At 1Mby1M, we believe in learning from case studies of successful entrepreneurs. These case studies involve discussions on opportunities and challenges specific to the domain such as Generative AI, E-Commerce, Digital Health, Cyber Security, and FinTech.
>>>In today’s global marketplace, efficient video conferencing is a must. Since 1984, Avistar has been offering such services to its clients in the education, health care, finance, manufacturing, entertainment and media industries. Over the years, the company has made video conferencing faster, smoother and more affordable for its growing global clientele. Says Avistar on its website, “We believe our software-only approach is advantageous for both end user populations and our OEMs and resellers. For everyone, it means quick deployment, lower cost, and right-sized buying.”
Sramana Mitra: Hi Chris. Let’s set the context with some information about Avistar and some of your background information so the audience knows where all this perspective is coming from. >>>
Stratus opened for business when the Internet was still in its infancy and before the cloud even existed. Since then, the company has evolved into an organization that helps clients such as hospitals, utilities, credit card networks, and many others to provide efficient, consistent services to their own customers and clients. To further ensure quality service, Stratus teams up with organizations such as Motorola, Honeywell, and Siemens AG, to name a few.
Sramana Mitra: Hi, Joe. If you could, give us some context about Stratus. To begin with, I don’t think the audience would be all that familiar with the company. What’s the business? What’s the scale? What’s the revenue level and number of employees? This is so we have a sense of the scale of the organization. >>>
Businesses continue to move their operations to the cloud. So, the need for companies like Bellevue, Washington–based Tier 3 will continue to increase, as will the need for such companies to provide faster, more efficient cloud solutions. Tier 3 has provided large and small enterprises with an enterprise cloud platform that allows them to keep their business operations flowing smoothly since 2006. The company’s technology partners are VMWare and NetApp, among others. >>>
In 1994, Marc Ewing created his own distribution for Linus Torvald’s Linux, called it Red Hat Linux and released it in October of that year. After merging with Bob Young’s ACC Corporation in 1995, the company was renamed Red Hat Software. Today, Red Hat is a global company that provides enterprises with technology and services via the open source model.
Sramana Mitra: Hi Lee. Let’s start with some context about Red Hat and about you to give our readers an idea about the cloud computing environment we’re dealing with, from what perspective we’re going to look at it and the scale of the problem for you. >>>
Arthur Young and Alwin C. Ernst never met in life, and their companies didn’t merge to form Ernst & Young until 41 years after they died within days of each other in 1948. But both men were innovators who believed in globalization. Today, the company provides professional services for its customers but on a much broader and, thanks to the advent of the cloud, more complex scale than anything that Ernst or Young could have imagined.
Sramana Mitra: Hi, Mal. Let’s start with some context about the scope of your work, the scope of the cloud computing footprint that you are dealing with, then we’ll go to your philosophy around it and so forth. >>>
The convenience of computers is undeniable, but the security issues that go along with using them can be mind boggling. That’s where companies like MyCroft, Inc. come in. MyCroft serves government, healthcare, insurance, finance, enterprise, and higher education industries. The company’s list of services include identity and access management, data protection, and managed security services, and offers compliance solutions in areas such as HIPAA and SOX. A global company that has been around for more than three decades, MyCroft has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and India.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have a lot of customer and employee data to maintain and sustain. Because they lack servers large enough to support rapid growth and expansion, they enlist the aid of companies like SunGard Availability Services. With offices in the United States, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Sweden, SunGard helps SMEs to protect themselves against not only expected issues such as power outages, but also against the unexpected like hurricanes or earthquakes.
Sramana Mitra: Hi Indu, and welcome to the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. To begin with, let’s set some context for our readers on SunGard and your business, the scope, scale, and type of technology operations you are dealing with and some context about your personal background.
Indu Kodukula: And my role as well? >>>
In the past year or so, the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing (TLCC) series has hosted conversations with some of the top thinkers in our industry. It has become abundantly clear based on these discussions that cloud computing has graduated from hype to a significant driver of cost savings. >>>
Sramana Mitra: Hi, Jim. Welcome to the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. To better understand the scope of the IT infrastructure you are running for Dell, would you talk a bit about this before we get into cloud computing in more depth?
