Oracle President Mark Hurd will be featured in a Centerpiece Conversation during the 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference. This will be Hurd’s third appearance at the annual technology and economic conference, described the by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.”
The President of Oracle Corporation and a member of the company’s Board of Directors, Mark Hurd joined Oracle in 2010, bringing more than 30 years of technology industry leadership, computer hardware expertise, and executive management experience to his role with the company. As President, Mr. Hurd oversees the corporate direction and strategy for Oracle’s global field operations, including marketing, sales, consulting, alliances and channels, and support. He focuses on strategy, leadership, innovation, and customers. Before joining Oracle, Mr. Hurd served as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and President of HP, where his focus on customers, innovation, improved operational efficiency and execution led to significant company growth.
“Technology is a vital part of everything we do and it continues to create new challenges and opportunities. The FiRe conference brings together global leaders to address the most important technology and economic issues impacting our world today and I’m pleased to be a part of it,” said Mark Hurd, President of Oracle.
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the beautiful Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California.
“We’re looking forward to our 11th annual gathering. It’s amazing to see world class thought leaders coming together in real time to solve some of the world’s most challenging issues,” said Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and Strategic News Service CEO.
To view the list of FiRe participants and selected speakers, visit www.futureinreview.com. Registration is nearly full.
Global Thought Leaders to Gather Near LA to Work on Some of the World’s Most Challenging Issues
World-class, groundbreaking companies will be featured at the 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) conference in California next week. Described by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world,” FiRe features world thought leaders in technology and the global economy, including Centerpiece Speakers Mark Hurd, Vint Cerf, and others. Each year, FiRe selects a limited number of “FiReStarter” companies based on the strength of their innovations and their potential to bring positive change to the world. They are then showcased during the conference both at an exclusive reception with the BBC and in panels throughout the event.
This year’s FiReStarter companies include:
Attensity (Palo Alto, CA): Using Attensity’s integrated suite of customer analytics and response applications, organizations can tap the wealth of data stored in both internal and online sources such as call center notes, emails, customer surveys, blogs, review sites, and social media, and use that information to improve the customer experience with their brands.
Dot AIN (Redmond, WA): Dot AIN, the world’s only Artificial Intelligence Network, has deployed the network to manage every aspect of functionality for a complete IT department, as complex as an enterprise or as simple as a single-person office. Dot AIN will reduce its clients’ technology cost by up to 50% while improving performance, reliability, compliance, and security.
Electro Power Systems (Italy and Singapore): EPS is a recognized innovator and market leader for hydrogen-based fuel-cell energy-storage solutions. These advanced fuel-cell systems deliver clean, automatically rechargeable energy storage and power production anywhere, anytime, effectively and efficiently guaranteeing always-on power for virtually any application.
Graphene Technologies (Novato, CA): Graphene Technologies (GT) has developed a groundbreaking patented nano-materials synthesis technology that produces graphene from carbon dioxide. The GT synthesis process is massively scalable, economically efficient, and offers the potential to dramatically change the carbon-dioxide dialog from “nuisance waste product” to a profitable resource. All other inputs in the GT process can be recycled.
HEVT (Chicago, IL): HEVT’s patented switched reluctance machines (SRM) leverage smart software with optimally designed hardware to empower the next generation of electric motors. Up to 60% lower cost and up to 3X more efficient than competing technologies — free of rare-earth materials.
Ibis Networks (Honolulu, HI): Ibis Networks is a data analytics and energy management company focused on commercial applications in large facilities. The company uses patented Intelisocket™ nodes to create robust mesh networks within existing facilities. Its networks allow enterprises to monitor and remotely control energy use for every device plugged into the network in real time.
Lettuce (Venice, CA): Lettuce is a simple and intuitive order management system that enables small businesses to capture, track, and process orders from multiple sales channels in real time.
