Our biggest technical conference of the year — the GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit — is coming up on June 27th at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. We’re convening the top technical and business leaders in areas such as Serverless, DevOps, Artificial Intelligence, SaaS, Hybrid Cloud and other areas to discuss what’s next in cloud computing, and provide hands-on, detailed lessons and best practices on how best to leverage the cloud for your organization.
Tickets available here.
Interested in attending, but need to get your manager to sign off? Check out this handy e-mail we’ve crafted to convince your boss to send you to the Cloud Tech Summit. Also, make sure to download the GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit app here.
More than 600 people attended the inaugural Cloud Tech Summit last year, which you can read about here. A third of attendees are engineers, developers, designers or technical leaders. This year, we’re expecting a bigger turnout, and we are also excited to showcase a business track that will dive into the economics, sales and marketing of cloud computing services, featuring leading venture capitalists, CIOs and analysts.
You can see the full agenda below, including details and abstracts across five technical tracks and a business track. We also will be highlighting fireside chats with Microsoft Azure CTO Mark Russinovich, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince and Peter DeSantis, vice president of AWS Global Infrastructure and Customer Support. We are also excited to host a CIO Panel, featuring the leaders of top technology leaders at companies in travel, manufacturing and health care.
7:45 – 8:50 a.m.
Registration opens
8:50 – 9:00 a.m.
Opening remarks
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
General Session: Fireside Chat with Mark Russinovich, CTO, Microsoft Azure
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
General Session: Carlos Guestrin, Senior Director of AI and Machine Learning, Apple
10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Morning Break
10:30 – 11:00 a.m.
30-minute technical talks
Business Track, presented by Skytap
Power Talk: Application Capital – Kara Sprague, SVP & GM of ADC, F5 Networks
Abstract: During the Industrial Revolution, factories & machinery were the primary source of capital deployed by corporations. By the 1900s, the explosion of service-based industries meant that the measure of corporate performance became people, or human capital. Today, in the technology age, the value of the modern enterprise resides in its applications. Companies have long invested heavily in the management of critical infrastructure and human capital, consistently and efficiently over multiple locations. But, the same cannot be said for applications. To truly take advantage of the cloud – no matter the provider or the location – companies are going to start devoting the same level of energy & resources to making their applications the most efficient measure of corporate performance, as they have in their infrastructure and human capital.
DevOps & Containers Track, presented by F5
Running Stateful Workloads on Kubernetes – Bassam Tabbara, Founder and CEO, Upbound
Abstract: Kubernetes has become the de facto container orchestrator and now runs everywhere from public clouds to private clouds. One of the most powerful features of Kubernetes is the ability to deploy your applications consistently no matter what the environment is, but the same should be true for your storage if you want to realize the full potential of Kubernetes.
In this talk, we will explore options and tradeoffs for running stateful workloads on Kubernetes. We will also introduce Rook, a CNCF-hosted storage orchestrator for Kubernetes, and show how it can help run portable stateful workloads on Kubernetes.
Serverless Track, presented by Expedia
Is Serverless The New Swiss Cheese? Managing the Gaps In The Serverless Development Lifecycle – Chase Douglas, Co-founder and CTO of Stackery.io
Abstract: Serverless is great. But there are still many holes in the software development lifecycle for serverless projects. How are access and permissions managed when there are so many more resources than before? How can a team collaborate when there is only one shared AWS account? How do you perform integration testing? Discover new solutions for these common challenges.
SaaS Track, presented by Salesforce
Flannel: Slack’s Secret to Scale – Milena Talavera, Senior Engineering Manager, Slack
Abstract: In order for a company to grow and thrive, it must scale ahead of customer growth, maintaining both a reliable and flexible infrastructure that supports rapid development. As its user base grew, Slack’s previous system for managing users, channels, and associated messages remained viable for smaller customers, but risked a slower startup time and client overhead for much larger teams. To address this, Slack engineers created Flannel, an application-level caching service developed in-house and deployed to edge points-of-presence. Slack’s Engineering Manager, Milena Talavera, will discuss how Flannel — first deployed in January 2017 between Web Client, Mobile and Backend engineering teams — increases scalability in Slack, along with ongoing initiatives for Flannel, like addressing thundering herd problems and achieving high availability.
