Univa Session at Cloud Expo

Univa UD, a leading provider of cloud management software, announced on Monday the promotion of Richard Wellner to the role of Chief Scientist. Wellner, previously vice president of Professional Services, will work with Univa's product teams to influence solution strategy and direction with an initial focus on the company’s thriving cloud management business.

Since early 2008 Wellner has worked closely with Univa’s key cloud customers to drive the technical direction of the company’s market-leading Reliance product for cloud management and service governance. He has also led the delivery teams on some of Univa’s largest cloud implementations for service providers. In his new role Wellner will expand upon the company’s vision as the demand for Univa’s cloud offerings increases.

“Rich’s mix of experience and technical know-how is a significant asset for Univa,” said Jason Liu, Univa UD CEO. “His strong technical expertise coupled with his keen business acumen is a rare blend that allows him to work seamlessly with technical teams and client executives alike. Rich is also a respected pioneer in grid, one of the key enabling technologies for cloud computing, and he’s worked closely with some of the largest cloud adopters in the service provider space to define cloud technology and implementation requirements.”

Cloud software vendors like Univa who offer grid technology experience are well equipped to be able to deliver on the promise of cloud computing, particularly in the area of intelligent resource allocation and service brokering. In a recent report, Gartner calls cloud a “version 3” of what grid and utility computing, and then software-as-a-service (SaaS), have attempted to accomplish in the area of application delivery.

A grid technology veteran and pioneer, Wellner was part of Univa’s founding team and a member of the Globus project at Argonne National Lab along with Univa colleagues Steve Tuecke, Dr. Ian Foster, and Carl Kesselman who are known as the “fathers of grid computing.” Wellner is the co-author of Grid Computing: A Savvy Manager's Guide, published by Elsevier, and a founding editor of the popular Grid Guru's blog. He has also been a contributing editor for several grid and technical computing publications.

“With the explosion of cloud, it’s an exciting time to be in software,” said Wellner. “We’re witnessing a major inflexion point in the history of computing. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that these are once-in-a-lifetime chances to fundamentally change how IT is delivered to internal and external customers. I’m looking forward to bringing my work at Fermilab, Argonne and elsewhere to bear on addressing the business challenges our customers face.”

Prior to accepting the position as Chief Scientist, Wellner was Univa’s vice president of Professional Services. He has worked in and led professional services organizations for 18 years with customers in the defense, finance, telecommunications, government research, manufacturing, semiconductor, pharmaceutical and automotive sectors. His work has spanned guiding customers from the emerging client/server technology landscape in the late 1980's through object oriented technology and project management into distributed computing and grid computing.