What ICT infrastructure is needed for Australia's digital economy to thrive?

There is no doubt that the next 10 years will bring further exciting developments to the increasingly vital telecommunications industry. The foundations for change are well in motion and the continuing deployment of high-speed broadband and 4G technology will provide the infrastructure to ignite the new innovations and revolutions of the future.

The infrastructure that is now being built offers a range of features such as ubiquitousness, affordability, low latency, high speed and high capacity. It will link millions of devices, such as sensors, that will enable us to manage our environment, traffic, infrastructures, and our society as a whole, more efficiently and effectively.

There are a number of key trends which have emerged in recent years and will be real game-changers. Machine-to-machine (M2M), also referred to as the ‘Internet of Things’, is one such trend and it will transform every single sector of society and the economy. It will be out of this environment that new businesses - and indeed new industries - will be born. In Australia, the number of connected M2M devices will grow to between 25 million and 50 million by 2020.

The large amounts of data generated by M2M developments as well as the increase in user-generated communications via social networks and the like will also contribute to the progress of big data. Organisations are beginning to recognise the importance of storing and processing the growing amount of data they retain and also mining this data for commercial benefit. In turn, this is leading to a growth in data centres, due to the increasing data storage demands and pressure on companies to be environmentally proactive by consolidating and outsourcing their data management requirements.

The NBN in Australia has given an enormous boost to the data centre market, with forward-looking investments worth $5 billion. Currently the developments are highly centralised in the capital cities, but a more decentralised trend is expected to develop over time.

It is increasingly clear that Wi-Fi will play a key role in the telecoms environment of the future. The use of Wi-Fi hotspots continues to rise due to increasing use of smartphones and mobile devices. The status of Wi-Fi technology is continuing to improve, creating a whole new range of opportunities in the Wi-Fi market. Smartphone users want faster, more ubiquitous and reliable connectivity, while operators are looking to squeeze every last bit of capacity out of their cellular networks. As a result, smarter Wi-Fi is needed so that it can take on a more strategic role as part of the overall mobile network infrastructure. Ultimately, users simply want the fastest and most reliable wireless connection they can get.

Cloud computing deployment and development is accelerating beyond expectations as the true potential of this technology reveals itself. It has become one of the fastest growing areas for the IT sector. In Australia, cloud computing solutions are now being adopted by over 80% of enterprises and government institutions. Similar developments can be seen in the consumer market, with services offered by the digital media companies.

For enterprises, the development of cloud computing takes the form of a business transition, and company strategies and policies need to be changed before its potential can be monetised by businesses. A key factor here is that organisations will have to lift ICT from the level of an infrastructure issue to that of a business opportunity. Cloud computing is a concept, not a technology and will need to be seen as a valuable business tool - one that will differentiate the company from others.

Cloud security and privacy are issues which require scrutiny and there are growing concerns about data ‘ownership’. The enormous financial benefits of cloud computing will see these concerns being overcome, along with the right standardisations and infrastructure put in place.

But to successfully implement cloud computing, far more robust infrastructure is required than what is currently available. The NBN will provide the robust infrastructure needed for high-speed information processing, distributed computing, as well as many other applications that can be processed, analysed and managed - all in real time over a cloud-computer-based IT platform.

Security will be crucial and far more attention needs to be given to ensure that these new large-scale developments are properly protected. This is of national importance.

*Paul Budde is an internationally recognised leader in developing business strategies and government policies for the digital economy and its broadband infrastructure. He is a special adviser to the UN on these issues and has provided strategic advice on the development of NBNs in Australia and a range of other countries. Budde is the keynote speaker at the BICSI South Pacific Conference and Exhibition, to be held in Brisbane from 12-14 May 2014. 

http://paulbudde.com/