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2 #CloudFest Table of Contents

Tuesday March 13 4 | Welcome Speech and Opening CloudFest 2018

5 | Das Kamhout (Intel): Defining What’s Possible: Cloud Services Built on Intel

6 | Xavier Poisson Gouyou Beauchamps (HPE): Beyond a Single Cloud Story

7 | Dr. Jerry M. Chow (IBM): Enabling Quantum Computing Over The Cloud

8 | Scott Schnell (Verisign): Domain Name Industry Drivers

9 | Jeremy Rowley (Digicert): PKI That Works: Advancing Usability While Expanding Use

10 | Søren Dandanell Nielsen (Cloudeon) and Per Ljungström (Lenovo Data Center): Disrupting the Disruptor - Transforming Infrastructure to Stay Close to Your Customer

11 | Billy Morrison: It’s A Nice Day To Start Again: A Fireside Chat with Billy Morrison

12 | Daniel Bounds (AMD): Unlock your EPYC™ advantage

13 | Jacques Boschung (Dell EMC): Your Transformation is Just Beginning: The AI World is Multi-Cloud. Anticipate and Build our Human Future with Dell Technologies.

14 | Ian Khan: (Re)Trust—Re-creating Trust in a Paranoid World

Wednesday March 14 15 | Igor Lebedev (SONM): Decentralized Fog Computing on the Blockchain: A Step into the Future with SONM

16 | Ebrahim Keshavarz (Verisign): With the Perfect Domain Name, Anything is Possible

17 | Alexander Schulz: Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: Insights from a Slackline World Record Holder

18 | Eric Ellis (cPanel): The Power of Stability: The cPanel & WHM LTS Tier

19 | Boyan Ivanov, Toan Nguyen, Igor Lebedev and Nikolas Kremer: Is Cryptocurrency Mining Helping Or Hurting the Cloud?

21 | Laurent Allard (OVH): The Cloud is the Future. But What is the Future of the Cloud?

22 | Dr. Andreas Palm, Higor Franco, Yusuf Nurrachman, Mitch Haber and Jonas Dhaenens: The CloudFest Leadership Check–in: Where the Cloud Industry is Heading

Thursday March 15 24 | Birgitta Jonsdottir: Can the Cloud Bring Us Democracy Without Borders?

Imprint CloudFest is organized by If you have any questions about your partnership or concerning the WorldHostingDays GmbH events in general, we will be happy to assist you. Hansestrasse 111 51149 Cologne For further information please visit: www.cloudfest.com Germany

#CloudFest 3 Welcome to CloudFest 2018

CloudFest 2018 categorically reflected all that is new and Can these platforms credibly claim to be neutral, Schaake dynamic in the ever-changing landscape of the cloud, hosting asked. Regulating what has heretofore been the Wild West and internet infrastructure space. Taking place March 10-16 will have massive ramifications for the cloud computing in- in Europa-Park, CEO Soeren von Varchmin, welcomed over dustry. “It may well result in a huge chilling effect on freedom 6500 attendees from across the globe to the festival’s offi- of expression,” she warned: We need to find a way to smartly cial opening to explore the latest technologies, innovations, regulate the excesses of the big tech platforms while under- and trends that make online communication possible. In standing that there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution. appointing the Netherlands as partner country for this year’s event, Soeren was joined on the CloudFest stage by Marietje An increased focus on foreign policy by the EU would Schaake, Member of European Parliament (Democrats 66, be wise, she said, to help prevent cyberattacks by foreign part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe powers and bad actors working from beyond the continent. Party), who took the opportunity to reflect on the state of Schaake urged the EU parliament to adopt a digital trade technology in a modern world. strategy, so that data can flow properly and safely from Eu-

Schaake discussed navigating the evolving tech world as a rope to the world and back again: “The open internet, after politician, noting that it’s easy to mistake the networked world all, is an extension of open societies and open economies.” as existing apart from the offline world. How do laws that Challenging the recent re-up of authoritarianism is easier said safeguard essential principles make it to the cloud? In previ- than done, she warned, but is an undertaking worth the effort. ous industrial revolutions, the countries that prospered were “Laws that might create headaches now will increase trust the ones that codified their values, such as human rights and in cloud services down the road, while fostering innovation. property laws. “People will be reluctant to adopt cloud services if they don’t have the confidence that their data will be treated safely and Even as technology disrupts and creates exciting new securely.” opportunities, it creates challenges as well. “I can safely say that the days of tech utopianism are over,” she said. While Cyberspace isn’t hovering over us, concluded Schaake— earlier there was great hope that technology would solve the it’s integrated in our world. world’s problems, there’s also evidence that our newest tools can be used as weapons. The dream of democracy going viral through Twitter and Facebook blinded us to the reality that these platforms weren’t purpose-built for advancing humani- ty. “Facebook isn’t an online public square, but quite literally a marketplace of ideas,” said Schaake, noting that it’s the biggest advertising company in the world, bolstered by attention-grabbing content—whether or not that content has value, or even reflects reality. Regulators need to step in, she said, though they need to tread carefully in doing so.

4 #CloudFest Tuesday March 13

Defining What’s Possible: Cloud Services Built on Intel Das Kamhout

Das Kamhout, Global Director, CSP Solution Architecture, Cloud Service Provider Platform Group at Intel, Kamhout had his head in the clouds—professionally speak- ing—for 25 years. He gave CloudFest attendees a glimpse into the latest-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, technologies and accelerators to address the fastest growth of cloud workloads. Kamhout discussed function-as-a-service as an industry trend, and how to future-proof your cloud infrastructure. Imagine your car racing along the Autobahn while you sleep in the back, said Kam- hout: autonomous vehicles, along with AI, are emerging tech trends that rely heavily on the cloud. The pace we’re seeing with [advancements in] AI is extremely fast,” said Kamhout. Virtual and augmented reality are also no longer in the realm of sci-fi, he said. Connecting the devices using these technologies will be done with 5G connectivity. “This is all built on a cloud,” he said. Well, different clouds for different purposes, though they consist of similar technical components. Amazon’s elastic cloud (EC2) brought virtualization to the next level, and other companies followed suit. This, said Kamhout, made automation easier and has driven innovation forward even faster.

KEY CONCEPTS ♦♦ Infrastructure

TAKE ACTION ♦♦ Get geeky! Familiarize yourself with the machine element of the cloud to find new opportunities for efficiency.

DAS KAMHOUT Senior Principal Engineer and Global Director, CSP Solution Architecture at Intel Data Center Your data center is like one large computer made of Tetris-pieces of interlocking Group machines. “All these models will persist for the foreseeable future,” said Kamhout. Das Kamhout is a Senior Principal Engineer Instead of virtual machines as the core of a cloud system, the containers form the core. in the Intel Datacenter Group. In his career at “An interesting thing that Google did,” said Kamhout, “was they exposed their virtual Intel, he has been one of key leaders for the machines through containers. If someone launches a virtual machine through Google, software defined infrastructure (SDI) engineer- it opens a container which launches that VM.” Fundamentally, you have your computing and industry efforts. He brings many years of experience as the engineering and archi- ing, storage, and network hardware. “How do we have the insight and intelligence to tecture leader for the Intel IT Cloud efforts as see that data coming in?” asked Kamhout. The answer to analytics and data resilience well as extensive experience running the SW is AI, since there’s just too much data for human eyes and brains to parse. architecture and infrastructure for the large- Intel invests heavily in optimizations, explained Kamhout in describing the Xeon scale Intel design grid. Known as a pragmatic scalable platform. Intel’s latest cloud infrastructure innovations, developed in close disruptor, Das seeks to drive focused change collaboration with CSP partners, are designed to accelerate and differentiate the in the industry and help fellow peers work client’s services, surfacing new possibilities. Intel focuses on high performance and through the transformation towards SDI and ease of use, which is particularly useful for those working in IoT and VR. A lot of AI and cloud computing. deep learning runs on Intel nodes, added Kamhout, up to and including the analysis of cat photos. Intel works with clients in learning, trying, and going to market with cloud- based technology, whatever the core business idea may be. “With our hardware and software investments,” said Kamhout, “we’re driving the tech forward. What I’d like to see is us all partnering together to make this the new normal.”

#CloudFest 5 Tuesday March 13

Beyond a Single Cloud Story Xavier Poisson Gouyou Beauchamps

We live in a world where everything computes. Technology is embedded everywhere, and people and objects are digitally connected. “Data is the new oil,” Xavier Poisson Gouyou Beauchamps, VP Service Providers and Cloud 28+ at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, told the CloudFest crowd.

Digital is to marketing what cloud was—and still is—to IT. All parties in the IT supply chain need to embrace new skills, invest in new tools, and lead a strong management of change to thrive in today’s digitally-driven world. 626 billion liters of water are used to cool data centers in the US, said Beauchamps—we need to think about how to make the industry more environmentally sustainable.

The right hardware in the right place for the right user, he said, is the key to thriving in a world with so many different clouds (and cloud concepts). This advances not only business performance, but privacy management and legal compliance as data crosses borders in the blink of an eye.

KEY CONCEPTS ♦♦ Infrastructure ♦♦ Sustainability

TAKE ACTION ♦♦ Develop a holistic view of how your infrastructure affects your clients, end users, and the planet itself.

