About Me

Kyle’s Geek Den is about all things tech — from nostalgic retro builds to modern day gaming, technology, and AI. This is where we focus on real honest content that touches home for me personally. My little section of the Net where I write the deep dives, mapped breakdowns, and opinionated guides that don’t fit into a tweet thread or a five-paragraph SEO article. I cover retro tech, PC gaming preservation, cybersecurity, hardware trends, and whatever else I can’t stop researching long enough to shut up about. I don’t write hot takes. I write the piece I wish existed when I started looking into the topic.

The Day Job

Professionally, I’m the Managing Partner and Lead CTO Consultant at Spectrum Data Networks, a managed IT and cybersecurity consultancy based out of Houston. Managed IT, cloud architecture, security as a service, virtual CIO work — if your business depends on technology working and not getting compromised, that’s where I live from nine to five.

I’ve been doing this for over two decades — networks, security, the full stack of things that go wrong when nobody’s paying attention. The AI guardrails conversation isn’t abstract for me. I’ve been in rooms where something ran the way nobody intended and everyone was figuring out the cleanup in real time. That context is a big part of why I’m also building IRIS IQ under The Allara Group — an AI operating system for businesses that puts governance first instead of bolting it on after the fact.

Where It Started

Tandy 1000 HX running MS-DOS 2.11 with original boot menu on screen
The Tandy 1000 HX. Still runs. MS-DOS 2.11, exactly as it was.

I was a kid at a friend’s house on an IBM clone, trying to beat King’s Quest 3 without a manual. I was hooked.

The 286 came from my grandmother. Birthday gift. EGA card, dual floppies, no hard drive. Then a 386 DX I spec’d myself out of Computer Shopper magazine, with a Sound Blaster Pro and an NEC external CD-ROM drive that cost more than most cars. That machine played Loom, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The 7th Guest.

386-era PC setup with CRT monitor, game boxes including Loom and Myst, Datalife disks
Loom and Myst on the shelf. Datalife disks everywhere. The 386 era in full effect.

Sierra got bought out. I went into IT instead. The Geek Den is the long-delayed answer to that redirect.

iMac G3 and vintage PC side by side on a desk
The collection. Some things you don’t let go of.
Current liquid-cooled PC build with RGB fans and custom water loop
Thirty years later. The obsession didn’t go anywhere.

The Geek Den is where 30-plus years of building, breaking, and fixing computers goes when it doesn’t fit on a client invoice.

Get in Touch

Got a correction, a tip, or something I should be covering? Reach out through the contact page.