Chris Poe is CTO for Atrion Networking Corporation and serves as Vice Chairman of the InfoGroup Steering Committee for the Tech Collective. He holds more than 15 years experience in the IT industry and is a recognized practitioner, presenter and industry leader across technical, talent development and strategic levels. Chris and Tech Collective will be welcoming John Igoe of Dell to present at the next NetTech 2.0 event on Sept. 17th. Details at www.tech-collective.org.

Arguably one of the biggest buzzes in IT these days is “the cloud.”  

But what does that really mean?   

The Internet in a broad sense, outsourced application hosting, co-location facilities, off-site data backup or hosting services – these are all very diverse references to cloud computing. The reality is that “the cloud” is a very expansive, catch-all kind of term that means all of these things, and more. What is perhaps more interesting, however, is how much the cloud is being looked at as a viable, business-critical component of an organization’s IT strategy.  In fact, many CIOs regard the cloud as a means by which IT can be more agile in reacting to business needs than it previously had the ability to. 

So what does the cloud mean to the IT professional?  A significant majority of IT professionals are employed to implement and support the internal systems and applications that provide services to the business. In Rhode Island, that means a significant portion of the state’s nearly 16,000 employees in the IT and Digital Media sectors. If more of IT’s core services are provided from the cloud, the question becomes not just “What is the cloud?” but also, “How will the cloud potentially affect IT as a service and as an industry?” and “What must an IT professional do to position themselves to continue to have a viable career?” 

On Thursday September 17th, from 5:30-8pm at McFadden’s in Providence, the Tech Collective’s NetTech 2.0 series of networking events will play host to John Igoe, Director of Advanced Service Technology at Dell.  John is one of the foremost authorities on the cloud and will share his thoughts on what the cloud is, where it’s going, and what it means to IT and the practitioner.  If you don’t understand the cloud and where IT is headed – or even if you do – I highly recommend dropping in, listening to John, and networking with your IT industry peers to discuss these concepts.  

The IT industry is expected to grow 68% between 2002 and 2012, yet it is also an industry in which the skills acquired today, are common tomorrow, and aged the day after because technology evolution is ever accelerating.  In order to grow the success of the IT industry and its workforce, in particular here in Rhode Island, the IT practitioner must stay current and relevant with a good understanding of the environment in which one’s skills are to be applied. The cloud is likely to play a big part in that environment in the future. Don’t miss the chance to get ahead in it.  

For more information and to register for NetTech 2.0 featuring John Igoe, please visit www.tech-collective.org