Telstra’s Chief Technology Officer Dr Hugh Bradlow’s fascination with technological advances is well-known. Earlier this year, he appeared via hologram at a conference and he writes a regular blog, Technology Trends. TWNetwork speaks to Dr Bradlow about technology trends and what the future holds.
Dr Bradlow, what do you believe the next “big thing” in telecommunications technology will be?
I think there are several big changes coming. The first one is mobile internet, by which I mean not only broadband from your PC but internet from your phone with useability and responsiveness. We’re already seeing an increase in Mobile Internet Devices which are specifically designed for web browsing.
The second big thing is next generation broadband, which we have been talking about for quite some time. The reason it will be the next big thing is high definition video on demand, where you can watch what you want, when you want, with high quality.
Thirdly, near field communications (short range wireless communication between electronic devices). There was an interesting study done recently by Nokia which asked people ‘what do you never leave home without?’ The answer was ‘wallet, keys and phone’. For a device that didn’t exist 20 years ago, it’s remarkable that people can’t leave home without their phone. Near field communications gets rid of the wallet and keys and allows you to use your phone for all of these things.
Do you expect that the way we live, work and play will be dramatically different in the future thanks to rapidly changing technology? If so, how far away are these changes?
Yes, I believe these changes will make a huge difference.
Mobile internet is here today and is increasing in use. Video on demand is here today in the form of YouTube and other services which are relatively low definition. We will start to see more high definition video on demand in the next one to five years.
Telepresence is here today in the corporate world but with the average household having a high definition television screen in the house you can start pushing telepresence out to households, which has profound implications for community and commuting.
Home automation and monitoring will significantly change the way we use energy.
There is also the in-home healthcare aspect. In the next five to 10 years we will see a significant increase in low-cost routine monitoring in home instead of having to go to hospital.
What benefits do you believe next generation networks will bring to Australian business and consumers?
Education will be hugely affected because access to information goes up another order of magnitude. Broadband has already made a massive impact but next generation networks make it much more realistic.
I think the main thing people underestimate is the underlying productivity next generation networks will bring to the workplace.
What do you see as being the biggest growth area?
The biggest growth area in the next five years will be mobile internet worldwide. Broadband is a rich country’s technology. In OECD countries we take it for granted but it will be a long time before poorer countries can see the real benefits of broadband. Mobile internet will be the technology which really benefits countries in places like Africa.
What global developments excite you most and why?
Mobile broadband excites me because I like being connected. I start suffering withdrawal symptoms without access, so the ability to be so connected with a small device that’s attached to my belt is fantastic.
Global connectedness is incredible. One of the recent developments is crowd-sourcing, where data from users is aggregated. In the US a new GPS device called a Dash has recently been released. It has a mobile phone chip in it and records your speed and location as you are driving. This information is transmitted to a server, which aggregates everyone’s speed and location and can determine the traffic conditions on the roads around you in real time, which allows the GPS to start re-routing you automatically if there are congestion issues.
One of the most exciting things will be mobile broadband with crowd-sourcing. We are already seeing aspects of it, but to be most effective you need a lot of users. The technology is not the problem – the difficulty is putting the IT systems and business models together, which takes time and can be a difficult process. In the next five to 10 years, I believe we will see crowd-sourcing become more commonplace.
