Creativity - IDA Ireland

» DIGITAL WORLD
we put in place a productive policy to take advantage of the
transformative potential cloud computing has for all our organisations,”
says Microsoft Ireland managing director Paul
Rellis, adding that, over time, cloud computing will have the
same socioeconomic impact as the arrival of water and electricity
to premises.
“There is a huge job creation opportunity and an opportunity
to leverage multinationals to create a cluster of cloud computing
industries and this is going to help significantly with
competitiveness. The potential is enormous.”
Rellis is working with IDA Ireland to influence
policy changes that will help boost
cloud take-up in Ireland, but also attract
cloud computing organisations into the
country. These policy areas involve entrepreneurship,
broadband and electricity.
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
The author of the study, John Finnegan of
Goodbody Economic Consultants, says:
“This is a unique opportunity. The cloud is
a transformative technology that could
have an enormous impact and at an early
stage. It will be an opportunity for Ireland
to once again be seen as a technology leader
and be the place that good technology
comes from.”
In 2010, 30pc of Irish ICT firms were selling
cloud services, which is already above
the international average, and by 2013, this
is predicted to grow to 47pc of Irish ICT
firms, he adds.
EMC, a major player in the cloud infrastructure
market, employs 1,600 people in
Ireland and recently invested €20m in its
local R&D centre in Cork. The company has
partnered with Cork Institute of Technology
(CIT) to develop Ireland’s first master’s
and undergraduate degree programmes in
cloud computing.
The degree in cloud computing has been
developed for a new type of ICT worker, according
to general manager of EMC’s operations
in Ireland, Bob Savage.
“The future for ICT is going to get very exciting and it will
embrace many aspects, from analytics to virtualisation, and
all encompassed by the cloud revolution,” he explained. “The
challenges and complexities of managing big data will require
creativity and good technical knowledge.
“This will require a new way of looking at ICT, where a
broader experience and range of expertise that includes strategy,
humanities and analytics can play a part.”
Designed to be delivered remotely or on campus, the oneyear
courses address future industry skills requirements and
strengthen Ireland’s advancement as an international cloud
computing centre of excellence.
‘The future for
ICT is going to get
very exciting and
it will embrace
many aspects,
from analytics to
virtualisation, and
all encompassed
by the cloud
revolution’
Initially, 20 master’s degree places are on offer, commencing
in September 2011, with the expectation that enrolment
will grow to meet demand in future years.
The MSc degree and BSc (Hons) degree in cloud computing
are one-year add-on courses for computer science graduates,
commencing in September 2011.
Content development began in 2009 by CIT in consultation
with a consortium of industry leaders, including EMC, Cisco,
VMware, RSA, SpringSource and Greenplum, and 30 EMC
and VMware employees took part in the pilot programme from
2010, graduating in 2012.
The aim is to provide graduates with the
advanced conceptual understanding, detailed
factual knowledge and specialist
technical skills required for successfully delivering
cloud computing, and to equip
them to meet the challenges associated
with the rapidly changing IT industry.
THE IRISH VIEW
The wins for business are significant, according
to the Goodbody study, which estimates
that early adoption of cloud
computing by Irish users will take costs of
€0.5 billion per annum out of Irish organisations.
A survey carried out by Readydynamics.com
for the Irish Internet Association
(IIA) has tracked how organisations have
been using cloud technology in Ireland. It
now has data to compare between 2009 and
2010 and some clear trends have emerged.
Understanding of cloud computing has
improved year-on-year. In 2009, only 46pc
of senior businesspeople understood what
the term meant. That figure rose to 65pc in
2010, and most estimate that figure will
have risen significantly in 2011, with cloud
firmly on the agenda in Irish business.
The survey showed strong intentions by
Irish firms to deploy cloud technology in
the short term; 71pc planned to do so in 2011
and a further 19pc were aiming for next
year. Medium and large enterprises expect to increase using
systems in the cloud by 30pc over the next four years.
The IIA survey found that tools for collaboration, office software
and IT management are perceived to be more suited to
the cloud, and suggested this may be because they are easier
to deploy, or that it is easier to convince management to buy
into and therefore they will gain widespread traction quicker.
Those businesses using cloud computing have had a good
experience with it, the IIA found. According to the survey,
94pc said their cloud project was successful and 97pc said they
would use the technology again.
What is more, larger organisations have begun to take more
interest than last year, when the most enthusiastic cloud sup-
50 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW Issue 2 Spring/Summer 2011