XAVIER POISSON GOUYOU BEAUCHAMPS VP Service Providers and Cloud28+ WW Hewlett Packard Enterprise HPE is combining hybrid IT innovations—software-defined infrastructure; compos- Xavier Poisson advocates economic growth ability of workloads on the fly; private cloud with the speed and agility of public cloud; through community development and innova- simple multi-cloud management; and hyperconverged infrastructure that will redefine tion. As Vice President for Service Providers Cloud at the Edge – with the power of its partner network to develop new co-selling and Cloud28+ at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and go-to-market partnerships. Beauchamp also announced the launch of Cloud28+ (HPE), he leads global expansion of an ecosystem and digital platform designed to create White Label Partner Pages, so users can personalize the experience for their custom- new business opportunities for partners and ers and audience. Two CEOs, Orlando Bayter of Omuco and Jerker Nilsson of Lequa, customers. Named “Cloud Leader of 2017” by joined Beauchamps onstage to share their success stories. Digital transformation Data Cloud Europe, Xavier received this spe- requires many technologies that need to be known, aggregated, and combined. Beau- cial “jury’s choice” award for his “contribution champs shared some other client stories from Cloud 28+ users around the world—a to making Cloud28+ a mature, global success world where no one company can claim definitive industry-wide expertise. Therefore where providers, users, governments, and knowledge sharing is key. “We have a new era coming,” said Beauchamp, “called the academics can meet virtually and collaborate.” Intelligent Age.” The future of the cloud is interconnected, and so an ecosystem-based Committed to helping young companies launch approach is required. their businesses, as well as seeking ways for smaller companies to increase their revenues and compete on a global scale, Xavier advocates initiatives that drive cross-border cooperation and development. Prior to his current role, Xavier ran HPE’s Hybrid IT and Cloud business groups in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

6 #CloudFest Tuesday March 13

Enabling Quantum Computing Over The Cloud Dr. Jerry M. Chow

“Nature isn’t classical, In May 2016, IBM launched dammit, and if you want to the IBM Q Experience, placing make a simulation of nature, a rudimentary quantum com- you’d better make it quantum puter on the cloud that any- mechanical, and by golly it’s a one can access. Since then, a wonderful problem, because global community has taken it doesn’t look so easy.” So shape: over 70,000 users said Nobel Prize-winning have tried IBM QX, including physicist Richard Feynman. over 2,000 schools. Mean- Straight off the plane from while, IBM has partnered with South by Southwest in Aus- MIT in quantum-computing tin, Texas, Dr. Jerry M. Chow education. Today you can find shared IBM’s own journey @qiskit on Twitter to get your through quantum computing hands on a developer-friendly with the CloudFest audience. quantum-computing software We’ve gone from flipping kit. “We’re excited about switches and loading punch making this collaborative,” cards to a world of smart said Chow. watches, he said. The physi- Optimization, chemistry cal implementation of computing has changed, thus driving the (such as drug design) and machine learning (such as support evolution of technology and society itself. That progression has vector machines) are just three areas where quantum computing not yet come to an end, said Chow: there are computation prob- can lend a helping hand. “Through the cloud,” said Chow, “we’re lems out there that can’t be addressed by traditional computing: now able to make this a technology that’s deployable and usable, “There’s a fundamental limitation to what we can actually use and available for anybody to learn.” digital computers to solve. These hard problems are just gonna be intractable. Can we do better?” Yes. Yes, we can. Quantum computing is escaping the lab KEY CONCEPTS and making its way to the cloud, capturing the minds and ♦♦ Quantum computing imagination of a much wider audience. The field of quantum ♦♦ Physics computing has moved from proof of principle demonstrations ♦♦ Efficiency towards emerging as a real technology. While computing as we’ve grown to understand it relies on bits of binary code (ones TAKE ACTION and zeros); quantum computing uses units called qubits, which ♦♦ Explore quantum computing through existing and emerging aren’t limited to that single off-or-on state. Therefore a qubit can demonstration platforms. store much, much more information than a bit; and these units ♦♦ Fasten your seatbelt, because computing is poised to get exist in a state of entanglement, in which you can’t describe a much, much faster and change how we solve problems and single qubit by itself, but only in its relationship to other qubits. manage data in perhaps unexpected ways. This technology relies on quantum physics, which Albert Ein- stein described as “spooky action at a distance”—unsurprisingly, it’s not well-understood by the layperson. DR. JERRY M. CHOW Getting away from ones and zeros will cost you a one fol- Manager of Experimental Quantum Computing lowed by lots of zeros: a quantum computing machine costs IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center hundreds of millions of dollars. As such, this technology isn’t Dr. Jerry M. Chow, Manager of Experimental Quantum Computing and a in the hands of too many developers yet; to the extent that we Distinguished Research Staff Member at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research don’t have much of an idea of what a quantum-computing future Center. He is IBM’s primary investigator for IARPA’s Logical Qubits pro- will look like (besides “really fast”). We have to solve three inter- gram. He co-leads the IBM Q Experience project, placing a real quantum related problems to make quantum computing a practical reality, processor accessible to anyone via the Cloud. Jerry graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a B.A. in physics and an M.S. in applied said Chow: coherence, controllability, and connectivity. mathematics and from Yale with an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics. He re- It is a thrilling time to be in the computing space; as theory, ceived an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship for his quantum processor experiments, quantum software, and quantum hardware are with superconducting qubits work. merging into one towards the genesis of the first quantum computing stack. A large part of accelerating this effort has been the ability to provide access to quantum computers over the cloud.

#CloudFest 7 Tuesday March 13

Domain Name Industry Drivers Scott Schnell

Verisign’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and Channels, Scott Schnell, shared insights with CloudFest attendees about fundamental trends that help drive demand for domain names, and how these trends relate to cloud hosting services. Some of these trends and behaviors may help grow the entire cloud ecosystem. The Asia-Pacific region will be leading online growth over the next three years, said Schnell, despite being relatively late to the party. India, China, and Indonesia are expected to show the largest increase in new internet users. Meanwhile, Europe is set to add twice as many internet users by 2019 as the United States. “Those internet users are consumers of online services,” said Schnell. European small-business starts are consistently strong: “This is a good sign for the potential for your services… and our domain names!” Social media is the natural complement to a web-based core brand presence, said Schnell. As such, demand for websites remains strong despite the huge mind- share claimed by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Standing out on social media is a challenge as well, because everything looks the same as per a given platform’s look and feel. The more social presences a company has, the more important the website becomes. The opportunity to grow with SMBs is large, from micro-businesses on up, he said: “The unserved market is at the very low end of the market, and it’s where the largest quantity of entities exists as well.” The domain name serves as the platform for discovery and services. Most cloud services wouldn’t work at all, said Schnell, without the DNS to introduce all those KEY CONCEPTS machines to one another. “Commerce is dominated by websites on the internet ♦♦ Domaining today,” he said. Nearly 70% of new domain names last year had hosting attached as a ♦♦ Hosting service. Website building, email, and even CDNs are also highly present. This means ♦♦ Emerging markets that people aren’t just camping on domain names, but using those names to spin up a business. TAKE ACTION The domain name, in many users’ minds, is their brand, said Schnell: they’re the ♦♦ Explore the surprisingly-rich world tip of the spear when it comes to online presence. As for TLDs, .com remains the of domaining: join us each year at biggest around the world. Verisign is investing in domain-name awareness, said NamesCon. Schnell—a domain name by itself does nothing… until you turn it into something. Therefore Verisign shares tips for integrating social media with a new domain name. “We have to educate the marketplace in the advantages of going online in the first SCOTT SCHNELL place,” said Schnell, which may come as a surprise to some. Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and A taste of some of Verisign’s region-specific campaigns around the value of a Channel Management at Verisign domain name: As senior vice president of global marketing and channel management, Scott Schnell is ♦♦ Vietnam:“Go Pro with .net.” responsible for Verisign’s global marketing ef- ♦♦ Indonesia: “Answer your WHY with .net.” forts as well as the company’s registrar account ♦♦ Brazil: “You think. The world sees it.” management teams. Before joining Verisign in August 2012, Schnell co-founded and served ♦♦ Mexico: “Think big. Get a .com.” as president and CEO of VideoIQ, Inc., a video ♦♦ The USA: “Keep Dreaming Up” (.net) and “With a .com, you can become anything.” analytics technology company. Prior to that, (.com) he served as senior vice president of sales, services and marketing at RSA Security, where Verisign’s data suggests that keyword domain names, with up to five keywords, he led the company to record revenue and were far and away the most popular among web users, said Schnell. “This has successfully rebranded RSA and its then-parent nothing to do with Google’s algorithms,” said Schnell, “it’s just human behav- company, Security Dynamics, to become the ior.” Multi-keyword domain names resonate with both business owners and their single RSA brand. Schnell also held senior-lev- audiences. el positions in marketing and sales at Apple In choosing the right keyword for a new business, it pays not to be too general, and Photonics Corporation. Schnell earned a said Schnell: “pizza.com” wouldn’t do you much good; adding your city or neighbor- Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science in hood name to it would be a wiser move. Websites are not dead, despite what the mechanical engineering from the University of global army of social-media users may have you believe. Utah.

8 #CloudFest Tuesday March 13

PKI That Works: Advancing Usability While Expanding Use Jeremy Rowley

With increasing connectivity, digital trust is a valued asset. However, security teams still face many challenges. Traditional Public Key Infrastructure management and work- KEY CONCEPTS flows do not always fit modern, evolving use cases; especially considering how many ♦♦ PKI devices now connect online. Tomorrow’s security requires automation, scalability, inte- ♦♦ Security gration with popular platforms, and ease-of-management—provisioning and managing ♦♦ IoT credentials for millions of devices cannot be done one certificate at a time. DigiCert Executive Vice President of Product Jeremy Rowley gave CloudFest at- TAKE ACTION tendees a runthrough of technical innovation where emerging markets and PKI align. ♦♦ Keep it simple. Security is too import- HTTPS traffic has increased 75% over the past two years, and now comprises ¾ of ant to overcomplicate. pageloads. HTTPS is now table stakes, with Google set to mark non-HTTPS sites as ♦♦ Get your Certificate Transparency in “Not Secure” as of July 2018. order if you’ve not already done so. Not to get all Terminator on you, but this is the rise of the machines. By 2020, around 205 billion devices will be connected to the internet. (By comparison, the human population will likely be just under 8 billion.) “Your fridge is using Facebook,” said Rowley. JEREMY ROWLEY The question we face at the moment is whether the Internet of Things will be a tool, Executive VP of Product at Digicert or a target. Threats include over-the-air updates, secure patch management, secure Jeremy Rowley leads DigiCert’s product de- booting, device authentication, and stolen data; whether we’re talking about the world’s velopment teams serving its emerging markets critical systems or your web-connected baby monitor. This means more work for IT man- clients that require security solutions for the agers as they deal with more attacks, and they have less control over their networks. Internet of Things, U.S. federal healthcare exchange, advanced Wi-Fi and other innovative technology sectors. Rowley also represents DigiCert’s interests within various industry standards bodies and has authored several industry standards now in use. As part of DigiCert’s vision to lead its industry toward better and more trusted practices, Rowley actively participates in groups such as the CA / Browser Forum, IETF, Mozilla Forum, NIST, ICANN, and the CA Security Council. Rowley was a key participant in drafting the CA / Browser Forum’s EV Guidelines, Baseline Requirements, and Network Security Guidelines, and he continues to draft new policy and guidelines today. Row- ley earned a JD from Brigham Young University as well as at the same institution. Rowley is a member of the Utah Bar and currently serves DigiCert’s strategy for solving this problem, said Rowley, is… simple: simplifying the as president of the Utah Bar Association’s creation of PKI systems, simplifying the provisioning of those systems; then, simplifying Cyberlaw division. the management and control over those systems. Get rid of the muck, said Rowley: you just need a key, a server, and a cert. Automating the certification process goes a long way toward achieving this by removing the human error in deployment. “It’s usable if it’s easy,” said Rowley. The sheer volume of certificates needed call for simplified management strategies that can scale. You can manage by exception or by profile. You can manage by delega- tion, by handing off tasks to the server or automated systems. Then there’s managing by not managing: let the automation do the work and step in only when something breaks. Rowley also spoke about Certificate Transparency (CT), which Google will make mandatory for all publicly-trusted certs on the Chrome browser by April of this year. Meanwhile, short-lived certificates are the new black, said Rowley: validity will be mea- sured in days, or even hours and minutes. This requires more automation to manage, of course. Overall, you want to simplify PKI so ti’s always there, said Rowley; and scale your systems to meet the growing global need.