AI/Machine Learning Track
Choose optimism – David Tennenhouse, Chief Research Officer, VMware
Abstract: There is rising concern about “unintended consequences” of Big Data and AI, with growing narratives related to: jobs; security; privacy; fake news; the lack of AI transparency; etc.. This talk will discuss how these technologies can continue to be both a force for good and a positive factor in addressing enterprise challenges. That doesn’t mean sweeping concerns under the rug. Instead, let’s identify ways to confront these unintended effects of innovation head-on and do what we do best, i.e., turn them into opportunities for new and better innovations for the future.
Hybrid Cloud Track, presented by Joyent
Data on Steroids: Building A Fast Financial Database Using A Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure – Alex Legault, Associate Director of Products, PitchBook
Abstract: To enable PitchBook to continually add new datasets, roll out advanced features and improve the user interface, the company required a flexible and fluid cloud environment. This led PitchBook to embark on a 1.5 year journey to deploy a hybrid cloud infrastructure leveraging Rackspace and AWS. In this session, PitchBook’s associate director of product, Alex Legault, will pull back the curtain on the challenges the company faced in the process of selecting cloud providers, managing and training two globally dispersed teams as well as a detailed account of the system migration. Audiences will walk away with a better understanding of the benefits and tradeoffs of a hybrid cloud deployment as well as a thorough blueprint for implementation, including key lessons and surprises learned along the way.
11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
30-minute technical talks
Business Track, presented by Skytap
Panel – Navigating the Cloud: Lessons Learned from startup CEOs with Geeman Yip, CEO of BitTitan and Michel Feaster, CEO of Usermind
DevOps & Containers Track, presented by F5
DevOps 2.0: When Code lives – Edith Harbaugh, CEO and Cofounder, LaunchDarkly
Abstract: The cultural change of “DevOps” beyond just developers and operations is just at the beginning. When entire organization changes from shipping once a year to multiple times a day, how product, marketing and sales approach code as a living thing also changes.
Serverless Track, presented by Expedia
Serverless and Kubernetes: Best of both worlds – Aparna Sinha, Product Management Lead, Google
Abstract: Google’s Aparna Sinha will dive into the benefits and use cases of serverless on Kubernetes. Openness, flexibility and portability of code are key requirements for users. In this session, learn about specific scenarios that allow developers to run their applications anywhere — using familiar languages and frameworks — without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.
SaaS Track, presented by Salesforce
So you want to build an enterprise SaaS product? – Mark Nelson, EVP of Product Development, Tableau
Abstract: What does it take to build an enterprise SaaS product? How do you think about the product and the engineering skills it takes to build and maintain a world class enterprise SaaS solution? This talk will cover lessons learned in building enterprise products at scale.
AI/Machine Learning Track
AI at the edge: Ultra efficient AI on low power compute platforms – Sophie Lebrecht, Director Of Operations at xnor.ai
Abstract: Advancements in deep learning have increased opportunities to use AI in a wide number of applications. However, traditional deep learning models demand massive computing power and therefore are often tied to cloud-based data centers. The need for expensive compute platforms and internet connectivity limits the widespread use of AI in many real-world situations. This talk will explore new approaches to highly efficient deep learning and present novel ways to tightly couple hardware and software development such that state-of-the-art deep learning models can be ported into resource constrained low cost hardware platforms. This novel approach creates the potential for all devices to operate smartly and efficiently.
