July was a great month with the arrival of professionals with impressive careers, such as Fernando de la Iglesia, Quside’s new VP Cloud. He has more than 25 years of experience working at Internet-related companies, the last 20 of them at Telefonica, mostly in cloud computing, and arrives to boost our product strategy. Fernando is from Madrid, holds a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics, and talked to us about his previous experiences and plans. 

Hello Fernando! Welcome aboard Quside! 
Can you please let us know a little bit more about your role as VP Cloud at Quside? 

[FI] Cloud is becoming the main delivery strategy and services consumption method that all industries are adopting. My role is devoted to getting the fantastic technology in Quside to this cloud service model. That means not only technology. It means processes, support models, and offerings in perfect synchronization with our business development team (creating business value), and our technology, engineering, and computing teams. 

What will be your main challenges at Quside? 

[FI] I think I have a clear and short answer for this: to build a robust (both technically and in terms of business) and scalable cloud offering for Quside’s solutions. The main challenge will be to work with our customers to ease the integration of our solutions in their business processes, in a smooth and convenient manner. 

Recently ABC listed the most relevant European quantum technology startups and mentioned Quside as quantum revolution’s latest big bet. What was the perception you had when you first met Quside? 

[FI] I had the opportunity to know and start collaborating with Quside a few years ago, when working at Telefonica, and we executed a Proof of Concept oriented to deliver Telefónica cloud customers randomness as a service. I was excited and questioning how quantum technologies will drive change in cloud environments, for both security and computing, and the bright proposals of Quside in these fields. 

If you could advise other big companies about quantum today, what would you recommend as a first step? 

[FI] Quantum technologies are today surrounded by great hype. There is plenty of news about quantum cryptography, quantum computing, and big tech companies announcing great advances in different aspects. But what is the meaning of these advances for our daily life (personally and professionally? Those announcements don’t make that clear. Therefore, my recommendation to them would be to learn and distinguish between the different quantum technologies and their development status. Also, understand what those companies can leverage from them in the short, medium, and long term. For big companies, I recommend creating a quantum technology center of competence with trained, passionate employees, from different areas, able to distinguish reality from hype. Also, to take advantage of each of the different quantum technologies in the right moment. That should include actions as attend selected training, research activities, participate in collaborative innovation programs, as well as deploy and use business-ready technologies.  

If your company wants to discuss ideas for cloud and quantum technologies, please, reach us for advice! I’d be more than glad to assist you with your quantum journey. 

Thanks for sharing all these exciting ideas and your plans as VP Cloud with us!  

Now, a bit more about Fernando… What are your personal interests and hobbies? Or your favorite place in Barcelona (as a good Madrileño), and a plan still going on for 2021? 

[FI] My number one hobby is music. I really enjoy discovering once and again the delicate harmonies and melodies from medieval European music, monodic and polyphonic… Find the emotions of the renaissance polyphony and the clear musical architecture of the baroque… But the definitive musical and human experience for me is to listen. Learn and capture the feelings and essence of the people and their culture through their music. I also enjoy learning this cultural heritage from literature, architecture, history, and artwork. 

My favorite place in Barcelona is the Gothic Quarter. But I like the whole city, with its historic places, popular neighborhoods, parks, beaches, museums… Barcelona is absolutely lovely. As for the plans, I hope I can enjoy some days with the family visiting some city or village after the hard pandemic year.