52 . Glasgow Business November/December 2012
ADVERTORIAL
www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk/generationip
Tony Grace, Chief Operating Officer, Virgin Media Business, looks ahead to a future where working from home is the norm, thanks to high speed internet access
WELCOME TO GENERATION IP: 2025
Imagine a world where you don’t go to work. Where you never meet your boss. Where colleagues are holograms and personal avatars check-you-in. You’ll work with people you’ll never actually meet and communicating with virtual colleagues is as natural as a handshake. It may sound like science fiction – but this future is closer than you think. Research from Te Future
Laboratory, combining the views of notable international futurists, has just been published which offers an exciting glimpse into a hyper-connected Britain just 13 years in the future. We call it Generation IP: 2025. Today, people are already
working more closely together and pooling resources to see what they can achieve through
technology. Tis’ll be taken one step further in the future, with workers sharing information in real-time and collaborating with hundreds of people on a daily basis. What’s more, they’ll be able to do so whenever and wherever they like. From virtual hologram meetings in your living room, through to saving 3D images in the palm of your hand. Schemes such as ‘bring your
own device’ – where employees are encouraged to bring their personal devices into the workplace – are becoming more popular as the functions on consumer devices allow for more business use. But in the future, there might not even be offices to take personal devices to. According to the research, technology could soon let us
conjure workspaces out of thin air by using interactive surfaces. Holographic teleconferencing and virtual ‘dry runs’ of projects will replace old office templates. Multiple surfaces in the home, or shared work hub, will be coated with digitally enabled ‘smart’ paint that will project 3D images of colleagues at a single touch. Tis vision is already
becoming a reality. Today, businesses are deploying more flexible and mobile workforces with fast, secure networks transferring the data. It’s enhanced speed and
connectivity that’ll drive this process further. 4G is about to be rolled out across the UK – ten connected cities have already been announced and companies
are experimenting with new technologies. One such experiment is with small cells. Tese can be mounted on to lamp posts and deliver speeds of up to 90Mb/s – that’s three times faster than the current average 3G or Wi-Fi speeds – both inside buildings and outside in public spaces. By 2025, connectivity and
speed like this, and more, will simply be expected. We believe future generations
will see these advancements as a massive opportunity. Te vision of the digital future we’re all moving towards will be incredibly empowering. It’ll equip each one of us to live the lives we want to live, and businesses to engage with consumers on a more personal basis.
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