Thomas Lang (Vodafone Group Research & Development, Munich, Germany)
December 4th, 2008, 14:00
G29-301
German (slides in english)
Cloud computing is a general concept that incorporates software as a service, Web 2.0 and other recent, well-known technology trends, where the common theme is reliance on the Internet for satisfying the computing needs of the users. For example, Google Apps provides common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored in the network.
This shift from a traditional local PC environment towards a web based environment is driven form the user's desire to be independent form this traditional PC environment and the availability of cheap fixed broadband access. Today the user demand is derived from the activities the user does with his computer. These activities/tasks are for example: writing a text, sending an E-mail, surfing in the internet, watching a video clip, listening to music, showing a picture slideshow up to playing a video game. All of these activities are summarised under the term Personal Computing. The computing activities are already today independent of the used local environment.
As mobile devices continue to improve in processing power and functionalities, they have the potential to be a general personal computing device in the enterprise and consumer space due to the functionality the phone provides. Already today mobiles with wireless broadband play an important role in supporting personal computing activities, e.g.: Email, calendar, contacts. Mobile broadband provide the opportunity to embrace cloud computing for further steps into the evolution of personal computing.
Due to the nature of mobile devices, nowadays they have shortcomings to become a pervasive personal computing device. The restrictions are the small sizes of the display, keypad and limited input/output interfaces. These have so far prevented adequate positive user experience for many of the personal computing activities on mobile devices but could be solved by smart connected simple devices to the phone.
To resolve some of the apparent paradoxes, a suite of solutions is required to address each of these issues individually and systematically in order to unlock the potential of pervasive personal computing with a cloud centric approach.
Thomas Lang is a senior technology manager with 9 years professional experience in research, development and project management in the IT and mobile communications industry. Within Vodafone Group R&D he is responsible for the Research Initiatives and Prototyping actvities. He is an expert in 3G mobile networks, embeded device architectures, location services and multimedia applications/services. Currently he is focused at pervasive personal computing and the new role of mobile devices and mobile networks.