Cloud Connect 2013-Look Out, Here We Grow

by Cary J. Calderone, © 2013

Cloud Connect Keynote

It is hard for me to believe that it was only two short years ago that the "Cloud" was new.   For those of us who follow technology it was not really new but rather, "newly marketed."   What was new was Big Data technologies, Open Stack, and mobile, all of which combined to make Cloud Computing a very robust business model.   And now, what is hot about the Cloud is not so much new and innovative technologies but rather, massive growth and consolidation.  This industry is maturing.  Here are some interesting observations made by speakers at the 2013 Cloud Connect Show in Santa Clara: 

Cloud Connect 2012-Quick Overview and A Few Lessons On The Side

by Cary J. Calderone, Esq.

This was a terrific show with excellent presentations.  Here are a few notable comments:

From Steve Wylie

• The past was about defining the Cloud.  Now it is about the Cloud in action.

From Jesse Robbins of Opscode

• Everything breaks at scale.
• Train for disaster. Start small, then add large scale fault injection across critical systems. 
• Failure is multiplicative 99.9 x 99.9 x 99.9 = 99.7% reliability.
• Cloud failure has stages like death:  Denial, Anger, More Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally, Acceptance.

Cloud Connect 2012-Why I Think The Cloud Will Rule Your Future

by Cary J. Calderone

The keynotes on Tuesday and Wednesday, the official full days of Cloud Connect 2012, were both interesting and entertaining.  My comment from last year still stands.  Short and to the point 15 minute speeches by many industry influencers beats the heck out of one long keynote.   This format means that speakers do not have to worry about filling time for an hour or more.   Instead, they make their most important points fast.    I'll list a few of my favorites later, but to me, the energy and focus of the show lead me to one conclusion.  The Cloud is important because it offers a rare combination of the aspirin and the vitamin in the same pill.   Silicon Valley lives and breaths by startups coming along with aspirin, to solve headaches, and vitamins to boost your revenue.   Cloud solutions offer you both.   At last year's Industry Summit, John Hagel quipped that with all the hype, we were still underestimating the impact of the Cloud.   After this year's show, I think I can fully appreciate his forecast.

Cloud Connect 2012-Five Things You Need To Do Now

by Cary J. Calderone, Esq.

One of the advantages I have being based here in San Francisco is I can report on technology innovations as they happen in Silicon Valley,  long before lawyers get information at legal shows and can consider how these technologies may affect work at their firms.  The Cloud Industry Summit was the original focus for what has grown into the Cloud Connect show.  Attending last year I felt I had advanced knowledge of what was going on with the Cloud and this year is no different.  Kamesh Pemmaraju of Sand Hill spoke of major announcements about new Cloud services that will keep your data for you, behind your firewall.  In other words, there is another major security road block that has been cleared for many companies wishing to take advantage of Cloud services.   One of the most important best-practice takeaways came from Jim Stikeleather, Chief Innovations Officer, Dell, inc., who kicked off the Industry Summit.  He talked about the evolution of the Cloud and gave 5 Things To Do Now!