Fujitsu CTO Dr Joseph Reger (right) is interviewed by Symantec's vice-president of product marketing, Steve Morton at the Symantec Vision 2010 conference
The new keynote format ‘sans Powerpoint slides’ at the Symantec Vision 2010 conference makes it all the more enjoyable, but also unpredictable.
Case in point: When asked about its cloud computing strategy, Fujitsu’s CTO Dr. Joseph Reger had this to say:
“The IT industry and the cloud thing are in the dating stage… Dating is when you see only the bright side, the opportunities and you don’t sit down and worry about what could be the issues,” said the Fujitsu CTO.
Fujitsu pushes for a ‘Cloud stack’
Reger went on to say that Fujitsu developed a concept it called ‘Trusted Cloud’ that does not treats cloud computing as “a totally different affair from current IT.”
“It is a step away from current IT but it needs to be connected to the current IT: so private-public cloud. We’re thinking about trusted boundaries, the security perimeters and so on. And we are seriously hoping that the cloud will be just another incarnation of IT, not a total different thing. Meaning that there will be a cloud stack where everybody can contribute… Because if the cloud is like an end to end proprietary big heater proposition, that’s not good for us, for you [Symantec] and for our customers either.”
Despite important turmoil at its top, Fujitsu is in the midst of launching a major effort to expand its product/hardware and IT services business globally.
“We are a major force in Japan with 180,000 employees and $50 billion in annual turnover revenues… And we’re the 3rd or 4th IT services company in the world,” emphasised Reger.
Fujitsu is also a big believer in open standards despite being vertically integrated, which in the long run could result in a lock-in for customers.
“We are diligently working on open standards. In fact we’re the only company outside of VMware who submitted a cloud management interface API to the DMTF.”
It’s okay to make money on Green IT
On Green IT, Reger sees no harm in profiting on this new trend.
“The goal is to save the planet. And now while we are saving the planet, if there are some people or companies making a fortune while doing that, then that’s good for the planet actually and good for all of us. It’s okay to make money.”
