Charles Babcock has been reporting on the major trends in computing for the past 20 years. Editor-at-large for InformationWeek, he covers the business application of Web services, virtualization, and cloud computing. Babcock is the former software editor and technical editor of Computerworld and editor-in-chief of Digital News. He is the author of Management Strategies for the Cloud Revolution, due out from McGraw Hill on May 14. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Rex Baldazo has spent 20 years in the technology world. He's done everything from Ada programming (the Fuel Management System on the F-22 Fighter) to technical writing (first at BYTE Magazine then CNET) and back to programming.

His current interests are related to the movement of data between companies, a field commonly called ETL (Extract, Transform, Load). In that capacity he writes a SQL code for Microsoft SQL Server and Web Services in C#. He is also probably the only technology professional on Earth who has only seen Avatar once, and doesn't really understand why everyone else loved it so much.

Sudarshana Banerjee

Sudarshana is a tech journalist and analyst. She has worked on both the business side and the tech side of technology. She specializes in simplifying complex tech issues for really smart people who may not have a hardcore IT background. Sudarshana founded and funded her own Web 2.0 startup and worked on folksonomy and declarative living. Then recession hit her; she shrugged, closed her company, and is now learning programming. She lives in San Jose, Calif., with her German Shepherd Sophie.

Before becoming CIO at Infogain, Cliff Bell was CIO of Phoenix Technologies. He was also Vice President and Chief Information Officer at two Internet startups and previously served as Regional IT Director at Iomega, based in Singapore. He has held IT management positions at Bay Networks and Apple Computer. He holds an MBA in finance from Purdue University. Cliff is also active setting up CIO councils for companies looking for product and strategic direction. Companies he has helped included Fastscale (now part of EMC), Sandisk, Validity, Spikesource, ITgroundwork, Beyond Security, and many others.

Paul Bonner spent the 15 years leading up to the dotcom boom in technical journalism as a magazine writer, columnist, editor, and book author, then migrated permanently into the application development field, serving as CTO and Development Director for several innovative, but alas short-lived, startups. Currently he is a Senior Application Architect with a large enterprise in the utility sector.

Mary Brandel is a professional writer and editor with 24 years of publishing experience. She is entrusted by clients to deliver engaging, insightful articles and business content on a range of topics, including career management, business/technology trends, management practices, and the use of technology to achieve strategic objectives. She writes and edits for Computerworld, Chief Security Officer Magazine, BizTech Magazine, Cognizant, Ouellette & Associates, and Triangle Publishing, among others.

Award-winning content strategist Patty Brown has over 25 years of writing, editing, and management experience at publishing organizations and Fortune 500 companies. She is the Founder and Chief Strategist at The Content Strategy Group, a content development firm. Her clients include multinational technology firms, financial and professional services firms, and leading publishers.

Brown previously served as senior manager of Thought Leadership with BearingPoint, a $3 billion management and technology consulting company. In that role, she developed and managed the company’s integrated content development program and high-volume thought leadership pipeline. Prior to this, she was senior executive editor for InformationWeek's monthly journal, Optimize magazine, and co-authored How Innovators Connect, a book on innovation with more than 40 interviews with Silicon Valley luminaries, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs including Ram Shriram of Google and Guy Kawasaki of Apple.

Ton Dobbe is Vice President of Product Marketing for the Netherlands-headquartered UNIT4, a $517 million organization with approximately 6,000 global customers in over 100 countries, and more than 3,400 employees worldwide. Mr. Dobbe is responsible for both global product strategy and global product marketing of both Agresso Business World and CODA Financials, two enterprise software solution sets accounting for more than 65 percent of the company’s revenue. He is chartered with directing the entire solution sets, as well as the market positioning strategies surrounding these products, and is responsible for engineering the company’s 2006 re-positioning of its product lines to focus on Businesses Living IN Change (BLINC). Mr. Dobbe reports directly to UNIT4’s Founder and CEO, Chris Ouwinga in The Netherlands.

