Nephology

The study of clouds

Nephology was evolved out of the consulting of James Bromberger.

According to Anders Ericsson and others, it takes 10,000 hours to master something, to become an expert. Anyone who has spent just a few years on Cloud platforms, even with a vendor certification, is unlikely to have covered that many hours to pass the threshold of becoming an expert.

Cloud is a booming market place, with many people flocking to the sector as a new wave (despite being over a decade old). Existing vendor training provides a solid foundation of cloud, but our experience has shown there is a gap between this, and becoming an expert.

We identified a gap: where the vendor training stopped (or did not exist), and a more complete and holistic understanding. Coupled with a unique background and experience, we designed training content to help those who need to truly master the Cloud.

James Bromberger

Nephology Director

Linux, AWS Cloud Expert and AWS APN Cloud Ambassador

Even before graduating from The University of Western Australia, having studied Computer Science and French, James had already become the chief webmaster of UWA. Moving into finance in 2000, he ran the majority of the online sharetrading web sites in Australia with Hartley Poynton/JDV (now known as Commsec Advisor Services). At this time he also became one of the global volunteers for the Debian GNU/Linux project.

As a Debian Linux Developer since 2000, James maintained official Debian images on the Amazon Cloud, collaborating with other Debian developers on other cloud platforms to create a stable and consistent platform for what is called the Universal Operating System. This volunteer work helps create the basis of much of the Linux and open-source ecosystem.

In 2003 he ran the Australian national Linux conference (Linux.conf.au), then moved to London where he worked for Canon Europe running what was, at the time, the largest online photo archive in Europe. Several years later he joined online advertising company Vibrant Media as IT Operations Director, a platform he engineered the operations for and which would see 49% of US eyes each month and managing a team of engineers across Hamburg, Paris, London, New York and San Francisco.

He returned to Perth in 2010, consulting for US and Australian based firms for several years and was president of the Perth Linux User Group. In 2012 James opened the Perth office of Amazon Web Services ahead of the cloud giant's Australian launch. During this time, he served as their Solution Architect for APAC with a "depth in security", permitting him to be involved in Compliance and Security innovations across the AWS platform. He delivered many of the AWS courses to customers, and also helped provide questions to the certification pool. James delivered the security presentation at many of AWS's in-region customer summits to thousands of people, breaking down the mystique of secure operations not just on cloud, but in the 21st century.

In 2014 he joined Ajilon Australia, now known as Modis (an Adecco company) as their Principal Enterprise Architect specialising in the AWS Cloud, and was immediately led to the massive modernisation of Landgate, the Western Australian Land Information Authority, and its digitisation and cloud-delivery of Land Titles and other significant state Registry services. This resulted in the formation of Advara, the worlds first cloud-based land registry as a service platform. In 2016 James was promoted to be the National Cloud Lead for Ajilon/Modis in Australia, and in 2018 was promoted to the top tier of Consulting Director, helping run a global AWS Partnership, spearheaded out of the Australian capability that he has built at Modis.

As part of his volunteer activities for Debian, James was flown to Seattle to particpate in the Debian Cloud group meeting in 2016.

In 2017, James was invited into the AWS Partner Cloud Warrior Program, a collection of the most advanced people using AWS across Australia and New Zealand. This transformed into the AWS Ambassador program, and he continued in this group through 2018, 2019 and into 2020.

James regularly presents at the Amazon Web Services User Groups around Australia, as well as presenting at various IT and Security industry events.

Nephology™ is a trademark, registration 1906315.

James is a highly competent Enterprise solutions architect, able to communicate and influence senior business and technology leaders. He is a competent and experienced public speaker and highly regarded within the Open Source community. James' business and technology experience is rounded off by a broad understanding of security, risk and governance; collectively, these skills make him a highly capable individual.

James is an enthusiastic and deeply skilled practitioner whose vision and commitment distinguish him from the crowd. His leadership and patience with customers and partners alike makes him a valuable team member, especially when tackling complex or serious challenges. His ability to cope with pressure and meet timescales top out the real deal.

James is an ultimate professional and a fantastic people person whether it is speaking with people that are technical or not. He knows the AWS products inside and out and is great at conveying ways they can assist real world business issues.

James is more than a consummate professional, he's an industry expert with deep subject matter expertise paired with a long history of contribution to the open source community. Having worked with James I regard him as a good friend, strong leader, stellar team contributor but most of all an absolute gentleman. I have learnt something in every interaction I have had with James and recommend him without hesitation.

James and I worked together as part of an international specialist team for a couple of years. He always impressed us with his technical skills, his clear and structured approach to technical and business challenges, as well as his drive and commitment, besides his impressive work in the open source community. James is a pleasure and honour to work with, and I look forward to crossing paths with him in the future.

James Bromberger's cloud knowledge and integration skills are second to none. I would unconditionally recommend him for your organisation's cloud migration/cloud implementation needs.

James is amazing and was able to turn around our request rapidly.