Data Center and Storage

Mark has responsibilities across several functions at Switch. He will be maintaining his industry thought leadership activities and will also be working with the Switch team on new data center technologies, partnership development and cloud. Switch (http://www.switchlv.com) builds and operates the world’s most powerful data center and technology ecosystem. The Switch campus environments were constructed by the company including the world’s highest density, ultra-scale and most efficient data center - the 407,000 square foot Switch SuperNAP. Before coming to Switch Mark was VP of Data Center Strategy at ServiceMesh, the leading cloud management platform company. He is also Founder and President of Data Center Pulse, a not-for-profit group focused on improving efficiency in data centers and providing a voice for the owner/operators.

Mark brings significant IT infrastructure and data center experience to the Switch team, which was developed over the years working with leading organizations like VMware, Brocade, Gilead, & HP. He is a globally recognized leader in efforts to improve the business readiness and efficiency of IT and is very active with industry groups like The Green Grid, Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and Infrastructure 2.0. Mark is an advisor to venture firms and startups and a globally recognized speaker at premier industry events.

Ron is a 25 year veteran of the construction industry with a primary focus on Mission Critical Facilities. As Market Leader for the Western Region for JE Dunn Construction, Ron leads the Mission Critical market and focuses on high density, highly efficient, and sustainable data center solutions. Ron has successfully managed projects and programs ranging from $1 million to $650 million and worked in Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, California, Colorado, Japan, Washington, and Arizona. Ron has a B.S. in Construction Management from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Ron was awarded the certification of Designated Design-Build Professional by the Design-Build Institute of America and is a LEED Accredited Professional with a specialty in Building Design and Construction

As Founder and Chief Scientist at DeepStorage, LLC Howard Marks provides the kind of practical, hands-on analysis that can only come from spending 30 years in the trenches. As a consultant he helped organizations large and small including America Express, JP Morgan, Borden Foods, BBDO Worldwide and Foxwoods Resort Casino solve real world storage and network problems. Now at DeepStorage he runs an independent test lab evaluating the latest in storage and data center networking products in beautiful Santa Fe NM and writing about them for multiple websites including NetworkComputing.com. An entertaining and energetic speaker Howard speaks regularly at industry events including Storage Decisions, Interop, SNW and Microsoft’s TechEd. He has written three books and hundreds of articles on networking and storage technologies.

Roy is the Tower Lead for Wipro Technologies, and is responsible the design, build and implementation strategies for Global Clients. With over of 10 years at EDS and CSC Roy has progressed from Technical Consultant to Solution Architect to his current position. During this time Roy has successfully been involved in all aspects of the Data Centre including storage, servers, backup, archive, DC LAN, virtualisation, monitoring and management for both Transition and Transformation.

Prior to joining EDS Roy was in the British Military for 13 years Serving in the Royal Artillery Regiment and Tri Services Uni.

Jon Hudson has been a part of the IT industry for 17 years, working as a Network & SAN Engineer, in IT production operations, as a UNIX and security specialist, and now for Brocade as a technical advisor to the company’s largest enterprise clients. Jon brings experience from many perspectives including SAN, LAN, UNIX, VMware and most aspects of IT. He has worked in a variety of industries including gaming, high performance computing and Financial verticals in the areas of data center operations, virtualization and emerging technologies.

Steven Carlini is the Sr Director, Data Center Global Solutions for Schneider Electric. Schneider Electric is the “global specialist in energy management” with 114,000 employees and operations in 190 countries, had 2010 annual sales of $28 billion (€20 billion).

Steven is responsible developing integrated solutions and communicating the value proposition for Schneider Electric’s large data center segment. A frequent speaker at industry conferences and forums, Steven is an expert on the foundation layer of data centers which include Power & Power Distribution, Cooling & Technical Cooling, Rack systems, Physical Security, DCIM & DCFM Management solutions that improve availability and maximize performance.

Prior to joining Schneider Electric, who acquired APC in 2007, Steven ran the UPS Division for Toshiba International Corporation. Involved with the critical power and cooling industry since 1989, Steven has been responsible for guiding the direction of many industry changing products and solutions that solve real customer problems or give businesses competitive advantages.

Steven holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and an MBA in International Business from the CT Bauer School at the University of Houston.

Andre serves IT Infrastructure & Operations Professionals. He is a leading expert on network operations and architecture. His research focuses on networking technology and strategy, mobile network infrastructure, application delivery networking, data center convergence, and network infrastructure security. He helps Forrester clients develop and improve their strategy around infrastructure investment and optimization. His analysis balances technology with business strategy to ensure IT maximizes operational and financial efficiency.

Previous Work Experience: Prior to his role at Forrester, Andre worked for 10 years in the networking industry at HP's networking division and at Cisco Systems as a networking and security marketing manager, assessing the market and driving the creation and adoption of products and solutions to solve complex business challenges. Prior to these roles, he was an engineer who tackled complicated system dynamics for GenCorp Aerojet, a leader in space missile and propulsion. He developed a broad range of skills and quickly evolved into a system integrator, where he ensured the success of a low-cost, reusable rocket program.

Education: Andre graduated from the University of California, Davis, in 1994 and has Bachelor of Science degrees in mechanical engineering, material science and engineering, and aeronautical science and engineering. Additionally, he has a pending CISSP certificate from (ISC)2 and has received certificates from UC Davis in network administration and management and routing and switching technologies.

Network Test founder David Newman has been breaking computer networks for 20 years. Today he is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and an active participant in the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force).

As a member of Network World's Lab Test Alliance, Newman has conducted numerous tests of network infrastructure and security devices. He also is the author of RFCs 2647 and 3511, the IETF specifications for firewall performance testing, as well as RFC 4814 on the contents of test traffic. Prior to founding Network Test, Newman served for nearly 10 years as director of lab testing for Data Communications magazine.

Newman is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and New York University.