<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Gigaom]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://gigaom.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Barb Darrow]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[http://search.gigaom.com/author/barbdarrow/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Cloud options mean decisions, decisions for IT buyers]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Much has been written about cloud consolidation, with M&amp;A roiling the cloudscape over the past few months: <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/09/17/cisco-to-buy-metacloud-as-the-great-cloud-consolidation-condensation-continues/">Cisco bought Metacloud</a>, <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/10/13/emc-buys-cloudscaling-as-the-great-cloud-consolidation-continues/">EMC bought Cloudscaling</a>, <a href="https://gigaom.com/2014/09/11/hp-buys-eucalyptus-as-cloud-consolidation-commences-for-real/">HP snapped up Eucalyptus</a>. Despite all that, cloud deployment options abound, and choice will be a big theme at the upcoming Structure 2015 event, this June in San Francisco.</p>
<p>First, there is more choice than ever in public cloud. Sure, Amazon Web Services leads the market-share race by a wide margin. But viable options are available &#8212; from Microsoft Azure to Google Cloud Platform to vCloud Air to Digital Ocean to CenturyLink. What many of us tend to forget is that, despite all the cloud talk, we&#8217;re still very early in the game when it comes to business deployment. There&#8217;s a ton of opportunity out there. Is it enough to float all boats? That&#8217;s the zillion-dollar question.</p>
<p>We will discuss those options, and how even the biggest enterprises &#8212; <a href="https://gigaom.com/2015/01/18/ge-tech-guru-gives-public-cloud-a-big-high-five/">General Electric</a>, <a href="https://gigaom.com/2015/02/17/openstack-comes-up-huge-for-walmart/">Walmart</a> &#8212; are deploying more of their IT on cloud. The question is no longer if, but when.</p>
<p>At <a href="https://events.gigaom.com/structure-2015/">this year&#8217;s event</a>, we&#8217;ll welcome back <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/amazon/">Amazon</a> CTO Werner Vogels, Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla, <a href="https://search.gigaom.com/company/microsoft/">Microsoft</a> EVP Scott Guthrie, Google SVP Urs Hölzle, Battery Ventures technology fellow Adrian Cockcroft and DataGravity CEO Paula Long.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ll hear from first-timers, too: Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth, Digital Ocean CEO Ben Uretsky, CoreOS CEO Alex Polvi. And, on the end user side, we&#8217;re really excited to bring on stage National Football League CIO Michelle McKenna-Doyle, FBI CISO Arlette Hart and Pinterest head of engineering Michael Lopp. More names to come.</p>
<p>For a refresher of last year&#8217;s event, here&#8217;s a sampling of some favorite sessions:</p>
<p>Google&#8217;s Urs Holzle:</p>
<span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='604' height='370' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/I9R4P0TLViA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe></span>
<p>Facebook&#8217;s Jay Parikh:</p>
<span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='604' height='370' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/F9FYTbxWK1o?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe></span>
<p>Intel SVP Diane Bryant:</p>
<span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='604' height='370' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HTXuwqLUw7M?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe></span>
<p>Amazon&#8217;s Werner Vogels:</p>
<span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='604' height='370' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/oZPlr2-KMnw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe></span>
<p>Microsoft&#8217;s Scott Guthrie:</p>
<span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='604' height='370' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/TImzXnUaO0A?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen='true'></iframe></span>
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