Medable (Palo Alto, CA): Medable is a HIPAA-compliant platform architected for data integration, scalability, and artificial intelligence. Its goal is to create a universal platform for healthcare that provides care connectivity for patient-provider and provider-provider collaboration, data sharing (genomic data, mobile apps, body sensors), and virtual visits.
Venafi (Sandy, Utah): Venafi is the inventor and market leader of Enterprise Key and Certificate Management (EKCM) solutions, and delivered the first enterprise application to automate the provisioning, discovery, and monitoring of encryption assets across heterogeneous environments — from the data center to the cloud and beyond.
Virtustream (San Francisco, CA): Virtustream is a leading cloud innovator offering enterprise-class cloud solutions to enterprises, governments, and service providers. Virtustream enables businesses to move complex production applications to the cloud — whether private, public, or hybrid — while delivering the full economic and business benefits of the cloud.
Zinc Air (Columbia Falls, MT): Zinc Air Inc. (ZAI) exists to fulfill Edison’s vision of providing reliable and plentiful storage to the world. ZAI has leveraged simple, clean, and efficient energy-storage technology which was developed under corporate and the Department of Energy sponsorship. The company is bringing its battery to market to fundamentally and permanently change the reliability, stability, and efficiency of the existing electrical grid.
“This year’s event is lining up to provide real-time solutions for some of the world’s most challenging issues, including IP theft, global warming, and US education,” said Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and SNS CEO. “We’ll be taking a look at where the world is heading in technology and the economy during the next 5 years.”
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California.
To see the current list of FiRe participants and selected speakers, go to www.futureinreview.com.
Strategic News Service (SNS) is proud to announce that Lettuce has been selected as a 2013 FiReStarter company to be featured at its 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference, described by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.” FiReStarters are selected based on the strength of their innovations and their potential to bring positive change to the world, and are showcased during the conference both at an exclusive investor reception and in panels throughout the event.
Lettuce is a simple and intuitive order management system that enables small businesses to capture, track, and process orders from multiple sales channels in real time. Whether one is are taking a wholesale order through its iPad-based point-of-sale app or a consumer order through one’s e-commerce platform, Lettuce completely automates the entire process by integrating with popular back-end systems such as QuickBooks, Salesforce, Stripe, Shopify, UPS, FedEx, Stamps.com, inventory, and others.
“We are very excited to be honored as a 2013 FiReStarter. Our goal at Lettuce is provide incredible business solutions for small businesses and this achievement is a signal that we are on the right path to fulfilling our goals,” said Raad Mobrem, Lettuce CEO.
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the beautiful Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California.
“We are delighted to have Lettuce joining us as a FiReStarter Company. As we look forward toward positive steps in ‘digitizing the planet,’ one of the more important and beneficial of these is our ability to bring small and medium-size businesses into the same powerful network of tools which larger firms enjoy. Lettuce does just that, in a superb fashion,” said Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and SNS CEO.
To register, and to see the current list of FiRe participants and selected speakers, go to www.futureinreview.com.
Strategic News Service (SNS) is proud to announce that Attensity has been selected as a 2013 FiReStarter company to be featured at its 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference, described by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.” FiReStarters are selected based on the strength of their innovations and their potential to bring positive change to the world, and are showcased during the conference both at an exclusive investor reception and in panels throughout the event.
Using Attensity’s integrated suite of customer analytics and response applications, organizations can tap the wealth of data stored in both internal and online sources such as call center notes, emails, customer surveys, blogs, review sites, and social media, and use that information to improve the customer experience with their brands.
“By leveraging our deep understanding of real-time information and data flow, Attensity is creating the next generation of corporate intelligence that will transform the vast sea of data into knowledge,” said Kirsten Bay, President and CEO.
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the beautiful Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California.
“We are delighted to have Attensity as a FiReStarter Company this year. We live in a ‘people world,’ and Attensity is providing the necessary tools to help service providers gain a deeper understanding of human needs,” said Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and SNS CEO.
To register, and to see the current list of FiRe participants and selected speakers, go to www.futureinreview.com.
