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The session will be about system integrator’s roles in open source and the need for an SI to move beyond being just a company that integrates disparate systems into a datacenter environment; they need to be able to bridge the connections between the systems and business. Components of the discussion will include: Why are SIs in great demand? Because enterprises want to focus on their core attributes … what they do best … the true differentiating value they have to offer. That means that they want someone else to worry about that. But the SIs also have the role of driving the best technologies into business. Why? Many of the best technologies are built from startups, particularly in the open source space. These startups, with their great technology innovations, don’t have an easy entrée into the large corporations. The SIs have this penetration capability with their skills, proven solutions, and relationships. Do SIs need to remain unbiased? They sure do.. If an SI has a vested interest in pushing their own technologies, an enterprise client may not have the opportunity to explore more effective components from the “outside”. The priority, of course, is to ensure that an SI’s customers have the best offerings for their mission-critical open source environments. SI’s have no vested interest in the solutions its customers are using. They will not succeed unless their customers do. That shared sense of urgency helps form a strategic partnership.
Ali Shadman is the Chief Technology Officer of Unisys’ Systems & Technology Division. In this role, Ali represents the division to both internal and external audiences to position and drive strategic technology direction in the market place.
Before his current role, Ali was the Vice President and General Manager of the Open Source Solutions group where he was responsible for program strategy and execution related to open source suites (stacks), value-add software, integrated offerings and related technology services.Ali has also been VP and GM of Innovative Programs Business in Systems & Technology, responsible for commercializing leading edge R&D efforts (more information can be found here) in areas of platform and application management, Java related technologies and application development tooling.
Ali has over 24 years of deep experience covering a broad spectrum of computing covering large systems development, Internet-centric computing and model-driven architectures in a variety of capacities including strategy, marketing, and business development.
In addition to helping leading companies such as Microsoft realize their vision of delivering unique products and services to their enterprise clients, Ali has also founded three companies in areas of database development, business transaction engines and model-based application development.
Ali remains active in helping early stage companies and is a member of the advisory group for University of California, Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computing Sciences.
Ali Studied Operations Research at London Metropolitan University graduate school after receiving a Double Major with Honors in Mathematics and Computer Sciences at the University of Essex, England.