Cloudbook Profile: Timothy Chou

By Jim Treybig

When I first met Tim he was a programmer at Tandem, teaching computer architecture at Stanford and dating my running buddy. We were in London at the first Marathon I ever ran, which I might add I ran in 3 hours and 120 minutes. Over the years he’s brought a unique set of skills to every job he’s undertaken. At Tandem we asked him to lead a next generation project to take our fault-tolerant systems to the next level. He’s always been at the cutting edge of technology. Amusingly in the mid-90s he delivered a speech at Barclay’s Bank on the future of what we called Transaction Service Providers and why centrally managed transaction processing with specialized hardware and software made economic sense. After Tandem we worked together on a new venture to bring the economics and power of specialized software delivered as a service to the challenges of inspecting software for defects.

So while I was sad to see him move back to Oracle to run what was called Business Online at the time, it was no surprise to me that Larry chose him for the job. While I don’t get to work with him on a day-to-day basis anymore I have followed his career since then and was proud of his accomplishments as the President of Oracle’s On Demand business. Since then, like me, he’s become involved in numerous new ventures, which I’m confident with his involvement, will all find a path to success.

Jim Treybig was the founder, President and CEO of Tandem Computers, one of the first successful Silicon Valley startups. Today he is a Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates.

Featured Stories
Contributions
Books

Featured Stories

Introduction to Cloud Computing
(In about 1,000 words)
by Timothy Chou
When someone asks you what cloud computing is, it may seem difficult at first to explain it. But by the time you finish reading this, you should be able to explain it to your Facebook friends.
read the full story >>

Contributions

Article: Performance, Location, Security, Business Model: Your Choice
October 05 2011 - CFO.com
Instead of thinking about the Cloud in terms of public vs private, think about the four specialized characteristics of cloud services that will suit your needs. For most business executives, the public vs private cloud distinction has become shorthand for secure (private) vs insecure (public). But that's not a terribly useful way to look at it. After all, the folks at Rackspace, Microsoft, and Amazon are not in the business of building insecure compute and storage cloud services.

Web Resource: Cloud Computing at Stanford
September 27 2011
The Traditional software model of disconnected development and CD-ROM deployment is shifting to engineering and delivery on the Internet as a Service. In its seventh year, this unique class features eminent leaders who discuss their vision of the future of software-powered businesses. Guest industry experts are CEOs of public companies who are delivering applications, platform or compute and storage cloud based services.

Article: Cloud Computing Is Not Just a Name for Outsourcing
April 11 2011
I'm guessing many of you are asking if cloud computing isn't just a new name for ASPs, software as a service, outsourcing or, for us older guys, timesharing. While the cloud certainly shares principles with all of them, something more significant is happening, something with the same impact as the generational shift from mainframes to client/server. Let me explain just how significant it is.

Video: Security and Cloud Computing: Can They Really Coexist?
March 31 2011 - www.smartenterpriseexchange.com
Contributors: Paula Klein & Timothy Chou
Experts and IT executives discussed how businesses can truly achieve a level of security that will satisfy the skeptics in the organization and also protect sensitive corporate, customer, and business partner data in a distributed environment. View the panel discussion with Timothy Chou, Arnold Felberbaum, Chief IT Security and Compliance Officer at Reed Elsevier, Joseph A. Puglisi, former V.P. and CIO, EMCOR Group; Kurt Rao, Corporate VP, Information Technology Services, Time Warner; Oswin Deally, Senior Director, Enterprise Security Operations, Liberty Mutual; Gijo Mathew, VP, Security Product Marketing, CA Technologies, and Elizabeth Butwin Mann, CISO, Mycroft.

Podcast: iPad Could Help Self-Publishers Kick Open Doors
April 09 2010
The Apple iPad will offer access to all the usual entertainment available from iTunes music, movies, TV, and in addition, iPad users will have access to books. With this new offering the iPad may boost the burgeoning market for self-publishing. Tim Chou discusses the convienience of using online publishing companies like LuLu to sell his book Cloud.

Video: Mainstream Meanings for the Cloud
August 12 2009
Contributors: Joe Weinman , Sam Charrington , Timothy Chou & James Urquhart
Standardization, Simplification, and Jumping in Headfirst At the CloudWorld event in San Francisco, panelists question whether cloud computing, quickly gaining mainstream adoption, could replace system ownership entirely. The Panel was moderated by Jeff Kaplan of THINKstrategies and the panelists included Joe Weinman of AT&T Business Solutions, Sam Charrington of Appistry, James Urquhart of Cisco Systems and the CNET Blog Network, and Timothy Chou of Ming Holdings.

Article: The "Cloud Pioneers": Timothy Chou
April 17 2009
The Deal Architect, Vinnie Mirchandani, invites cloud pioneer Timothy Chou to respond to the Open Cloud Manifesto.

Podcast: Predictions About the Future of Software
December 05 2008
Timothy Chou Predictions about the Future of Software

Article: CIO Insight: Embracing the Software Service Economy
August 04 2008
CIO Insight: Embracing the Software Service Economy Three Tips for CIOs What should CIOs do about this transformation

Video: Mabel and the Cloud
April 28 2008
Mabel and the Cloud

Article: The Re-Invention of Software
June 01 2007 - Optimize Magazine
What's the best predictor of the next wave in business-software innovation? It's today's consumer Internet, says the author, who believes we are in the cusp of another innovation cycle.

Video: To Infinity and Beyond, a SaaS Primer
May 11 2007
To Infinity and Beyond, a SaaS primer by Timothy Chou

Podcast: The End of Software
January 22 2007
The End of Software For the first time there has been an economic shift in the software business View the Transcript http://www.podtech.net/home/1930/tim-chou-author-and-entrepreneur

Books

Cloud
Seven Clear Business Models

By Timothy Chou
January 23 2009

Based on a series of lectures at Stanford University “Cloud” discusses cloud computing from a business perspective. It serves as an excellent, easy-to-read, introduction to cloud computing for anyone who builds, sells, purchases or invests in applications or infrastructure delivered as a cloud service. The book is full of examples and stories from many of the leaders in the field. You'll be amused to even find Brad and Angelina in the book.

The End of Software
Transforming Your Business for the On Demand Future

By Timothy Chou
September 25 2004

Even technology industry analysts and seasoned IT executives have difficulty putting a figure on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of today's enterprise application solutions. What makes the equation so tricky is the sheer number of variables that must be factored in, many of which cannot be lined up in a neat column and reconciled, such as issues of security, availability, performance, problem resolution and change management. The End of Software: Transforming Your Business for the On Demand Future, by Dr. Timothy Chou, is a groundbreaking book for business managers and executives that challenges conventional approaches to business software, and proposes new alternatives to managing and maintaining the systems that companies depend on.

Timothy Chou

Chairman at Cloudbook.net