The Next Step Forward: Capturing the Full Potential of Tech “Superpowers”

Previously, I shared my perspective on the technology “Superpowers” that are unlocking game-changing opportunities on a global scale – Cloud, Mobile, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. Today, I had the privilege of exploring this topic more deeply at VMworld 2018.

These tech superpowers are reshaping how businesses engage with customers and compete. The cloud delivers previously unimaginable scale. Mobile technology provides unprecedented reach. AI can bring intelligence to everything, gleaning insights from massive data sets to complement human intelligence. And IoT connects the physical and digital worlds, bringing technology into every dimension of human progress.

Each of these technologies is powerful in its own right, but what gives them true super power status is the magic that happens as they increasingly reinforce and accelerate one another. It starts with the proliferation of both mobile “human-connected” devices and machine-connected IoT devices, which allow us to gather exponentially more data. The cloud then enables us to capture and analyze all that information through its massive data and computational capacity. That, in turn, makes AI tools more potent in their ability to capture insights that complement and transcend the limits of human intelligence. The pace and scale of this virtuous cycle is accelerating with each passing day.

Over the next decade, these technologies will propel a range of innovations, from autonomous vehicles, drones and robotics to remote surgery, smart agriculture, mass-scale virtual and augmented reality and more.

What’s Next for Tech Superpowers?

So, what’s the next step for each of these superpowers? Here are some thoughts on where we need to innovate to capture their full potential:

CLOUD

Today: For too long, we thought of Cloud as an “either/or” proposition – “Private or Public.” At VMware, we helped to pioneer the view that Cloud is not binary but instead an agile combination of the two – the hybrid cloud. While this was seen as heresy just five years ago, today our long-standing view of the hybrid cloud is broadly accepted as “the” answer and the right path forward.

What’s Next: It’s time to expand our thinking on Cloud even further. We need to acknowledge that businesses are on a journey not just of multiple clouds -- but different types: Hybrid, Public, Local clouds, SaaS, Edge and Telco. We’re on the cusp of constructing a network of clouds -- a marriage of the best of private and public clouds combined with powerful edge computing and telco 5G clouds.

The future of cloud will be driven, as always, by applications, which are the lifeblood of every digital business. And the applications themselves are becoming dramatically more complex. John Gage of Sun Microsystems famously said 30 years ago, “The network is the computer.” Today we’ve reached the point where it’s safe to say: “The application is a network.” It’s also a pretty complicated one!

As the apps grow more sophisticated and complex, they’re placing new demands on the underlying cloud infrastructure that supports them. For example, in order to maximize performance, an individual app may divide itself into smaller pieces, distributed across multiple computers and often across multiple data centers, networks and clouds. This is one of the secrets behind all those lightning-fast response times when we search for “coffee shops near me.”

Increasingly, these hybrid apps run at the edge, where apps and data interact more directly with the physical world. As an industry, we need to extend compute capabilities to the edge so that analytics can be performed right at the source of the data, without any latency. For instance, some airlines are now installing a mini “data center in a box” in airport closets so they can run real-time analytics on their jet engines as soon as a plane lands, rather than having to send that massive data all the way to the cloud and back. 5G networks, based on the fifth generation of wireless technology, will also play a central role in the future of cloud, but I’ll discuss telco’s role more in depth in a future post.

At VMware, we’re investing and innovating to enable hybridity across all of the core building blocks within this cloud ecosystem. For example, we’re working to harness public cloud so that it enables services on telco networks –to power new capabilities both at the edge and in the enterprise private cloud. Over time we will effectively blur the lines between private vs. public vs. telco vs. edge. The hybrid cloud of the future is an agile combination of all four of these components, interacting and collaborating with each other on top of a common architectural foundation.

MOBILE

Today: The conventional wisdom says you simply can’t combine a great mobile experience for employees with rock-solid mobile security.

What’s Next: We need to make rock-solid mobile security less intrusive and more seamless – while enabling the smooth integration of networking software and billions of IoT devices.

Employees are yearning for a “consumer simple” experience so they can do their best work – without getting bogged down by burdensome security protocols. On the other side of the equation the IT team is hyper-focused on ensuring those critical apps and data are “enterprise secure.” An increasingly diverse continuum of devices, from employee-owned, to corporate-owned, to ruggedized devices for industrial environments, to smart devices in hospitals – not to mention public infrastructure for smart cities adds to complexity. All of these devices demand rock-solid, embedded security that must be upgradable, patchable and highly automated.

