Advancing in the 'gigabit economy': technology innovations lead to new business model.

• Position: RESEARCH NORTH CAROLINA: CENTURYLINK BUSINESS

The IT sector is having one of its periodic moments of congruity and clarity, where seemingly disparate trends come together and form the basis for accelerated change. Several key technologies have matured and created a nexus of rapid innovation: High-performance, low-cost bandwidth; cloud-based computing; the virtualization of machines and network functions; and the proliferation of smart and mobile devices enable enterprises to be competitive using new IT models. When businesses seize on unlimited bandwidth, computational power and scale for strategic advantage, we like to call this the "Gigabit Economy."

You can see the changes taking place when you consider how difficult it was historically to consume, produce and distribute applications. Buying a major piece of enterprise software like an ERP application or database required an IT department to make a major upfront purchase at a significant cost. It was typically a lengthy decision-making process across IT, line of business, finance and the executive team. Overall, it was a very difficult and time-consuming process for everyone involved.

The Gigabit Economy opens the door to wholly new digital business models and the disruption of industries. One telling note of change is how more and more technology decisions are being guided by line of business managers. They are taking advantage of a simpler, faster IT consumption process to speed up their time to value. Bandwidth, software platforms, hardware and network are all available on demand. Companies can focus on their core businesses and not get caught up in infrastructure. They can develop and deploy applications in the cloud, leveraging a host of options from dedicated...