Are telcos not finding their cloud computing niche?
Are telcos loosing in the race of becoming viable cloud computing
service providers? At least it seems that many telcos have had a
difficult time in positioning themselves in the cloud ecosphere or even
decide what cloud services to offer. Obviously, this does not equally
apply to all telcos. Verizon,
for example, seem to have already come a long way in providing a robust
IaaS services through their Communication-as-a-service (CaaS) offering,
stressing in particular data security, bandwidth guarantees and SLAs,
and BT
in the UK are providing, or reselling, a bundle of third-party
applications as SaaS services enhanced by value-added services like
billing, security and more.
However, some analysts maintain that telcos have a difficult time in becoming a dominant cloud computing player or even identifying their particular niche. Analyst Jeff Kaplan, points out that telcos are still struggling to figure out managed services that already have been around for a decade, and SaaS is still far from their reach. Telcos are also not exactly known for their innovation pace and therefore are in danger of being bypassed by more agile service providers.
While this may have some truth in it, I tend to see a number of inherent strengths that telcos are in a particularly good position to capitalize upon. For one thing, telcos in general have a good reputation for reliability and security, based on their legacy of running mission critical systems (voice and networks). People expect telcos to deliver services with high uptime and reliability. The five-nines, representing 99.999% uptime is a famous reference to the expectations and benchmark that telcos have traditionally placed on their services.
Telcos are in a good position to deliver better than “best-effort” service delivery on the Internet. They can for example provide guaranteed bandwidth in their networks, including MPLS and VPN connections and, through their traditional association with multiple peering- and exchange points, capable of establishing multi-carrier guaranteed bandwidth for business customers that require high-quality services.
Through their extensive communication services, telcos can provide value-added and bundled services with third-party application providers, e.g. SaaS providers. This can include networking and phone services. Another interesting aspect is the concept of “mash-up” services with a vast range of applications available through the cloud. Telcos can provide and integrate various services and data, including identity management, location information and billing capabilities with other applications and thereby provide cloud services with added value to their customers.
Certainly there are many more opportunities available for telcos to capitalise upon in the cloud that will become more visible in the coming months and years. Let’s not forget that cloud computing is still in its infancy and a lot may still change before cloud computing becomes a mainstream and the primary IT provisioning and service delivery channel for businesses.
However, some analysts maintain that telcos have a difficult time in becoming a dominant cloud computing player or even identifying their particular niche. Analyst Jeff Kaplan, points out that telcos are still struggling to figure out managed services that already have been around for a decade, and SaaS is still far from their reach. Telcos are also not exactly known for their innovation pace and therefore are in danger of being bypassed by more agile service providers.
While this may have some truth in it, I tend to see a number of inherent strengths that telcos are in a particularly good position to capitalize upon. For one thing, telcos in general have a good reputation for reliability and security, based on their legacy of running mission critical systems (voice and networks). People expect telcos to deliver services with high uptime and reliability. The five-nines, representing 99.999% uptime is a famous reference to the expectations and benchmark that telcos have traditionally placed on their services.
Telcos are in a good position to deliver better than “best-effort” service delivery on the Internet. They can for example provide guaranteed bandwidth in their networks, including MPLS and VPN connections and, through their traditional association with multiple peering- and exchange points, capable of establishing multi-carrier guaranteed bandwidth for business customers that require high-quality services.
Through their extensive communication services, telcos can provide value-added and bundled services with third-party application providers, e.g. SaaS providers. This can include networking and phone services. Another interesting aspect is the concept of “mash-up” services with a vast range of applications available through the cloud. Telcos can provide and integrate various services and data, including identity management, location information and billing capabilities with other applications and thereby provide cloud services with added value to their customers.
Certainly there are many more opportunities available for telcos to capitalise upon in the cloud that will become more visible in the coming months and years. Let’s not forget that cloud computing is still in its infancy and a lot may still change before cloud computing becomes a mainstream and the primary IT provisioning and service delivery channel for businesses.
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CLOUD COMPUTING
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