Hybrid Cloud Track, presented by Joyent
I may need hybrid cloud, but where do I start? – Jin Zhang, Director of Product for VMware and Hybrid Cloud at Amazon
Abstract: Many would say that they need hybrid cloud but are not sure how to identify the first batch of workload or application. Some hybrid cloud projects have failed because it took too long to execute and to demonstrate ROI. This is a speed-planning session with cheat-sheets and checklists so that one can quickly identify the top workloads to get into hybrid cloud. The session will also discuss best practices and patterns learned from helping customers to pick the low-hanging fruits on their hybrid cloud journey.
11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
30-minute technical talks
Business Track, presented by Skytap
(Continued) Panel – Navigating the Cloud: Lessons Learned from startup CEOs with Geeman Yip, CEO of BitTitan and Michel Feaster, CEO of Usermind
DevOps & Containers Track, presented by F5
DevOps in an immutable world – Padmashree Koneti, Senior Director of Product Operations, Puppet
Abstract: Padmashree Koneti discusses how engineering teams at Puppet practice what they preach with containerized applications. Learn what enterprises must consider — people, process, tools — as they embrace containerization on their journey towards more agility.
Serverless Track, presented by Expedia
Serverless and Containers: a Match Made in the Cloud – Donna Malayeri, Product and Community Manager, Pulumi
Abstract: Serverless represents an evolution of cloud computing. In the early days, there were only virtual machines, and now there are containers, container orchestrators, serverless computing, and more. Even though serverless has created a big shift in how modern applications are developed, most applications are not architected in an entirely serverless way — nor should they be. Applications now use a combination of serverless and containers. Each have their own strengths: when you want code to scale on demand, without explicitly provisioning compute resources, serverless is a good fit. For existing code, or when you need control over the execution environment, containers are a great choice. And, lightweight container services such as AWS Fargate and Azure Container Instances further blur the boundary between containers and serverless. Serverless is not all-or-nothing, it’s really a spectrum. Through real application examples, this talk will describe guidelines for when to use containers and when to use serverless functions. Serverless and containers really are better together — learn how to have the best of both worlds.
SaaS Track, presented by Salesforce
Building a Notification System at Scale – Susan Galbraith, Sr. Manager of Software Development, Smartsheet
Abstract: Using a service-based architecture is quite powerful, but can be tricky to implement. Recently, Smartsheet needed to refactor its email-based notification system to meet the demands of a rapidly growing user base. In addition to replacing the existing email mechanism with one that supports both email and mobile push notifications, the company needed to do it without disrupting the experience of millions of users. In this talk, you’ll learn how Smartsheet built that notification system as a service that is scalable, extensible and fault-tolerant. This session will cover the general design and architecture of the system as well as how the company dealt with unexpected roadblocks along the way.
AI/Machine Learning Track
Democratizing access to machine learning with pre-trained models – Jay Bartot, CTO, Madrona Venture Labs
Abstract: The rapidly growing demand for machine learning and advanced analytics capabilities in B2C and B2B applications, coupled with the chronic shortage of data scientists, has highlighted the need for accessible machine learning tools and services that empower software developers and business people alike. A new breed of specialized, “pre-trained“ machine learning models and services are being offered by major cloud providers and startups that offer easily accessible solutions to challenging machine learning problems (e.g. image, text and speech analysis) that were until recently only accessible to machine learning experts. This talk will cover many of today’s compelling and competing offerings, highlighting their applications as well as offering insight into how this layer of empowering technology might evolve in the future.
Hybrid Cloud Track, presented by Joyent
Nicholas Criss, Sr. Manager, Cloud Center of Excellence, T-Mobile
Abstract: TBA
12:00 – 1:10 p.m.
Lunch
12:15 – 1:15 p.m.
Sponsored Lunch Panel: Navigating the Engineer’s Path, presented by Stripe. Speakers include Amy Chen of Heptio; Uma Chingunde of Stripe; Dana Fried of Google and Amy Nguyen of Stripe.
Whether just kicking off your professional journey, or working as an experienced engineer, driving your career forward takes thoughtful planning, conversation, and decision-making. This is especially true for underrepresented minorities who may not have the resources or support system to reach their goals. In this panel, engineers from various backgrounds, roles, and tenure will share tips to finding novel solutions to the challenges so many engineers face while navigating their careers.
