Craig Burton, founder of Burton Group, is joining the KuppingerCole team, as Distinguished Analyst. Burton will add new impulses to the research agenda and liaise directly with KuppingerCole's customers in North America. "Craig Burton is one of the best-known names in our industry," said Tim Cole, co-founder of KuppingerCole. "Thanks to his well-established network and his profound expertise, he will substantially increase our footprint in our core markets," Cole believes. As head of KuppingerCole's new Boston office, Cole will be working directly with Burton, who is based in Salt Lake City.

For many years, Burton was responsible for Novell's strategic direction, and became well-known for his inventions, such as; the Network Operating System, Network Services Model, and Hardware Independence for Networking Software, as well as many other innovative networking services. In 1990, he founded The Burton Group, which was acquired in 2010 by Gartner Group. He has been an independent consultant and analyst specializing in Internet Infrastructure since 1997.

Craig Burton added, "I am honored to be part of this prestigious group. The timing is perfect as companies are embracing Cloud Computing and the importance of Identity becomes more significant. And, new fundamental infrastructure for the future of network computing unfolds."

"Craig will be a big win for KuppingerCole and its customers in a whole variety of ways," says Martin Kuppinger, one of the group's co-founders and its Lead Analyst. For one thing, he is a recognized expert in our core areas of competence, namely digital ID, compliance and auditing of IT ecosystems, as well as in securing Cloud environments. In addition, he is a thought leader in areas that we feel will be the future focus at KuppingerCole, as we move forward into things like IT infrastructure, Information Security, and the Internet of Things," Kuppinger believes. Kuppinger expects significant growth in these sectors, both within this analyst group and the economy as a whole. "We intend to be right up there in the lead when this happens," he says, "and Craig will be a big help to us there."

The announcement of Craig Burton's move to KuppingerCole comes on the eve of the European Identity Conference (EIC), the largest expert conference on digital ID, Governance, Risk Management & Compliance (GRC) and Cloud Security. The conference begins May 10th in Munich. At EIC more than 600 experts and delegates from around the world gather every year to spend three days exploring current trends in Information Security and discussing best practices in IAM and Cloud Computing, two of the most dynamic growth sectors in modern IT.

KuppingerCole, a leading European analyst firm, was founded in 2004 and has built a network of analysts in the major European markets. The group regularly publishes the results of its research into the areas of IAM, Information Security, GRC, and Cloud Computing. In 2010, KuppingerCole opened its first US office in Boston. Its clients include leading IT vendors and Fortune 1000 companies as well as many small and medium-sized businesses in Europe and North America.