Bob Evans is senior vice president and director of InformationWeek's Global CIO business unit, which he has been leading since its launch at the beginning of 2009. The Global CIO brand enhances InformationWeek's strategic focus on rapidly evolving and increasingly vital role of the CIO in today's high-volume, high-velocity global economy. Evans had been TechWeb's SVP and content director following several years as editor-in-chief of InformationWeek during its years of massive growth. Evans has been an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and speaks frequently at technology and business events and at universities. You can access his Global CIO columns at http://www.informationweek.com/authors/showAuthor.jhtml?authorID=1097.

The author of more than a dozen books, including novels and biographies, Keith Ferrell has also written more than 2,000 magazine, newspaper, and encyclopedia articles and essays on scientific, technical, historical, cultural, and political topics. From 1990 to 1996 he was the editor of OMNI magazine, the world’s largest circulation science magazine; additionally he was editorial director of the Compute family of books and magazines, as well as senior vice president of parent company Penthouse/General Media International. In 1994 Ferrell oversaw the launch of OMNI On-Line, the first major magazine to make the transition to Internet publication.

As a freelancer, Ferrell has written and co-designed several interactive computer games as well as articles, essays, and books. He has spoken to business, government, and educational audiences in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and has appeared frequently on television and radio throughout the world. His most recent novel is Passing Judgment. Ferrell also blogs on information security issues for Informationweek SMB. His personal blog can be found at http://cultivatingkeith.blogspot.com/.

Cormac Foster has done time as a NetWare admin (it was 1993!), a QA manager, a business analyst, an IT research analyst, and a tech journalist. He enjoys journalism the most, since it’s the only profession that lets him shake his angry fist of doom at poor management practices and lousy decision-making. He’s seen some good things, too, and on a sunny day, he might share some of his favorite best practices. When he’s not acting grumpy, Cormac lives in Southern California, and he really will learn to surf some day.

Curt has been a Silicon Valley technology executive for more than 25 years, and has run strategy, product development, and IT at AMD, Sun, Quantum, Phoenix Technologies, and Corel Digital Media. An expert on strategic planning, business process improvement, and organizational development, he now consults to companies helping them develop and execute growth strategies. His primary focus is on transforming organizations through better coupling of strategy and operations and better use of IT-driven innovation. A transplanted New Englander, Curt hopes he has shoveled his last driveway. His consulting Website may be found at PageMillStrategy.com.

Barton joined Dell last year as their cloud computing evangelist. In this role he works with customers, analysts and press as well acting as an ambassador to the cloud computing community. Prior to Dell Barton spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems in a variety of roles from manufacturing to product and corporate marketing. Barton began his professional career with a four year stint in Tokyo where he worked for Sony working with ISVs for their UNIX-based workstation. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Barton headed east for higher education and attended Williams College and Harvard Business School.

Veronica Henry is a writer, entrepreneur, and burgeoning Web developer. Her 20-year IT career came to an end when her inner writer and entrepreneur inexplicably besieged her to give it all up. She is co-founder of myafricandiaspora.com, a cultural news and information Website. Veronica is a self-proclaimed girl-geek and Linux convert, who has held MCSE, GSEC, and PMP certifications. In her dreams, she is an international best-selling sci-fi and fantasy author, but in the meantime, she now spends her days writing, managing her Websites, and wreaking havoc on her Ubuntu laptop. Her Web site is at VeronicaWrites.com.

Steve Hilton is the lead analyst for Analysys Mason's Enterprise Solutions program, which explores the needs of the enterprise, small enterprise, and SOHO ecosystems. Steve has 17 years of experience in technology and communications marketing. Prior to joining Analysys Mason, Steve spent six years managing the Enterprise and SMB team at Yankee Group. He has also held senior positions at Lucent Technologies, TDS, and Cambridge Strategic Management Group. Steve is a frequent speaker at industry and client forums, and he maintains a brisk pace of market-outreach activities with the popular, business, and trade media. He publishes monthly articles in several respected trade journals for the enterprise and channel partner community.

Allan Hoving is a partner in HUBBA, a social media consultancy based in New York and Toronto. He founded the Executive Suite community on LinkedIn for ExecuNet and launched OMMA Magazine for MediaPost. Allan co hosts the Gamechanging podcast on BlogTalkRadio and conducts Webinars for large groups. His other ventures include PayCheckr.com, PDFchecker.com, and TheFrequency.tv, his current master's project at Quinnipiac University.