Strategic News Service (SNS) is proud to announce that Venafi has been selected as a 2013 FiReStarter company to be featured at its 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference, described by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.” FiReStarters are selected based on the strength of their innovations and their potential to bring positive change to the world, and are showcased during the conference both at an exclusive investor reception and in panels throughout the event.
Venafi, the inventor and market leader of Enterprise Key and Certificate Management (EKCM) solutions, helps enterprises reduce the risk of malicious attacks on trust. With full lifecycle management of cryptographic keys and digital certificates — the foundation of trust for the modern world of secure communications, online shopping, and card payments — Venafi provides complete visibility into key and certificate inventories and end-to-end automation of processes. With Venafi, organizations regain control over trust in the data center, on desktops and mobile devices, and in the cloud.
“Trust is the foundation of all relationships, including those between enterprises and the markets they serve. As the world has becomes more connected and more dependent on cloud and mobile technologies, maintaining control over trust by managing keys and certificates must be a top priority for all CEOs, CIOs, CISOs, and IT security managers,” says Jeff Hudson, Venafi CEO. “With our innovative technology and Gartner-acknowledged market leadership, we are excited to participate in the prestigious FiRe conference as a 2013 FiReStarter company, and look forward to showcasing our work with many of the Global 2000′s most prestigious organizations to ensure communications and transactions remain trusted, private, and compliant with regulations.”
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the Montage Hotel in Laguna Beach, California.
Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and CEO of Strategic News Service, says of this announcement: “We are delighted to have Venafi with us as a FiReStarter company for 2013. We’ve known for years that trust would be critical, both in e-commerce and in security, but the appearance of Nation-sponsored IP theft has raised the bar quickly and dramatically. Today, no one can afford to travel the Web without a toolset for establishing trust, and Venafi’s tools are a key asset in allowing this safe passage.”
To register, and to see the current list of FiRe participants and selected speakers, go to: www.futureinreview.com.
Back in 2007, Strategic News Service publisher Mark Anderson warned KPLU listeners about the dangers of “cheap money” from Japan, which helped fuel the subprime mortgage debacle. Mark advised investors to put more of their money into cash, rather than stocks.
The following year, the bottom fell out of the stock market.
Is history about to repeat itself? Mark believes Japan and other nations are printing too much money again, making conditions ripe for another meltdown.
Strategic News Service is proud to announce that Graphene Technologies has been selected as a 2013 FiReStarter company to be featured at its 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference, described the by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.” FiReStarters are selected based on the strength of their innovations and their potential to bring positive change to the world, and are showcased during the conference both at an exclusive investor reception and in panels throughout the event.
Graphene Technologies (GT) has developed a groundbreaking patented nano-materials synthesis technology that produces graphene from carbon dioxide. Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms tightly packed in a two-dimensional structure and is the strongest, thinnest, and most conductive material ever discovered. A Nobel Prize was awarded for groundbreaking work in graphene in 2010.
“We are delighted to be recognized by FiRe for our innovative work in producing an advanced industrial material from carbon dioxide and look forward to many productive discussions at the conference,” said Jon Myers, Graphene Technologies CEO and Chair.
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the beautiful Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California.
“We are proud to have been early in recognizing the unique potential of graphene in revolutionizing the materials cycle, and we are delighted to honor Graphene Technologies and their innovative processes as a FiReStarter Company. This is why we have introduced the firm to the White House and DoE, representing our ‘Twinning’ proposal to use energy-plant CO2 emissions as a feedstock, bringing coal and petro CO2 emissions to zero while creating a new global sustainable manufacturing regime,” said Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and SNS CEO.
Strategic News Service (SNS) is proud to announce that Electro Power Systems SpA (EPS) has been selected as a 2013 FiReStarter company to be featured at its 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference, described the by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.” FiReStarters are selected based on the strength of their innovations and their potential to bring positive change to the world, and are showcased during the conference both at an exclusive investor reception and in panels throughout the event.