#CloudFest 9 Tuesday March 13 Disrupting the Disruptor - Transforming Infrastructure to Stay Close to Your Customer Søren Dandanell Nielsen and Per Ljungström

The CloudFest 2018 audience heard legacy systems to more modern systems. how Lenovo helped Cloudeon transform So far, we’ve been starting with infra- KEY CONCEPTS its storage and networking, and are help- structure, then building the platform on ♦♦ Hybrid cloud ing the company to deploy hybrid cloud top of that, and then adding the software. ♦♦ Pure digital in a presentation by Søren Dandanell The new approach, said Nielsen, is to Nielsen, co-founder & Chief Business De- start with the software and move to PaaS: TAKE ACTION velopment Officer of Cloudeon; and Per “Only as a last option, spin up VM for ♦♦ “Where do you see yourself today Ljungström, Lenovo Hybrid Cloud Lead infrastructure-as-a-service.” “We need to as a main service provider?” asked Architect EMEA for Lenovo Data Center. think big, people. We need to start small Ljungström. The MSP market has changed beyond and grow very fast,” said Nielsen. Ljung- ♦♦ Engage in active partnerships when recognition over the last few years. To ström said that Lenovo’s mantra is “Think developing your cloud strategy. benefit from the explosive growth that is forecast, the focus has shifted from infrastructure to rapid delivery of services that SØREN DANDANELL NIELSEN are relevant to their customers. There Co-founder & Chief Business Development Of- is a need for infrastructure providers to ficer at Cloudeon go beyond basic servers, network, and Søren Dandanell Nielsen is Co-founder and storage and provide reliable, secure plat- Chief Business Development Officer at Cloude- forms that are easy to use, manage and on, and is responsible for sales, marketing grow; leaving managed services provid- and strategic partners. Cloudeon was founded ers to focus on their customer’s needs. February 1st, 2016, and Søren has been a part of its journey from the first day. Søren holds a degree in Business Management from Leices- ter University as well as a degree in Internet Agile”. Servers, network, and storage will Marketing Strategies from Harvard University be integrated, where software will drive in the US. Before Cloudeon, Søren has been the whole system. Ljungström said that, working with marketing, digital platforms and according to an IDC / Gardner study, only streaming-services in 15 years. Back in 2008 up to 6% of data will be stored at com- he was among the first who live-streamed panies’ own data centers, while the rest through the 3G mobile network in relation to will be stored in the cloud. Also, by 2021, a new digital platform to the music industry. 50% of companies in consumer-facing During the last couple of years before begin- industries will spend more annually on IT ning the Cloudeon journey, Søren has been working as IT Management Consultant as well at edge locations than on IT in their core as counselor for projects within the industry for Pure digital companies have profound data centers. “Where do you see yourself digital and offline products. advantages over their more traditional today as a main service provider?” asked competitors, said Nielsen. A purely digital Ljungström. The data-center transforma- product can be updated quickly based on tion, he said, will be driven by a compa- PER LJUNGSTRÖM user feedback, and the entire organiza- ny’s CIO. The customer wants services, Lenovo Hybrid Cloud Lead Architect EMEA at tion can pivot with amazing speed. Oper- not virtual machines and so forth. The Lenovo Data Center ations tend to be optimized and automat- customer wants tools that work, and that Per Ljungström, Lenovo Hybrid Cloud Lead ed from their inceptions, and employees can expand to an international scale. Architect EMEA. Per has 32 years of experi- are empowered, through structure and The MSP’s job is to make that happen as ence in Network, Firewall Security, Global Data data access, to make decisions quickly. easily as possible. “Digital transformation Center Design & Integration and years’ experi- “They don’t own one server, ladies and is a journey,” said Ljungström, “and we all ence in HCI and SDI solutions like Azure Stack. He holds a Bachelor of Electronic Engineering gentlemen!” said Nielsen with a laugh: need to take part in that.” degree from the Technical University of Den- a true digital company has automated Simplicity is key, a theme which has mark, and a second Bachelor of Information their IT end-to-end. Digital transformation already popped up several times at Technology degree from Niels Brock Copen- requires IT modernization, which in turn CloudFest. That includes taking your hagen Business College. At IBM when Per was requires three main things, said Nielsen: fellow humans into account when strat- responsible for IBM Network Nordic and he a dynamic cloud foundation, a software egizing and deploying: “How successful wrote 2 Redbooks around SDN with NFV and factory where dev-ops work as a single will we be… if we do not take people into VNF integration entity, and a digital highway between consideration?” asked Nielsen.

10 #CloudFest Tuesday March 13 It’s A Nice Day To Start Again: A Fireside Chat with Billy Morrison Billy Morrison

“If I don’t act, write, or make music, I end up in jail or with handcuffs on.” Billy Mor- rison has spent his life in front of audiences alongside some of the biggest talents in rock history, from AC/DC to ZZ Top. However, Morrison is more than just a hard-rock legend and alumnus of The Cult, Billy Idol’s band and more. He is as prolific off-stage as on—he’s had turns as an actor, which has included a role on Showtime’s Californica- tion; and has forged a career as a fine artist. Through it all, he has needed to become an expert on the art of online self-promotion. Morrison told the CloudFest 2018 audience how he does it, sharing insights on navigating the differences between promot- ing a brand like Royal Machines and products with Billy Morrison Art, all while maintaining and cultivating his personal brand.

Back in the day, promotion was a much tougher prospect. “To promote any type of brand yourself, it was a physical thing,” said Morrison. “You walk up and down the street with flyers and try to give ‘em to people!”

“I was never afraid of the technology,” said Morrison, who remembered first at- taching a keyboard to his Atari computer through the MIDI port. Some things have changed, but some things haven’t: “One of the things we get asked a lot by idiot music journalists is, ‘So is the music industry dead?’” said Morrison, noting that self-promotion is still key. He embraced Instagram while sidestepping SnapChat: you have to use what works for you, and for what you’re selling or sharing. KEY CONCEPTS The old-school notion of the rock star, though, is dead, he said. “I’d be a liar if I said ♦♦ Rock ‘n’ roll I enjoyed it, but [...] the days are gone when you can be mythological and dark and ♦♦ Marketing mysterious!” said Morrison. “I’m very easy to contact.” ♦♦ Social Media ♦♦ Audience identification “The $40 t-shirt is a completely different market the $20,000 painting,” said Morri- son, who isn’t interested in having legions of social-media followers who aren’t going TAKE ACTION to buy what his channel is selling. “I’m lucky—my brand takes care of itself… I sell ♦♦ Select your social-media channels paintings because I play guitar. I’m that guy, the rock guy, and that takes care of the based on desired outcome. brand.” Established acts already have brand security, he said: “I don’t think Ozzy is ♦♦ Stay up-to-date on what emerging chan- sitting at home working out how to sell a painting on social media!” These days, you nels your audience uses. can’t just make a record, he said. You have to offer products and generate multiple ♦♦ \m/(>_<)\m/ revenue streams. Social media sits in Morrison’s toolbox alongside gallery showings and high-profile clients. His internet habits are straight-up Millennial: he doesn’t use a website at all anymore, nor does he visit them. He used to blog and visit chatrooms, BILLY MORRISON but now it’s all about social media for him: “Facebook is good, Instagram is great, I use Guitarist and Musical Entrepreneur Twitter a lot… [but] Snapchat’s not for me, really. A man can get in trouble on SnapChat, Billy Morrison is the quintessential rock star. so I stay away from that!” Playing guitar for Billy Idol since 2010, his CV of musical successes also includes key member Morrison implored the audience to embrace the change that our connected world status in such bands as Camp Freddy and the has wrought. “You have to change with technology! You can’t be stuck in the world of Royal Machines. Billy is a prolific writer, record- ing music with his own bands: Doheny, Stimu- 1972!” (He drew the line at hologram-concerts by dead artists.) There are opportunities lator, and Circus Diablo. Expanding his creative for collaboration now that are unprecedented and exciting. Morrison is particularly horizons beyond music, Billy enjoys acting, interested in exploring what can be done with a 3D printer. having appeared in a number of independent Morrison’s house is a slice of IoT heaven, all controlled on his phone: “I press a but- movies, guest starred in the hit show “Californi- ton and shit happens!” Still, he said, his use of technology stops when paint hits can- cation” and featured in the movie “K-11.” Billy’s vas. There’s still a lot of room to experiment with new technology: “Artificial intelligence passions also lie within the world of art, first creating fine art… I would buy that! I would like to collaborate on a fine-art painting with as a longtime collector and now as a bonafide an AI of some kind. With music? I’m not sure.” When you write music with someone artist after picking up the paintbrush and never else, he said, it comes from the heart. looking back!

#CloudFest 11 Tuesday March 13

Unlock your EPYC™ advantage Daniel Bounds

AMD is back in the data center with the new EPYC processor, ideal for the scale and density requirements for both physical and virtual hosting environments. At CloudFest, Daniel Bounds, AMD’s senior director of datacenter products, discussed some new innovations designed to help clients achieve lower TCO with higher performance and increased security. “We named it EPYC for a reason!” he said.

