#GLOBECOM: Cloud Computing - A New Strategic Infrastructure

Alicia Abella, Assistant Vice President, AT&T Labs

Since the term was first uttered publicly in 2006, cloud computing has acquired many definitions, been embraced by some and
feared by others, been called disruptive, and reached a point where it’s no longer an “if” for many businesses but a must.
The term “cloud computing” in the aforementioned sentence
could easily be replaced by other terms taken from our modern
technological history, and it would still be accurate. This talk will draw parallels between cloud computing and historically disruptive
technologies that were strategic to the national and global economy. For example, when viewed as an infrastructure, cloud computing can be thought of as strategic to the economy as the highway infrastructure was in the 20th century. When considering
commoditization and standardization, they may prove as vital to the
proliferation of cloud computing as the standardization of intermodal containers was to the shipping industry. When looking at the cloud ecosystem, companies, both big and small, are competing to provide cloud technologies and services, in some cases even diverting from their main line of business, just as shipping companies emerged as a result of the shipping needs of the 20th century. Cloud computing as a global infrastructure, standardization of cloud technology components, and the formation of an industry solely devoted to cloud computing are some of the compelling trends and drivers that we will explore in this talk.

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