Tesla World – Tom Raftery’s keynote on the Convergence of IoT and Energy

Tom Raftery was invited to deliver his talk on the Convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Energy at the 2015 Tesla World event in Antwerp. Tom’s talk focussed on how the combination of IoT and new open standards can help automated demand response make the electricity grid more stable, and so enable the penetration of a higher percentage of renewables onto the system.

Collaboration Summit 2015 – Software at Scale – Stephen O’Grady, RedMonk

Today, more than ever, software is the lifeblood not only of the technology industry, but businesses from accounting to transportation. The continued rise of open source is driving software and the industries that use it to new heights, but creating a tension between the strategic importance of software and its commercial value. In this talk, we’ll explore what opens source means to the cloud, the commercial vendors and you. From The Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit 2015 in Santa Rosa, CA.

Can we hack open source cloud platforms to help reduce emissions?


Can we hack open source cloud platforms to help reduce emissions?

This is Tom Raftery’s presentation at Monktoberfest 2012 – the slides for this talk are on SlideShare

System Center, Battling over Virtualization, Microsoft and IBM, PowerShell, and open source at Microsoft TechEd IT Forum 2007

Wrapping up the episodes from Microsoft TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona, James and I talk about the discussions and announcements at the event. First, James comments on the seeming maturity that both the attendees and Microsoft itself has after all these years of TechEd. Then we get ask if virtualization will avoid the usual zero-sum battle that every other technology goes through – the answer is probably obvious. Moving onto the broader industry, we comment on the long relationship between IBM and Microsoft, feeling now that IBM is in a pulling back phase. Finally, we wrap-up with some PowerShell talk and comment on the role of open source – or lack thereof – in all of this.

System Center Tour – Microsoft TechEd IT Forum 2007

Finishing up the interview series at Microsoft TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona, I talk with Eric Berg (Director of Product Management, System Center) about the System Center product lines. While we focus on only Operations Manager, Configuration Manager, and Virtual Machine Manager, we go into detail on each. We start out going over the linage of the System Center brand: mapping MOM to System Center Operations Manager and SMS to System Center Configuration Manager. Then Eric describes what function both Operations Manager and Configuration Manager serve, spending time detailing the inventory and asset management that Configuration Manager does, highlighting the AssetMetrix integration. We then talk about what System Center offers for virtualization management and discuss everyone’s favorite virtualization topic, live migration of VMs. We end by talking about how Microsoft uses partners and the greater System Center ecosystem to address questions about heterogeneity, and then end on discussing what role developers play in Microsoft’s general “philosophy of IT management.”

System Center Strategic Alliances and Partners – Microsoft TechEd IT Forum 2007

Outside the main conference center for Microsoft TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona, James talks with Carl Coken (Director of Strategic Alliances, System Center) about partnerships and standards in System Center land. Carl manages the relationships with third parties, organizations, and others that work with the System Center platform, for example, by providing management packs. James and Carl talk about the new portal available for partners and then jump into the role of the portal’s information in the sales process. The discussion than goes to the question of heterogeneity which, as Carl notes, it a big part of what Microsoft looks to partners to help with and provide in System Center. Finally, they discuss how the partners program help encourage quality and best practices in the third party extensions and management packs.