Reuven Cohen

I'm happy to announce that I've agreed to pitch in as a TechStars Mentor for their new Cloud accelerator program. For those of you unfamiliar with TechStars, it's the #1 startup accelerator in the world. Not to mention one of the most selective – although thousands of companies apply each year, they only take about ten companies per program. This gives them a selection rate lower than most Ivy League schools, so you have to be among the best of the best to be in TechStar. TechStars Cloud is a vertically-focused accelerator that funds companies focused exclusively on cloud computing and cloud infrastructure. For me, the more exciting aspect of the TechStars Cloud program is that it's specifically targeting cloud infrastructure startups exclusively. Yes, something I have a bit of experience with. What do you get? How's $100k cash sound? Oh did I mention it's provided b... (more)

Cloud Computing Goes Local

Yesterday John Foley at InformationWeek wrote a post about how cloud computing is becoming more global as businesses in other parts of the world are discovering the cloud. Like most of Foley's articles, it was very insightful and did make me stop and think. But in someways I think he's missing the point of globalized cloud computing. It's not about one endless global cloud, one with no defined borders or geography, but instead it's about the localization of cloud computing within these new and emerging regions around globe. It's about the opportunity that flexible and efficient d... (more)

Is Cloud Computing Actually Environmentally Friendly?

Cloud Interoperability Magazine on Ulitzer As we end 2009 and prepare for the next decade there seems to be a nagging question, a question that I have to say, I frequently answer without any concrete proof. A question that seems to be becoming more important then ever. The question is simple yet profound in its implications as a global citizen, is cloud computing actually environmentally friendly? First, I will admit, I am among the group of cloud advocates who routinely claim that cloud computing is green, I say this without any proof or evidence to support my statement. I make t... (more)

Cloud Computing Surpasses Virtualization in Popularity

I was recently looking at Google's trends & insights tool and noticed something very interesting has happened over the last month or so. For the first time the term "cloud computing" has surpassed "virtualization" in terms of search popularity. What is all the more interesting is it took cloud computing a little over a year and half compared to nearly 5 years for virtualization to see the same level of search volumes. Astounding growth to say the least. For those unfamiliar with Google Trends, it's a service that analyzes a portion of Google web searches to compute how many searc... (more)

The US Federal Government Defines Cloud Computing

(May 7, 2009) - I've just spend the last two days in Washington DC in conversations with various US government officials regarding the opportunities for cloud computing within the federal government. During these conversations it has become very clear that the topic of "Cloud Computing" is front and center within the various departmental IT strategies going forward. All the more interesting is that the term is being mandated from the highest levels including the new federal CIO Vivek Kundra who indicated cloud computing was one of the biggest revolutions technology has seen in a ... (more)