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By
Tim Young
Very often, the discussion around the growth of newer service offerings focuses on the plucky upstarts and fringe players, for whom the risks of backing rising technologies is relatively low, and the rewards for betting wisely are outrageously high.
However, it’s important to note that for many technology trends, mature players have every bit as much motivation to back the rising trends, and any comparative lack of agility, compared to the upstarts, is offset by formidable wherewithal and impressive leadership. The much-heralded rise of cloud computing as a major component of overall communications strategy is not, however, a fringe development.
Major service providers are leveraging the cloud as a fundamental component of their growth strategy, and this move is based on the urge to meet customers where they are. Increasingly, it seems, those customers are on the move, and the cloud is helping them stay connected along the way.
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"Our customers…want access to any service, anywhere, at any time, and in many cases, from any device." |
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seen a shift, over time, to a more
network-centric model. Our customers
are becoming more mobile, and they
want access to any service, anywhere,
at any time, and in many cases, from
any device. We see the “cloud” model
as a way of adding that capability for
our customers.
Pipeline:
And how about the increasing ubiquity of the term “cloud”? Is that hype, or is it the result of a substantive shift in the communications space?
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I know that Gartner’s “magic quadrant” reports are not universally loved, but I find them a really interesting and generally well-thought-out tool for mapping a given tech arena. For those unfamiliar with the reports, Gartner analysts divide an array of players in a particular domain into four general groups, placing them on a grid with four quadrants: “niche players”, “challengers”, “visionaries”, and “leaders”. In that “leaders” quadrant—the so-called “magic quadrant”—you’ll find, among others, AT&T.
We sat down with Steve Caniano, AT&T’s Vice President of Hosting and Cloud Services, to talk a bit about the hows and whys of AT&T’s formidable cloud strategy.
Tim Young, Editor-in-Chief, Pipeline:
From the standpoint of a major service provider, what is the allure of the cloud?
Steve Caniano, VP of Hosting and Cloud Services, AT&T:
Well, first of all, it’s what our customers
want in the way of solutions. We’ve
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Caniano:
Well, the term itself definitely has a load of hype around it, which is not all that helpful to the industry. There’s definitely that dynamic right now. However, there also is a definite shift taking place towards more on-demand services.
Pipeline:
Why now? Is the increased cloud interest the result of a change in technology or a change in paradigm?
Caniano:
I see the increasing talk about the cloud as a confluence of many events that are dove-tailing. The first step was virtualization of networks. We’ve been on that journey for many years. A second step was very much the mobilization of business. The ability to have your customers, employees, partners work anywhere and from any device. Couple those two dynamics with the need to have your applications accessible in a centralized location, and the cloud becomes much more compelling. For a seamless work experience, the applications themselves need to reside in a robust mobile cloud. Those themes come together to drive the next wave.
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