Report by Orange Silicon Valley, the Group’s development center in San Francisco, raises new questions about the direction of IT/Internet tech research in Silicon Valley
San Francisco and Paris, October 07, 2011
As more and more corporate giants move their research centers to the Silicon Valley, a new study from Orange raises questions about the current patterns of academic research in IT and the Internet. In-depth interviews with leading technology and academic researchers reveal changes in attitudes, methodology and motivations that are impacting the way information technology research has been quietly but massively transformed by the unpredictable and disruptive growth of the Internet.
Interviews between veteran Silicon Valley reporter Lee Gomes, and researchers from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, UC Berkeley, Stanford and more, were conducted in the spring and summer of this year. The results are being made available to the public for free as part of open dialog about the evolution of the industry.
According to one of the themes of the report, the emergence of research centered on so-called Big Data – the digital exhaust of massive platforms like Facebook and Twitter – has given corporate players an edge over academic institutions lacking the data and the infrastructure to crunch these massive data sets. New technical challenges are revealing themselves continuously to internet firms as the scale, speed as well as nature of the gigantic and chaotic real-time data flows require new solutions and approaches that do not exist today. The growth in the Internet is amplified by mobile, social, and connected TV applications that, together with their worldwide reach, are dictating which tech advances matter.
“We are all looking for the new unknowns,” commented Elie Girard, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development for Orange, “In the age of Big Data, those unknowns are in the Cloud, probably more than the traditional academia or established vendors.”
As competitive pressures from non-traditional players in the IT and Internet industries intensify, the measured and deliberate pace of academic research could become more reactive.
On the academic front, the ability of universities to attract and retain graduate- and post-graduate level researchers, in the face of the alluring jobs solving interesting problems offered by startups and giants alike, is also examined. Web giants provide very rich data sets and huge computer processing power to data scientists who find it compelling to move their research work to these companies.
The demand from companies for data scientists seems to be growing at an increasing rate, as is the need for new products and algorithms in areas like data mining. Several leading edge start-ups have in fact been created recently by academics to pursue these opportunities while continuing the founding research work as a part of the start-up’s activities.
When thinking about What’s Left to Know, there is still much to learn and develop. The shift of IT and Internet research to the web giants and nimble, focused, and specialized startups is a sign of a transition that is likely to change the very face and evolution of IT definitively.
Copies of the full « What’s Left to Know ? » report are available on request, contact: pascale.diaine@orange.com.
Press contacts:
Pascale Diaine - Orange Silicon Valley, + 1 650 875 1564 - pascale.diaine@orange.com
Vanessa Clarke – Orange, +44 7891056593 – vanessa.clarke@orange.com
Héloïse Rothenbühler, + 33 1 44 44 93 93, heloise.rothenbuhler@orange.com
Interviews between veteran Silicon Valley reporter Lee Gomes, and researchers from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, UC Berkeley, Stanford and more, were conducted in the spring and summer of this year. The results are being made available to the public for free as part of open dialog about the evolution of the industry.
According to one of the themes of the report, the emergence of research centered on so-called Big Data – the digital exhaust of massive platforms like Facebook and Twitter – has given corporate players an edge over academic institutions lacking the data and the infrastructure to crunch these massive data sets. New technical challenges are revealing themselves continuously to internet firms as the scale, speed as well as nature of the gigantic and chaotic real-time data flows require new solutions and approaches that do not exist today. The growth in the Internet is amplified by mobile, social, and connected TV applications that, together with their worldwide reach, are dictating which tech advances matter.
“We are all looking for the new unknowns,” commented Elie Girard, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Development for Orange, “In the age of Big Data, those unknowns are in the Cloud, probably more than the traditional academia or established vendors.”
As competitive pressures from non-traditional players in the IT and Internet industries intensify, the measured and deliberate pace of academic research could become more reactive.
On the academic front, the ability of universities to attract and retain graduate- and post-graduate level researchers, in the face of the alluring jobs solving interesting problems offered by startups and giants alike, is also examined. Web giants provide very rich data sets and huge computer processing power to data scientists who find it compelling to move their research work to these companies.
The demand from companies for data scientists seems to be growing at an increasing rate, as is the need for new products and algorithms in areas like data mining. Several leading edge start-ups have in fact been created recently by academics to pursue these opportunities while continuing the founding research work as a part of the start-up’s activities.
When thinking about What’s Left to Know, there is still much to learn and develop. The shift of IT and Internet research to the web giants and nimble, focused, and specialized startups is a sign of a transition that is likely to change the very face and evolution of IT definitively.
Copies of the full « What’s Left to Know ? » report are available on request, contact: pascale.diaine@orange.com.
Press contacts:
Pascale Diaine - Orange Silicon Valley, + 1 650 875 1564 - pascale.diaine@orange.com
Vanessa Clarke – Orange, +44 7891056593 – vanessa.clarke@orange.com
Héloïse Rothenbühler, + 33 1 44 44 93 93, heloise.rothenbuhler@orange.com
About Orange
France Telecom-Orange is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with 171,000 employees worldwide, including 105,000 employees in France, and sales of 10.9 billion euros in the first three months of 2012. Present in 33 countries, the Group had a customer base of 225 million customers at 31 March 2012, including 181 million customers under the Orange brand, the Group's single brand for internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates. At 31 March 2012, the Group had 166 million mobile customers and 15 million broadband internet (ADSL, fibre) customers worldwide. Orange is one of the main European operators for mobile and broadband internet services and, under the brand Orange Business Services, is one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.
With its industrial project, "conquests 2015", Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group's ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information (on the internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv or to follow us on Twitter: @presseorange.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.
With its industrial project, "conquests 2015", Orange is simultaneously addressing its employees, customers and shareholders, as well as the society in which the company operates, through a concrete set of action plans. These commitments are expressed through a new vision of human resources for employees; through the deployment of a network infrastructure upon which the Group will build its future growth; through the Group's ambition to offer a superior customer experience thanks in particular to improved quality of service; and through the acceleration of international development.
France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris (compartment A) and on the New York Stock Exchange.
For more information (on the internet and on your mobile): www.orange.com, www.orange-business.com, www.orange-innovation.tv or to follow us on Twitter: @presseorange.
Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Brand Services Limited, Orange France or France Telecom.
download the full report "What’s Left to Know?"
(12.0 MB)
download the press release
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© France Telecom - Orange 2012
