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Future Cloud Summer School 2014 in Oulu, Finland

Master School students: David Farache (left) and Akshat Puri (right)

Theo Dimitrakos from British Telecom talking about threats that come with cloud

Cloud has become a game-changer in terms of how businesses manage the flow of information, how we distribute software and how people connect to one another. Especially combined with the big data analytics, Cloud has a profound impact on business operations in almost any industry and presents huge potential for future enterprises explained Tua Huomo, Action Line Leader for Future Cloud. "The potential that cloud and big data provides today to enhance operations and to create new services is nearly limitless. Those who can capture the opportunities and understand how data works and what it can yield will carry enormous advantage in the new economy", she continues.

The second Future Cloud Symposium was held on Wednesday 13 August in Oulu, Finland, gathering up to 150 people to discover key aspects of trusted cloud and future enterprises. "The world has changed - people's business and private lives are mixed, everyone is using multiple devices and everything moves to the cloud. "The future of Cloud in Europe is dependent on secure infrastructures and services that users trust", said Janne Järvinen, Director at F-Secure. "Information is a business asset so the big question is how to build your business without losing the trust of your customers", continued Janne. Theo Dimitrakos from British Telecom stressed that we need to predict the threats that come with cloud and be prepared.

Towards user-centric data management

Fabrizio Antonelli from Telecom Italia explained that an average person gives out a lot of data about himself every day. The amount of available data is expected to grow by 45% per year through 2015 to roughly 7 zettabytes. This offers huge business opportunities in digital identity, but two thirds of the potential value equalling 1 Trillion USD in 2020 is at risk if we cannot establish trusted flow of data. Antonelli's team is working on user-centric personal data management, which has clear advantages for both the individual as well as organisations. The person can use her information as cyber "currency" so that by disclosing data one gets economical or social advantages. By disclosing your data you will also get highly personalised applications. People's trust towards organisations increases when they themselves have control over their data.

Are managers needed?

"A noticeable point this symposium showcased was how Cloud has challenged and changed the traditional office work culture. With desktops moving to Cloud one can work from anywhere anytime with just an internet connection", Askhat Puri, summer school student pointed out. Vasco Duarte from Avira claimed that managers, as we know them today, are not needed anymore in this knowledge work era. Management as a technology is being disrupted by other technologies. He used Amazon's mechanical turk and oDesk as examples where freelancers all over the world can be hired 24/7 in simple and cheap way without any management layer.

Future Cloud Summer School

The Symposium was part of the Future Cloud Summer School programme taking place in Oulu and Oulanka national park during 11-22 August. Over 25 students from the EIT ICT Labs Master School got to meet with some of the key players shaping the Cloud ecosystem and hear the latest developments in the area. "These days there is a lot of interest around the words "Cloud" and "Big Data", which some call "The next big thing in IT" and it has become one of the fastest growing technological concepts so far. It gives one the ability to consume anything, be it an application, a platform or even infrastructure as a service without worrying about the underlying setup or its location. Having said that, it is still in relatively nascent stages and this symposium was a wonderful opportunity to capture its role, significance and working in the context of the modern era", explained Akshat Puri (2. image on the right hand side).

For David Farache (2. image on the left hand side) the seminar has been particularly enlightening and he thinks that the students are now more than ready to come up with cloud-based business ideas for the rest of the summer school. David felt that learning did not stop with the lecture - the time for networking has been of paramount importance to solve all the remaining doubts and to hear about the experiences of some of the current pioneers in the field. Akshat felt this event was not only the best possible way to gain knowledge in the field of Cloud directly from experts but also provided an insight of what could be expected from future Cloud technology.

Photos from the Symposium

Presentations can be found on the Symposium page

Article by Suvi Lavinto ( suvi.lavinto@eitictlabs.eu )

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