Cloud computing and beyond

For the past six years, the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) San Diego chapter has hosted the annual one-day Cloud Computing Conference in San Diego. This year is no exception, and the seventh conference is being held on Oct. 29 at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego. This time around the conference has expanded beyond its cloud computing roots to include big data, Internet of Things (IoT), innovative technology and hands-on cloud coding labs.

From my perspective, it has always been interesting to hear speakers like Peter Coffee, VP and Head of Platform Research at Salesforce. Peter has been the opening speaker for the past few years and, as a senior executive of a major Silicon Valley company, he brings a very interesting perspective on the leading edge of innovation. To quote Matt Stamper, VP of Services at redIT: “Peter is an amazing speaker and technical evangelist. His insight into the industry and how computing services continue to evolve is thought provoking. I’ve had the opportunity to hear Peter speak on cloud (networked) computing and have benefited from each discussion.”

Since this is a smaller conference, it is also easy to meet speakers like Peter in person and get their take on the latest developments. Last year I enjoyed discussing some of the finer points of cloud computing with Peter, including the question of whether cloud services are really software or not. This year Peter will host the keynote address while the opening address will be by Christian Brynes, Managing VP of Gartner Research when he will be presenting the Gartner Cybersecurity Scenario 2020: Guardians of Big Change.

A few weeks ago I interviewed Abe Lietz, CIO at Curves Jenny Craig. Abe had much to share about delivering technology value to the organization. At last year’s conference, I did a presentation on driving the risk out of cloud software, and the points raised by Abe got me thinking about using the conference to share this type of information. This interview led to the idea of hosting a panel discussion where local technology leaders like CIOs, CTOs and so on can share their experience and strategy with the audience. After discussing this with Marc Clark from AITP, the committee approved the idea. The topic is “Using the cloud to drive value to the business” and the format will be a 30-minute panel discussion, followed by 15 minutes when the audience can ask questions. I am pleased to say that Abe has agreed to participate in the panel discussion.

If you are going to be in the San Diego area on October 29, register for the conference. It is an excellent opportunity to meet the local IT community, hear good speakers and even engage them in person.