change bandwidth consumption patterns, requiring service providers to upgrade their connectivity services to enable increased speed, flexibility, and integration of the network with compute and storage in the cloud ecosystem. This applies to international networks as well as national networks —perhaps
even more so to international networks, where bandwidth prices are higher. Service providers, including submarine network operators, play an important role in enabling the success of the cloud, as fulfilling its potential will require the right underlying
infrastructure to be in place, capable of evolving as cloud services evolve. In the cloud world, demands on capacity and connectivity are fluid, entirely dependent on users’ specific requirements, habits, and whims at a given time. Consequently, the underlying communications network infrastructure must be
able to grow with increasing demand, scale down when the resources are needed, and adapt to the different applications and varying traffic patterns required by the cloud. Implications for Global Network Owners & Operators Regardless of the sector, most businesses are now “informationpowered.” Innovative businesses leverage the power of modern information technology to grow their revenue, control costs, and innovate faster than their competitors. Informationpowered businesses leverage both expansive and real-time data; they analyze it with automated, powerful computebased processes; and they leverage the results directly and dynamically to both masscustomize and mass-optimize their offers, as well as support customer “self-service” delivery and respond more quickly to product innovation signals and opportunities. Telecom network operators also understand the power of becoming truly informationpowered, but an “agility gap” is getting in the way and impacting their ability to quickly address the new challenges presented by the unpredictable nature