Jim Stikeleather: Hi, thank you. To introduce myself, I am the chief innovation officer for Dell. What I’m focused on, as opposed to the chief information officer, are future products and services for Dell. >>>
There are many trends hitting large enterprises at the moment right in their bellies. Within the broad sphere of cloud computing, with the adoption of the social Web, one of these trends is crowd sourcing. The business function that is most acutely impacted by this trend is CRM. All the way from marketing to sales to customer support, the social CRM trend is becoming an avalanche, and for some industries the implications bear particularly serious consequences.
The Web gets more crowded and complicated every day. As more businesses and individuals access the Internet and all that it has to offer, the need for companies like Cambridge, Massachusetts–based Akamai increases. Founded in 1998, Akamai accelerates content and business processes for a bevy of international clients such as NBC, Audi, and NASDAQ. Each time you access an article online or make a purchase, you probably have Akamai – or one of its competitors – to thank for it.
Sramana Mitra: Hi, Willie. Would you give us some context about your division within Akamai. What is the mission of the division? >>>
By Sramana Mitra and guest author Rajdeep Ramsay
Sramana Mitra: Hi, Dan. Welcome to our Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. Let’s begin by talking about what TradeKing does, and what your business is, and what is the scope of cloud deployment we are talking about for your company. Also, would you give us some background about you. >>>
By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg
About Workday
Workday’s mission is to build the next generation of enterprise business services—human capital management, financial management, and payroll—and deliver its solutions through a Software as a Service (SaaS) model. Founded by former PeopleSoft founder and CEO Dave Duffield with former PeopleSoft vice chairman and head of product strategy Aneel Bhusri in March 2005, Workday aims to offer a fresh approach for today’s global businesses. >>>
By Sramana Mitra and guest author Siddharth Garg
About Salesforce
Salesforce.com is an enterprise cloud computing company headquartered in San Francisco that distributes business software on a subscription basis. Salesforce.com hosts the applications offsite. It is best known for its customer relationship management (CRM) products and, through acquisition, has expanded into the area of social enterprise. It has been one of cloud computing’s biggest champions through devising and delivering its cloud-based CRM, collaboration, and platform services to its customers.
Salesforce.com has its services translated into 16 languages and, according to Wikipedia, currently has 82,400 customers and more than 2.1 million subscribers. Its CRM solution is broken down into several broad categories: sales cloud, service cloud, data cloud (including Jigsaw), collaboration cloud (including Chatter) and custom cloud (including Force.com).
About Marc Ferrentino
Marc joined Salesforce.com in February 2007. His responsibilities included early-stage product development and marketing, evangelism of the Force.com platform, and promoting Salesforce.com’s open source initiatives. Marc is also involved with developing Salesforce.com’s collaboration and platform strategies. Prior to Salesforce.com, Marc served as the vice president of Engineering at Vettro Corp, a global leader in mobile on-demand applications. Prior to Vettro, Marc served as vice president of development at InternetCash.com. Over the course of his career, he has held technology positions at Goldman Sachs and Westinghouse/Cutler-Hammer.
Sramana Mitra: Hi, Marc. Welcome to the Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing series. Would you please give us some background on your role at Salesforce and also on Salesforce’s perspective on the cloud today from where you are. >>>
By Sramana Mitra and guest authors Siddharth Garg and Rahul Nagpal
About iRobot
iRobot designs and builds robots that make a difference. iRobot was founded in 1990 when Massachusetts Institute of Technology roboticists Colin Angle and Helen Greiner teamed up with their professor Dr. Rodney Brooks with the vision of making practical robots a reality.
In 2010, iRobot generated more than $400 million in revenue and employed more than 600 of the robot industry’s top professionals, including mechanical, electrical, and software engineers and related support staff. iRobot trades on the NASDAQ stock market under the ticker symbol IRBT.
About Jay Leader
Jay Leader has nearly 25 years of international IT management experience. His areas of expertise include IT management, strategic planning and financial management, and infrastructure and security management. Prior to joining iRobot, Leader was CIO at Nypro Inc., a $1.2 billion injection molding and contract manufacturing firm with 66 locations in 18 countries. He was responsible for worldwide IT operations, managing support and development organizations in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and China. Earlier in his career, Leader served in IT management positions at Coopers & Lybrand LLP, Groundwater Technology Inc. and Data General Corporation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations and a master’s degree in business administration, both from Clark University. >>>