So how can robust security and great experience co-exist in harmony? Research shows that over 70% of breaches originate from some form of end-user access – phishing for example, or a weak perimeter, or a hijacked device. The key is to make security less intrusive by automating security policies, which improve security hygiene across the board. This can unleash employee productivity by giving people easy and seamless access to all their data and apps, from the device of their choice. And we can simultaneously deliver what IT has been clamoring for: consistent management and security across all the devices they’re ultimately responsible for safeguarding.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & MACHINE LEARNING

Today: We’ve made tremendous progress in machine-learning tools, yet we still struggle to explain how these AI models actually work

What’s Next: Before AI can fully spreads its wings as a tool for critical decision-making, we need to make “explainable AI” a reality

We’ve made stunning progress in recent years using deep-learning AI tools in areas as diverse as financial trading, personalized marketing, fraud detection, image recognition in radiology, and voice recognition in customer support.

For me personally, the power and value of artificial intelligence became very tangible when my son was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years ago. With 30,000 oncology papers published each year on cancer research and treatment, it’s impossible to expect that my son’s doctor could digest all that research and customize it to his unique situation. This is where AI enters the picture: complementing a doctor’s expertise by cross-referencing massive data sets to glean valuable insights. Thankfully, my son’s cancer is now in remission but that experience drove home for me the relationship between human and artificial intelligence. In healthcare, as in other industries, AI is a tool to help people make an informed decision, and I believe we are always going to want a human doctor to hold our hand and guide us through.

The first challenge we need to confront is understanding how and why AI tools make their decisions and draw their conclusions. Much of AI today prioritizes algorithms that produce the best results. When you’re using AI for a straightforward task like photo recognition it may be fine, however, when a business gets into more serious decision-making using AI and ML, that lack of transparency becomes a significant issue. For example, legal experts are now routinely using AI algorithms to review documents and predict the outcome of legal proceedings. Similarly, financial services firms are using AI to make decisions on which loan applicants get approved vs. who gets rejected. In both cases, there’s a need to justify those decisions, especially from a regulatory standpoint. That need for transparency is intensifying even more as instances of racial and gender bias in AI tools continue to rise.

What we need is “Explainable AI,” or the ability for AI systems to explain their decisions and actions. AI algorithms of tomorrow need to have a built-in ability to explain their logic, detail their strengths and weaknesses, and help us anticipate their future behavior.

EDGE & INTERNET OF THINGS

Today: We’re still in the early “Instrumentation of Things” phase, laying the foundation – with lots of work to do to secure IoT systems. Applications are increasingly requiring compute in all types of locations, and as Hybrid and Multi-Cloud architectures become the new normal, we need new types of infrastructure to form the Edge, building upon a Compute Edge and a Device Edge.

What’s Next: A more mature Edge and IoT ecosystem must evolve where autonomous machines can communicate directly with one another with intrinsic security, and bring highly automated and connected compute to support local applications and devices.

From smart factories to digital retailing to connected cars to the hospital of the future, almost every industry stands to benefit in a substantive way as this space matures. The economic impact of this technology is mind-boggling. Spending on IoT globally is growing at an astonishing 27% annually. By 2020, it’s projected to grow into a $1.3 trillion market, with a total economic value of more than $6 trillion by 2025, according to TechTarget.

Application requirements are increasingly complex and distributed, meaning that a consistent and secure compute foundation is needed. Whether it’s on a cargo ship thousands of miles out at sea or sensitive factory equipment that needs constant connection to distributed services, across multiple partners, and clouds, maintaining business continuity is key. By introducing a compute edge layer, business can take advantage of broad technology innovation without the worry of losing control or downtime.

The true magic of Edge and IoT is when these individual “things” can talk to each other directly and securely, in real time. Consider a patient in critical condition being rushed to the emergency room: both medical history and vital signs could be assessed instantly by systems on-board the ambulance, so smart recommendations can be sent instantly to the emergency medics preparing the hospital’s emergency room for the inbound patient. That’s just one example of where Edge and IoT will lead us.

Once again, cyber security stands out as a critical piece that’s missing. Fifty-seven percent of companies surveyed in a recent IDG report identified security as their biggest challenge in implementing IoT. This is a big area of focus for us at VMware, and we’re embedding more of the base requirements of security into our infrastructure software, with deep collaborations across a variety of industry players to address this challenge. Together, we have an opportunity to get Edge & IoT security right from the start, by architecting it into the core fabric of these systems.

From Vision to Reality

The opportunities in front of us are mind-boggling. As these superpowers become more intricately intertwined, their collective impact will be felt in every aspect of business and society. In the next decade we have an opportunity to extend lifespans globally, eradicate chronic diseases, lift families out of extreme poverty, and tackle the massive challenge of climate change. We have an obligation to ensure that these innovations deliver benefits for every human on the planet, not just a select few. Deep and substantive partnerships across business, academia, non-profit organizations and government will be key to success. Working together all things are possible.