12:45 – 1:15 p.m.
Sponsored Lunch Talk, presented by VMware
1:10 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
General Session: CIO panel, featuring Janice Newell, CIO at Providence Health, and Charu Jain, CIO at Alaska Airlines. Moderated by Nancy Gohring, senior analyst at 451 Research
2:00 – 2:30 p.m.
30-minute technical talks
Business Track, presented by Skytap
Valuing the cloud – Keith Weiss, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
Abstract: Is public cloud a low cost substitute for on-premise IT infrastructure or a more fundamental enabling technology able to spur an acceleration in application workload growth? The value investors are willing to ascribe to public cloud offerings will vary greatly depending on the answer.
DevOps & Containers Track, presented by F5
The Road to Istio: How IBM, Google and Lyft Joined Forces to Simplify Microservices – Tamar Eilam, IBM Fellow, Next Generation Cloud and DevOps at IBM Research
Abstract: In 2017, IBM, Google and Lyft joined forces to launch Istio, an open cloud technology that enables developers to easily connect, manage and secure different networks of microservices — regardless of their source, platform or vendor. Since its launch, Istio has emerged as one of the most widely discussed and popular projects in the open community, gaining significant support, contributions and interest across a wide range of developers. Dr. Tamar Eilam, IBM Fellow and Researcher for Cloud, DevOps and Microservices, will detail the journey undertaken to build Istio, and how three tech leaders brought forward their best in-house technology in the open community to collaborate on and solve a broader industry issue. She will also discuss how Istio is continuing to evolve as an open project, how it’s being explored for different applications and the potential that it brings to the cloud developer community.
Serverless Track, presented by Expedia
Using Serverless to Build Servicefull Applications – Matt Weagle, Director of Infrastructure, ShiftLeft
Abstract: Developing and operating cloud-first applications remains a challenging task that often demands ever-increasing organizational resources. This is especially true when software is composed of multiple interacting components. This talk will focus on how serverless enables teams to build, sustainably operate, and evolve systems over time. We’ll explore how serverless encourages “servicefull” applications. And finally, we’ll look at how serverless and DevOps intersect, with an eye towards the non-functional requirements many cloud applications are required to consider. By the end of this talk, you’ll be prepared to build your own “servicefull” application using serverless techniques. This presentation may feature live coding and cloud deployment.
SaaS Track, presented by Salesforce
Does your SaaS automate enough? – Bob Karaban, VP of Engineering, SkyKick
Abstract: SaaS is designed for scalability, even offloading account management to the user. But in building SaaS platforms, many SaaS vendors fail to adequately consider the impact of manual intervention for initial customer configuration and setup. In fact, many complex SaaS apps assume a customer will handle their own onboarding. This may scale well enough for a few projects a week, but thousands of orders per day can result in tremendous organizational strain – and expense. Using his own experiences, Bob Karaban of SkyKick will illustrate the impact initial decisions can ultimately have on platform scalability, outline the warning signs for an automation “tipping point” and show how B2B APIs, Automated Testing, DevOps and self-scaling services can be used to achieve the level of automation required for true scale-up/scale-out. Hear the lessons learned while scaling services and why you’re never done automating with SaaS.
AI/Machine Learning Track
Machine Learning at scale – Paige Bailey, Sr. Cloud Developer Advocate, Microsoft
Abstract: You’ve sampled data, built a predictive model, and are now ready to deploy that model to production. What tools are available to scale that model to a larger data set, or to apply it to a streaming data source? And how can you dynamically train an online model as new information is added by users, or acquired via sensors? In this talk, we will show how to take a production model built on open-source machine learning tools and build an end-to-end CI/CD pipeline.