Chris Lindquist is Online Editorial Director for a nonprofit consulting organization in New England. Previously, he's been Online Editorial Director for CIO.com at CXO Media, Technology Editor at CIO Magazine, Executive Editor, Software and Features/Reviews Editor at CNET, Features Editor at PC|Computing, Technical Editor at Electronic Entertainment, and Staff Writer at Computerworld.

Dave Linthicum is the founder and CTO of Blue Mountain Labs, focusing on emerging technology spaces including cloud computing. In addition, he is an internationally recognized industry expert and thought leader, and the author and coauthor of 13 books on computing, including the bestselling Enterprise Application Integration, and his latest book Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence. Dave keynotes at many leading technology conferences on cloud computing, SOA, Web 2.0, and enterprise architecture, and has appeared on a number of TV and radio shows as a computing expert. He is a blogger for InfoWorld, Intelligent Enterprise, and eBizq.net, covering SOA and enterprise computing topics. He also has columns in Government Computer News, Cloud Computing Journal, SOA Journal, and Align Journal, and is the editor of Virtualization Journal.

Dave's industry experience includes tenure as CTO and CEO of several successful software companies, and upper-level management positions in Fortune 100 companies. In addition, he was an associate professor of computer science for eight years and continues to lecture at major technical colleges and universities including the University of Virginia, Arizona State University, and the University of Wisconsin.

Jim is the CEO and a Managing Partner with the Chelsea Group with over 30 years of experience in both senior business and IT roles. His consulting career has included roles as Global Vice President for DMR Group and later Fujitsu Consulting, where he ran an international consulting practice. Jim is an expert in a number of consulting disciplines, including Strategy, Performance Metrics, Lean & Six Sigma, Portfolio Management, and Program Planning. In Canada he is one of the most well known strategy and technology consultants who works both in Canada and internationally. He is an adviser to a number of Canadian high-tech startups, including the successful launch of Performance Advantage, now merged with the Chelsea Consulting.

Lafe Low has been a writer and editor for IT magazines for more than 20 years, dating way back to inCider – a magazine for the long-lost Apple II. Since then, he has moved on to many other notable technology publications, including CIO, InfoWorld, Redmond, Redmond Channel Partner, High Color, and ImagingWorld.

Low also has several industry awards under his belt. As features editor for CIO magazine, he won a Neal Award as editor of the best single feature. As Executive Editor of Redmond Channel Partner, he won a Neal Award as part of the launch team for the best new magazine. He recently rejoined 1105 Media as Editor-in-Chief of Technet magazine.

J. Craig Lowery, PhD is a solutions technology strategist in the Dell Office of the CTO, where he focuses on aligning and shaping the enterprise product strategies of Dell and its partners with respect to future anticipated software infrastructures. Before assuming this role, Craig founded and led the Dell engineering team responsible for bringing VMware ESX Server to market on Dell PowerEdge systems. He holds both an MS and a PhD in computer science from Vanderbilt University.

Leigh is a Vice President at Sogeti USA (a division of Capgemini). His career spans 20 years in consulting and industry, during which he has held Chief Architect and CTO roles. Leigh is an expert in Business & Enterprise Strategy/Architecture, with a focus on creating efficient, dynamic organizations to deliver business innovation. Leigh was one of the authors of Capgemini's Integrated Architecture Framework methodology, and has written for a number of publications.

Peter Meade is a founding partner of HetzelMeade Communications in Carlsbad, California. Previously, he's been Conference Director for DSLCon, Executive Editor for X-Change, Senior Managing Editor at America's Network, Editorial Director of Voice Processing Magazine, and Associate Edtior for CMP Media.

Ron Miller is a freelance technology journalist, blogger, FierceContentManagement editor, and contributing editor at EContent Magazine. He has been writing about technology since 1988, and publishing credits include InsideCRM, CIO.com, Streaming Media Magazine, eWeek, BusinessWeek SmallBiz, and Network World. He has also written whitepapers, documentation, and training for a variety of corporate clients, big and small. He co-founded www.socmedia101.com in 2009 and contributes regularly to its content. You can learn more by visiting his blog at http://byronmiller.typepad.com.

