James Curtis is research director of the Data, AI & Analytics channel at at 451 Research from S&P Global Energy Horizons. He also leads the database and data platforms vertical. Previously, he covered business intelligence, analytics and reporting, along with machine learning and data science. James’ current areas of concentration include database and related technology analysis, real-time analytics, cloud computing and cloud-native technologies for database as a service, database optimization tooling, generative AI and retrieval augment generation (RAG) environments, including vector stores and semantic search. James arrived at S&P Global through its 2019 acquisition of 451 Research, which he joined in 2015. Prior to 451 Research, he held several senior roles in technology, marketing and communications. He served as VP of a large BPO firm where he oversaw marketing for analytic solutions. He held senior technical marketing roles at Netezza and later at IBM with responsibility for data warehousing, analytics and big-data products. He has managed global programs at HPE and worked as a case editor at Harvard Business School. James holds a bachelor's degree in English from Utah State University, a master's degree in writing from Northeastern University in Boston and an MBA from Texas A&M University.