Microsoft: Future includes clouds, nodes, maybe not encryption

Redmond, Wash. – Microsoft Corp. recently held a press tour of its Redmond, Washington campus that included briefings on the future of technology. Two items that may be of particular interest to retailers are a transformation to an IT networking model based on interconnected nodes, and a world where encryption-based security is obsolete.



“Peripherals will become nodes on an interconnected network,” said David Baumert, senior program manager technology & research, Microsoft. “They will sense the meaning of interactions.”

In this scenario, Baumert said people themselves will become “metadata” as network nodes they interact with sense the context of their inquiries and behaviors. This will include historical data, as well as pertinent real-time factors such as weather, time of day, language used, etc.



For retailers, this would mean customers could engage with automated smart sales devices that have instant access to their browsing and purchase history and personal demographic data, as well as sense current environmental and behavioral factors, to provide them with a truly seamless and personalized shopping experience.



For developers, Baumert said this type of networking strategy will require a new mindset.



“Permissions will overtake integration,” said Baumert. “Everyone will have access to the network.”



Dr. Peter Lee, corporate VP of Microsoft Research, described some of the possible future impacts of quantum computing, a model that uses quantum mechanics to enable processing data at volumes and speeds unimaginable today.



“We may be living in a post-encryption world,” said Lee.



In theory, the computing capabilities of a quantum system would allow it to instantly crack any encryption-based security system. Lee said Microsoft is currently working on algorithms that would replace encryption-based security if it becomes obsolete, although he stressed this is not a certain outcome. Lee also said a quantum message would instantly be destroyed if it were viewed by anyone other than the intended recipient.



Lee also described how a simulator of large quantum machines called Liquid has demonstrated that a quantum program could compute the energy minimum for ferredoxin, a protein found in plants, within months instead of the billions of years it would currently take.

“The implications for agriculture would be huge,” said Lee.



Certainly the implications for any retailer of agriculture-based products would be huge as well.



And in introductory remarks to visiting press, Susan Hauser, corporate VP, enterprise and partner group, Microsoft, explained how today’s retailers are using technologies such as cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) to disrupt how they conduct business.



“Intelligent cloud is a hybrid approach combining public, private and on-premise systems with an intelligent data layer across the cloud,” said Hauser. “Storage is a high expense. Cloud reduces the cost of storage, letting retailers use the savings to innovate. Azure (Microsoft’s cloud platform) is letting companies change their business model.”



Hauser also commented on the growing recognition from top executives across industries that IoT is the wave of the future.



“Every individual I’ve talked to at the C-level is interested in using IoT intelligence to aid real-time decisions-making,” said Hauser.



[Editor’s note]: Look for more coverage of Microsoft’s press tour in TechBytes on Monday, June 8.