When
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
6:00pm – 7:00pm – Networking and Refreshment
7:00pm – 8:30pm – Panel Discussion and Q/A
Where
Arbuckle Lounge and Bishop Auditorium at Stanford Business School
(click for directions & parking information)
Event Description:
Described as “stupid fast,” solid state drive (“SSD”) technology is causing a dramatic shift in consumer rich areas, such as gaming and social networking. Exponential shifts in performance are also opening up new opportunities in large database applications. Some companies, such as MySpace, are opting in as well for the greener footprint that SSD technology provides. Faster and greener spells opportunity for the startup world.An SSD-enabled, networked world promises near real-time access and performance. Give us HD in 3D and ultrafast games! Delivering high performance across multiple platforms will require a range of new applications, some of which are already being developed. Come learn more about the rise of SSD technology and how it’s powering transformation and creating opportunity for entrepreneurs:
- What are the developments in SSD’s and the impact on enterprise and consumer applications.
- Given the widespread emergence of SSD, what problems are still to be solved, creating opportunities for startups in hardware and software?
- What are the implications of faster access times to rich media and databases?
- Will the physics of solid state providing faster access times and lower energy burden (i.e., longer battery life, reduced energy costs) create a paradigm shift?
- What will application developers need to know to be ready for this evolution in storage and memory technology?
Moderator
Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates
Panelists
Bill Watkins, Former CEO, Seagate *NEW UPDATE*
David Bradford, CEO, Fusion-io
Mike Chenery, President, Pliant Technology
Mike Speiser, Managing Director, Sutter Hill Ventures
Sam Pullara, Chief Technologist, Yahoo! Inc.
Registrations Closed. Walk-ins are welcome and on-site tickets are available.
Bios
Tom Coughlin, President, Coughlin Associates
Tom is a widely respected storage analyst and consultant. He has over 30 years in the data storage industry with multiple engineering and management positions at high profile companies.
Dr. Coughlin has many publications and six patents to his credit. Tom is also the author of Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics: The Essential Guide, which was published by Newnes Press. Coughlin Associates provides market and technology analysis (including reports on several digital storage technologies and applications and a newsletter) as well as Data Storage Technical Consulting services. Tom is the publisher of the 2009 Digital Storage in Consumer Electronics Report, the 2009 Media and Entertainment Storage Report as well as the 2009 Survey on Storage for Professional Media and Entertainment.
Tom is active with SMPTE, SNIA, IDEMA, the IEEE Magnetics Society, IEEE CE Society, and other professional organizations. Tom is the founder and organizer of the Annual Storage Visions Conference (www.storagevisions.com), a partner to the International Consumer Electronics Show, as well as the Creative Storage Conference held in association with the NAB show (www.creativestorage.org). Tom is also the chairman of the annual Flash Memory Summit. He is also a Leader in the Gerson Lehrman Group Councils of Advisors and a member of the Consultants Network of Silicon Valley (CNSV). For more information on Tom Coughlin and his publications. go to www.tomcoughlin.com.
Bill Watkins, Former CEO, Seagate
Bill Watkins has served as Seagate’s chief executive officer from 2004 through January 2009.
Prior to being CEO, Watkins, 56, was previously Seagate’s president and chief operating officer, a position he had held since 2000. During that time, he was responsible for the company’s hard disc drive operations, including recording heads, media and other components, and related R&D and product-development organizations.
Watkins joined Seagate in 1996 with the company’s merger with Conner Peripherals. In 1990, Watkins established the Conner Disk Division and managed its success through the merger with Seagate. Prior to joining Conner Peripherals, Watkins held executive positions with Domain Technology, where he managed the MINT (Magnetic Information Technology) disc media manufacturing process.
Watkins graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the University of Texas. He currently serves on the board of directors of Maxim Integrated Products, Flextronics and Vertical Circuits Incorporated in addition to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In December, 2006 he was named Knight Commander “Dato” by the Governor of Penang, Malaysia and received Distinguished Friends of Singapore medal from S.R. Nathan, President of Singapore.
David Bradford, CEO, Fusion-io
David Bradford is the Chief Executive Officer of Fusion-io which has developed what many have hailed as the “World’s Fastest Storage Device.” The award-winning ioDrive is a solid state storage device that accelerates data flow through any corporate enterprise. David joined Fusion-io as a Consultant in June of 2008, as Senior Vice President in September of 2008, and as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member in February of 2009. Recently he helped convince Steve Wozniak, Inventor of the Apple Computer, to join the company as its Chief Scientist.
David brings nearly 30 years of experience in technology leadership to Fusion-io. He is a proven business leader who has used innovation and foresight to play a significant role in shaping the expansive growth of the world of Information Technology. From April 2005 to June 2006, Mr. Bradford served as a Partner for the law firm of Greenberg Traurig working out of their Orange County, California office. From July 2000 to April 2005, Mr. Bradford worked as a consultant to a number of private equity funds, General Counsel to Dynix Corporation, a leading supplier of Library Software and Services, and General Counsel to Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman’s Transition team. Mr. Bradford served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel of Novell, Inc., a networking software company, from 1985 until July 2000.
Mr. Bradford received a B.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A. from Pepperdine.
Mike Chenery, President, Pliant Technology
Mike Chenery is a co-founder and president of Pliant Technology, an SSDsupplier founded in 2006. Before starting Pliant, he spent 12 years asthe vice president of HDD advanced engineering at Fujitsu ComputerProducts of America. At Fujitsu, he developed and managed the creationof an advanced architecture development group, as well as the designand introduction of three new serial interfaces. Under Chenery’sleadership, the launch of these products helped dramatically enhancethe market perception of Fujitsu’s technical leadership capabilities. He has 40 years of experience in the storage industry, and has heldmanagement positions with Memorex, Unisys, Andor Technology, andMicropolis Corporation. Chenery holds the equivalent of a B.S. inElectrical Technology from the South-East London Technical College.
Mike Speiser, Managing Director, Sutter Hill Ventures
Mike joined SHV from Yahoo!, where he was vice president of community products including Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Profiles and Bix. Mike joined Yahoo! in February 2007 through the acquisition of Bix, where he served as president and CEO. Prior to co-founding Bix, Mike served as vice president and technical advisor to Symantec Chairman & CEO, John Thompson. Previously, he was vice president of product marketing and product management at Veritas, which was acquired by Symantec. Mike also co-founded Epinions, worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and was an analyst with CS First Boston. Mike holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar, and a B.A. from the University of Arizona.
Sam Pullara, Chief Technologist, Yahoo! Inc.
Sam Pullara is vice president and chief technologist at Yahoo!. While at Yahoo!, Pullara has led the Yahoo! Application Platform, played key roles in business and technology strategy, including business development and M&A, and also contributed to a variety of tech technology programs and initiatives, including work on grid computing (e.g., Hadoop), virtualization and large scale reliable data systems. Before Yahoo!, Pullara founded Gauntlet Systems while an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Accel Venture Partners . Pullara is a board member of the OpenSocial Foundation, founded by Yahoo!, Google and MySpace. He also contributes to open source projects and volunteers his time to the Java Community Process through participation in several expert groups. Pullara has a M.S. in Physics from Northwestern University and a B.S. in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).
Registrations Closed. Walk-ins are welcome and on-site tickets are available.
