5 Thought Leaders In Cloud Computing To Follow

A recent report released by Markets and Markets estimates the global cloud computing spend to grow to $121.1 billion by 2015, recording a compounded annual growth rate of 26% over the period 2010 through 2015. Another report by Market Research Media expects strong growth within cloud computing to continue. The report projects a 30% annual growth rate over the five year period from 2015 with the market expected to be worth $270 billion by 2020.

On my blog, I write an interview-based series called Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing where we invite industry folks with interesting vantage points to come and share their points of view about the industry and its trends, gaps, blue sky opportunities.

Here are five that I thought would be worth your while to get to know:

1. Assaf Rappaport, CEO of Adallom: Cloud adoption in the enterprise is opening up new security gaps. Assaf and his team have identified a major one and convinced Sequoia to concept-finance the venture. Very interesting articulation of cloud security issues facing enterprises!

2. Egnyte CEO Vineet Jain: If you are confused about the cloud file storing and sharing space, this interview with Vineet Jain should throw some light on the dynamics of the industry. Spoiler: There is a lot beyond Box and Dropbox.

3. Ajit Gupta, CEO of Aryaka Networks: Ajit Gupta is one of the world experts in the domain of networking in general, and content acceleration in particular. Prior to Aryaka, which he founded in 2008, he founded Speedera in 1999, and eventually sold it to Akamai for half a billion dollars. Here, Ajit and I discuss the future of the public and private internet.

4. Alastair Mitchell and Andy McLoughlin, Co-Founders of Huddle: If you are wondering what is happening to enterprise collaboration as cloud, mobile, and social trends converge, this interview is an in-depth study of one of the most exciting startups in the field.

5. Interview with Tom Dibble, CEO of Aria Systems: Billing has changed dramatically with the advent of cloud computing. Tom Dibble has one of the most exciting startups in the field.

If you consider yourself a thought leader in the industry and would like to be featured, please feel free to reach out to me via LinkedIn, providing some background on your point of view.