CEO Interview: Enrique Salem, Symantec

What will the software industry look like in 3, 5, even 10 years from now?

The future of the software industry is a new world, more distributed than ever - a world beyond the data center and beyond the PC. Cloud computing, virtualization and mobility are exciting trends that are driving our industry forward and propelling the evolution of the information economy. When looking at the future of the software industry, we need to take an even closer look at information - where it comes from, what we do with it, how we manage it, and what it really means to us. We know that information is going to live in more places than ever and will be accessed by many different devices. This new world requires security that enables simple and easy access to the information no matter the device or location; security that gives people confidence that their information will be protected.

Cloud computing will play a large role in the evolution of the software industry. As IT shifts systems, applications, data and infrastructure to the cloud we need to think how to provide security for the cloud. At Symantec we believe you need a three pronged approach that includes a policy engine, a protection layer and a monitoring layer, or compliance layer. This approach provides a unified architecture consisting of a policy engine that lets an organization determine and set the rules for every individual, device, and interaction; a security layer that enforces the rules and authenticates identities, devices, and information; and a monitoring layer that simplifies reporting and facilitates compliance while providing visibility into how an organization's governance is being enforced and managed. The goal is to know that your infrastructure, information and interactions in the cloud are safe and secure.

And what customer demands and business trends will drive changes in software products, how they're developed, and the industry that provides them?

Customer demands and business trends have one main theme: flexibility. Business and personal lives have merged. People expect simple and secure access to information. And, above all, businesses want to be more scalable and cost-effective.

Users are bringing more of their own devices and their own technology habits into the workplace - a trend we call the consumerization of IT. At the same time there's the massive proliferation of mobile devices and mobile data traffic is expected to increase by almost 4,000 percent in just the next three years. There's also the unprecedented growth of social media, which is now being used in the workplace to conduct business as much as it is to connect with friends. Virtualization is well past the "early majority" stage, with analysts estimating 60 to 70 percent of servers will be virtualized by 2015. Finally, organizations continue to adopt public and private clouds.

What all of these trends point to is a loss of control for IT. Key information and applications are no longer confined to the four walls of an organizations data center. Organizations now need to secure and manage information and identities across a range of devices and locations.

As an industry we need to provide the right solutions to enable users and organizations to embrace these new technologies with confidence. As new trends drive our industry forward, it is time we change how we think about our IT architecture - building one focused around people and information - and cloud computing represents a great opportunity for organizations to do this.

This interview was published in SIIA's Vision from the Top, a Software Division publication released at All About the Cloud 2011.