The Business Value of Cloud Computing

Event Description:

Cloud Computing is the buzzword du jour but what does that mean for your business and you?

Is this simply the ASP–application service provider–model with a new name or a meaningful tool which can improve ROI by making your business processes use capital and staff more efficiently?

Our guests will discuss these questions as well as those you bring to the table from the very different perspectives of IBM, the extremely large enterprise provider, and Soonr, a startup consuming Cloud services (as well as providing them).

Speakers:

Zorawar Biri Singh is Vice President, IBM Enterprise Initiatives, leading IBM’s cloud computing and internet scale out infrastructure solutions. Biri joined IBM through the acquisition of Encentuate, Inc. Encentuate, where he served as President & CEO, was a leading vendor of identity and access management security software solutions acquired by IBM Software Group’s Tivoli division in March 2008.

Biri has previously served as CEO for software and IT companies that include Pivia (network acceleration appliance, acquired by F5 Networks, 2005), JRG (software-as-a-service targeting consumer packaged goods, acquired by CDC, 2006), Crossweave (software integration tools, acquired by Amberpoint, 2003), Idapta (B2B start up, 2001) and was COO & founding member of RelevantKnowledge Inc., which IPO’ed as MediaMetrix and today is part of comScore.

Biri holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a BA in Economics from North Carolina State University.

Paul Steinberg is Vice President, Business Development at SoonR, and has global experience in C-Level sales and business development for high profile technology, SaaS, mobile, Web, and enterprise solutions companies. He is market savvy and able to leverage research and create financial models to support the corporate strategic plans. He is a superb communicator with a proven record of aligning sales strategy with the corporate strategy.

Paul’s active professional network includes:

• Technology OEM Products Launched – Cisco, Microsoft, IBM, Linksys, SAP, Intel, Oracle, Webex, Baan and Symantec
• Fortune Site Licensing Agreements – Exxon Mobil, Abbot Labs, State Farm Insurance, Proctor & Gamble, Wachovia, Best Buy, United Airlines and Wal-Mart
• Advertising Contracts Signed – Google, Yahoo, iVillage, MapQuest, AOL, State Farm, WebMD and Brinks
• Wireless Partnerships Deployed – AT&T, Ericsson, Telefonica, GemPlus, Sprint, ePlus and Nokia
• Co-Marketing Partnerships Introduced – Cisco, SPSS, Dell, Autodesk, EMC, ETAK, and Microsoft