AC: Firms spend so much--two-thirds or three-quarters of IT budgets every year--to maintain existing systems. But now cloud computing represents a tremendous opportunity for us to apply far more information in those systems.

Let say tomorrow we'd put everything into the cloud and leverage virtual infrastructure. Billions of dollars today spent on hardware, software, and networks could then be repurposed to use information in unprecedented ways--this is the promise of cloud. That brings you right into the concept of because there's so much information out there that can be processed and used if we can figure out ways to get hold of it.

I recently learned that 40% of food grown in the developing world is wasted before it's available in the market, and 40% of food in the developed countries is wasted in stores and homes. If we could apply technology and cut that waste into half, we could feed a billion and a half people. We can also apply technology to improve energy efficiency and solve other problems.

It might be near the end of my career, but I can see that clearly in the next ten to 20 years we will be able to make promising breakthroughs in the use of information. This is achievable only if we can trust that information won't be stolen, manipulated, or lost--security technology has a key role to play in this.

CWHK: How would BYOD impact businesses in Hong Kong or Asia Pacific? What is BYOD's implications in terms of risk management, data protection, and data management?