Conference: The Future of Utility Computing Track

Track Chair:
Alistair Croll
Founder,
Bitcurrent

Cloud computing might be a buzzword, but the idea of IT as a utility is here to stay. We're living in an era of democratized IT, where everyone has access to information. End user expectations are driven by the consumer web, and those users demand fast, familiar interfaces around the clock and around the world. In this track, we'll take a step back from the details of cloud computing and look at how IT strategy will change in the coming years.

Thursday

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Thursday, February 16
9:00 AM–10:00 AM	The Cloud Application Stack (Location: Grand Ballroom F) As the basic components of cloud computing hit the mainstream, we’re seeing a second generation of application stack components emerge—cloud databases, load-balancers, messaging queues, caches, workers, and so on. They’re much more than just rented metal, and they’re what makes clouds much more than just on-demand hardware. In this session, we’ll look at the latest and greatest trends in the “cloud stack”, looking at where this technology is headed, why it holds so much promise, and what the major challenges and risks are. Speaker - Geva Perry, Author, Thinking Out Cloud Geva Perry has more than 15 years of experience as an executive in the enterprise software industry. His blog, Thinking Out Cloud, on cloud computing and software-as-a-service strategy and marketing is widely read and he is a frequent speaker on the topic. Geva has been named as one of the Top 25 Most Influential People in the Hosting Industry, Top 50 Cloud Computing Bloggers and one of the 12 Top Thinkers in Cloud Computing. Geva has been a strategy and marketing advisor to a number of companies, including Deutsche Telekom, NEC, Internap, New Relic, Twilio, Sauce Labs, Heroku/Salesforce.com, Akiban, Xeround, Totango, Application Craft, JFrog, NewVem, CloudPassage, CloudScaling and others. He also serves on the board of directors of Upstream Commerce and PerformanceXpert. Until 2008 Geva spent five years at GigaSpaces Technologies where he played a variety of executive roles. His latest position was Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager Cloud Computing. Geva received a Bachelor’s degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He holds an MS from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Follow him on Twitter:@gevaperry.
10:15 AM–11:15 AM	Seeing Beyond the Cloud (Location: Grand Ballroom F) Seeing Beyond the Cloud: New Applications, Opportunities, and Challenges in a Cloud-Centric World Discussions about the cloud have largely focused on the mechanics of the cloud, the challenges of moving traditional applications to the cloud, and generally on reasons for moving to the cloud. Cloud computing has been, for the most part, sold, justified, and appreciated on grounds of economy and efficiency However, we are rapidly entering a world in which the cloud is an accepted, increasingly mundane fact of life, but one that informs and underlies nearly every aspect of information service delivery. In this talk I will explore what will be different in such a world. What new kinds of services might emerge once cloud computing is ubiquitous? What new standards might emerge, and what dangers might be posed by their absence? How will "black hat" hackers change their techniques and targets in a cloud-centered world? What new kinds of threats might command the attention of IT executives, consumers, regulators, and policymakers? While I will offer possible answers to these questions to the extent possible, I intend to raise more new questions than I can answer. Speaker - Nathaniel Borenstein, Chief Scientist, Mimecast Borenstein is the co-creator of the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) standard and developer of the Andrew Mail System, metamail software, and Safe-Tcl programming language. Previously an IBM Distinguished Engineer and faculty member at University of Michigan and Carnegie-Mellon University, he founded two cloud start-ups; First Virtual Holdings, and NetPOS. Borenstein has spoken at a number of influential industry events including multiple Email World, Interop, USENIX and CPSR conferences.
11:30 AM–12:30 PM	Platforms and People: Two Perspectives on the Future of Clouds (Location: Grand Ballroom F) When it comes to cloud computing, the crystal ball can be a bit opaque. But, as we gain experience with clouds, we are also starting to see trends and usage patterns that make it possible to better predict the directions in which cloud computing is headed. In this session, we will share those predictions and discuss what they mean for IT. The effects will be profound. In the final session of this track, we'll hear from a pair of experts on what to expect from cloud computing, and what these changes mean for application architectures, organizational skills, vendor relationships, and IT economics. Speaker - Gordon Haff, Cloud Evangelist, Red Hat Gordon Haff is Red Hat's Cloud Evangelist. Prior to Red Hat, Gordon wrote hundreds of research notes, was frequently quoted in publications like The New York Times on a wide range of IT topics, and advised clients on product and marketing strategies. Earlier in his career, he was responsible for bringing a wide range of computer systems, from minicomputers to large UNIX servers, to market while at Data General. Gordon has engineering degrees from MIT and Dartmouth and an MBA from Cornell’s Johnson School. Speaker - Bernard Golden, CEO, HyperStratus Bernard Golden has been called a “cloud guru.” He is the CEO of HyperStratus, a Silicon Valley cloud computing consultancy which works with clients in the US and throughout the world. The firm's clients include Korea Telecom, Chunghwa Telecom, Pepsi, and BMC Software. HyperStratus provides cloud computing services in the areas of application security, system architecture and design, TCO analysis, and project implementation. Bernard is the Cloud Computing Advisor for CIO Magazine. His blog has been called “brilliant and incisive” and is read by tens of thousands of people each month. His blog was named “Top 50 Cloud Computing Blog” by Sys-Con Media, a “20 Most Important Cloud Blog” by AlwaysOn Media, and in a recent poll by AppDynamics his was cited as the third most influential cloud computing blog. In a recent study, he was described as a Top 100 “Most Powerful Voice” in security. Bernard's writings on cloud computing have also been published by the New York Times and the Harvard Business Review. Bernard is the author of Virtualization for Dummies, the most popular book on the subject ever published. He is also the co-author of Creating the Infrastructure for Cloud Computing (Intel Press, 2011). Bernard is a popular and engaging presenter, and has keynoted conferences from Moscow to Peru.
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