Orange Business Services has unveiled its cloud computing roadmap, which will see the company introduce services in real-time applications, collaboration, security, infrastructure and cloud-ready networking over the next two years.
The company already operates a few cloud services, such as IT Plan and Flexible Computing, and this move will see it add another 12 services to its portfolio.
“Operating cloud computing services is in our DNA,” said Barbara Dalibard, president and CEO, OBS. “The network is the cloud, and our experience and expertise in network and communications services place us in the best position to deliver high performance cloud computing services to support our customers’ transformation. We are committed to leveraging our global capabilities to deliver secure and flexible cloud computing services to our customers.”
Orange claims that a need to reduce up front investment when deploying new applications is driving enterprise uptake of cloud computing.
“Telecom operators are ideally positioned to provide secure and resilient cloud services, said Camille Mendler, vice president of global service strategies at Yankee Group. Enterprises need pervasive connectivity to virtualised assets, backed with robust performance guarantees and transparent monitoring tools. Not least, there is an urgent need for trusted intermediaries to federate private, public and hybrid cloud environments. Telecom operators are stepping up to play this critical role.”
Analyst houses Gartner and IDC both recently predicted that cloud computing would be one of the hot enterprise technologies during 2010.
