According to IDC Chief Analyst Frank Gens, "We are shifting into a new gear in the industry's adoption of the 3rd Platform, as cloud, mobile, big data, and the Internet of Things — and an exploding number of solutions built on them — will account for one-third of all IT spending and 100% of IT growth in 2015. Look for lots of vendor consolidation, 'strange bedfellow' partnerships, deathmatch battles for developers (and their apps), expanding cognitive/machine learning and IoT offerings, a growing focus on data supply chains, and skyrocketing influence for China."
First Platform
The first platform is the mainframe computer system, which began in the 1950s and continues today.
Second Platform
The second platform is the client/server system, which began in the 1980s with PCs tapping into mainframe databases and applications.
Third Platform
The third platform is the third computing platform consisting of the inter-dependencies between social, mobile, analytics (big data) and cloud.
Industry analysts and researchers have noted the impact of these technologies on business. Gartner refers to "the convergence and mutual reinforcement of four interdependent trends: social interaction, mobility, cloud, and information" as a "nexus of forces" that "is transforming the way people and businesses relate to technology". The International Data Corporation talks about "the 3rd Platform for IT growth and innovation, built on mobile devices, cloud services, social technologies, and big data". Other analysts have reported on the projected market for "third platform" technologies. The technologies on which the Third Platform is based are not universally agreed, but commonly include mobile computing, social media, cloud computing, and big data. The Internet of Things is sometimes included. Other technologies could be included also as they gain in importance.
The Open Platform 3.0 initiative of The Open Group aims to produce a consensus definition of the third platform, and identify open standards for it, to help enterprises gain business benefit from these technologies.
Third Platform's Four Pillars
1. Social Technology
Gartner defined a social technology as, “Any technology that facilitates social interactions and is enabled by a communications capability, such as the Internet or a mobile device.” This extends not only to social media but also to all social technologies that make social interaction possible. A VoIP service, for example, would be considered a social technology.
In a trend that has been described as ‘social everything’, companies both big and small, will continue to inject a social element into every product and service. The cloud provides the infrastructure that makes the information accessible, the social technology helps to organise the data and facilitate access, and the mobile devices will provide the means by which most people receive the data.
2. Mobile Devices
The Third Platform is designed to give everybody access to Big Data via mobile devices; it is this mobility that really defines the Third Platform. A company representative on the road or working from home will have instant access to data through his or her mobile device with this Third Platform whenever and wherever they need it.
A perfect example of the use of mobile devices in the Third Platform would be a school that gives every student a tablet. The tablet would take the place of textbooks and paper used in assignments, but more importantly, the student will have access to a virtual classroom at all times.
With smart mobile device sales expected to grow by 20% by the end of 2013, it is of critical importance for businesses to invest in mobile technology as soon as possible.
3. Analytics (Big Data)
The most interesting and most misunderstood component of the Third Platform is Big Data. The concept behind Big Data is to maximise the utility of all data. An executive at a company that streamlines its business functions with the Third Platform would have easy access to all of the data, including sales figures, personnel information, accounting data, financials and so on. This data can then be used to inform virtually all areas of the business.
Big Data can be further differentiated once we analyse its three distinguishing features: Variety, Volume, and Velocity.
Variety simply means that many forms of data are collected, with formats ranging from audio and video, to client log files and Tweets. Volume represents the fact that Big Data must come in massive quantities, often over a Petabyte. Finally, Velocity signifies that Big Data must be constantly streaming in for maximum effectiveness; even data that is a few days old is not ideal.
In summary, Big Data utilises and collects all forms of data, gathered from both traditional and digital sources, in order to complement a company’s decision-making processes.
4. Cloud Services
Cloud services are at the heart of the Third Platform. Having Big Data and mobile devices is one thing, but without the cloud, there will be no way to access this data from outside of the office. In the near future, almost all access to networks and big data will be accessible through cloud-based applications.
This differs greatly from the First Platform, where computer networks consisted of large mainframes. All of a company’s employees had access to the data in the mainframe but they could only access it through their desktop computers. In the Second Platform, a company’s employees could access the data in the mainframe as well as outside data, via an Internet connection.
The Third Platform now allows all of a company’s IT solutions to be available through the Cloud, accessible via a variety of mobile devices. Data storage, servers and many IT solutions, which are onsite, can now be completely cloud-based.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_platform
http://www.idc.com
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