Currently as some people are aware I am in between roles. Whilst there is a period of time before I start and receive my work phone I have reverted back to an old spare phone. We keep an old Nokia E51 with a small amount of calls on it for times like this. This phone back in its day was cutting edge and had all the current features of the time.
The phone could be used for calling, text, basic email, some applications and most important of all it had Snake II. At the time there were people who thought that was more than enough and why would you need anything more in your pocket. The idea of contactable anywhere unnerved people. Add the iPhone into the picture. 2008 was the year that smart phones really took hold.
Applications are now built to deliver any content to your handset. They are built to be a companion, a portal to a larger world and even an extension of the human brain. Initially dismissed by people , the smart phone changed how people thought, approached consumption of data and it challenged vendors to either compete or continue down a path with a potentially poor future.
Fast forward to 2014 and the iPhone has seen many iterations. It has fierce competition from Google and other vendors and there is an ‘arms race-esque’ style to each new release. Concepts that challenged us 10 years ago are now ubiquitous and come standard – vendors are ostracised if they remove them. Online banking, remote management, Facebook, Twitter, cloud synchronisation and many more things that were not even possible years ago now are expected.
Technology takes time to understand and constantly evolves. As always I think more and more every day open mind is required. Something that challenges a common understanding shouldn’t be dismissed but met a mindset that encourages inquiring questions and not an instant dismissal.
In 2013 there was a shift in the whole Software Defined caper with the announcement of VMware NSX , Cisco ACI and Juniper’s Contrail. These unique solutions sought to solve some of the most difficult issues facing networks today. Whilst each solutions solves a problem space individually they do have some moderate overlap. Irrespective of the competitive landscape what each vendor successfully has done is challenged traditional concepts each in their own way. Whilst I will not say which one is better what I will say, is that next time you see a new technology, approach is with an open mind because in a few years time it could be ubiquitous and be the ground floor of the next big thing!