The game of ‘the next big thing’ is always fun to play, irrespective of the arena in which it is played.
The technology arena is one of the more entertaining places to play this game, as we have seen in the past that the stronger the logic of an argument for something being ‘the next big thing’ the greater the likelihood of it being a big fat flop.
And so it is with great trepidation that I venture forth my prediction for ‘the next big thing’, or at least, ‘a big thing’ in enterprise IT.
We all know how mobility has affected enterprise, and the way it has allowed people to do more and strike a better balance for themselves and their job. Access to data that was otherwise stuck within the perimeter of an enterprise network and the ability to be able to consume and present that data, has changed the way that business can be done, whether that is for technical staff on site or a mobile sales force at the coalface of business.
However, most people who have actually attempted to do serious work on the road, from a coffee shop or in an airport lounge will know that while getting material downloaded, be it email or a presentation, is usually fairly easy, the upload is often a different story.
We’ve all had the experience, I’m sure, of sitting looking at a little progress bar that stubbornly refuses to go anywhere near as fast as its better-behaved download sibling, when sending that important email, edited document or vital report from an important client. And this is a major problem, one way service. While broadband speeds have been improving immeasurably in recent years, upload speeds have rarely kept pace. And even on services where there are supposed synchronous speeds, in reality, the upload performance is often far less than advertised. This leads to the problem of one way business.
I have been lucky enough to participate in a 4G trial, and was delighted to do so as I am still at heart a geek that likes to play with the new toys. But, in the cold view of my journalistic sensibilities, I was sceptical as to what benefits the new speeds would bring.
Current High Speeds Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technologies are pretty quick, but again, suffer the upload inadequacies of many current connectivity offerings. But one of the key aspects of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies behind 4G is a serious increase in upload capabilities.
In playing with the 4G device, I found that I was much more willing to engage in the upload heavy aspects of usage than before because the speed and responsiveness of the service made it much easier to use. Before, if I’d wanted to upload a video, or indeed anything larger than a low-res snapshot, I’d usually revert to a large machine and a wired connection, or home wireless at the very least. But with not only comparable, but competitive performance in a 4G connection, I found myself actually doing what the TV ads had been showing for some time now, and actually uploading on the move or enjoying full access, as if at one of my work-capable desks.
And so, much in the same way as Web 2.0 led to the creation of what can be termed the ‘upload generation’ that is probably best characterised by the success of YouTube, the availability of widespread, low latency, broadband upload connectivity will likely see a sea change in the way organisations that have embraced mobile can operate.
By making the level of interactivity competitive with current levels of consumption, I would argue, that we will see a change much like that from the Web 2.0 wave in business mobility.
Now, I know that what I am using is only a trial, and it will take some time before public availability and, perhaps, service levels will provide the same experience as that seen by a bunch of testers running around a closed infrastructure, but the promise is there. And, as far as I am concerned, the thesis proven.
So, in much the same way as we saw major companies develop clients for business applications for smart phones and tablets that were initially thought frivolous, I reckon that the next few years will see those same companies that had the vision to develop those apps go further and take advantage of the new upload performance of LTE networks to facilitate new capabilities. It will be an interesting development to watch, as new possibilities emerge from new capabilities delivered. One wonders if CIOs will need an office at all.
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