"While enterprise cloud adoption is growing fast, it is still in the very early stages," noted Sheji Jacob-Brettle, European Group Marketing and Communications Manager at TelecityGroup, in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. And Jacob-Brettle continued, TelecityGroup expects "cloud to be an important driver of demand for our data center services in Europe."
Cloud Computing Journal: Agree or disagree? - "While the IT savings aspect is compelling, the strongest benefit of cloud computing is how it enhances business agility."
Sheji Jacob-Brettle: Agree but the core underlying data center infrastructure needs to be rock solid.
Cloud Computing Journal: Which of the recent big acquisitions within the Cloud and/or Big Data space have most grabbed your attention as a sign of things to come?
Jacob-Brettle: SAP and Successfactors; Microsoft and Skype.
Cloud Computing Journal: In its recent "Sizing the Cloud" report Forrester Research said it expects the global cloud computing market to reach $241BN in 2020 compared to $40.7BN in 2010 - is that kind of rapid growth trajectory being reflected in your own company or in your view is the Forrester number a tad over-optimistic?
Jacob-Brettle: While enterprise cloud adoption is growing fast, it is still in the very early stages. At TelecityGroup, we certainly expect cloud to be an important driver of demand for our data center services in Europe.
Cloud Computing Journal: Which do you think is the most important cloud computing standard still to tackle?
Jacob-Brettle: As far as data centers go there is already a very useful and established set of standards around the underlying infrastructure that we provide. Critical to our cloud service provider and enterprise customers are security, power resilience and connectivity.
Cloud Computing Journal: Big Data has existed since the early days of computing; why, then, do you think there is such an industry buzz around it right now?
Jacob-Brettle: With technology becoming cheaper and connectivity from anywhere and any device easier and more affordable, a wider range of organizations can take advantage of it
Cloud Computing Journal: Do you think Big Data will only ever be used for analytical purposes, or do you envisage that it will actually enable new products?
Jacob-Brettle: It seems inevitable that product development or product extension is viewed as the way forward.