AMD rethought what was possible in the data center, said Bounds—we need more openness and innovation. “There are lots of tradeoffs that you as architects and cloud businesspeople have to make today, but you really shouldn’t.”

EPYC’s 32-core architecture with 128 lanes of PCI-e boasts a wide range of cores without sacrificing features, as well as the largest / I O capacity, most memory channels per CPU, and richest memory density in the industry—2TB. That’s 16 DIMM slots on a one-socket machine. It’s also less expensive than the competition, said Bounds: “You get more performance for every IT dollar that you invest. It’s been a long time since we’ve had this type of capability and differentiation.”

EPYC is a fully-integrated CPU: a system on a chip that uses less power than traditional setups. “We also think you should have a choice when it comes to the underlying server architecture.” Bounds called EPYC a “no-compromise one-socket server”, so when you buy a second socket, it’s for all the right reasons: your customers’ demand. KEY CONCEPTS ♦♦ Data center “Data sovereignty is very important,” said Bounds. Over 5.5 million records are breached every day. 4% of data breaches took place where encryption was used. TAKE ACTION The level of sophistication has to be much greater when trying to grab encrypted ♦♦ Assess customer needs and see if data. EPYC has hardware-based security: you essentially just switch it on to get full retooling your tech is worth your while memory encryption and secure multi-tenancy with no impact on application perfor- (and money). mance. “The only people who have access to that data are the owners of that key,” he said. DANIEL BOUNDS Bounds said that AMD looked at EPYC in terms of interoperability as it went Sr. Director, Datacenter Products at AMD through the design process: “The key message here is, it just works.” That extends Daniel Bounds is the Senior Director for Data to AMD working with all Linux distributions and hypervisor types. “We value the Center Products at AMD. He is responsible for cloud and hosting space significantly,” he said. driving product strategy, marketing and busi- Cloud, hyperscale, and automated virtualization were front of mind as AMD de- ness development for Server, Networking and veloped this version of EPYC, said Bounds. AMD is betting the company on this sort Storage industry segments. of technology, said Bounds, with a roadmap extending through 2020 that will see three core-steppings of EPYC. “If this is something your customers are asking for,” said Bounds, “come see us.”

12 #CloudFest Tuesday March 13 Your Transformation is Just Beginning: The AI World is Multi-Cloud. Anticipate and Build our Human Future with Dell Technologies. Jacques Boschung

AI isn’t the future… it’s already here. the next 12 months, said Broschung. That Right now. Jacques Boschung, Dell’s SVP number will rise, he added, as companies KEY CONCEPTS of Global Alliances and Telco, discussed adopt AI as a service (AIaaS): AI is bound ♦♦ Edge computing the impact of AI tech at CloudFest. for the cloud. “This year is a big year in ♦♦ AI Autonomous cars are a good example terms of cybersecurity and data regula- ♦♦ Strategic partnership of the deeply transformative power of tion,” he added. “What used to be new technology, said Boschung, in that they has now aged,” he said. The dominant TAKE ACTION they will redesign cities and lifestyles at vision of the cloud was one powered by ♦♦ Use the connections you make at scale. This year’s Geneva Motor show maybe eight hyperscaled companies. CloudFest to see where AI and ma- really highlighted that fact, he said, as However, the IoT often needs really low chine learning fit into your roadmap by connectivity in cars was so much more latency, which makes the case for edge trying AIaaS. common. We’re entering an era of hu- computing: “Everyone speaks of edge ♦♦ What can you offer “as a service”? man-machine computing these partnership, said days, and they are Boschung. But is right!” The Edge is JACQUES BOSCHUNG the glass half-full to the cloud what SVP Global Alliances and Telco at Dell EMC or half-empty? Half 5G is to mobile in Jacques Boschung is Senior Vice President of of business lead- terms of New Big EMEA Global Alliances and Telco at Dell EMC. ers think that auto- Thing, and those In this capacity, he is responsible for delivering mated systems will two are related. Dell EMC solutions through a channel of ser- free up their time, So now we see vice providers, strategic outsourcers, systems integrators and telcos. He combines a wealth he noted. Howev- the Edge, the Core of knowledge on the unique value of the Dell er, 42% said they (data center) and EMC portfolio with a deep understanding of the experienced more the Cloud. 5G and European market and an insight into customers’ job satisfaction this more granular needs. In previous functions at EMC, Boschung thanks to machine model of cloud was Senior Vice President and General Manag- assistance, while computing will un- er of EMC’s Europe West Region, EMC Europe 58% saw no such lock vast innova- South Lead and Managing Director for EMC boost in workaday joy. tion potential, said Boschung. The future Switzerland. Before joining EMC, he was Sales Boschung noted MasterCard’s use is multi-cloud and edge. Now enterprise Director Switzerland & Austria at DELL, member of AI to create digital personae, which customers want to buy infrastructure that of the EMEA Corporate Senior Management they then use to model fraud patterns. AI will give them the competitive edge, he Team. In 2001, Boschung was a founding CEO of Brightrivers. Earlier on, he started his career has been fueling scientific research for said. This leads to the rise of “something by holding various sales and management years now. Agriculture has been pro- else as a service”: you have to go up in positions at Compaq before being appointed foundly impacted by AI, he said. Climate the value chain to remain relevant to your to the role of Country Manager in charge of change makes crops harder to grow, customer. “Eat your own dog food,” said the Personal System Group at IBM Switzerland. but the world’s growing population will Boschung. You have to use your AI to run Boschung was born in Fribourg, Switzerland in require more food than we’re growing. your own infrastructure to make sure it’s 1967, where he also lives. He holds a Masters AeroFarms, based in New Jersey, is the bulletproof. Take your agility to the next in Physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of world’s largest vertical farm. It uses less level: only service providers who em- Technology and of the University of Lausanne, water than traditional farms, besides brace changing technologies will be able Switzerland. He is married and has one son. needing a smaller footprint. to thrive. Just as the cloud needs inter- Another climate-triggered threat: the locking technologies, IT companies need firestorms that have sprung up over the to forge new and creative partnerships last few years, making headlines and to raise their game. Boschung ended by causing massive damage to homes and quoting Dell Technologies CEO Michael lives. AI, powered by Dell tech, is used Dell: “Companies will succeed and fail to analyze and anticipate conditions that based on their ability to translate data could lead to the next conflagration. into insights and actions and products 70% of enterprises will implement AI in and services.”

#CloudFest 13 Tuesday March 13

(Re)Trust—Re-creating Trust in a Paranoid World Ian Khan

Author and technology futurist Ian emotions: “Trust is about the custody of but to help them safeguard their business Khan talked to the CloudFest 2018 crowd something, and how you keep it, how you in general. The third wish: Customers want about how technology is reshaping the break it, how you lose it.” AI creates trust you to add value, more value than they’re world we live in and how trust, enabled by repeatedly performing tasks that would paying for. “Not by giving them free stuff, through technology, is the new currency of otherwise be prone to human error, said but by sustaining them, protecting them, business. Over the centuries, human trust Khan. However, where does that leave being an advocate.” has evolved, changed, and continues to people? Best-case scenario, the human “The world of tomorrow is going to be be at the center of not only business, but worker will be re-tasked with more creative very complex, my friends,” said Khan. “We everything we do in life. With the emer- responsibilities, something only a human are creating that world.” gence of cloud, AI, and now blockchain, can do. “AI will help us, free us, so we can trust has a new definition and multiple do other things as people,” he said. “For applications, said Khan, and it offers us me, the idea of creating trust with a part- KEY CONCEPTS a second chance for us to realize our ner with AI, is about freedom.” Blockchain ♦♦ Trust true calling. For example, the accounting (“a technology that nobody understands ♦♦ Security industry hasn’t changed in 500 years, but everybody is talking about”) creates said Khan, and innovations such as block- trust by creating a fail-proof mechanism TAKE ACTION chain are shaking that industry to its core. in which information cannot be stolen, ♦♦ Examine your processes to see where Papal elections proved to be a great deleted, or modified. “Blockchain is you can bring more joy to your own shorthand for measuring disruption: in about creating peace of mind,” said Khan. team and to your customers. 2005, people recorded the election of the Then there’s the Internet of Things. From ♦♦ Get in your customer’s head: what would new Pope with their camera-phones. In phones to smart toilets, the IoT is about make them feel safe? 2013, the same thing happened—except connectivity, moving information from one smartphones and tablets were the record- place to another so that it can be used ing devices du jour. We don’t leave our effectively: “For me, Internet of Things is IAN KHAN doors unlocked or hand our car keys to about that information superhighway that Technology Futurist strangers, said Khan, for obvious reasons. connects everything.” Trust in business has Three times TEDx Speaker, Author and Tech- However, we will hire nannies; essentially two good sides, he said: inside and out- nology Futurist, Ian is a leading voice in the leaving a stranger with our babies. Now, side. Internal alignment will better engen- technology space. Author of Meaningful Conver- though, we have nanny-cams. der trust from your clients and partners. To sations, Cloud Wars, The Internet of Things (IoT) This shows how trust has changed get that internal alignment, you need three A Concise Introduction, The Internet of Things & the Future of Innovation, Make Me Like You, directions. Another example is cryptocur- things, said Khan. First: purpose. “Make 21 Steps & Get Ahead, Ian is deeply passionate rency, a referendum on the trust we once more money” is a financial goal, sure, but about helping audiences simplify their under- gave to banks. Why do we trust technol- it’s not a purpose. What does your compa- standing of Technology and how to uncover ogy so much, asked Khan. The first four ny want to accomplish in your community, more value. Ian is a frequent contributor to industrial revolutions consisted of water- your world? industry publications, including McGraw Hill Ed- and steam-power, electricity, automation, The next requirement: people. If you’re ucation, Huffington Post, & Techvibes and is the and cyber-physical systems—and even struggling to take care of your own team, host of the Innovation Times Podcast. Passionate that fourth one is pretty old at this point. you’ll definitely struggle when dealing with about helping newer generations develop key Now we’re on the cusp of a fifth industrial customers and partners. It’s not just about technology understanding, Ian also works with revolution, which was brought about by paying your employees more, but motiva- educational institutions & nonprofit organizations. the rise of AI. Triggered by access to Big tion and purpose (See Item 1). His recent work includes Chang School (Ryerson University), Schulich School of Business (York Data and better processing capabilities, The third requirement: process. “A pro- University) and others. Ian is also a founding the AI explosion is changing the face of cess-driven organization succeeds. This is member of IOTAC (Internet of Things Association work, whether you’re a blue- or white-col- a fact,” said Khan. Build a process for sales, of Canada), Canada’s Only Internet of Things lar worker. This revolution is more danger- marketing, customer engagement and on- Advocacy group and Nonprofit dedicated at ous, he said: “AI will dictate our lives, the boarding, everything you do. The external providing a platform & advocacy support for IoT food we eat, the people we sleep with.” (re)trust trifecta starts with the wish of our initiatives in Canada. His latest book is “Mean- “Is my data safe?” is the question asked customers, said Khan: “Sustain me.” Cus- ingful Conversations- Value Creation in the Era endlessly of cloud computing companies. tomers need an advocate, someone who’ll of Digital Disruption”, targeted at technology “I know everyone here takes informa- support them. “You have to be the best industry professionals seeking to create more tion management seriously,” said Khan, friend of your customer if you want them to value from where they are and with what they so what does trust mean in this case? be a customer for life,” he said. Customers’ have. Ian also holds a PMP designation and lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife and son. Follow It’s about many different things, such as second wish: “Protect me.” They want you Ian on twitter at @IanKhanlive or visit him at money, information, secrets, and even to protect them not just from cyber attacks, www.IanKhan.com