Founded in 2005, Electro Power Systems (EPS) is a recognized innovator and market leader for hydrogen-based fuel-cell energy-storage solutions. These advanced fuel-cell systems deliver clean, automatically rechargeable energy storage and power production anywhere, anytime, effectively and efficiently guaranteeing always-on power for virtually any application.
“EPS has achieved a significant milestone in fuel-cell technology, combining reliability, efficiency, and cost, and being able to design, produce, and install more than 650 systems so far in three continents around the world, mainly into the telecom backup industry. The next frontier in front of us is to better exploit our unique technology into the broader concept of energy storage systems suitable for smart grid and rural electrification purposes, expanding significantly the business horizon,” said Stefano Poli, Electro Power Systems CEO and a private shareholder.
Future in Review is an annual gathering of world-class thought leaders in technology and economics, convened each year with the goals of providing the best look forward in these fields, and of using technology to solve major world challenges. These goals have been consistently achieved through FiRe’s collaboration across disparate industries and through active support from the FiRe community. Now in its 11th year, FiRe 2013 will take place May 21-24 at the beautiful Montage Resort in Laguna Beach, California.
“Energy storage at every scale continues to be the limiting characteristic in the technology growth story. By bringing an innovative new approach to this issues, Electro Power is opening the door to a new path for global economic growth,” said Mark Anderson, FiRe Chair and SNS CEO.
To register, and to see the current list of FiRe participants and selected speakers, go to www.futureinreview.com.
Until recently, there has been little unanimity in how to respond to cyber threats. While the Obama administration has urged companies to be more transparent about security breaches, corporate advisers often take a contrary approach, tamping down disclosure of potentially embarrassing events. The administration’s aim has been to build consensus in the business community to support legislation that regulates how companies protect the country’s critical infrastructure. The intensity of the attacks suspected of emanating from Iran may help build resolve for cooperative action.
We interviewed SNS member and FiRe 2013 speaker Patrick Hogan, Project Director of NASA World Wind, about his recent work on the NASA virtual globe project and open-source initiative. The following is an edited compilation of his replies. Special thanks to Patrick for taking time out of his busy schedule for this interview.
On the World Wind Project, Patrick Hogan’s involvement, and how SNS fits in:
World Wind is NASA virtual globe technology – an Earth browser – provided to the world community as open source. As far as my role, I see myself as a facilitator, acquiring the resources and supporting the talent needed for World Wind.
World Wind has taken up the greater part of my life for the past 10-plus years. It began as a kind of “skunk works” (minimal bureaucracy) to build a virtual globe. In 2002, the idea was to make NASA data more useful by delivering Earth imagery and elevation data in its full context. This began as Digital Earth, out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
We further purposed this technology to facilitate others in providing value-added without having to continually recreate the wheel of an Earth browser. Fortunately, we have one of the best software architects in the business, Tom Gaskins. Then in 2006, when we were asked by the Department of Energy to re-engineer this Windows app for cross-platform use, Tom engaged the talents of David Collins as the lead developer. This is World Wind Java today and now World Wind iOS.
World Wind, Virtual Earth, Google Earth, and ESRI ArcView are similar technologies in that they are all virtual globes. Except for World Wind, the user is greatly limited by what they can do with these applications. If you want to do line-of-sight or fuel-consumption calculations, you need access to the terrain data. Google doesn’t allow this access or the ability to work with data dynamically. For the most part, you can only do what is accessible via KML. This greatly limits the dynamic interaction with the data. World Wind, as open source, allows users to decide what they can do with the data in that virtual globe context.
You ask how SNS became involved. I heard one of the annual BBC’s Brian Day interviews with Mark Anderson on what the future of technology and the economy looks like. This was in 2008, for 2009. It was fascinating. I thought Mark might want to know more about this technology. As it turns out, the idea for an Earth browser was a “twinkle in the eye” of Mark a decade earlier.
