Friday Review: Consulting the experts

"Why does cloud gather an audience?" David Howorth, regional vice president of global services at Verizon Business, asked during Breakfast with Total Telecom this week. "Cloud is not this Nirvana that solves world peace and all the world's problems." The audience, which had indeed gathered to discuss how the role of telecoms operators in the cloud services market will evolve over time, did not have a chance to proffer any theories, question their own attendance, or collectively mourn the revelation that cloud will not bring about world peace, before Howorth delivered his punch line. "It's because it's where the money is going," he said. "There is a huge seismic shift taking place within the industry. If you're working in IT today, your job may not exist in five years' time," at which point cursory glances around the room were made to gauge whether any attendees were mentally re-writing their CVs. Worryingly…