Since its inception, BT Global Service has operated as a pure global telecommunications provider, but these days the company has its sights set on being more than just that.
Speaking to ZDNet, BT Global Services CEO Bas Burger explained that for the last two years the company has been adding cybersecurity, cloud, and networking to its remit to become more broadly known as a tech company, and not just a carrier.
That process has so far involved BT building an "over-the-top platform that is going to allow us to -- in a completely digital native and data-centric way -- manage end-to-end performance of networks, whether it's our own network or somebody else's network", according to Burger.
BT has also been investing heavily in developing its cybersecurity platform.
"Most of our R&D and new technology is in cyberspace because we have so much data … we have a network in 180 countries in the world, we do business with most of the big multinationals in the world, so we see a lot of trends going across our network, not only about what applications are being used or what behaviours do customers have, but also what behaviours do the bad guys have," Burger said.
Read: 10 tasks every network admin should perform at the end of the year[1] (TechRepublic)
But why the shift? "Because the whole market pivots," the CEO said.
"The technology available now to run networks in a more fractured way is because there is such a thing as software-defined networks … you don't have to have dedicated networks for everything anymore, you can use mobile better because you use 4G, 3G, and in the future 5G.
"So the way in which you can utilise different types of networks is determined by software --