Tom Bishop - In the Mind of a CTO

What does business service management (BSM) nirvana look like, and have extraterrestrials ever visited earth? Tom Bishop, chief technology officer for BMC Software, Inc., explores these, and a variety of intriguing topics like data center optimization, service desk, and the data center of tomorrow. But he doesn’t stop there: Bishop also shares thoughts about software as a service; the re-emerging role of management architectures; open source, and social media technologies; and the future of the CMDB. Download this four-part podcast interview.

Delving Deeper Into the Mind of a CTO: Part 1 of 4 - BSM Nirvana

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In this podcast, Tom Bishop shares his vision for BSM nirvana, and describes why the launch of BSM at BMC this year was so important. He also discusses a variety of topics including data center optimization, the service desk, and BMC UserWorld. Tom makes some predictions about the data center of tomorrow and how the current (loose) connections IT has with the business will tighten, and the two will align and integrate. He also shares some thoughts about ITIL, process improvement, and the impact of the fall of Enron (and the inception of Sarbanes-Oxley) on big business.

Delving Deeper Into the Mind of a CTO: Part 2 of 4 - Software as a Service and the Re-emerging Role of Management Architectures

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Is software as a service a great idea that will never really catch on? Tom Bishop thinks it is a critical and important shift that is happening in the marketplace today. Not every application can be best leveraged as a service, but he believes that a major share will be delivered this way in the future. Finally, Tom considers Web services and the re-emerging role of management architectures: Will these become hot tech topics once again?

Delving Deeper Into the Mind of a CTO: Part 3 of 4 - Technology Buzzword Bingo

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A little technology buzzword bingo, anyone? Forget about prep work; Tom Bishop talks candidly about his vision of the future for XML, AJAX, RSS, Linux, social media, and "Web 3.0." Will the Web ultimately function as the operating system? And, oh yes, what about the possibility of life on other planets?

Delving Deeper Into the Mind of a CTO: Part 4 of 4 - The Future of the CMDB

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Yes, there is a lot more to know and envision about the CMDB, and in this interview, Tom Bishop shares his thoughts. What if it comprised solely business information instead of just IT assets? Tom disagrees with this approach and offers a few examples of his theory of relativity around data. The future of BSM, says Tom, is as tied to the success of the CMDB as the future of the definition of the Internet is to the DNS. And the future opportunity for BSM is just ahead of us -- once we get out of the way.

Resources

Thought Leadership at BMC Software
Tom Bishop's CTO Blog on TalkBMC

Bio

Tom Bishop was named one of the top 25 CTOs by InfoWorld Magazine in 2004, and is a well-known industry innovator who holds nine patents in fault tolerant computing and in leading the development of industry standards such as the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and POSIX.

Production Credits

Ynema Mangum, Producer
Tom Parish, Audio Producer
Dana Farver, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Alysia Korelc, Web Developer

If you're interested in contributing to TalkBMC or you have an idea for a topic, please contact Ynema Mangum at talkbmc@bmc.com.