they offer those suites of services, which is why their cost for GPU per hour is higher than what it is when you go outside of the enterprise. So what Moonshot Energy is doing is going along with what Hydro Hose is providing, in which they do a bare metal as a service, which is exactly that model of do you have furniture, do you don't? And they do not. They give you the entire server, full suite, bare, bare metal as it is, and go here, enjoy. We're gonna help you. We'll hold your hand, we'll guide you.

Jessica Denson, Host (17:41):

Yeah.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (17:42):

But you have to do all the software, intellectual coding and layering. So what we do is we, because of that, and because of the model that we have, we're allowing people like, uh, entrepreneurs or startups to access those servers at a much cheaper cost than if you were to go to an AWS or Azure or Google. And that difference of cost could be anywhere from, like, we are usually anywhere between four to $5 A GPU per hour, where AWS and Google could be up to 13.

Jessica Denson, Host (18:07):

That's a huge, that's a huge difference. Yeah. <laugh>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:10):

So

Jessica Denson, Host (18:10):

Especially for a small business or a, a group that needs it, that's not a massive industry, right? Correct.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:16):

That's right.

Jessica Denson, Host (18:17):

Startup or, or maybe it's an industry's a massive industry.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:19):

They're trying to get

Jessica Denson, Host (18:20):

Better pricing. Yeah,

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:21):

That's right.

Jessica Denson, Host (18:21):

Yeah. And, um, so talk about how your, what your role is with Moonshot and how you got involved.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:28):

Sure. So Moonshot Energy, uh, was a sister, basically a sister company that Ethan Ellenberg, the founder of Moonshot. Mm-hmm

  (18:36):

<affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:36):

Uh, created. He's been, him and I met back in 2021 when he had just started Moonshot. And I had started my own company doing just powered land development

  (18:45):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (18:45):

And we were sort of playing in the same fields, right? His company is a picks and shovels equipment manufacturer, provider at critical infrastructure for data centers. And in 2024, he said, Hey, look, you know, come, come do what you're doing, but bring it in house and come do I have a company called Moonshot Energy, I want you to run it. And at the time, we were more focused on like going and dealing with actually building out powered land development and procurement. But the industry changed. It went to hyper. And it allowed us to look at other avenues of how do we still utilize moonshot of what they've been so good at, which is deploying physical critical infrastructure equipment, but going, okay, well what else can we do? And what other services can we provide in the industry? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And as we pivoted, GPU as a service came to mind because the barrier to entry from a capital risk stance is mitigated based off of a loan, right. For that you get for the servers and then also deploying inside of an already existing colo. We're not having to go now build from the ground up. Right. So that's saving tens of millions of dollars

  (19:47):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (19:48):

And we're still able to do a proof of concept, which is what we did thanks to Hunter mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, in order for us to validate that not only does GPU as a service exist outside of enterprise, but it also exists inside of the GPU marketplace. That Air engine right. Was going over, which is, you know, uh, Jensen and GTC Paris, uh, about two months ago represented hydro hosts as one of the top 5G PU marketplaces in the world. So, um, you take all these pieces of the puzzle that are thrown on the board

  (20:19):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (20:19):

And you have to understand both sides of what they do in order for you to get to where we are. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, so people will say like, well, you know, what's so special about what you do? Like if I have capital, can you go do? And I go, absolutely. I'm not special. This is not special, but can you figure out and understand how this all works? And as I was saying today, most of the time, 99%, you can't.

Jessica Denson, Host (20:42):

Right.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (20:42):

Because it's not for the faint of heart. And you are really having to be in the mix of how GPUs are leased and serviced and deployed, and then what it looks like for that ramp and growth mm-hmm

Jessica Denson, Host (20:55):

<affirmative>. So there were a lot of questions about, um, how does this help local businesses? How do we work with you guys? How do we do that? How, how would you answer that?

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (21:03):

So that was when that question came about. So we are not the marketing, right? So I look at hydro hosts as like an Airbnb

  (21:08):

Mm-hmm

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (21:08):

<affirmative>. Right? I'm the owner is not putting their own property on there. <laugh>, you can,

  (21:13):

Yeah. You

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (21:14):

Could absolutely do it. You go on Craigslist or do whatever you want to do and you can throw it on there, but you're now managing that process. You are not as, as, uh, penetrating in terms of the marketplace to get your property online and, and, and out there.

  (21:27):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (21:28):

Where don't recreate the wheel. Hydro hosts is that wheel. Right. So they provide you with the marketability and PR to go say, Hey. Right. They have servers. Those servers happened to be ours. We were the first B two hundreds on Hydrus platform in order to go and launch that. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And that's why for, go back to your question of how who can access it, it's a Hydra already has that marketplace involved. So Moonshot energy itself is not marketing. Right. Right. I'm not blasting anything on LinkedIn or anything like that.

Jessica Denson, Host (21:57):

You just party with Hydra.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (21:58):

I partner with Hydra because that's their job.

Jessica Denson, Host (22:00):

Got it.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (22:00):

Right. My job is to put the pieces together. Hydros is

Jessica Denson, Host (22:03):

To sell it <laugh>. Gotcha.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (22:04):

Or, or more importantly, mine is to raise the capital to go procure.

Jessica Denson, Host (22:07):

Which is interesting because, um, the way that, you know, and we, we mentioned Hunter, he, he's the one who said, Jessica Laer, the presenters like this 'cause it'll make sense to even those who don't work live and breed this world.

  (22:19):

Sure.

