Everyone’s been raving about the Cloud, especially in the software development industry. From facilitating quick initializations to the alleviation of bulky hardware, Cloud-based technologies have slowly been gaining momentum, and for good reason.
On a global scale, almost 50% of expenditure made by IT departments has been done to acquire or upgrade state-of-the-art Cloud services. Therefore, it is only obvious that the demand for Cloud services are only going to increase, irrespective of industry or business size.
While some trends are more popular, what else is the Cloud influencing, thanks to its versatile qualities? Here are a few great examples.
Cloud-based services
The most common derivative from Cloud-based technology thus far, SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) solutions are predicted to be on the rise. As more companies move to the Cloud, the demand for applications located on a hosted server is only going to increase owing to the various advantages that Cloud-based services offer.
For example, the market sector of software development in Sri Lanka is abuzz with applications that are purely Cloud-based, with the exception of select large-scale enterprise systems. Cloud-based software is mostly targeted to consumers on a mass level, as on-demand services are highly sought after by the average user in the country. This gives the tech industry of Sri Lanka a much-deserved boost, owing to the painstaking efforts made in order to become a lucrative industry sans any government support.
Edge Computing
While Edge Computing functions without relying on the Cloud for processing every single task, its perpetual connection to the same is what determines its overall success. Devices run with Edge Computing technology, such as IoT (Internet of Things) are constantly sending data to the Cloud, which can then be used for analytics.
With over 100 billion IoT devices expected to be up and running in 2030, solidifying the efficiency and robustness of Cloud technology is imperative to the success of Edge Computing. As mentioned before, storing data in the Cloud is necessary for analytics, but it is more so ever necessary for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning – as both these technologies require vast amounts of data to make decisions. As a matter of fact, this prevailing year has already established the Cloud to be the preferred medium for conducting analytics, and it is highly likely that this trend will be just as prevalent during the upcoming year.
What’s more, the introduction of high-speed 5G connectivity will be able to link IoT devices powered by Edge Computing, to its Cloud data centers faster than ever before – another incentive for Cloud technology to enhance its storage and infrastructure facilities.
Containers
Cloud-based Container systems are ideal for software development, since variables such as different OS platforms can be eliminated in due course of development. While some of the world’s biggest tech giants already offer Cloud-based Container systems, it’s safe to presume that many more companies are going to want to begin offering similar services, just like SaaS.
Security
As more work is done over the Cloud, the aspect of securing all the data stored there in has become an important concern among IT teams today. What’s more, adhering to policies as stated over the GDPR (The EU General Data Protection Regulation) may become a necessity in the future, in order to safeguard confidential information.
Therefore, cybersecurity software that is exclusively catered to tackle security problems associated with Cloud-based data centers is a specialty by some tech companies – not to forget a demand for the very same as the forthcoming year approaches.
With Cloud-based servers constantly connected (especially public ones), there is a high likelihood of attackers gaining unauthorized access, and performing illegal transactions. The most up-to-date cybersecurity software for Cloud-based data centers ensures that every task executed is scrutinized so that threats are immediately detected and escalated – all the while reducing false positives.
Storage
As the Cloud gains more demand, there’s no doubt that storage spaces are going to increase – and prices decrease, as a result. This is because making the Cloud a commonplace medium for doing whatever you wish online insinuates lesser demand and higher supply, which in turn can make Cloud even cheaper than it currently is (in comparison to its on premise counterpart), in the near future.
Again, this ties in together with the demand for additional space to cater to IoT devices run by Edge Computing; Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will then analyze data collected through smart devices, for which large repositories of data are essential in order to deliver optimum results.
Hybrid Cloud Solutions
Although Cloud-based systems are the preferred choice for many, companies are still reluctant to do a complete overhaul by moving to the Cloud entirely. This is because businesses that have previously relied on premise servers face an expensive and tedious task of moving to the Cloud all in one go.
This is why hybrid solutions i.e. those that consist of a combination of Cloud (this could be public or private, or both) and on premise servers is a temporary choice amongst many enterprises who are keen to make the shift.
Another reason why Hybrid Cloud solutions are desired is because companies wish to prioritize on attaining high levels of security for their data – something that is ideal only with on premise servers. However, they don’t wish to rely on the physical server alone, so hence the mix of Cloud and on premise which collaborates with one another for executing business operations smoothly.
In Conclusion…
Be it mobile app development or the neighborhood traffic control system, Cloud technology presents the potential to dominate almost every aspect of technology that exists around us today. While it offers developers the versatility they need through a Container system, it will serve as the medium for Artificial Intelligence robots to extract important data for analyses.
As Cloud technology makes its way into every form of technology known to us today, protocols that aim to maintain seamless use and integrity begin to revolve around it. As a result, storage quotas are predicted to exceed and prices to reduce, while introducing cybersecurity systems that are specific to the Cloud.
Yuliya Poshva
Business Development Manager