14 #CloudFest Wednesday March 14 Decentralized Fog Computing on the Blockchain: A Step into the Future with SONM Igor Lebedev

Igor Lebedev, CTO of SONM, introduced CloudFest attendees to a fog-computing supermachine running on the Ethereum blockchain. Decentralized fog computing solutions have become a complementary technology which can eliminate cloud computing limitations. SONM (Supercomputer Organized by Network Mining) is a decentralized fog computing platform that embodies the best ideas from that field and brings them to life. Today’s centralized cloud-based solutions will struggle to cope with ever-increasing storage amounts, network requirements, and computing loads, said Lebedev: “We need to somehow reduce the time between server response and what the client sees in a browser.” Today’s architecture is generally a three-tier setup, consisting of client, app server, and database. That three-tier architecture is “at the end of its era,” said Lebedev, pointing to a new architecture of microservices and massively parallel processing (MPP). This change in architecture, he said, means we have to change how we write the software that guides how computation is done in the cloud.

KEY CONCEPTS ♦♦ Fog computing ♦♦ Blockchain

TAKE ACTION ♦♦ Look at how your business could use or even provide processing elements to this new architecture. ♦♦ Monetize your junk drawer!

Fog computing would see tasks solved where they are—everywhere and yet no- IGOR LEBEDEV where—rather than having data moved back and forth from the core. Extra computing CTO at SONM power comes from miners, who earn tokens by performing calculations for everyone Igor is a specialist in computer science with in the network. Any networked smart device—CPU, GPU, PlayStation, Xbox, or smart- 15 years of IT experience, including seven phone—located anywhere in the world can join the SONM Application Pool and sell years developing software for the enterprise. computing power peer-to-peer. This is not unlike a car owner making money on the He is an expert in classic system architectures side as an Uber driver. “A lot of people are already doing microservices,” said Lebedev. for OLTP, MDM, DWH, OLAP, and BI system classes, databases, as well as some special- This means far more computing nodes, which can also mean more potential for fail- ized architectures for the fog computing and ure—reliability, redundancy, and replication become the orders of the day. As Lebedev microservices, smart contracts and the block- put it, “The new era is about scaling.” There’s no strict definition for fog computing, chain, automated trading systems and micro- said Lebedev, but a core characteristic is that it can scale horizontally. For business- electronics. He has finished several projects in es, this means you don’t need to build a data center in any particular city or country. Prognoz and EPAM. Igor Lebedev is the head Also, GPUs (graphics processing units) are 100 times more powerful that typical CPUs. of the SONM development team since July Prices are lower, because you’re working with consumer-grade hardware usage on 2017. He has made a significant contribution to a global scale, rather than a handful of enterprise-level machines (and the attendant the product vision and development process. costs of maintaining them). His expertise has helped the team to define “We have computing nodes all over the planet,” said Lebedev. It differs from the cloud and evolve a product strategy and technology on the back end in that there are no data centers, and open-source software orches- stack off of which the SONM platform is based. Igor has built an outstanding developers team trates the worldwide symphony of problem-solving and task uptake. From machine that moves forward the project and brings to learning and CGI rendering to mobile app hosting and scientific research, businesses the world the real working general purpose can leverage processor, storage, and RAM resources from participating miners, who rent fog-computing platform. The product is already out their DC servers, cryptocurrency mining equipment, or even home PCs. available as testnet MVP version, evolving Blockchain-based fog computing is the gig economy for your electronics—this according to the roadmap. sounds trivial at first, until you consider the deeper implications.

#CloudFest 15 Wednesday March 14

With the Perfect Domain Name, Anything is Possible Ebrahim Keshavarz

As companies move more and more of their customer and partner interaction online, the importance of a domain name has only increased. Ebrahim Keshavarz, Senior Vice KEY CONCEPTS President, Product Management at Verisign, introduced NameStudio API at CloudFest ♦♦ Domaining 2018, showcasing the power, flexibility, and simplicity of this REST-based API. ♦♦ Registrars Verisign believes that with the perfect domain name, anything is possible. Name- ♦♦ Hosting Studio API, which launched late in 2017, is a sophisticated domain name suggestion ♦♦ AI service that can deliver great .com and .net domain names, as well as relevant domain name suggestions across a wide range of over 1500 TLDs. “Domain names are the TAKE ACTION common denominator for many services”, said Keshavarz—new businesses’ social ♦♦ Explore how Verisign’s turnkey solution media accounts will often point back to a central website: “The domain is the one thing can help you help your customers that kind of ties these pieces together.” From search visibility to email, the domain ♦♦ Deepen your business’ own names name has value beyond the website itself. portfolio

EBRAHIM KESHAVARZ Senior Vice President, Product Management at Verisign As senior vice president of product management, Ebrahim Keshavarz is responsible for Verisign’s global product portfolio. Prior to joining Verisign in 2016, Keshavarz spent 13 years with AT&T where he held various leadership positions focusing on small business customers and leading teams in sales, product management, strategy and business development. He successfully led capital planning for their consumer business, as well as playing an integral role in AT&T’s integration with DirecTV. Verisign NameStudio API is a free tool backed by machine learning algorithms, and Keshavarz also held product leadership po- can be easily implemented with any online platform. If you’re selling hosting, cloud ser- sitions at DoubleClick and Compaq. Earlier in vices, websites, or email, said Keshavarz, you can use this tool to help your customers his career, he worked at the Boston Consulting make the best decisions possible. Group and Morgan Stanley. Keshavarz holds a A critical part of NameStudio was the ability to understand different languages: as Master of Business Administration from Harvard Verisign’s Scott Schnell also pointed out at CloudFest, localization strongly affects University and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Rice University. how domain names are chosen and used. NameStudio currently supports 10 different languages, and can distinguish between personal names from keywords—and the machine learning helps NameStudio get better at what it does over time. Also, added Keshavarz, the tool is customizable to your business in terms of, for example, the TLDs you offer, the number of results you offer, and geolocation: “It’s not just a powerful tool, but it’s something that you control how it gets implemented for your end users.” Keshavarz pointed to customer feedback during NameStudio’s beta test, which showed high levels of satisfaction from users all over the world. Business owners said that the tool boosted their conversion rates, thus making them more money. “It’s literally one or two lines of code that you put into your system to start generating que- ries,” said Keshavarz. During a live demo of NameStudio, Keshavarz walked the audience through suggestions for a dog walker app. Upon inputting dogwalkerapp.com, NameStudio broke that into three instantly-recognizable words—”dog”, “walker”, and “app”,—along with suggested prefixes and suffixes. Turns out doggywalkerapp.com was available, but topdogwalkerapp.com just sounded better. In getting rid of “app”, a reconfigured recommendation was dogwalkercompany.com. “We help the end user find the names they love,” said Keshavarz. Coinciding CloudFest 2018, Keshavarz announced improved language recommen- dations for German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Turkish; as well as en- hanced models.

16 #CloudFest Wednesday March 14 Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: Insights from a Slackline World Record Holder Alexander Schulz

