There is much debate raging over whether cloud computing and grid computing are one and the same. In fact, there are many similarities and one key difference separating these burgeoning fields. Both cloud and grid propose an architecture that masks the complexity of managing thousands of commodity servers from their users. Consequently, those managing a grid or cloud require specialized management tools designed for large scale implementation - making it possible to manage a large number of servers without requiring an army of administrators. In both cases, users often serve themselves and pay for their usage as a utility. The key difference, however, is in the types of workloads each system processes, as well as how demand for the utility is generated. This session will explore these similarities and differences and discuss the future of cloud and grid computing.

Speaker Bio:

Songnian Zhou is Co-Founder & CEO of Platform Computing, which was created in 1992 based on the principals of his Ph.D. thesis on distributed resource management - the foundation for grid computing. Under his leadership, Platform has grown from a company of three employees to 400-strong, with 15 offices around the globe. He has been recognized for his excellence in leadership and innovation with the Ernst & Young Technology Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2002. In 2001, he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and received the Innovation Award for Leadership in Product Development from the Information Technology Research Centre (ITRC) of Ontario for Platform LSF in 1995.

Cloud Computing Conference & Expo, November 19-20-21, 2008
SYS-CON Events announced today that Amazon CTO Dr. Werner Vogels will deliver the opening keynote at SYS-CON's Cloud Computing Conference & Expo (www.cloudcomputingexpo.com), which will take place November 19-21, at the Fairmont Hotel at the heart of Silicon Valley, in San Jose, California. The first International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo will be colocated with the 4th International Virtualization Conference & Expo (www.virtualizationconference.com)..

Building the right infrastructure that can scale up or down at a moment's notice can be a complicated and expensive task, but it's essential in today's business landscape. This applies to an enterprise trying to cut-costs, a young business unexpectedly saturated with customer demand, or a start-up looking to launch.

There are many challenges when building a reliable, flexible architecture that can manage unpredictable behaviors of today's internet business. This presentation will review some of the lessons learned from building one of the world's largest distributed systems; Amazon.com. The focus will be on state management which is one of the dominating factors in the scalability, reliability, performance and cost-effectiveness of the overall system.

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About the Speaker:
Dr. Werner Vogels is Vice President & Chief Technology Officer at Amazon.com where he is responsible for driving the company's technology vision. Prior to joining Amazon, he worked as a research scientist at Cornell University where he was a principal investigator in several research projects that target the scalability and robustness of mission-critical enterprise computing systems.

Vogels holds a Ph.D. from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and has authored close to 80 articles for journals and conferences, most of them on distributed systems technologies for enterprise computing.

Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities
Sponsorship and Exhibit Opportunities Offered on a First-Come First-Served Basis. To inquire about sponsorship and exhibit opportunities please contact Carmen Gonzalez at 201-802-3021 or by email at events(at)sys-con.com. Currently, a limited number of sponsorship and exhibition packages with multiple sponsorship discounts are available for the upcoming events.