Ken Oestreich is an electrical engineer by training and a technology marketer by choice – pursuing his passion for introducing new products and technologies into nascent markets. He has spent lots of time at "early stage" companies, as well as 10 years at Sun Microsystems and nearly three years with Cassatt Corp. Today, he works as Vice President of marketing at Egenera, challenging the conventional wisdom on how data center infrastructure is managed. Oestreich speaks frequently on data center and cloud computing topics, and he holds a BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University. He also publishes a personal blog, Fountainhead.

Mike Pace first encountered a computer at his local library when he was five years old. Ever since that day of carefully typing BASIC into the glowing green console of the Apple IIe, his personal and professional life has revolved around the technology industry.

Pace is currently the Systems Technician for Benchmark Group and is tasked with researching, implementing, and maintaining a wide variety of technological enterprise solutions for a growing user base consisting of architects and engineers. Pace is a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist focusing on Windows server virtualization and configuration. He is also a WatchGuard Certified System Professional, specializing in building remote site VPN connections with Firebox technology.

Rick Parker is the IT Director of Fetch Technologies, a solutions provider for enterprise clients who extract and analyze Website data. He has over 25 years of IT experience as a manager, consultant, and network administrator . At Fetch over the last two years, Rick designed and built the network that became the Fetch Private cloud. Previously he was the founder and CTO of Bedouin Networks, one of the first Infrastructure-as-a-service providers, and the IT Director for Vendare Media, a successful internet startup.

Andy Patrizio has been covering the technology industry since the early 1990s and has worked for publications such as PC Week, InformationWeek, TechWeb, and InternetNews.com, as well as writing freelance for numerous print and Web publications. He resides in Orange County, Calif.

Julie Pitta is a freelance journalist with more than 20 years of experience writing about high technology. Pitta opened Forbes magazine’s Silicon Valley bureau in 1993. As the magazine’s senior technology editor, she covered tech leaders such as Apple Computer, Oracle, and Intel. Pitta has also been a West Coast business correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, covering high tech from the paper's San Francisco office.

Robert Poe is a long-time technology writer specializing in telecommunications. He was part of the startup team of CommunicationsWeek International, and has written for VoIP News, VoIP Magazine, Upside, Business 2.0, America's Network, Daily Wireless, TelecomBeat, Datamation, High Technology, Tele.com, Investors Business Daily, Electronic Business, Electronic Business Asia, Slate, Salon, and Washington Monthly. He spent more than a decade in Asia, working in both Japan and Hong Kong. He is a contributing analyst for Heavy Reading, and is founder and editor-in-chief of VoIP Evolution, which covers cutting-edge voice and video communication technologies and services.

Rob Preston, VP and Editor-in-Chief of InformationWeek, oversees the editorial direction of the world's leading business technology media brand. He works with an award-winning team of more than 30 writers, editors, and market experts to deliver practical and thought-provoking analysis on business technology issues and trends. InformationWeek helps 2 million Website users, magazine and newsletter readers, and conference attendees frame and define their business technology objectives and make technology purchasing decisions.

Preston's more than two decades in technology journalism span senior editorial management positions at TechWeb’s Network Computing, InternetWeek, CommunicationsWeek International, and CommunicationsWeek. Preston has a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from St. Bonaventure University and a Master’s degree in economics from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

As Director and CTO for the Enterprise Product Group at Dell, Paul Prince is responsible for Dell’s technology strategy and planning. He and his team lead technology development and integration across Dell’s Enterprise solutions portfolio, including servers, storage, networking, and software products. He has more than 20 years of industry experience in the planning and development of enterprise systems architectures. By leveraging the best ingredients from partners and the open industry ecosystem, Prince and the CTO team have been integral to Dell’s continuing focus on building and delivering effective and efficient customer solutions.

Alan Radding is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and analyst specializing in IT and business. You have probably been reading his writing in the leading trade publications for the past several decades, including Computerworld, InformationWeek, BusinessWeek, InfoWorld, and more. He has also worked as a writer/analyst and ghostwriter for leading research firms like Gartner/Dataquest and IDC and major vendors like IBM, Nokia, HP, Microsoft, Dell, EMC, and many more. In addition, Radding has authored Knowledge Management: Succeeding in the Information-Based Global Economy, published by Computer Technology Research, ghostwritten IT and business books for leading consultants, and taught for 10 years at Northeastern University.