“Every fiber in your body shouts, ‘You walked. The wind was so strong, he was he said, “with the right strategy.” In giv- shouldn’t be here!’ You can’t allow that fear. actually worried that the slackline would ing himself permission to fail, he asked, You have to tell yourself, ‘No, I can deal break as he crawled hand-over-hand back “What’s the worst that could happen?” with this movement. It’s no problem.’” So to the anchor, clipped on by a carabiner. “If Besides disappointment, not that much, said slackline-multiple-world-record-hold- I had panicked then, I’d have just used all it turned out. Schultz was confident that his er Alexander Schultz in 2016, prior to his my energy for a few meters, and wouldn’t own team would know he was giving 150%. shattering of yet another world record by have enough left to go [back] all the way.” Stunts like these are never guaranteed suc- successfully transversing the 247m-high, He added, “Taking a deep breath cesses anyway. “This realization kind of just 217m-long highline between the Torre changes so much.” In this case, he was lifted most of the pressure,” he said, and he Reforma and Torre Bancomer skyscrapers coping with impossible external circum- could channel his energy into the actions in Mexico City. Schultz credits his success stances. Schultz had to learn to fail. He also that mattered most. Then the breathing in conquering the “sickest urban high- had to properly control his breathing—both and shouting helped him complete the line”—and all that he has accomplished in of which he said can be applied to any walk and set a new world record. the slacklining world—by taking risks and situation in life. When the expectations are high, said accepting the discomfort that goes along You may not be slacklining from peak Schultz, put that fear into perspective. The with it. Schultz shared with the CloudFest to peak in Mexico as an airplane buzzes level of stress often doesn’t relate to the 2018 audience his story of capitalizing on centimeters from your clenched face, but real-world worst possible outcome of what his potential—how you do face stress- you’re doing. “Drop the fear,” he said, “and through willpower es and challenges then you will perform at your best.” Cherish and concentration, on a regular basis. that moment, and remember those feelings one can become That doesn’t mean of success when you reach your goals, said the master of their you can’t take Schultz. This will help you stay positive. fears and accom- control. Schultz Stepping out of your comfort zone is the plish everything said that our minds only way to realize your dreams. Practically, they set their mind and bodies can you’ll widen your competence, improve to do. act irrationally in your self-esteem, and tame your fears. “I stepped out scary situations. Perhaps most importantly, he added: you of my comfort zone A remedy for that, could become an inspiration to others. so many times that he said, was to its boundaries have shifted,” said Schultz, build up a routine of what to do in those “they’ve shifted beyond their original state.” situations until your brain understands that KEY CONCEPTS The Comfort Zone is where you’re chilling what you’re trying to do is, in fact, possible. ♦♦ Risk on the couch, or going through a normal Practice leads to success, and helps you ♦♦ Vision workday. Beyond that lies the Learning control your panic. Just do it one step at a ♦♦ Resilience Zone, where you already might be afraid, time. That insane Mexico City slackline? A ♦♦ Goal-setting but the tasks are still manageable. “That’s 250m-high line between the city’s highest not the case anymore in the Panic Zone,” building, which was nearly impossible to TAKE ACTION he said: you might not be able to physically see when looking down. “There was a ♦♦ Identify the situations that make you function. At least at first. lot of distraction going on,” said Schultz, sweat, and then identify the opportuni- Thanks to his parents being adventur- such as a TV-camera helicopter and a tight ties hidden therein. ous themselves, Schultz spent lots of time time constraint. Another coping strategy ♦♦ Learn how to fail. in that Learning Zone, and got into slack- he uses, which came handy high above ♦♦ Realize that some of the pressure you lining as a teen. “Slackline is super-chal- Mexico City, is to verbally coach himself. put on yourself is imaginary. lenging,” he said, perhaps unnecessarily. “This does help a lot, in fact. Shouting actu- ♦♦ Breathe! He uses a harness, so that it can be done ally physically helps, to relax muscles that safely: “It’s a mind game, because objec- are tight.” Maybe shouting in the middle tively you are safe; but it doesn’t feel safe.” of a meeting would be frowned upon, but ALEXANDER SCHULZ Preparation is a challenge: for his you can still do it silently. “I kept failing, I World Record Holding Slackliner world-record distance attempts, it can take kept falling,” said Schultz, who had nearly Alexander Schulz has turned the world of slack- a week just to set up the slackline. Then convinced himself that he couldn’t finish lining on its head with his awe-inspiring ability there’s the wind: a 650m highline walk in the walk. The pressure was nearly the last to successfully traverse some of the toughest France was made much more frightening straw, but that was something he recog- slacklines ever rigged. by the angry gales besetting Schultz as he nized that he could change. “It’s possible,”

#CloudFest 17 Wednesday March 14

The Power of Stability: The cPanel & WHM LTS Tier Eric Ellis

“I met this little birdie that changed my life,” said Eric Ellis, VP of Customer Experi- ence at cPanel. He was talking about Linux and its happy penguin mascot. Technol- ogy as a tool can help us reduce human labor to meet our most basic needs. We’ve increased our understanding of the world, and the universe. It brings us together more quickly and easily than ever before. Indeed, AI is allowing tech to build itself. But sometimes things don’t work. Ellis discussed cPanel & WHM’s long-term support (LTS) tier with the CloudFest crowd. “Technology in its growth is inherently chaotic,” said Ellis. The web hosting industry is a constant flow of new, exciting technology that burns out almost as quickly as it arrived. With the industry constantly changing, it makes sense that nearly every software company tries to stay relevant by keeping at the front of the technology curve. We often introduce new problems as we fix old ones, or make our tools bigger and better. “This is especially true in our industry,” he said. “We have high expectations for software, but it’s built by humans.” And humans can break things.

ERIC ELLIS Vice President of Customer Experience at cPanel Eric Ellis has been in the web-hosting industry for twenty years and has a rich background in Linux and Windows-based hosting solutions. Eric came to cPanel as a technical analyst, spent three years working as Director of Development Operations, and is now serving as the Vice President of Customer Experience. When he’s not working with cPanel, Eric works with the EFF, i2Coalition, and the Boy Scouts of America to further causes like net neutrality and citizenship.

Thus we encounter bugs, and thus QA and customer support are very important. cPanel uses a tiered release system for its products, to cater to users from the risk-tak- er to the risk-hater:

♦♦ The Edge tier represents a tiny fraction of cPanel users: one-half of 1%. This is not for the faint of heart: it’s a public-facing development build. cPanel suggests only using EDGE to test for compatibility and functionality in a controlled environment. ♦♦ The Current tier represents just over 1% of users, and is the first public-release version of server software. It may not have all of the intended functionality; think of it as the “release candidate” version. ♦♦ The Release tier is the one you get by default when installing cPanel. 3% of users use this stable tier. It’s feature-complete and well-tested. ♦♦ The Stable tier is used by around 90% of users. As the name suggests, it’s benefitted from plenty of public exposure. ♦♦ The LTS tier is the one that lives with the team for a year before getting set free in the wild, and provides an alternative to disabling updates, ensuring that cPanel & WHM servers receive important updates and fixes. This is the version meant for the risk-hater. The result, said Ellis: “A happy support team, a less-stressed support marshal, and a QA team that doesn’t murder us in our sleep.”

The burden of testing all those different versions is extensive, said Ellis; hence the once-yearly release of the LTS version. WIth this five-tier system, cPanel balances the need for new and exciting features with the stability that successful businesses need.

18 #CloudFest Wednesday March 14

Is Cryptocurrency Mining Helping Or Hurting the Cloud? Boyan Ivanov, Toan Nguyen, Igor Lebedev and Nikolas Kremer

Bitcoin mining today takes up more a proof of stake approach, which is less influences the price of GPUs, “which power resources than 159 of the coun- resource-intensive and more democratic. are three times higher than they should tries in the world do. Bitcoin power con- Boyan Ivanov, CEO of Storpool, said be.” When the price of a coin drops, the sumption is on par with the power con- that the most efficient organizations are profitability drops as well, along with the sumption of Qatar, the richest per-capita the ones making money from mining. dynamic activity of the mining. Countries country in the world. Cryptocurrency This means the companies that go so with cheaper electricity, such as Russia mining will continue to grow, but will far as to manufacture their own chips, as or China, will keep on mining, though, as take enormous resources to do so. Is well as other hardware. “However, a ser- the lower-margin miners will drop off first. this a market opportunity for the cloud, vice provider, if you’re selling floor space That cost fluctuation presents opportu- or a drain on its resources? How should and cooling and power… you’re making a nities to the rest of the cloud industry, as hosting and cloud providers be looking profit on it.” That way, you’re not buying those rigs can be repurposed for other at cryptocurrency from a mining per- into the risk inherent to fluctuating cryp- tasks suited to fog computing. spective? A panel of high-level experts to values; you’re selling axes to miners, Nguyen said that he wasn’t seeing explored these questions at CloudFest rather than mining for gold. (In Ivanov’s a lot of new miners because of how 2018. opinion, this is the way to go.) expensive it is to get into the game. Igor Lebedev, “You’re seeing CTO of Lebedev, a lot of mining said that crypto- activities outside currency is mined of mainland Eu- in a decentralized rope, because of manner: “Mining the power prices.” is essentially a (He sees crypto- lottery. You have currency as only to make an agree- one application ment on who will of the blockchain, make the next and others can block.” To mine be more sustain- a coin, you burn able. He said that through a lot of e-shelter was resources in terms looking beyond of computing the financial space power and elec- for the next big tricity. If you win thing in block- the lottery, as it chain.) Ivanov said were, you win the right to sign a block Nikolas Kremer, Director and CTO of that Sofia, Bulgaria’s industrial spaces are on the blockchain. Your cost to take part Jumatech, said that mining is profitable chock-full of cryptocurrency-mining rigs, is your resources, but if you sign a block for hardware providers and electricity to the point that empty space near the and earn coin, you can sell it. “This is not providers, but not always for the min- capital just can’t be found anymore. altruistic at all—this is about money.” Just ers themselves. You can fit one or two Kremer said his company started look at the price of Bitcoin. (Some coins mining rigs in your garage, but if you’re thinking about what to do with the hot are more established than others, but going for 10 or 20 rigs then you’re facing air generated by all those rigs. The heat really we’re only talking about a handful bigger problems: “In the end, you don’t exchangers around their machines end of the thousands that are out there.) want to burn your whole house down!” up generating hot water, which can be Toan Nguyen, Director of Business That sort of scale requires a professional used in a city’s water systems or in urban Development and Cloud Platform of space. Most data centers aren’t used to farming. He mentioned fish farms, which e-shelter services said that there’s the the requirements of a mining rig. That’s require water to be kept at a steady tem- public blockchain, which is used in the why Jumatech got into immersed-cool- perature. Lebedev said that some people cryptocurrency space; and the private ing solutions, so you could load in more are using their mining rigs as radiators to blockchain, which is used for enterprise hardware into a small space without heat their homes. However, to be a real purposes. In the public space, there are blowing everything up like in a Michael player, you’d need more electricity to run different ways to do the actual mining. Bay movie. your mining rigs than a residential home One is proof of work, which requires all Lebedev added that the scale of the could deliver. that computing and electric power; and mining phenomenon is so large that it Nguyen said that that these rigs could

