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Mobile VoIP and "The Cloud"

http://mobile-voip.tmcnet.com/topics/consumer-voip/articles/47844-mobile-voip-the-cloud.htm

Dec 23, 2008

By Mark Hewitt
CTO, i2Telecom


This article originally appeared in the December issue of Internet Telephony magazine.

Over the years it has been called “Grid Computing”, “On Demand”, “Distributed Computing” and “Software as a Service” however I think that unless you are Larry Ellison (News - Alert) we call it “Cloud Computing”.

Microsoft has abandoned trying to fix Vista and replaced it with the Azure Cloud Services Platform, Amazon has already proven the value of Cloud Computing with the Elastic Web and Google’s (News - Alert) Application Engine launched like a rocket. I think I’m in pretty good company when I say that Cloud Computing has arrived.

That said we still have a way to go before we cut the cord and move cloud based applications into the mobile world. With Apple (News - Alert) and RIM significantly restricting applications on their mobile platforms this leaves only OpenMOKO and Android as potential platforms that provide the development community the necessary openness to ensure competitive access to the mobile platform.

Information is only valuable if we can access it when we need it the most and that seems to be more often at the end of a cell phone. It is no wonder why the presentation of the iPhone’s (News - Alert) display and interface became such a hit. It was not just the disintermediation of the carriers’ grip on applications and services available over the wireless network, it was the presentation of content and applications that drove rapid acceptance. As more mobile devices with great displays and better user interfaces appear, the developer community will move quickly to support the untethered with maturing Cloud-based applications. We already see such great examples as Salesforce and LinkedIN

I will no longer be concerned about backing up my files or where a particular report is or even trying to remember in which contact manager my address book is stored. Soon we’ll be able to pick any phone or mobile device and have full access to our applications, services, and information. This will happen without the need to remember different userIDs or Passwords, as is possible today in most every laptop installed with a Trusted Platform Module or the “TPM”. More on that next month. . .

For more information on Grid Computing see the Open Grid Forum (OGF) at www.ogf.org.

Mark Hewitt, Chief Strategic Officer at i2Telecom, writes the Ask the Mobile Expert column for TMCnet. To read more of Mark’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Greg Galitzine