On the World Wind “Europa Challenge”:
Despite World Wind’s extensive presence within the US Department of Defense community and NATO, we felt this technology could also better service other communities. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to recognize the high degree of duplication for spatial data management tools throughout city, state, and national communities. Given that and discussions with the World Wind user community in Europe, it just seemed like the time was right for some public architecture that would help advance this idea for challenging the academic and business communities for solutions they could collectively share and independently advance.
The City of Springfield, Oregon, had already given life to this idea by providing, as open source, the city infrastructure management tool it was building with World Wind. Springfield is demonstrating leadership for what the president and Congress established in 1999 as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI; Executive Order 12906). Then in 2005, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) took responsibility for establishing NSDI “policies, criteria, standards, and people necessary to promote geospatial data sharing throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia.” To make all this work, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) provides the open data standards, Web Mapping Services (WMS) and World Wind provides the open visualization technology for seeing that data.
Now, if you want to flag the future, you want Mark’s attention. So we invited him to help us brainstorm ideas for what we now call the “Europa Challenge.” It’s a small beginning for a big idea. This is the first year for what will be an annual event challenging the European academic and business communities for solutions that prevent the spatial data wheel from having to be continually recreated.
On World Wind Developments:
(Ed. Note: In 2009, Patrick wrote a Special Letter for the SNS Global Report, titled “Earth II Reborn: NASA’s World Wind.” Premium-level SNS members can access this archived Report on the www.stratnews.com website. This reply addresses the progress made since that Special Letter.)
The SNS Special Letter “Earth II Reborn: NASA’s World Wind” was a tremendous honor to be able to write for and with Strategic News Service! The things we believe in and work hardest for never progress fast enough, ideally at the speed of enlightenment. But during the interim, we’ve grown in sophistication and utilization. And now mobile devices have returned us to the pre-Java platform wars of yore. So we have to account for that.
Though World Wind’s involvement with the World Bank’s Probabilistic Risk Assessment program and Planetary Skin efforts continue, they have not sparked a global “mind meld” for spatial data. Today our hopes are in the Europa Challenge to provide the impetus for accelerating solutions.
Unfortunately, we are seeing States and Federal agencies moving in a direction opposite to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure Executive Order. California has just made its “public domain” data available through what looks like proprietary mechanisms. This will greatly hinder the development of solutions with that data. Work by the National Research Labs, Oak Ridge and Livermore, seem to have backed away from earlier stated goals of facilitating the climate research community’s data analysis and exchange thereof. So we are not yet embarking on a “bold new adventure” to generate solutions for common needs, much [less] common threats. We would welcome dialog and ideas from the SNS community for “where to go from here.”
On the Future – Concerns and Hopes:
My concerns for the future are expressed in facilitating better solutions for today. How can we maximize information access and the quality of information? All of our children, whether ours or theirs – and by extension, the entire K-through-gray community of the world – need quality information delivered in context. Our mission is that World Wind might help.
One of the crucial aspects to our ability to survive and thrive on this planet is being able to share information, resources, and expertise. A project that is using WorldWind to do that is Collaborate.org. They’ve pulled together a tremendous amount of geospatial data into a worldwide collaborative infrastructure that helps people visualize and share data, find other people of similar interests and passions, and collaborate to make a big impact on the world. Only through working together and sharing resources will we be able to address the challenges we face now and into the future.
We want to free up users to do whatever it is they need to. Additionally, we want them to have continual access to their solutions so they can evolve those solutions to better address their changing needs.
Hope is a wonderful word, and it can come from more people having better access to information. Being one of the most recent species to develop on this planet, we demonstrate great hubris in how we use this planet’s resources and one another. This is very dangerous. The more we free up access to information, and the tools for analyses to see ourselves in a global context, the more intelligent we will become as a community. This would seem a good thing, if we are interested in survival as well as happiness.
Oracle President Mark Hurd will be featured in a Centerpiece Conversation during the 11th annual Future in Review (FiRe) technology conference. This will be Hurd’s third appearance at the annual technology and economic conference, described the by The Economist as “the best technology conference in the world.”
