Simon Wardley

As a geneticist with a love of mathematics and a fascination in economics, Simon has always found himself dealing with complex systems, whether it’s in behavioural patterns, environmental risks of chemical pollution, developing novel computer systems or managing companies.

These days Simon works as the Software Services Manager for Canonical, helping define future cloud computing strategies for Ubuntu. He is a passionate advocate and researcher in the fields of open source, commoditisation, innovation and cybernetics . He is also fond of ducks. As he says “they’re fowl but not through choice”.

Presentation: "Situation normal, everything must change"

Track: Web as a platform

Time: Wednesday 17:15 - 18:15

Location: Fleming Room

Abstract:

In today's computing world, it can often feel like we are drowning in wave after wave of new trends such as mashups, service oriented architecture and cloud computing. This sea of concepts is simply the manifestation of an underlying change in IT. Our industry is moving from a product to a service based economy. This shift is a result of the commoditisation of IT, but then again not all IT is being commoditised, some is still an innovation, isn't it?

This talk will explore this issue. We will first introduce the main concepts behind commoditisation and innovation before explaining what is going on in IT. Focusing on the field of cloud computing we will examine the benefits and downsides of this change and how standardisation can create more innovation and not less. We will then dive into the management challenges this brings, why open source is essential for the future and why you have little choice but to adapt.