Tom Howe's Cloud Comms eBook Launched

As part of Tom Howe's Cloud Communication Summit at the ITExpo in January, he organized the creation of an ebook to showcase thought leadership around this topic. He enlisted 16 contributors to write short essays about various aspects of cloud communications, and voila, a book is born.

Tom was nice enough to include me in this group, and I'm helping spread the word that the Cloud Communications Book has been launched now, and is free to download on the site created to support it.

Most you know what Tom brings to the cloud comms/mashup space, and this is a really valuable intiative. By making it free, everyone benefits, and you'll be hard pressed to find a better collection of leading edge thinking anywhere about this topic. It's also a great example of the kind of collaboration that 2.0 technologies enable, and I have no doubt that more good things will follow.

To leave off, I'll pass on a few links, and you can take it from there. I'll start with the post on Tom's website providing the background on this project. Then, as a teaser, an excerpt from my essay, and finally the ebook website, where you can download the publication for yourself.

Once again, kudos to Tom and co-editor Pam Shapiro for bringing a great idea to life and making it so accessible for everyone. If only the rest of the world worked this way. Maybe that will be their next project...

Thomas Howe Shout-Out - CEBP Report Published and Other Vital Updates!

Thomas Howe is definitely one of the good guys in our space, and he's been a good friend and supporter of mine over the years. If you follow either of us, you'll know he's had a few gear changes the past year or so, and I've got a new one for you.

He recently followed my Smart Grid lead and partnered with TMC to run the Cloud/Mashup Summit at the last ITExpo in January. My event duties kept me from seeing his, but I know enough to say it was great, and he's still Mr. Mashup to me. Building on that, I've got two news items for you from this week - well, actually three.

First is the launch of his CEBP Report, which was announced on his blog on Wednesday. It's been produced in partnership with UK-based STL Partners, and it looks you have to have their Subscription Service to get the full report. If you want to get beyond the front page summary, you really should drop Thomas a line or sign up with STL.

Second is the refresh of Thomas' webpage. Y'know, I don't know what to call these things any more - it's website, it's a blog, it's a Twitter feed, it's a news portal. Whatever you want to call it, I like it, and it's what I'd expect from a such a sharp guy who is comfortable trying new things. I need to take a page that book, and am on that path now myself. Stay tuned folks. I have a few new initiatives in the oven, and am planning a blog refresh as well. And yes, I'm starting to tweet, and am all ears for finding the best way to have 100,000 followers in 5 days or less! :-)

Finally, going back to Thomas' Cloud Summit, part of his planning included putting an ebook together, which will be made freely available once ready. I love the idea - he invited a variety of thought leaders to prepare short essays about cloud communications. I'm happy to say I was invited, and really enjoyed putting my thoughts together. The contributors are all reviewing the rough draft now, which means it's getting close to being published. It's going to be a must-read for this space, so kudos to Thomas for the brainwave and the wherewithal (along with Pam Shapiro!) to put it all together. Am sure you'll be hearing about this big-time soon enough, and I'll do my part to spread the word.

With that, you now you have the latest on Thomas Howe. I think he's going to have a happy St. Patty's Day - but I doubt we'll be in the same place to enjoy a green brew together. Back to work and thinking about Spring Training...

Stardust Global Ventures Interviews/Thomas Howe

This post is what I'd call a twofer. If you remember buying vinyl LPs, you'll know what I mean - a twofer is double album, like Chicago I, Allman Bros. at the Fillmore, Exile on Main St, Layla. Gee, now you know some of my tastes in music - now THAT would make for a great blog - anyone want to join me?

Anyhow, I'm posting a twofer here - it's about what Sheryl Brueker and Ken Camp are tirelessly up to with their interviews, as well as an update on our good friend-turned CEO, Thomas Howe.

Sheryl and Ken have done a great job recently producing a series of podcasts with industry leaders - they call them Incidental Interviews. Reminds me of what Garrett Smith was doing a few months back with his interviews, or the podcasts I used to do a couple of years back. So, the first part of this twofer is to call attention to their series, and you can access all the podcasts on their site, Stardust Global Ventures.

The second part is a nice way to hear what Thomas Howe is up to in his new role as CEO of Jaduka. For this segment, Ken did the interviewing, and you can pick up the podcast on his post here from earlier this week. Their interviews run on the long side, so set aside the better part of a half hour if you want to take it all in. If you can't, the Reader's Digest version goes something like this - Thomas and Ken talk about the value of voice for improving business processes by being integrated with work-related applications. They touch on email and why it's still so important, as well as exploring the power of CEBP to make communications more personal, effective and easy to use. However you choose to take this in, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Thomas Howe/Jaduka Announcement

eComm is not heavy on announcements, but here's one that a good news story that's been in the works for a while. Followers of my blog should be familiar with both parties - The Thomas Howe Company and Jaduka. Today, they held a conference call at the conference to announce that Thomas Howe has joined Jaduka as their CEO, and Jack Rynes transitions from CEO to COO.

I think it's a great move for both companies, but I'm not going to get into the details now. In short, Tom brings the kind of vision to help Jaduka take enterprise applications to another level, and more importantly, position them at the forefront for what I would call the service provider of the future. Lots to say around this, but I'll do that in another forum.

Time is tight here, and others have done the job already, so I'll steer you to their posts and news items. First is the press release, then coverage from Rich Tehrani, Andy Abramson as well as Jim Courtney, who was present with me this morning in the suite where the concall was held. His post isn't up yet, but it will be soon - try checking his site later today.