Cloud computing is key to Malta’s desire to drive innovation, Adrianna Zammit, Microsoft country manager for Malta, tells Tech Sunday.
For Adrianna Zammit, being appointed Microsoft country manager for Malta spelled a return to her roots. “My parents are both Maltese,” she says. “They moved to America when we were young, but we were coming back all the time to see family and friends. But I never expected to be based here.”
Zammit is a self-confessed tecchie and has been one all her life.
“I’ve always been very hands on with technology,” she says. “I was always surrounded by gadgets and had a natural aptitude for taking them apart and putting them back together again. Gadgets were so cool back then. I remember my mother had this huge mobile phone which came with its own briefcase.
“Taking sciences at school was a foregone conclusion. Then my parents recommended that I pursue a degree in engineering. To be honest, at the time I didn’t even know what engineering was, but I fell in love with the subject from the very first lecture. After that, I could see that the trend was moving towards IT, and so I read for a degree in computer science.”
After about five years working as a computer engineer, Zammit decided to move on to the business side of technology.
“I accepted a role in technical account management and worked for Fortune 500 companies such as Texas Instruments and, eventually, Microsoft.”
Yet Zammit hasn’t forgotten her technical background.
“Even though my present role focuses on the business side of technology, my technical background is very important to me and I still draw on that experience.”
Zammit has only been in her new role for a few months – with the backing of her Microsoft Malta team, she has spent this time understanding the country’s needs and reaching out to offer solutions.
“We want to make Malta a centre of innovation and excellence, in line with government’s Vision 2015,” says Zammit. “We also want to help Malta maintain its leadership in e-government, community affairs and education.
“All this translates into multiple advantages for our users, such as mobility, portability and integration of our devices. At Microsoft, we want to ensure that anyone can have a flexible workspace and work on the go.”
Last year, Microsoft cancelled Courier, a prototype tablet. However, Zammit confirms that portability is still in the pipeline and that Microsoft is working on Windows 7 for slates and collaborating on tablet hardware with other companies.
“We’re also working hard on Windows 8. There’s a conference on Windows 8 coming up for Microsoft evangelists, so we’ll have more information then.”
However, Microsoft’s biggest project is cloud computing, for which the corporation currently dedicates 90 per cent of its research and development budget – this amounts to billions.
In fact, an agreement between Microsoft and government agency MITA has just been confirmed. This partnership is spread over five years and includes a total investment by Microsoft of over €30 million – this will be distributed on a number of projects that focus on education, licensing and the setting up of a Microsoft Innovation Centre, the first in the world to focus on cloud computing.
The centre, which will be set up next year, will strengthen Malta’s bid for innovation and the creation of jobs within the IT industry.
“Of course, the concept of cloud computing still makes some people uncomfortable. But then, in the early days of the internet, people had the same concerns – until it is embraced, novel technology always includes a degree of uncertainty,” says Zammit.
“However, Microsoft is investing billions in secure cloud computing because we believe in it and because we want to make sure that Malta feels us.”