I would like to introduce myself… my name is John Roese, and I am the new Global CTO of EMC Corporation. While I have been with the company since October 2012, I am now getting time to participate in the robust social media presence of EMC. I feel that an introduction and some background on why I joined EMC would be a great topic for my first blog.
I like to describe myself as a “serial CTO.” Since the late 1990s, I have mostly held the role of Global Chief Technology Officer in large corporations: initially CTO of Cabletron System (one of the larger networking companies of that time), then CTO of Enterasys Networks (a company focused on infrastructure and security), then CTO at Broadcom (one of the biggest fabless semiconductor companies), then Global CTO at Nortel (a 114-year-old telecom company) and finally leading Futurewei, the advanced technology development organization of the giant Chinese company Huawei.
In all of these roles, my focus has been on innovation and the execution of R&D to move industries forward. I was fortunate to be involved in the creation of high performance networking, incorporating security into our IT systems, driving the commoditization and reach of many IT technologies, innovating in the world of mobile broadband (LTE), and even re-inventing the communications experiences we now take for granted.
The most exciting work of my career started out as technical impossibilities or even “science fiction.” Now, looking back, after we solved the problems, the solutions were affordable, met customer expectations, and became mainstream. When done correctly, technology work always starts out exciting, impossible and highly aspirational. But if it works well, it ultimately serves as a foundation of the global IT environment. With more than 20 years of experience behind me, this pattern is fairly common.
Last summer, my current chapter began with a call from EMC to gauge my interest in joining this company. While I was not actively looking for a new role, I was very aware that the IT industry is at the beginning of a new era. I have been very vocal that for the next decade, the industry will shift from boxes to solutions, from closed private environments to complex hybrid environments, from a distinct enterprise and consumer experience to a consumerization of IT, and from a technology orientation to a much more human and business centric focus. We will see the rise of mobility as our primary access method, we will see the Internet of Things emerge (think trillions of nodes on the internet, not billions), we will see the creation and consumption of data at levels orders of magnitude greater than ever before, and we will see rapid innovation to make all of this technology become invisible to the users and business’s through innovation on UX (user experience) and HMI (Human Machine Interaction).
When the call came from EMC, the decision to join was simple. As a technologist who has a firm belief about the future, the opportunity to participate in the center of this new era was irresistible and obvious. EMC has assembled almost all of the key building blocks needed to create the future, including the tools of information infrastructure, security, data and analytics, virtualization, and a deep awareness of the customer. There is nothing more exciting than being at the beginning of what is the most exciting chapter of IT yet — armed with a fantastic arsenal of tools and capabilities and surrounded by deep intellectual capabilities and market access.
I am excited to be at EMC and to have a social platform to engage others. After this introductory post, my hope is to share my views and discoveries as this new era evolves. I am truly looking forward to the transformational journey of IT that we are all a part of.