#CloudFest 19 Wednesday March 14

Is Cryptocurrency Mining Helping Or Hurting the Cloud? (cont.) be packaged into movable containers, cryptocurrency beyond any one nation’s companies building public or private clouds. which can be deployed in whichever borders. Boyan puts his efforts in working with Cloud region is most advantageous, due to eco- Service Providers, Shared Hosters, MSP busi- nomic and political environments. “Cryp- ness leaders (CEO / CTO / Owners) to greatly to-mining may not be the most stable improve business performance and profitability through designing, deploying and managing fit income,” said Kremer, which is why he’s for purpose Storage Solutions. looking at other uses and deployments for that type of hardware. For example, TOAN NGUYEN could you at some point run a data cen- Director Business Development & Cloud ter in the middle of the desert, running on Platform at e-shelter services solar power? Toan Nguyen is the Director of Colocation Nguyen said that crypto would make a Service Line and Cloud Platform at e-shelter. great trial for innovation in data centers, Toan is responsible for bringing the maximum as we rethink efficiency from the appli- value to e-shelter’s customers and partners cation layer to the infrastructure. Crypto that use e-shelter’s colocation and connectivity solutions for their hybrid / multi cloud deploy- miners are a bit more Wild West, without Kremer thinks that cryptocurrency ments and digital transformation. Prior to his worrying about redundancy and 100% mining is indeed helping the cloud, since current role, he held a series of sales and sales uptime; but how can established data it’s driving innovation in data centers. strategy leadership positions at Amazon Web centers approach that level of output It forces us to re-examine how we use Services (AWS) and Hewlett-Packard, working while remaining secure and reliable? what we have. Ivanov sees crypto mining in Germany, in the United States as well as “Eventually you need a sort of secure potentially a good idea to enter, as the Singapore. Toan is a native of Hanoi, Vietnam. home for your infrastructure,” he said. space is still growing. Nguyen said that He received a MBA degree from The Open Kremer said that starting with Bitcoin we should focus on enterprise applica- University, England and the Cooperative State mining is really hard now, since regular tions of the blockchain. Lebedev said that University in Stuttgart, Germany. He also holds GPUs aren’t powerful enough to do it cryptocurrency influences the cloud, in a bachelor’s degree in Applied Computer Sci- anymore. He suggested newbie miners pushing the capacities of data centers. ence from Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Stuttgart, Germany. stick with other coins. There are cloud As mining gets less profitable, miners mining providers out there, where you will look for new applications for their IGOR LEBEDEV can rent space to mine on virtual ma- rigs. This is good for the future of edge CTO at SONM chines so you don’t keep blowing the computing. Igor is a specialist in computer science with fuses in your kitchen. 15 years of IT experience, including seven As to whether mining is right for you, years developing software for the enterprise. it would depend on what you’re willing to KEY CONCEPTS He is an expert in classic system architectures invest in terms of equipment, and which ♦♦ Cryptocurrency for OLTP, MDM, DWH, OLAP, and BI system classes, databases, as well as some special- coin you’re trying to mine. Cloud mining ♦♦ Data center ized architectures for the fog computing and would be the easiest way to start, but ♦♦ Blockchain microservices, smart contracts and the block- owning your own hardware may make chain, automated trading systems and micro- sense as well. This is a speculative econ- TAKE ACTION electronics. He has finished several projects in omy, no question about that. Over time, ♦♦ Where does your technology fit into Prognoz and EPAM. Igor Lebedev is the head the crypto market will be more regulated the crypto economy, if at all? Are you of the SONM development team since July than it is now, even if it’s not regulated mining, or can you be selling tools? 2017. He has made a significant contribution to to the extent that fiat currencies are. For the product vision and development process. example, initial coin offerings (ICOs) are His expertise has helped the team to define extremely dodgy these days: they’re sort BOYAN IVANOV and evolve a product strategy and technology of like stock valuations, but they’re based CEO at Storpool stack off of which the SONM platform is based. Igor has built an outstanding developers team on the coins that a new crypto-based Boyan Ivanov is CEO and co-founder of Stor- that moves forward the project and brings to companies produce; Lebedev described Pool. He started programming at the age of 10. the world the real working general purpose At the same age, he started his first venture this scene as “the Wild West” at the mo- fog-computing platform. The product is already and the latter stuck. He has been in the enter- ment. Kremer said that regulation here available as testnet MVP version, evolving prise and SME worlds, working in IT, banking is necessary, and it’s coming. The cryp- according to the roadmap. and financial sectors. He has also been part tocurrency market itself, though, can’t of several startups, prior StorPool and now really be regulated, he added: China NIKOLAS KREMER he’s focusing on improving data storage for has tried and failed, since you can trade Director and CTO at Jumatech

20 #CloudFest Wednesday March 14 The Cloud is the Future. But What is the Future of the Cloud? Laurent Allard

The cloud market is changing and adapting to a sustained growth, driven by companies’ exponential needs. What risks and opportunities arise in this context? Where is the cloud market heading? Laurent Allard, Vice Chairman and Head of Strategic Development at OVH, tackled these questions at CloudFest. The cloud is a worldwide booming market, said Allard. Fueling this boom are legacy IT migration, a 40% year-on- year explosion in data creation, and new digital services on offer. “We are at the very, very beginning of the curve,” he said. In the next 10 years, we’ll have 10x growth in this industry. Iaas and PaaS are going to 10x in just eight years. North America remains the biggest market, he said, but the future of growth is in emerging countries. By 2025, the US will still be the biggest market, but the most growth will come from elsewhere, such as China and India. Allard pointed to Africa as a particularly hot spot for growth: “If you look forward, it will be a big part [of the cloud industry’s growth].” Africa will adopt digital technologies that leapfrog the legacy tech that hasn’t yet taken hold across the continent. Africa is going straight to mobile, KEY CONCEPTS straight to the cloud. ♦♦ Hyper-scale ♦♦ IaaS / PaaS ♦♦ Futurism

TAKE ACTION ♦♦ As the industry reconfigures, seek out opportunities for repositioning and strategic partnerships.

LAURENT ALLARD Executive Board Member, Head of Strategic Development, Vice Chairman at OVH With a total of 35 years of experience in the IT world, Laurent Allard has held various positions of responsibility in multinationals, including CGI, SMBs are the largest market share at the industry if we look to 2020, making up Logica, and Axa. As CIO or CTO, he has led 70% of the spend. They’re relatively unburdened by legacy tech, and have the mindset ambitious IT and organizational transformation projects in these global companies (such as to adopt newer tools. But, he added, the mid-large customers are coming. the creation of AXA Tech in 2001). In February Businesses have different needs at different scales, said Allard. Examples are Infra- 2015, Allard joined OVH as CEO to structure structure as a service (IaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS), web, and pure-infra telco the governance of the company, undergoing service.Three categories of business needs are: global growth. An important step in this mission ♦♦ Business innovation—Has to go to market fast: “Do it! Now! Fast!” was the creation of the 2015-2020 growth plan, ♦♦ Core business—This requires security, scale,compliance. and to ensure funding for it, the arrival of OVH ♦♦ Back office—Ease of use, cost, and performance are key. capital from two external capital investors (KKR and TowerBrook funds). In March 2017, Octave These require a diversity of cloud offerings, from the hyper-scaled to the bespoke. Klaba (founder of OVH) and Allard changed Cloud service providers (CSPs) see demand for more services, more innovation, and their roles to meet two requirements of a com- more tech investment. Opportunity for growth comes in the form of added-value ser- pany whose growth continues to accelerate: ensuring execution of the plan on a daily basis vices, said Allard: “With that 10x growth, there is opportunity to invent new services.” in the context of a constantly changing environ- Allard called this new emerging business model “hoster of hosters”. ment, and building the hyper-growth agenda. Infrastructure providers will concentrate further, said Allard, and CSP leaders will Octave became the CEO of the OVH Group consider to grow 30% compared to the compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Small and Laurent joined the OVH Board as Vice providers, in turn, will be hosted by specialized leaders, with each specializing in a Chairman. His Strategic Development mission different part of the value chain. OVH itself is an example of a major global provider of includes strategic planning, public affairs, and hyper-scaled cloud services—it owns all of its own data centers and network, and stays strategic alliances. Allard is also Chairman of 100% industry-standard with its technologies, and can deliver a server in two minutes. OVH’s strategic committee.

#CloudFest 21 Wednesday March 14 The CloudFest Leadership Check–in: Where the Cloud Industry is Heading Dr. Andreas Palm, Higor Franco, Yusuf Nurrachman, Mitch Haber and Jonas Dhaenens

When this conference made the Yusuf Nurrachman, CEO of Rumah- customers, it won’t be profitable for very transition from WHD to CloudFest, we web Indonesia, said that CSPs are much longer.“ Public cloud infrastructure embraced the fact that this industry had fighting against social media in users’ presents a threat to private data centers, changed, and grown in ways most never online-presence perceived hierarchy of he warned. Understanding the customer imagined possible. Focusing our atten- needs. life-cycle from a more vertical perspec- tion on the broader cloud community Jonas Dhaenens, Founder & CEO of tive, he added: “Customers expect more meant looking to the future of how infor- Combell and largest shareholder of Intel- from us.” Service providers have to cre- mation is created, stored, and shared. ligent Group, said that PaaS is coming to ate a holistic customer experience that A group of cloud visionaries who are the fore and surpassing IaaS: he pointed goes beyond the website, he said. working to bring Franco said us all into that that architecture future took the innovation is the stage at Cloud- key to a success- Fest to give us a ful future. “Start sneak preview of everything that is tomorrow—and new on the cloud, and in a world of and don’t try to AI and automation, transform what tomorrow is look- you [already] have ing surprisingly to the cloud.” Edu- human. cating the market Dr. Andreas is important, said Palm, Managing Palm: customers Director of Go- don’t always know Daddy EMEA, said what a service pro- that growth isn’t vider can actually as easy anymore do for them. as we make our Narrachman way through 2018. He sees two major to Facebook as an example of a PaaS. sees Indonesia as an exciting emerging trends: first is consolidation and integra- CSPs have to innovate their offerings if market: “We’re still in the very early stage tion. “There is no silver bullet yet,” he they want to woo SMBs. of growing.” His country is going social said. The second trend is the problem of So, is the hosting industry still profit- media first, but he’s still seeing 25% year- differentiation. For GoDaddy, he said, it’s able? It’s a deceptively difficult question. on-year growth on Rumahweb’s active customer service. Dhaenens said that it can only be profit- accounts. Franco said that Brazil’s GDP Mitch Haber, Head of Corporate able if it’s scalable. He sees small cloud is growing again, and “we expect to have Strategy and Partnerships at Endurance, companies investing in strategies that some growth in the hosting market.” This noted the democratization of innovation don’t scale well, thus dooming them- industry is growing at a greater rate than made possible by easy access to the selves. “This definitely leads to consoli- the GDP, which makes him feel optimistic. cloud. Small businesses are using the dation,” he said. “If you’re just milking the “The whole industry needs to listen cloud now, he said, and thinking more cow, just having website solutions like to the customer and work on that,” said about web presence. you did in 1999,” you’re going to have Palm. His team is trained to serve as Higor Franco, General Director of Re- a bad time in the months and years to advisors rather than sneaky salespeople: tail at Locaweb, said that we should take come, he warned. Palm agreed, saying “If you’re trying to smuggle stuff into their a look at the increase in social-media that investing in the right products to shopping basket, it doesn’t work, not in usage. “This is a trend we should watch make customers happy, those customers the long term!” Haber said we need to carefully,” he said. Also, he said, there are will trust you and stick with you. Palm think of customer service in how it relates more developers out there. It’s important said that bridging the gap between cus- to cloud infrastructure. Machine learning to see how they engage with PaaS, as tomer and CTO is a priority for him. capabilities give us more insight into the well as more advanced tech concepts Haber said, “If we don’t innovate, if we customer life-cycle, he added. such as blockchain. don’t start providing real value-add to our The web hosting industry should be

