Carrier, Not Just Enterprise Hardware Changes with Cloud

Enterprise hardware platforms change with a switch to cloud computing, namely removing the need to tie applications and functions to discrete bits of dedicated hardware. In a cloud computing scenario, all those applications are computing "instances" run on virtual machines.

Metaswitch Networks Chief Technology Officer Martin Taylor says that means about a 30-percent performance hit, compared with running an app on a dedicated piece of hardware.  But the cost of computing drops every 18 months, so that isn't much of a financial issue. You just throw more processors at the problem.

Of course, technology changes often underpin potential changes of business model or operations. In a cloud environment, users extrapolate apps and execution of processes from physical devices and, potentially, locations.

Computing and app delivery itself becomes an "over the top" process. And that could have lots of implications for business models. Notably, communications access providers traditionally have operated on a territorial basis. Cloud computing makes that unnecessary, or simply a business model choice.