Suzanne Robertson came to Southern California determined to become a famous stand-up comedian. Funny in Oklahoma, she quickly learned that she was not even remotely amusing in Los Angeles. With a journalism degree from Oklahoma State University, she discovered her niche as a prolific freelance writer. Robertson lives with her husband and two young daughters in Tarzana, California.

Winston Saunders is Director of Data Center Power Initiatives in the Data Center Group at Intel Corp. Before joining DCG, he held management and development positions in Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group. Prior to Intel, he worked at Caltech and the EPFL. Saunders studied Physics as an undergrad at the University of Washington and holds a PhD. from UC Berkeley. Trying to distill every problem down to basic levels is a strong personal bias. In his personal time he enjoys cycling during warm months and skiing during cold ones. In between, you can find him on the hiking trails of Central Oregon.

Ivan Schneider is a writer and editor living in Seattle who specializes in financial technology, interbank networks and IT outsourcing. He writes case studies, whitepapers, company newsletters and presentation materials for global technology firms serving the financial services industry. Recent clients include TCS Financial Solutions, SWIFT and Fundtech.

Ivan studied information and decision systems at Carnegie Mellon University and then worked as a database developer. After earning an MBA at Vanderbilt, he began his second career as an editor for TechWeb's Bank Systems and Technology. In 2006, he moved West and established his own writing practice, while also pursuing interests in foreign languages, literature and culture.

Greg Schulz is founder of the Server and StorageIO  ( www.storageio.com ) Group, a leading independent IT industry advisory, research and consultancy firm. Mr Schulz has worked in IT operations, in systems development and design along with systems management as well as performance capacity planner and server/storage architect at various organizations.

He was also worked for various vendors including manufactures and value added resellers providing server, storage and networking hardware software solutions. Prior to forming StorageIO, Greg worked for an IT analyst research firm covering networked storage hardware and software.

In addition to his analyst research and advisory consulting duties, Schulz has published thousands of articles, tips, videos, podcasts, columns, reports and white papers in addition to being a syndicated blogger. Greg is also a popular sought after keynote and seminar speaker appearing at events and venues around the world.

Topic areas of coverage include server, storage, IO and networking hardware, software as well as services from a virtualization, cloud, data protection (BC/DR/Backup), data footprint reduction (archive, compression, dedupe), optimization, productivity and business effective Green IT perspective among others.

Karen D. Schwartz is a technology and business writer with more than 20 years' experience. She has written on a broad range of technology topics for publications like CIO, InformationWeek, eWeek, and Government Executive. She can be reached at karen@karendschwartz.com.

James Sheppard is an entrepreneur, business leader, and efficiency junky first and foremost, and an enterprise software pro a very distant second. He spent years in the software business managing sales for a privately held enterprise software provider that knew a thing or two about efficiency. Then it was sold to Oracle and everything changed. He's firmly in the camp that technology is merely a means to an end and never the end in itself.

For the past 20 years, Sheppard has built businesses in industries ranging from shopping center development and real estate brokerages to IT and manufacturing, each time taking responsibility for leveraging pragmatic IT into business efficiency. His latest business venture, Vetrazzo, offers a sustainable alternative to granite and other quarried stone and has been heralded a leader in the sustainable building product movement by the likes of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and Forbes.

Brad Shimmin brings over 17 years of IT industry experience to his role as Principal Analyst, Collaboration and Conferencing at Current Analysis. In addition to being a writer and editor for well-known industry publications, Brad has also served as a technologist and business analyst, having implemented several enterprise software applications within large-scale deployments.

In his role at Current Analysis, Brad analyzes the rapidly expanding use of collaboration software and services as a means of driving business agility and controlling corporate travel and infrastructure costs. Brad tracks desktop-bound solutions geared toward building employee productivity; network-based solutions designed to facilitate external relationships such as joint ventures, alliances, or outsourcing projects; and the rapidly converging consumer and corporate markets. Brad will address multi-channel delivery mechanisms, including SaaS, traditional on-site software, and appliances.

