Stephen Collins '81 on Cloud Engineering
[ NEW LOCATION: Integrative Learning Center, Room S331 (South 331) ]
Opportunities In Cloud Engineering
by Stephen Collins
Principal Consultant, 1024tm
UMass Amherst, 1981
B.S. Computer Systems Engineering, Summa Cum Laude
4 p.m., Wednesday October 2, 2019
Integrative Learning Center, Room S331 (South 331)
University of Massachusetts Amherst
>>> In addition to this 4 PM talk, we are excited to announce that Mr. Colliins is available to meet with students, faculty and staff at lunch and dinner on the same day. If you would like to submit a request for lunch and/or dinner with Mr. Collins please complete this Google form: https://forms.gle/YL5yyywY27U72qZ27
Since about 1980, there have been four successive waves of unprecedented technological innovation that have reshaped our world. It began with the PC revolution in the 1980’s, the Internet explosion in the 1990’s, mobile smartphones in the 2000’s and the rise of cloud computing this past decade. Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are building out massive hyperscale data centers delivering cloud-based applications and services to billions of users worldwide. These industry titans are creating a radically new generation of cloud-scale computing infrastructure, capitalizing on technological advances in merchant silicon, off-the-shelf hardware, software-defined networking, distributed computing software and Big Data analytics.
While these impressive cloud computing achievements boggle the mind, there is still a tremendous amount of engineering work to be done. Over the next decade, cloud-scale infrastructure will be deployed in support of mission-critical use cases spanning business digital transformation and real-time machine-to-machine communication for industrial IoT, environmental sensing, healthcare IT, smart cities and autonomous vehicles. Technology is advancing rapidly across such a broad front that even the most dedicated researchers and practitioners strain to keep pace. Graduating students step into a bewildering world in which their academic training barely scratches the surface.
This talk will take a brief look at the evolution of “the cloud" and then break down the full stack of cloud-scale infrastructure, layer by layer. How is technology innovation driving breakthroughs at different layers? What are the outstanding engineering challenges for ensuring scalability, performance, security and operational efficiency? What are possible career opportunities for new graduates in computer engineering and computer science? Why will a life long approach to learning be so important?
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Stephen Collins is principal consultant at 1024tm, providing business strategy and product marketing services to startups, emerging growth companies and other technology-driven organizations. He has almost four decades of experience in networking and telecommunications, spanning many segments of both the enterprise and service provider markets.
Over the course of his career, Stephen has served in a wide range of executive, managerial, engineering, consulting, analyst and advisory roles and has a proven track record introducing new products and solutions into rapidly evolving markets.
Most recently, Stephen worked as a networking and telecom industry analyst, creating and leading ACG Research’s practice in network visibility and analytics. Prior to that, he served as VP of product marketing at Active Broadband Networks, VP of marketing at Acme Packet, VP of marketing and business development at Tatara Systems and VP of marketing at Sonus Networks.
In the late 90’s, Stephen cofounded Spring Tide Networks, which developed a new class of IP service switch, and was acquired by Lucent Technologies for $1.5 billion. He began his career in 1981 at Bell Labs developing data communications systems and then was first exposed to IP networking and the original ARPANET while at BBN Communications.
After BBN, Stephen joined Wellfeet Communications as founding engineer and served as software engineering manager and then director of product management, bringing two generations of multiprotocol routers to market. After Wellfleet merged with Sypoptics, he served as director of product marketing for Bay Networks.
Stephen is an active blogger, frequent speaker at industry conferences and has authored numerous articles for trade publications. He holds an M.S. in Computer, Information and Control engineering from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Computer Systems Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenacollins/
This technical talk is presented by the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Massachusetts Amherst
201 Marcus Hall
Oct 1, 2019 - Baird Soules
