Author Archive: Jim Houghton
Jim is a co-Founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Adaptivity. In his CTO capacity Jim interacts with prospects, clients, and key technology providers to evolve capabilities and partnerships that enable Adaptivity to offer its comprehensive solutions for Cloud, Application Optimization, and Data Center Transformation. In addition, he engages with key clients to ensure successful leverage of Adaptivity's Blueprint4IT portfolio.
In his prior role Jim was the SVP and Architecture & Strategy Executive for the infrastructure organization at Bank of America, where he drove legacy infrastructure transformation initiatives across 40+ data centers. Previous to that he was the Head of Utility Product Management, where he drove the design, services, and offerings for SOA and Utility Computing for Wachovia's Corporate and Investment Bank. Jim has also led leading edge consulting practices at IBM Global Services and Deloitte Consulting.
CMDBs in the Cloud
As enterprises move inexorably towards the Cloud, a faint murmur in the distance is growing louder and louder. What is it – the security forces objecting…the CFO wondering where their money is going now…business teams clamoring for faster response time? Good guesses, but this group never makes quite that much noise – it’s the operational [...]
Category: Business Alignment, Cloud Computing, IT Management
Cloudy Innovation – Part 2
A few weeks ago we discussed IT innovation, and whether the rise of the Cloud signals its demise. The conclusion of that post was that IT innovation is still a critical component to enable business differentiation, but it must be focused on areas of your business where innovation actually matters. In the time since that [...]
Category: Cloud Computing
Cloudy Organizations
A few weeks back we talked about the impact of cloud computing on IT innovation, and argued that focused innovation (on the right parts of your business where it matters) remains absolutely essential. Cloud, as a delivery model, really doesn’t change things much — it simply provides another, perhaps easier, way to offload non-core IT [...]
Category: Cloud Computing, IT Management
Does Cloud Foreshadow the Death of IT Innovation?
I’m sure that some have asked the questions in the past few years as cloud has matured from a vaporous concept to viable sourcing strategy for much of a business’ IT needs. What will I be doing in five years? Will I still have a job? Chances are pretty good that if you are asking [...]
Category: Business Alignment, Cloud Computing
Being Elastic Does Not Make You Highly Available
The Amazon Web Services outage a few weeks back brought to our attention just how many people were susceptible to the misconception that elasticity insured high availability—now that the dust has settled, it’s time to have a rational discussion about this controversial misconception. During the incident Amazon performed well, and although it was an extended [...]
Category: Cloud Computing, IT Management
What Comes First: the Client or the Cloud?
The Cloud has been analyzed, assessed, and overhyped for more than three years now—how come more clients haven’t gotten on board? Perhaps it’s a twist on the old chicken and the egg riddle; lets see if we can do the math to figure this out with math. Egg / Chicken = Client / Cloud If [...]
Category: Business Alignment, Cloud Computing
