The global cloud computing market has been strengthened by telecom competition, which has also placed those companies in a prime position to take advantage of that growing market, according to a report from Pyramid Research. Analytical firm Infonetics Research also noted that carriers are embracing cloud computing as a key corporate strategy.
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In Latin America, for instance, Brazilian operator Oi recently launchedvits Smart Cloud platform, while América Móvil unveiled plans for cloud computing services across subsidiaries in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil.
During a press conference, Maurício Vergani, head of corporate business at Oi, said the company expects to double data center revenues driven by its Smart Cloud initiative within three years. The carrier said it has invested $17.25 million into the new cloud initiative for servers, storage and virtual machine infrastructure. Vergani said the carrier does not expect to need any further investments as its current eight data centers should be able to support the expected demand.
Related to América Móvil, Ney Acyr, executive director of Brazilian operator Emratel, said the new cloud offering is an initiative to expands its portfolio, and that the offering will contribute to the convergence of América Móvil’s telecom and IT solutions for enterprise customers. Those solutions currently comprise storage and servers solutions, virtual servers, unified communications, telepresence and e-mail.
A survey from Infonetics Research showed that 70% of operators are investing in cloud services in anticipation of demand, and among the top operator strategies for offering cloud services are bundling cloud services with network connectivity services and offering cloud services over Ethernet or IP VPN services.
“To maximize cloud computing opportunities, telcos have to understand the dynamics of the sector and define clear objectives for their cloud strategies,” Pyramid Research noted in its report. “They must consider what type of cloud platform to deploy and what cloud services to launch. We recommend service providers partner with IT vendors rather than deploy their own cloud computing solutions and cooperate with software and content providers to increase the attractiveness of their offers.”
The research institute said that in the short term, telcos should take advantage of the cloud to improve their internal operations and business support systems and launch services that appeal to their current customer base, thus building potential for further growth.