Hybrid Cloud Track, presented by Joyent
Not your mother’s cloud: Best practices for enterprise hybrid cloud — from on-prem, cloud, container and beyond oes your SaaS automate enough?– Madhura Maskasky, Co-founder, Platform9
Abstract: To enable their developers, ensure SLAs and increase IT efficiency, Enterprise IT is moving towards a unified, centralized approach for managing their hybrid infrastructure. As if the journey to the cloud – private and public – was not difficult enough, the need to support modern technologies such as Containers and Serverless applications further complicates matters. This talk covers key patterns and lessons learned from large organizations for architecting your hybrid cloud.
2:40 – 3:10 p.m.
30-minute technical talks
Business Track, presented by Skytap
Panel: The VC View of the Cloud with Tim Porter, Madrona Venture Group; Chris Kelley, DFJ and moderated by Sheila Gulati of Tola Capital.
DevOps & Containers Track, presented by F5
Container and Serverless at Edge Connected to Cloud – Ying Xiong, Chief Architect, Cloud Platform, Huawei
Abstract: In this talk, Dr. Ying Xiong, Chief Architect of Cloud Platform from Huawei Technologies, will present and share the experience of building edge cloud platform using container and/or Kubernetes technologies. Edge cloud platform enables customers to develop and test container based applications and/or serverless functions in the cloud, push and run them at edge nodes for local computing or data analysis. Dr. Xiong will discuss the challenges and solutions of managing edge nodes from the cloud, scheduling containers or functions to the edge nodes from the cloud, and managing edge-to-cloud as well as edge-to-edge network communication.
Serverless Track, presented by Expedia
Nailing serverless application development – Sanath Kumar Ramesh, Software Development Engineer II, AWS
Abstract: Serverless computing allows you to run applications without the need for provisioning or managing servers. Developers can focus on building complete applications without the operational overhead of managing servers, greatly improving productivity. In this talk, you will learn about how teams can build serverless applications using the tools and practices you already know and love.
SaaS Track, presented by Salesforce
Technologies that scale for growth – Catherine Renwick, VP Platform Engineering at Workday
Abstract: Workday has developed and matured its DevOps thinking and platform technology over the years. As the company grew into tens of thousands of hosted servers, Workday meticulously reviewed the technologies used and the architecture it has built to enable it to scale. Catherine and her team — who explored various open source technologies and systems to accomplish that — will examine some of these technologies, delving deep into the monitoring, deployment and configuration spaces.
AI/Machine Learning Track
Beyond Prediction on Big Data: Interpretable Models for Complex Time Series – Emily Fox, Amazon Professor of Machine Learning, University of Washington
Abstract: Most of the recent success stories in machine learning involve a clear prediction goal combined with a massive (benchmark) training dataset. However, many practical machine learning problems do not fit this mold. In this talk, I am going to focus primarily on learning from time-series data, discuss some open challenges beyond prediction, and present paths forward to handle limited data scenarios and notions of interpretability in deep learning models.
Hybrid Cloud Track, presented by Joyent
Anthony Skinner, CTO at iSpot.tv. Abstract: TBA
3:10 p.m. – 3:40 p.m.
Afternoon Break
3:40 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.
General Session: Fireside Chat with Matthew Prince, Co-founder & CEO, Cloudflare
4:10 p.m. – 4:40 p.m.
General Session: Power Talk by Peter DeSantis Vice President, AWS Global Infrastructure and Customer Support followed by a Fireside Chat
4:40 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Closing Remarks
4:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Closing Party, presented at Salesforce’s office in downtown Bellevue
A big thanks to the presenting sponsor of the 2018 GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit: Salesforce.
Also, thanks to platinum and gold sponsors: OfferUp, Stripe, Expedia, F5, Joyent and Skytap.
And to our silver, supporting and exhibitor sponsors: City of Bellevue, Moz, Acumatica, Colocation Northwest, Avalara, First Tech Federal Credit Union, Pluralsight, TechPower IT Solutions and Bellevue College.
If you are interested in sponsoring this year’s Cloud Tech Summit, please contact us at advertising@geekwire.com.