Gina Smith started covering technology for PC Week in 1988, and has been hooked ever since. Her works have appeared in such diverse publications as Glamour, Popular Science, and The Los Angeles Times. Her column in The San Francisco Chronicle won awards for investigative journalism during its 13-year run. Her weekly radio show, cohosted with Leo Laporte, ran for more than a decade. The first tech correspondent in TV history, Gina was on air as news correspondent for Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and other ABC News shows for most of the 1990s. Her most recent book, cowritten with Steve Wozniak, iWOZ, is a New York Times best-seller, and she was CEO of an early network appliance company, founded with Larry Ellison. She has served on the Board of Directors of the University of Southern California's School of Engineering, and currently serves on Jimmy Wales's nonprofit's board, civilination.org. A native Floridian, she lives in San Francisco, but wouldn't mind working in Hong Kong.

I.T. Spy was abandoned at birth on the front steps of a lonely Midwestern data center. Cared for by a pack of feral sysadmins, her first words were "Hello, World!" and she learned to program her VCR before most kids could tie their shoes.

Today, she is the CIO of a major multi-national corporation, working on undisclosed projects at an undisclosed location. Her skills are legendary: she can field-strip a server with both hands tied behind her back and code assembly language in her sleep. She was all about Web 2.0 before there was a Web 1.0. Her coffee maker never blinks 12:00.

Her staff adores her, competitors refuse to utter her name, and her CEO just smiles mysteriously when he passes her corporate portrait.

In addition to holding every IT certification ever created, she also has a private investigator's license and commutes to work in an airplane she built herself. She can hear a pin drop at 50 paces -- or a rumor being whispered at 100. She's here to share the secrets that are too explosive, too controversial, and maybe too outrageous for anyone else to say. The only thing she won't tell you is her name.

So if you've got a juicy IT rumor or insider tip, Ms. Spy wants to hear about it. Don't worry, she'd sooner crash a server farm than reveal her sources.

David Strom has written for dozens of IT publications and was a former IT manager at several companies during the early days of the PC revolution, during which he had the burden of dealing with miles of IBM Type 1 cabling. He has written two books on networking, built dozens of editorial Websites, was founding editor-in-chief of Network Computing magazine, and has spoken to a variety of audiences on technology topics around the world. He lives in St. Louis.

Aaron Weiss writes about a broad range of information technology for trade and consumer publications, consults on IT projects, and maintains a comedy blog at http://www.iwritefunny.com. He currently authors the popular monthly column "Ask the WiFi Guru" and recently published a book of scandalous cat pictures based on his Website, Live Nude Cats.

An award-winning journalist, researcher, and public speaker with two decades of business technology experience, Rusty Weston founded Third Set Media in the fall of 2006 with the idea of building an immersive new media platform dedicated to delivering world-class content in innovative ways. Weston's work has appeared in The Financial Times, InformationWeek, MSNBC.com, Fast Company, and Wired, among others. His freelance work also includes a range of thought-leadership pieces, social media initiatives, and public-speaking engagements. An early adopter of online journalism, Weston edited InformationWeek.com, which under his direction received the Jesse Neal Award, one of the nation's most prestigious journalism honors.

Jake Widman is a technology writer based in San Francisco. He covers Apple and Mac-related products and technology for InformationWeek, contributes regularly to iTWire.com and Computerworld.com, writes a design column for Layers magazine, and covers the wide-format printing industry for The Big Picture.

Andre Yee is currently the Senior Vice President, Products, for Eloqua, the leading company in marketing cloud applications. He is responsible for all product-related strategy and operations. Andre was most recently the President and Chief Executive Officer for NFR Security, which he guided to a successful M&A transaction with Check Point Software. Prior to NFR Security, he was the Vice President of R&D for SAGA Software. He is a conference speaker and noted author of numerous articles and books related to enterprise architecture, middleware, security, and cloud technology. He is also listed as an inventor on two patents. Andre was recognized as one of InfoWorld's "Innovators to Watch for 2006." His experience includes playing key senior management roles in three private companies that have successfully achieved IPOs.