About

I’m an enterprise data and infrastructure leader with three decades of experience working at the intersection of databases, cloud platforms and mission-critical systems of record.

I started my career hands-on, building and operating large-scale database platforms, before moving into senior commercial, strategic and go-to-market leadership roles across the enterprise technology industry. Throughout that journey, one theme has remained constant: helping organisations make sound decisions about the systems that run their business.

I write flashdba under my own name — Chris Buckel — drawing on experience that spans multiple generations of enterprise technology, from traditional on-premises systems to cloud-native and AI-enabled platforms.

flashdba began in 2012 as a way to explore the impact of flash storage on traditional database architectures. Over time, it has evolved alongside the industry itself — from storage and performance, through cloud adoption and platform modernisation, to today’s challenges around data platforms, real-time analytics and AI-driven systems.

What hasn’t changed is the lens through which I write.

This site focuses on operational systems of record — databases and platforms that underpin revenue, customer experience and risk — and what new technology waves really mean for the people responsible for them. I’m less interested in hype cycles, and more interested in the practical implications for architecture, performance, resilience and organisational decision-making.

Today, my writing reflects a broader executive perspective, shaped by:

• Senior leadership roles spanning strategy, partnerships, go-to-market and ecosystem development
• Extensive engagement with CIOs, CTOs and senior technology leaders across industries worldwide
• First-hand experience navigating cloud transitions, platform modernisation and data-driven change at scale
• Ongoing work at the boundary between enterprise data platforms and AI-enabled workloads

You’ll find analysis here on topics such as enterprise databases, cloud platforms, data architectures, AI inferencing and performance — always grounded in real-world constraints and trade-offs, rather than theory alone.

flashdba is written for senior technologists, architects and technology leaders who care about how modern systems actually behave in production, and who recognise that databases and data platforms remain foundational — even as the industry rebrands them under new labels.

This is not a vendor blog, and it’s not a tutorial site. It’s a place to think clearly about where enterprise technology is heading, what is genuinely changing, and what still matters.

If you’re interested in those questions — or if you’re building, running or advising on critical data platforms — you’re in the right place.