The following is a summary of the lecture delivered by Simon Suh (Jongryeol Suh), President and CEO of KISA, at IPAK Breakfast Forum - a monthly event hosted by IPAK (President: Cho Sung-kap) at JW Marriott Seoul.
Changing paradigm of IT : participation, sharing, and openness.
Digital convergence refers to the integration of various information and communication technologies. It can be divided into three categories: convergence between industries, services, and devices. Included in industry convergence are telematics, u-health, smart grid, and home networks while service convergence happens in such forms as smart TV, VolP, social games, and LBS+SNS. Convergence between devices can be found in mobile phones, smartphones, cameras, electronic dictionaries, MP3 players, and game consoles.
The convergence between hardware and services highlights the paradigm shift of IT industries, which can be easily recognized in our daily lives as well. A term created during a conference between O'Reilly and Media Live, Web 2.0 represents the new model of Web environment based on participation, sharing, and openness among users. It is an indication that in the mass media, where the top 20 percent has been dominating the rest, the focus is migrating to the lower 80 percent of the more fragmented minor cultures. "Apple is not only keeping up with the current of this era but sometimes they are even leading the trend," CEO Suh explains.
In addition to the market power based on its own device platform, its ability of creating a horizontal Web ecosystem through the AppStore has amplified the influence of Apple all over the industries from CPs to platform businesses, Telcos, and CEs. The same can be said about Goggle's smart TV: the TV set will be produced by Sony with Android operating system, Chrome the Web browser, and Logitech building set top boxes and peripherals. It shows a perfect example of digital convergence between services and hardware. Google TV, a product of collaboration among different developers, is aiming to provide a service customized to each user's taste. Furthermore, BBC's Erik Huggers has joined Intel to ensure the quality of content, and Intel's WiDi technology will be used to improve the interface. Google TV2 is to be released by the end of this year.
Cloud Computing and n-Screen
Another notable change in the IT environment is the appearance of the n-Screen service, which, once a user is authenticated, provides the same content saved in the database to multiple devices of the same user. This allows the content to be shared and relayed through different screens from TV to smart phones and tablet PCs. For example, you can watch a TV show in the morning with your mobile phone on the subway and later, using a PC at the office during the lunch break, before finally seeing the remaining part on your TV at home. It is a pattern that typifies the change of software and evolution of cloud computing.
Gartner has put cloud computing on top of the list of the Top Ten Strategic Technologies for both 2010 and 2011. And IDC has forecast that the cloud will make up about 20 percent of the total IT spending in 2015, in comparison to the present 2 percent, and that 10 percent of all data will be stored in the cloud (IDC, June 2011). This, by extension, indicates the extinction of software and data from personal computers and devices, as users will be able to access high-performance software from individual devices via cloud computing.
However, the financial crisis is posing a real threat to such a change because the investment in IT has also become a bigger risk in this economic climate. The industries are trying to prevent wastingresources and talents by lending IT resources in line with their precise requirements. And N-Screen service is possible through cloud computing alone.
However, clouding computing also comes with certain problems. Transferring personal data outsidethe country before dispersing it to different parts of the world makes it difficult to address damages quickly. Also, there is a possibility that a cloud computing provider uses the system for other purposes than the official service, by, for instance, tracking the usage without user consent or utilizing collected personal information.
And the biggest problem lies in the possible magnitude of any violation or damage as all users can be victimized once the whole pool is hacked. Data reliability is another possible concern in case a cloud data center is affected by disaster like earthquakes or floods.