Jessica Denson, Host (22:20):

And it did, it kind of clicked. I was like, oh, okay. I'm un I, I'm kind of understanding this what's happening, <laugh>. But um, so it was, it was interesting to see all the partnerships and all the collaboration.

  (22:30):

Yes.

Jessica Denson, Host (22:30):

Um, you don't really see that in a lot of industries. Is that unique to this project or is that something that really happening in the broadband world or needs to happen more, or?

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (22:41):

That's a good question. I think you're starting to, because this industry is so young, you are watching it, it's, it's, but it's also being like hyper uh, transparent in terms of like who's available and who's actually succeeding. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And so I take, I go back to the, you know, fluid Stack, Google and Terra Wolf deal.

  (23:03):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (23:04):

That validates this model, but it's, that's on a hyper level. Right?

Jessica Denson, Host (23:07):

Right.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (23:08):

But what is it doing is saying Fluid Stack is essentially the same thing as Hydra. Right. But they operate, they offer different services. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So Hydra still sits in a different category of GPU as a service because they do bare metal, where Fluids stack is more of a software layer. Right. Introduction or, and what have you. But that's at the core of what that is. It's exactly what we're doing, which is taking those pieces of the puzzle, putting them together, and creating, again, back to the bifurcation core weave,

  (23:37):

Right? Yeah. Mm-hmm

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (23:37):

<affirmative>. So Lambda has their own open ai, they all have their own models that they can do, but the aggregation has mm-hmm <affirmative>. You go back to now Core, we've tried to take down core Scientific that's now still in the workings. Right. And they're having their, whatever, we don't know <laugh>, but there's a process there in where they're already seeing what's valuable at the onset is power and land.

  (23:59):

Mm-hmm

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (23:59):

<affirmative>. Developed power and land raises it as terms of interest. Then powered land developed with off takers becomes the most critical aspect of just like real estate property where if you have a property that you built or you know, a condo, a hundred unit condo and none of it's leased, the value of that condo is gonna be significantly less as opposed to it being leased.

  (24:19):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (24:19):

So now if you go to the market with those condos being leased, you can ask for a premium, hence why that deal is being stalled. Right. Gotcha. Because the value of what they have has tremendously risen <laugh> in the course of, you know, 60 days.

Jessica Denson, Host (24:33):

Yeah. It's

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (24:33):

Crazy. So, yeah.

Jessica Denson, Host (24:34):

Um, so what do you hope comes from this fork? Um, this region, not just Kansas, but beyond?

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (24:43):

I think what Kansas, what Wichita, WSU is doing is unique because they are basically creating a replicable model.

  (24:51):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (24:52):

Right? Where you have now companies that can come in and help deploy this model, provide the interconnect, provide the AI services and the access to the GPUs for the benefit of the university and continue that growth. What the universities now get to choose and do with that becomes a limitation on land and power.

  (25:13):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (25:14):

Right. Because it still will always go back to that mm-hmm <affirmative>. So the university has a limitation on what's available from the utility on power. They have a lot of land, yes.

  (25:22):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (25:22):

Right. But there's also a cap on that. And also how involved do they want to be in the AI world. Right. And as they can take so much compute themselves. Yeah. Which I think once the students get a hold of, they're gonna, you know, go gangbuster busters on it.

Jessica Denson, Host (25:37):

Right. Yeah. I've, oh my gosh, I've heard some big data things they have to walk across to each other right here. Yeah.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (25:41):

Well it's, and it's, and it's the physical usage of those servers to say, oh my gosh, we can do obviously inference and Jen and learning and what have you, but now you get to the image and the video and that, that amount of data that those servers require in order to do that, especially when we're coming from chakra studios, what they're doing, a significant amount of, will open their doors of what they can actually facilitate, which again goes back to the benefit of what we're trying to do here instead of working off of retail computers. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right. You're working off of true AI servers that can create these magnificent, realistic types of pla platforms that I don't, they just don't have access to right now.

Jessica Denson, Host (26:23):

Yeah.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (26:23):

Right.

Jessica Denson, Host (26:24):

So where is Moonshot Energy located?

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (26:26):

Uh, Denton, Texas.

Jessica Denson, Host (26:27):

Uh, Texas. I'm a Texan. I was born and raised there. Very proud. Should be, are you a Texan or are you

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (26:32):

I'm, I'm from San Diego.

Jessica Denson, Host (26:34):

Oh. Originally I love San Diego too. Yeah.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (26:36):

Yep. But now I live in New York, so it's like,

Jessica Denson, Host (26:38):

Uh, you have a, you have a Yankee accent. I would call it

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (26:41):

<laugh>. Well, thanks to my wife thing because she always me, my, I pronounce my as horribly <laugh> and <laugh>.

Jessica Denson, Host (26:46):

Well, I really appreciate your time, Brian Lubin with Moonshot Energy and for sponsoring this event so we can make it come together and talk about this. And, um, I'll have, I'll have Brian's video out on the web in the next couple of weeks, so be sure to look for that. And I'll include a link to your website Cool. And the description of this podcast.

Bryan Lubin, Moonshot Energy (27:03):

Thank you, Jessica. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks.

Jessica Denson, Host (27:06):

That concludes our special coverage of the AI Interconnection Summit, which was held in Wichita, Kansas on Thursday, September 11th. I've included a link to the Summit's webpage. We'll be sharing slides and videos from the presenters and the event as they're edited. I'm Jessica Sen. If you like our show and wanna know more about us, head to connected nation.org and look for our latest episodes on all major podcast platforms.