Brian: I don’t think so. Because, to me, if a carrier wants to play in the Cloud space, it’s very easy to go buy a bunch of servers, a bunch of storage from Hitachi or a big name vendor, right? EMC, NetApp, whoever: put it in the Cloud. Buy some VMware on top, virtualization software and start selling stuff. Is there a place for early stage venture-backed company there? I don’t think so. It’s mostly integration and buying big hardware. It’s a financial game.

DMR: What is the impact of these simple-to-build basic Cloud services on innovation?

Brian: I think particularly in the application world that is the one advantage startups have now. A lot of startups we see that are developing applications use EC2 or Microsoft or whatever it is on the back end. I think Cloud actually lowered the barrier of entry for companies getting into this space. So we actually see, you know, one company will come in and have some business plan. And that same business plan, we’ll see over and over and over again because it’s just so easy to replicate. There’s just no barrier to entry.

DMR: That obviously also makes it difficult from a VC perspective because you have a great idea and anyone can copy it.

Brian: But I do think from an operator’s perspective that is exactly the opportunity: they can build infrastructure that enables corporations, enterprises, their end customers, consumers to buy and consume those applications much more readily or easily. If I was a Verizon or a Deutsche Telekom or a Vodacom or whoever, I would just go to an Oracle and buy a bunch of stuff, buy a bunch of professional services from IBM, and put a big Cloud together and offer a very similar service. Because it’s all about deploying capital, managing a large operation, and – over time – getting a recurring revenue. And that’s what the Cloud is. Service providers have done that for the past 50 years. There’s no difference. It’s a big opportunity for them.

DMR: So why do you think carriers are so hesitant to do exactly that?

Brian: I just think that they just move very slowly. They’re just large warships in the water. Will they do it? Yes. I actually think that many of them will do it. It’s just a question of time. You and I, we live in the Valley. We get ahead of ourselves in terms of the rest of the world’s adoption of technology.