More Pioneers in the Cloud

A few months ago we shared an article on our blog that detailed a list of individuals who are responsible for great innovation as far as cloud computing is concerned, Innovators in the Cloud.  Information Week recently published an update to this list in which nine more cloud computing pioneers were recognized.  If you are interested in cloud computing, chances are you wonder how things got to be the way they are today.  So taking a look at the key players in the cloud computing arena can be interesting and informative.  In todays post, we are going to share some of these important cloud computing innovators and enthusiasts with you with a few snippets from the Information Week article.

Reuven Cohen

Cohen was an early, tireless advocate for the cloud, appearing on panels and as a speaker at industry events. He also performed a peer review of the drafts of the NIST definition of cloud computing. He was the founder of CloudCamp, a cloud computing conference that's taken place in 300 cities and is based on an informal set of procedures that holds elections to set the agenda and elect discussion leaders from among the participants -- after the conference has started. CloudCamp became a great way for people interested in the cloud to get to know one another in the space of a few minutes. Reuven writes the Digital Provocateur column for Forbes Magazine, has co-hosted DigitalNibbles, an Intel-sponsored podcast, and has served as a strategic advisor to Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs & International Trade. He was a North American representative on the Sino-European/America Cooperation Roundtable forum held in Beijing in May 2011.

James Urquhart

Urquhart is the former writer of The Wisdom of Clouds blog on CNet, which ran from 2008 to 2011. In his postings and appearances, he made concise, logical arguments for why cloud computing, mistaken as a new technology, was really a new operations model. He dissed the frequently used analogy between cloud and electric utilities, saying using data intelligently and distributing electricity are two different things. He did a five-part series on how cloud and virtualization were forcing a rethinking of the enterprise IT software stack.

Lydia Leong

Leong came into the cloud era with her own hands-on background in technology operation and evolution. She was director of server engineering at Excite@Home and director of product engineering and operations at Digex. She joined Gartner in 2000 and gravitated into becoming its first and still primary analyst focused on IaaS. In 2010, in the midst of a blossoming of enterprise interest in the cloud, her prominence as a spokeswoman on the cloud prompted Gartner to name her analyst of the year.

To read the full Information Week list in its entirety, you may click here.  If you would like to learn more about cloud computing or how a cloud solution could benefit your organization, you can contact The Vested Group.  We have offices in Tampa, FL and Dallas, TX ready to serve all of your cloud computing needs!