Date: May 31, 2012
Guests: Rodney Rogers (Chairman & CEO Virtustream, @rjrogers87)
Description: Brian talks with Rodney Rogers (CEO, Virtustream) about offering Enterprise Class Cloud Services, Cloud API Religions, Cloud services in Emerging Markets, and the evolution of Cloud Service Providers developing technology.
Topic 1 - Virtustream positions itself as "Enterprise Class Cloud". What does "Enterprise Class" mean to you, and where does that fit in the wide variety of "Cloud Computing" services in the market today? What's changed for the Enterprise IT buyer over the past 2-3 years? What's driving the changes?
Topic 2 - We're seeing various other "Cloud Service Providers" getting deeply involved in creating their own standards (OpenStack, AWS API) or technology communities. That's a somewhat significant change from the past. Virtustream is recognized as an outstanding, in some cases award-winning, partner of companies like VMware, IBM and others. How is Virtustream adapting to this shift in technology sourcing? [WATCH THIS SPACE for NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS in July 2012]
Topic 3 - Virtustream has significant presence around the world. How much different are Enterprise Cloud needs around the world? What are some of the unique difference you're seeing in different regions of the world?
Topic 4 - How important are cross-cloud standards for your customers? Do they really want to "burst", or do they have different business needs where that interoperability solves challenges for them?
Topic 5 - Last year Virtustream acquired Enomaly. One of the highlights of that was access to Asian markets. Another was the cloud brokerage services ("SpotCloud") that Reuven Cohen had started. How do you see Cloud brokering services today and evolving into the future? Are we really at a stage where computing (or storage, or infrastructure) can be traded like currency or minerals?