Cloud-based, virtualised and software-defined networking and storage is rapidly shifting the emphasis in computing away from hardware and towards software.
So says Alex White, vice-president of enterprise business for Europe, Middle East and Africa at VMWare.
With virtualisation, "hardware becomes less relevant because it's managed by software," White explains, adding companies are ceasing to rely on "million-dollar servers" in the face of solutions that can run on "inexpensive, commodity, hyper-converged hardware".
Not only does this cut businesses' hardware costs, White says, but it can reduce companies' carbon footprint by eliminating the need for constantly discarding obsolete and consuming new hardware.
White believes this software-focused mentality can be extended to personal devices such as tablets and smartphones as well.
"You're not buying hardware when you buy a phone: you're buying access to an ecosystem of [software] solutions through the phone," he says. He explains that while certain hardware features such as battery life, camera and screen are relevant to a device's functionality, its software is most relevant to its usage.
"It shouldn't matter what device you bring to work," White says, advocating that businesses focus on providing required device features, such as security, through software that can be used across all devices.
Beyond a certain level of hardware functionality, replacing personal devices every year or two is not only unnecessary and uneconomical but wasteful, White adds.
Cloud computing is not only changing businesses' relationships with physical hardware, but their users' relationships with physical space, he continues. Virtualisation of what used to be physical services or procedures, such as visiting one's bank branch, offers companies the opportunity to reach scores of new clients in a multitude of new ways, but also presents the risk that their existing clients can be reached just as easily by competitors, he notes.
However, the fiercely contested benefits to be gained from cloud computing are still limited by concerns such as data sovereignty, security, and compliance, says White. Once the industry can more reliably address these challenges, virtualisation will accelerate even faster, he concludes.
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