OC CIO Minutes September 9, 2010

1993-2010
Southern California/Orange County CIO Breakfast Round Table
September 9, 2010 meeting

Present: Hicham Semaan, Sean Brown, Jennifer Curlee, Jim Sutter, William Zauner, Joe Cracchiolo, Dave Phillips

REMINDER: The next OC CIO meeting will be at the new RJTCompuquest office, 18301 Von Karman, Suite 5000, Irvine, CA 92612.

The following have volunteered to introduce topics through November 2010:

10/14/10 Next generation WAN Jim Sutter
11/11/10 IT Dashboards Subbu Murthy

In a week, I will be emailing you requesting topics and speakers for the next 6 months. Please give some thought to what you would like to see discussed and which topic you will be willing to present.

Topic: Microsoft Road Map

Last month, Tina Haines reminded us that the 1st desktop computer was the Altair 8800, which was the platform on which Allen and Gates developed their software and launched Microsoft 35 years ago. Hicham Semaan, Quickstart, brought us up to date with a report from Microsoft’s worldwide partner conference held recently in Washington, D. C. He started with a movie featuring Kevin Turner, the new COO at Microsoft, speaking to the direction that Microsoft is committed. He predicted that we are headed to a new world in which everyone and every device will be connected. Microsoft is committed to moving from the packaged software business to a subscription services business on the Cloud. Believing in big, bold goals, Microsoft will be supporting continuous smart Cloud services for smart devices, with no customer involvement in upgrades. Cloud services will be of two varieties – consumer services, and commercial services. Microsoft won’t change – they will continue to innovate for the long term, and are committed to execution excellence. At this time, 70% (and growing) of Microsoft’s employees are working on Cloud services, and they are investing $9.5 B in that effort - 20% of revenue. (Turner might have a future in sales!). Hicham punctuated the movie with his own observations and comments, which was very effective. He followed that up with select slides from various presentations at the conference, some of which are attached. He noted that lots of big companies are already using their Cloud services, whether it be Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, or Infrastructure as a Service. Hicham's slides are at: http://www.slideshare.net/occio .

We asked those assembled for their reaction to Microsoft’s road map.

Jim said that at the winery, they use Microsoft’s Cloud CRM and have had some performance issues. There is limited functionality, and a lack of intuitiveness. He noted that the presentation at the partner’s conference was designed to persuade them to go and sell this approach. It’s more an AND, not OR.

Joe was most impressed with Microsoft’s commitment to Cloud services. 70% of the development folks working on Cloud services, growing to 90%, is impressive.

William was shocked that Microsoft was going so completely to the Cloud.

Jennifer was surprised because they are going through a renegotiations with their Microsoft partner, and there was no mention of the Cloud. The Cloud is attractive to her as it allows them not to have to upgrade each desktop.

Sean noted that talk of the Cloud is very familiar. As a SAP reseller, the big push is to go to the Cloud.

Thank you, Hicham, for the presentation and very effective use of the movie and slides. To view the video, use this link but you might have to be a partner to view…:

http://digitalwpc.com/Videos/VisionKeynoteVideos10/3/KevinTurnerkeynote

See you on October 14, 2010 – 7:00 a.m. in the RJTCompuquest conference room at 18301 Von Karman, Suite 5000, Irvine, CA 92612.