Deutsche Telekom and its business customer arm, T-Systems, are planning to build out public cloud on a massive scale. Frank Strecker, who is in charge of the cloud business, explains how Deutsche Telekom plans to shake up the cloud market in 2016 and why its taking a hybrid cloud approach,
"The cloud world is hybrid, and so will the Internet of Things(IoT) be," said Frank. As IoT gives rise to more and more data, or so-called big data, this can only be processed effectively with computing power from the cloud, added Frank. The operator aims to a multi-IoT aproach to integrate many different data formats and it aims to build an ecosystem of IoT partners to make it work. Following are the answers to questions surrounding the operator's strategy;
1. Can this interaction between widely different players really work?
Frank Strecker: If you think in terms of traditional silos, you are going to fail in the Internet of Things. Stand-alone platforms will never solve customers' problems. Their IT landscapes are already highly complex. We need to think in terms of ecosystems, we need to create standardized interfaces and share or integrate platforms. In the end, it's about understanding the challenges facing customers and making things as simple as possible for them in the growing Internet of Things.
2. Then I'm sure you'll have an example of a simple IoT product from the cloud?
Frank Strecker: Take our starter kit, "Cloud of Things." The package includes hardware and selected sensors for collecting data, a SIM card with a special data rate for data transmission and access to a special Telekom cloud platform for data processing. This allows users, for example, to monitor the temperature of a machine or the motion area of a construction machine in real time.
3. And how is all this safeguarded against missuse?
Frank Strecker: The different objectives have to be reconciled: On the one hand, we want to share data and have access to as much data as possible, that is the principle of the new business models in the Internet of Things. On the other hand, I want to protect my data against unauthorized access. As a German company, we have the advantage of being subject to Germany's strict data protection regulations. And security has long been part of Deutsche Telekom's DNA.
