25 Cloud Computing Experts, Blogs and Influencers to Track in 2011
Experts
Thorsten von Eicken: Founder and chief technology officer of RightScale, von Eicken is an expert in developing and deploying secure, scalable online services having helped create RightScale's cloud management platform, as well as Expertcity's GoToMeeting service as its founder and former chief architect.
Thomas Bittman: Vice president and analyst with Gartner Research, Bittman covers areas such as cloud computing, virtualization and infrastructure evolution, and coined the term ‘real-time infrastructure,' which has been adopted by countless major vendors as their infrastructure strategy.
David S. Linthicum: Chief technology officer of Blue Mountain Labs, Linthicum has written and co-written 13 books on computing, including the best-selling ‘Enterprise Application Integration.' He keynotes at many leading technology conferences on cloud computing, SOA, Web 2.0, and enterprise architecture, and has appeared on a number of TV and radio shows as a computing expert.
Ben Kepes: A modern-day jack of all trades, Kepes is an analyst, entrepreneur, commentator and business adviser specializing in cloud computing. His business interests encompass a wide array of industries from manufacturing to property to technology.
Mike Vizard: For more than 25 years, Vizard has covered IT issues including cloud computing in a variety of capacities including director of strategic content and editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise. Vizard has also served as the editor-in-chief of CRN and InfoWorld. In addition, he served as a senior editor with PC Week, ComputerWorld and Digital Review.
Phil Wainewright: Since 1998, Wainewright has been a thought leader in cloud computing as a blogger, analyst and consultant. He founded pioneering website ASPnews.com and later Loosely Coupled, which covered enterprise adoption of Web services and SOA. As CEO of strategic consulting group Procullux Ventures, he has developed an evaluation framework to help ISVs and enterprises select cloud platforms. His newest role as an industry advocate is vice-president of EuroCloud.
Doug Girvin: Having served on the boards of the Ontario Research and Development Challenge Fund and the President's Advisory Council of the Royal Society of Canada, as well as on the Industry Canada Roundtable on Canada's Science and Technology Strategy, Girvin is well-known for his success in accelerating industry adoption of cloud computing.
James Staten: Boasting more than 20 years' experience in the industry, having served as a reseller, vendor strategist, CMO, journalist, and analyst, Staten is now a Forrester Research analyst providing insights and best-practice use of emerging infrastructure technology and services trends including cloud computing (IaaS and public and private clouds).
Blogs
Cloudy Times: Markus Klems, a research associate at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Southern Germany offers an academic perspective on service-oriented computing and replication architectures and techniques.
Elastic Vapor: Reuven Cohen, founder and chief technology officer for Toronto-based cloud computing products developer Enomaly Inc. discusses product updates, the importance of interoperability and where cloud computing is heading in the next few years.
Think IT Services: Jeff Kaplan's blog examines the business implications of IT service trends ranging from software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud computing to managed services and other on-demand services. His views are based on over 25 years of working with leading enterprise corporations and IT/network solution providers as a marketing executive, strategy consultant and industry analyst.
Diversity: Analyst, entrepreneur and business advisor Ben Kepes offers a strong opinion on all things SaaS and cloud computing.
RightScale: Founded by Bob Warfield, this blog delves into the many ways in which the Internet is radically changing the world of software through SaaS, open source, social media, cloud, and other cutting-edge business models.
Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing: Having been in the software business for more than 25 years, Dodge is developer advocate at Google where he helps developers build new applications on Google platforms and technologies. His blog tackles everything from industry happenings to predictions for the new decade.
David Linthicum Cloud Computing Blog: Chief technology officer of Blue Mountain Labs and author of 13 books on computing including ‘Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise, a Step-by-Step Approach,' Linthicum blogs about cloud computing strategies and best practices in no-nonsense prose.
John M. Willis: Co-host of Redmonk's ‘IT Management Guys' podcast series, Willis has made a name for himself with his IT management and cloud blog. He also has two podcast series on clouds called ‘Cloud Café' and ‘Cloud Droplets.'
Software as Services: Cloud computing guru Phil Wainewright writes about software-as-a-service and on-demand business applications while touching on trends to watch with thought-provoking insight.
CloudAve: The self-proclaimed ‘pre-eminent location for commentary and analysis on all things relating to cloud computing and SaaS,' this blog, edited by technology evangelist Krishnan Subramanian, offers general commentary, tips and tricks, as well as detailed analysis.
Influencers
Don Dodge: Boasting more than 25 years in the software industry, Don Dodge is a developer advocate at Google where he helps developers build new applications on Google platforms and technologies. Prior to joining Google, Don was a startup evangelist at Microsoft. Don is also a veteran of five start-ups including Forte Software, AltaVista, Napster, Bowstreet, and Groove Networks.
Irving Wladwasky Berger: Upon retiring from IBM after 37 years with the company, Berger continues to consult for Big Blue regarding a number of initiatives including cloud computing, Smart Planet and other technical and innovation areas. He recently joined Citigroup as strategic advisor, helping with innovation and technology initiatives across the company.
Reuven Cohen: Founder and chief technology officer for Toronto-based Enomaly Inc., Cohen has created a cloud platform that enables telcos and hosting providers to deliver revenue-generating Infrastructure-on-demand (IaaS) cloud computing services to their customers, quickly and easily. Cohen is also the founder of CloudCamp (50+ Cities around the Globe) and Cloud Interoperability Forum and has consulted with the US, UK, Canadian and Japanese governments on their cloud strategies.
Ray Ozzie: Inventor of Lotus Notes, Ozzie joined Microsoft in 2006 and blazed a path towards embracing cloud services. He was responsible for Microsoft's Azure program, which aimed to link cloud- and desktop-based applications and content - and prepared Microsoft to compete in the world of cloud computing. Ozzie left Microsoft in October 2010.
Chris Kemp: At NASA Ames, Kemp led the development of NASA's Nebula cloud computing platform and formed research and development partnerships with both Google and Microsoft that have already helped develop, provide data for, and expand efforts like Microsoft's WorldWide Telescope and Google Moon.
Russ Daniels: As vice president and chief technology officer of Hewlett Packard's cloud services strategy, Daniels sets the overarching business and technology strategies for HP's approach to cloud computing in a highly competitive market. Daniels boasts more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry, specializing in software architecture, enterprise management and software development.
Matt Thompson: Microsoft's general manager of developer and platform evangelism, Thompson is helping to shape Microsoft's vision of cloud computing as the company's next major computing platform beyond Windows.
