Thanks to cloud computing’s influence, the workplace of the future will no longer be a physical location, but instead a dataset, according to Tom Homer, Telstra’s Head of EMEA and the Americas, Global Enterprise & Services.
Homer delivered a keynote at the Net Events EMEA Press & Service Provider Summit in Portugal.
Providing his vision of how cloud technology will evolve by 2020, Homer predicted that a combination of-web scale IT, hybrid cloud, personal cloud, mobility and the Internet of Things would lead to significant changes.
“We are responding to the evolution of cloud technologies right now and recognize that computer power is required in many different forms. Our world-first collaboration to deliver Cisco’s OpenStack cloud infrastructure platform to customers around the globe is a great example of this and is set to be one of the world’s largest network of cloud computing services.”
According to Homer, new architectural approaches like web-scale IT are gaining ground, with Gartner predicting that by 2017 half of global enterprises, up from less than 10% in 2013, will be using the model popularized by web giants such as Facebook, Google and eBay.
He did however say that while it is becoming more prevalent, CIOs should be mindful of the legacy: “Companies are still going to demand managed hosting, private cloud and colocation for a long-time and the role for cloud service providers such as Telstra, will be one of orchestration and brokerage to create a ‘cloud of clouds’.”
Homer iterated to the audience that the personal cloud will play a greater role in the enterprise sector in six years’ time: “Employees will bring their own ‘clouds’ into the workplace. At Telstra we are well prepared for this with the formation of the Telstra Software Group, which has made investments into companies such as Box.com.”