In 2011, in response to the growing popularity of hybrid hosting platform, NTT Com Asia launched a hybrid hosting infrastructure service, which combines traditional dedicated hosting with public cloud and private cloud solutions, including global Tier 1 IP connectivity. The service launch is the fruit of the HK$11 billion ($1.41 billion) research and development investment NTT Corporation (NTT Com Asia’s mother company) makes every year.
In the following interview excerpts, NTT Com Asia’s EVP of new business, Taylor Man, told Asia Cloud Forum what he thinks has been the most impressive cloud computing solution emerged in 2011, the key lessons learned, and the major trends to look for in 2012.
Asia Cloud Forum: Other than your company’s, what do you see as the most impressive cloud solution or product or deployment found in the market in 2011?
Taylor Man: The rate of pickup on the OpenStack open source cloud development has been very impressive this year. There are a lot of service providers and vendors actively and aggressively contributing to the open source project.
As a global ICT solution partner and pioneer on IPv6, NTT Communications also supports and contributes to the implementation of cloud on IPv6. We see synergy among the industry players in driving this development on cloud.
What were your three most important lessons learned about cloud computing in 2011?
Man: There is an exponential growth in terms of cloud service market trends. Being innovative and gaining the awareness on market change is crucial to success.
On the vendor side, the capability and availability of reliable back end solutions are limited to a few service providers. Thus, the selection of the right service provider is important to the success of cloud implementation.
On the enterprise side, Asian enterprises are increasingly geared up for cloud deployment. They have been monitoring the rate of cloud adoption previously but now the market is witnessing its greatest potential for cloud deployment.
Where will cloud computing head towards in 2012?
Man: With the exponential growth in mobility worldwide, especially with the proliferation of smart devices, enterprises will need to catch up with the demand on mobility both internally and externally.
The other hot topic in the short run will be big data, and how it will be handled and consolidated in the cloud.