ChannelVision Magazine

Networked Planet

PACIFIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL

Pacific Telecommunications

Council | 914 C

oolidge Street Honolulu,

HI 96826-3085 |

www.ptc.org

| Phone: +1.808.941.3789 x124 | Fax: +1.808.944.4874 | E-mail:

ptc13@ptc.org

Pacific Telecommu

nications Counc

il | 914 Coolidge Street Honolulu,

HI 96826-3085 |

ptc.org

| Phone: +1.808.941.3789 | Fax: +1.808.944.4874 | Email:

ptc15@ptc.org

Topics

Wireless and Mobility / Apps and Mobile Gaming

Cloud,

Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT)

Cybersecurity

Policy Challenges for a Networked Planet

Satellite

Submarine Cable

Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Monetization

Mobile / Untethered Spectrum

today at

ptc.org/ptc

18–21 January 2015

Honolulu,

Hawaii

Hilton Hawaiian Village

Waikiki Beach Resort

registration deadline

october

2015

Editor’s Note:

The views expressed in this article rep-

resent those of the author and Telx and not necessarily

PTC or ChannelVision magazine.

Globalization, enterprise mobility, the Internet of

Things, big data – none of these critical trends in cor-

porate competition and computing would have been

imaginable only a decade and a half ago. Big data finds

its roots in business intelligence, which has been around

for a while, and enterprise mobility arguably began when

the first standard cell phone hit the market.

However, the scale, power, speed and level of competi-

tion seen on the global stage today, specifically as they

relate to these and other trends, would simply not be fath-

omable to a professional back in 2000. Now, they are very

much realities that all organizations, regardless of industry

or region, must embrace and handle proactively.

One of the key themes here is the convergence of

information and communications technologies into more

holistic and centralized environments. For example, think

about how unified communications systems are increas-

ingly hosted in cloud computing environments. Going a

step further, much of the average corporate IT budget is

now being directed toward software defined networking

(SDN) and cloud computing assets.

None of the trends mentioned above would really b

possible, or at least come with the capability to thrive,

had legacy IT still been the only real form of infrastructure

when they emerged. This includes globalization, as infor-

mation sharing and cross-border competition would sim-

ply not be where it is today without the robust digital envi-

ronments to which so much of the world now has access.

For evidence, consider a

Data Center Knowledge

article from April 2015, which cited 451 Research’s pro-

jections that the colocation data center market will grow

significantly in the next two years. This will result in 40

million square feet in global footprint growth, and rev-

enue will increase from $22.3 billion this spring to $36

billion by 2017, a 50 percent increase in revenues over

just two years.

If that is not enough, ESG Research’s Jon Oltsik pub-

lished an article this May in

Network World

to describe

some of his firm’s findings. They included an estimate

that 68 per nt of mid-market and large enterprise firms

are using software-as-a-service currently, while 41 per-

cent are using infrastructure-as-a-service, and 35 percent

have deployed platform-as-a-service. Cloud computing

markets are flourishing, to say the least.

Finally, it is not just nameless groups of organizations

and enterprises making changes to their ICT infrastruc-

ture. Also in April, Verizon released a public statement

regarding its work with several major ICT players to

migrate to a software defined networking infrastructure.

Considering the fact that this is one of the more powerful

telecommunications players, it should be clear that the

market is transforming from top to bottom.

Most of the changes taking place are truly needs-

based, as service providers and telecom companies need

to handle price wars, to meet expectations of increasingly

demanding clientele and to navigate more competitive

landscapes than ever before.

Dynamic and futuristic cloud ecosystems are being

erected, SDNs are becoming vital to everyone’s future

growth, colocation is gaining serious traction and global,

borderless competition and corporate operations are now

realities. It should not be surprising the already massive

and accelerating demand for these modern components

of infrastructure is ushering in a new era of competition

Anthony

Rossabi

PTC

Corner

The Accelerating

Evolution of ICT Infrastructure

INTERNATIONAL AGENTs

SECTION

Channel

Vision

May - June 2015