Manos Goes Mobile, Takes Post at Nokia

Where is Mike Manos headed? Into the mobile cloud, with a new position at Nokia. Manos, who announced his resignation from Digital Realty Trust on Friday, said today that he will be Nokia's Vice President of Service Operations, with global responsibility for the strategy, operation and infrastructure for Nokia’s new cloud and mobile services platforms.

"It's an incredibly exciting role especially when you think of the fact that the number of mobile hand-helds around the world are increasingly becoming the interface by which people are consuming information," Manos writes at Loose Bolts. "Whether that be Navigation-based applications or other content related platforms your phone is becoming your gateway to the world."

Manos has been one of the data center industry’s most visible executives, and been a regular speaker at major industry conferences and events. Manos came to Digital Realty from Microsoft, where he served as General Manager of Data Center Services for Global Foundation Services, and was responsible for data center construction, design and operations for all Microsoft’s data centers around the world.After departing Microsoft, Manos spent nine months directing Digital Realty's design and construction activities as well as technical operations.

Does Manos' hiring mean Nokia is ready to embark on a data center building program? Mike doesn't give any hints in his blog post, but notes that his new role will mean competing against other mobile platform builders, as Google develops its Android platform and Apple prepares for a cloudy future for its iTunes, iPhone and iPad franchises.

"In my opinion, Nokia has some very interesting characteristics that position it extremely well, if not atop the fray, in this space," Manos says. "First there is no arguing about Nokia penetration of hand-held devices across the world, especially in markets like India, China, South America, and other emerging Internet-using populations. Additionally, these emerging economies are skipping past ground-based wired technologies to wireless connectivity. As a result of that, Nokia has an incredible presence already in those markets."