22 #CloudFest Wednesday March 14 The CloudFest Leadership Check–in: Where the Cloud Industry is Heading (cont.)

paying attention to the growth of CMSs like Drupal and Word- Prior to joining HEG, he was Chief Sales and Market Officer responsible Press, said Dhaenens: ”Try to really bridge the gap between the for Central Europe’s hosting business with 1&1. Before entering the Host- small shared hosting package and the cloud server.” He sees a ing Industry Andreas worked as a management consultant with McKinsey trend of bigger resources for “normal websites”. & Company, with a strong focus on the telecommunications and high- tech industries in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Franco said that developers are really interested in multi- cloud and brokerage services, a trend that’s only just taking HIGOR FRANCO shape. Haber said that, in five years, we’ll see a steady evolu- General Director of Retail at Locaweb tion away from traditional web hosting; moving toward other Higor Franco holds an MBA in Technology Management and became types of solutioning. He said that local relevance will also be- the General Director of Retail for Locaweb in Dec 2017. Experienced in come even more important. product management and technology innovation, he acquired high-level positions within the last companies he worked for including DASA (the largest laboratory company in LA), IBM (cloud segment) and UOLDIVEO (top 3rd largest outsourcing company in Brazil).

YUSUF NURRACHMAN CEO at Rumahweb Indonesia Yusuf is CEO, and founder of Rumahweb Indonesia, one of leading hosting companies in Indonesia, which he started in 2002. Under his management, Rumahweb has grown to be the most popular hosting company in Indonesia with an excellent reputation with regard to its support team. In 2012, he founded Digital Registra, a reseller focused hosting-related-product company that became the largest Indonesian domain registrar after one year. Yusuf currently focuses on creating various solutions for Indonesian SMB to go online.

Nurrachman sees the near-future market as getting more MITCH HABER specialized, serving mostly developers and SMBs. End users Head of Corporate Strategy and Partnerships at Endurance want everything to get easier and easier, he said, pointing to the Mitch Haber is Endurance’s Head of Corporate Strategy and Partnerships rise of services like Weebly. and is responsible for the company’s global partnerships, corporate Dhaenens recommended focusing on what you’re good at, development, and strategic initiatives. Mitch joined Endurance Interna- rather than competing as a generalist. Nurrachman said that tional Group in 2000 as Director of Strategic Partnerships and has held customer demand drives change in the cloud. “Talk to your several key positions throughout the company’s development. He has focused primarily on Corporate Development, Strategic Partnerships and customer, and listen,” said Palm. Franco agreed. Product Management throughout his tenure. Before Endurance, Mitch Haber suggested developing a culture of constant innova- was Director of Business Development for MicroAge Canada, a Fortune tion: “Don’t be afraid to evolve.” 500 computer reseller where he established and managed critical partnerships for the company including IBM, Intel, and Cisco Systems. Mitch graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada with a Bachelor of KEY CONCEPTS Arts degree in political science. ♦♦ Customer service ♦♦ Scaling JONAS DHAENENS Founder & CEO at Combell / Intelligent Group TAKE ACTION Jonas Dhaenens founded Combell / Intelligent Group in 1999. Engaging ♦♦ Get inside your customers’ heads to anticipate their needs. in an extensive buy-and build strategy (+50 M&A deals) he started with ♦♦ Keep an eye on developer trends. the brand Combell and eventually acquired a number of other companies under the holding “Intelligent Group,” which also included enterprise managed hosting brand Sentia. Intelligent Group was ultimately split into two groups, Combell Group and Sentia Group, where Jonas continues DR. ANDREAS PALM in the role of CEO of Combell, functions as a board member of Sentia Managing Director at GoDaddy EMEA and remains a major shareholder in both. Jonas is also an active private Andreas is responsible for the EMEA brands of the GoDaddy group, e.g., equity investor in the tech startup world, providing funding for such com- Host Europe, domainFactory, 123-reg, or Heart Internet. He was the CEO panies as Xpenditure, Teamleader, The Glue, Realo, etc.. for Mass Hosting at HEG before GoDaddy acquired HEG as a whole.

#CloudFest 23 Thursday March 15

Can the Cloud Bring Us Democracy Without Borders? Birgitta Jonsdottir

Technology and its impact on society is advancing faster than Jónsdóttir described the NSA’s PRISM program as “the traditional legislative bodies can move. Smartphone adoption draconian scraping of our persona”, thanking whistleblower and and the Internet of Things arrived faster than they could be CloudFest presenter Edward Snowden for his actions in leaking legislated or secured. This has led to major conflicts around the secret scheme: “You can’t have democracy online or offline privacy, access to untainted information (fake news), freedom of if you don’t have certain rights.” Jónsdóttir wanted parliamentar- expression, and the right of association ians to talk about privacy and how it can be simplified strength- ened, and taken seriously. The problem with government, she said “is that we have all these functions, but they’re dysfunction- al.” People are feeling more and more alienated from democracy, she said, and thus looking to authoritarian leaders to essentially save them from themselves. “It’s not enough to have beautiful laws that look nice on paper,” she said: those laws have to function effectively in a world of inter-government overreach. Europe’s legal complexity, between different laws and different secret-service practice, is so far keeping privacy without borders out of our reach. Jóns- dóttir wanted to make Iceland a place where data would be safe (as opposed to just “a Bitcoin-mining place”). She used CloudFest to not simply promote Iceland’s data centers, but the country’s approach to digital privacy. Icelandic Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir told Jónsdóttir that new privacy laws should be wrapped up by 2019. Birgitta Jónsdóttir is a published poet, web developer, anar- chist, former politician, and founder of the Icelandic Pirate Party. She is one of the Internet’s most well-known activists. Jónsdóttir joined CloudFest to share a vision of how Europe, and then the world, can fight for democracy and human rights in the digital era, particularly as some believe we are heading towards a technological singularity. “Your digital persona is your shadow,” she said. “It follows you everywhere you go.” However, it can be manipulated, stolen, or sold. How does democracy in the digital era need to evolve? “We’ve developed this language that nobody understands,” said Jónsdóttir about the online world; similar to how the legal world is a black box of jargon. The US felt it was okay to grab Jónsdóttir’s metadata, despite there being no criminal charges or court cases against her, and this drove her to action. “I was the first geek,” said Jónsdóttir about online privacy knowledge in Iceland, which drove her to form the Pirate Party. “Maybe we need to rethink laws totally,” said Jónsdóttir. “Laws are like God, and legislation is like the bibles of the world.” Legal texts are tough to parse in terms of their implications. We’re still fighting for net neutrality, and possibly los- ing, said Jónsdóttir. The IoT is also at risk of getting out of our control. This industry’s duty, she said, is to educate Europe’s parliamentarians, “who may be ministers tomorrow.” We have to break down the walls between the industry’s sectors and communicate more, she said; and we’re not doing enough on this front—why isn’t there an EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) for Europe? “When I talk about democracy without borders, I’m talking about knowledge sharing.” Algorithms are garbage-in, garbage-out, she said, and we’re far too complacent of the information we’re feeding them: “It’s

24 #CloudFest Thursday March 15

Can the Cloud Bring Us Democracy Without Borders? (cont.) bullshit!” Despite Mark Zuckerberg’s insistence on creating the biggest democracy in the world, Jónsdóttir doesn’t buy it. Facebook, she said, “is in the shit, because they KEY CONCEPTS didn’t listen. They did not care. When I talk about democracy without border, I’m not ♦♦ Privacy talking about Facebook democracy. Absolutely not.” ♦♦ Activism ♦♦ GDPR

TAKE ACTION ♦♦ Communicate with your peers about GDPR and how you want privacy to work for your customers. ♦♦ Partner with others in the industry and become good corporate citizens: advocate for meaningful privacy laws.

BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR Poetician and a former parliamentarian for the Civic Movement and the Icelandic Pirate Party, and chair of IMMI Birgitta Jónsdóttir is a Poetician and a former parliamentarian for the Civic Movement & Pirate Party in the Icelandic Parliament & chairman for IMMI (International Modern Media Institute). Jónsdóttir helped create two political movements since 2009, the Civic Movement One of the things Jónsdóttir worried about a lot over the past several years is that and the Pirate Party 2013, both parties were there’s no pressure to get privacy laws actually implemented. A lot of necessary stuff successfully elected to the Icelandic Parlia- will fall through the cracks. ment. She was selected as one of the Inter- “We’re talking in cryptic ways about important issues,” she said, so “it’s important national Politician of the Year in 2016 by Der to get poets and writers to work with you.” We need to figure out how to effectively Spiegel and shortlisted for the WTN awards in explain how AI and algorithms really work. “When you invite something like Sophia [the policy in 2014. Jónsdóttir is a longtime activist humanoid robot who was granted Saudi citizenship], make her look like a monster.” and was a WikiLeaks volunteer and spokes- The CloudFest audience agreed with her that strong privacy laws are important, person in 2010. She played a crucial role in and that Europe needs an EFF umbrella of some kind, as countries like China develop the WikiLeaks release of The Collateral Mur- more sophisticated ways of spying on their citizens. Jónsdóttir issued an invitation for der. Jónsdóttir is a regular contributor to the CloudFest attendees to get involved in this: “Let’s start somewhere!” Guardian and various other publications. She is a pioneer in web development in her own “If you’re interested in hacktivism,” said Jónsdóttir, “come talk to me!” country and has published books her own and by others, both locally and globally. She has appeared in documentaries, features, and even in a Hollywood film. Her favorite documentaries she has been part of thus far are WikiRebels, We Steal Secrets and Meeting Snowden. Jónsdóttir believes individuals can and should change the world.

#CloudFest 25 SAVE THE DATE!

March 23-29, 2019 Europa-Park, Rust, Germany

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