"Atlanta: Global Network Gateway to Cloud Services"

Description: Having great application software and fast hardware are only half the battle. Expanding the global reach and partnering in the Cloud ecosystem are being fast-tracked for tomorrow's business enablement. This panel will discuss the importance of global reach, building into the ecosystem, and address the commercial and technical concerns of growth.

When: Tuesday August 10, 2010
Where: Crowne Plaza Ravinia
Networking: 5:30PM

SPONSOR THIS EVENT

Sponsorship Commitment: $1,000

Sponsorship gets your company:
- Up to 10 people from your company attend the event for free
- Logos on future email blasts advertising this event
- Recognition at the event

Sponsor Now

Moderator:

Bob Landstrom, IT Professional

Bob Landstrom  is an experienced IT professional with over 25 years in the industry. Over the past ten years, he has held IT/IS leadership positions in F25 companies as well as start-ups in the retail, financial services, healthcare, telecom, software, and Internet verticals. Bob earned a BSEE from the University of Pittsburgh and a MSEE from the University of Missouri-Rolla. He holds CompTIA Security+ and CISSP certifications, has a US patent for an error detection and correction arithmetic code, and has served as a board member for emerging companies.

Matthew Elkourie, CTO, Colocube

Matthew is an HPC (high performance computing) and Cloud Computing specialist with 18 years of experience in running global data center operations for high-transaction web and gaming sites as well as designing complex high transaction networks for several of the worlds largest datacenters and data center customers.

Prior to co-founding Colocube, Matthew was the HPC/Cloud architect and designer for Penguin Computing and helped design networks for customers such as the Department of Defense (DoD), US National Laboratories Los Alamos Energy Research Supercomputer Center, AOL, and Oracle.

At Rackable Systems, Matthew was the Enterprise HPC Architect and was responsible for large scale network design and deployments for customers such as Microsoft, Yahoo, YouTube, Oracle, EA Games, Vonage, Lawrence Livermore, Raytheon, and Orbitz. Matthew managed complex 10,000+ node deployments involving details ranging from servers, to the cooling and power requirements, and down to the data center provisioning required to support very large complex computing clusters.

Matthew served as vice president, operations for Super Computer, Inc that was acquired by EA Games. He designed and deployed data centers for Super Computer in London, UK, and Seoul, South Korea, for EA Games, Atari, and the US Army, which scaled to over 11,100 servers in one and a half years. And he also served as CTO for Gaming Host, the third largest online game hosting provider in the US for first-person shooter games.

Matthew is a much sought-after after and well-respected authority on high-performance networks and is frequently invited to speak and consult on various data center architecture and operations topics.

Gustaaf Schrils, Vice President Global Technology Americas InterContinental Hotels Group

Gustaaf Schrils is Vice President Global Technology for the Americas region with The Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). He joined IHG 1995 and over the past 15 years has amassed a broad array of technology experience while receiving increased executive responsibilities within the company. He is currently leads an Information Technology team responsible for the day to day operations for over 2,600 hotels dealing with a myriad of technologies, vendors and network systems to deliver the highest quality services and guest experiences in the hospitality industry. After earning his BS Degree in Computer Engineering and MS in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology he held several executive positions in HF Communications Miami FL, American Telecommunication Corporation Dallas TX and O’Neal Consulting a specialized hospitality technology consulting company. He is passionate and committed about insuring that IHG maintains a leadership position via the maximum use of technology with a strong R.O.I. He has been a past member of the Board of Directors for HTNG, a recipient of the 2008 IT Executive of the year award by ATP and is active in a number of technology organizations within the Hospitality Industry.

Paul Savill, VP of Product Management, Level 3

Paul Savill is senior vice president of transport and infrastructure services for Level 3 Communications, where he is responsible for strategy and product management of Level 3’s Long Haul and Metro transport portfolios. He has specific responsibility for Level 3’s advanced optical networking, private line, Ethernet private line, colocation, Paul also oversees Level 3’s team of dedicated network architects designing complex customer network solutions.

Formerly with WilTel, he managed the company’s data, transport and customer portal services; Paul joined Level 3 in 2006. He has more than twenty years of experience in the telecommunications industry, and has held a variety of technical roles in network planning, engineering, operations, and service delivery. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in electrical engineering and a Masters degree of business administration.

Steve Mannel, Global Industry Executive Media and Communications, Salesforce.com

Steve Mannel joined salesforce.com in July 2009, bringing with him more than sixteen years of business and product development experience for leading technology companies in the enterprise software and Internet service providers industries. As media and communications industry director at salesforce.com, Mannel coordinates global strategy and solutions development for the company’s media and communications industry vertical.

Prior to joining salesforce.com, Mannel spent over six years leading communications and media product and business development for IBM as the company’s cable and broadband solutions director. Before that, he was a business development executive for Netscape, where he directed software sales and business development, including Time Warner synergies with America Online. Mannel has also led innovative business development teams at Sun Microsystems as the company’s regional account manager for the service provider vertical. Mannel graduated summa cum laude from Rider University with a degree in Philosophy.