So, I have to say that the coolest part of EMC World so far was the event I just left. A couple weeks ago I got an invitation to an “EMC Private Cloud Connection” meeting, with little additional information about the format or content. I accepted just out of curiosity, but man am I glad I did!
The meeting started with the introduction of the newly formed EMC Technical Advisory Board. Pat Gelsinger, president and COO, Information Infrastructure Products, EMC; Jeffrey M. Nick, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, EMC; Randolph Cowen, former CIO of Goldman Sachs, Steve Herrod, CTO and SVP of R&D, VMware; Rod Johnson, general manager, SpringSource and SVP of middleware at VMware; Steve Pawlowski, senior fellow, Intel Architecture Group and general manager, central architecture and planning, Intel Corporation. How’s that for some brain power?
After introducing the TAB, there was a great Q&A with the group around cloud computing and how it’s impacting some of the core tenets of business: data models, consumption, BI inside de-duped datasets, the viability of the current OS stack that is supporting the x86 infrastructure, the changing operational models needed for end user support… It was a great window into how this new world is being looked at from the top.
Next, Howard Elias introduced us to Michael Capellas and we got to talk a bit about the strategy around VCE, VBlock and Acadia which was very interesting. Michael is a very dynamic individual, and he’s obviously got a lot of passion for the technology refresh that’s currently underway.
The final part of the event was a Q&A with Joe Tucci himself, and to say that he’s got personality doesn’t do him credit. Especially in front of a friendly crowd, right in his own backyard he definitely owned the room. I got to ask the last question of the session to find out more about EMC’s strategy for enabling Service Providers, and what part he sees us playing in this ongoing journey. What, you expected me to ask about his plans for world domination? Come on, it’s all about the Service Providers!