Here at QuoteColo.com, we love the Cloud. We love interacting with web hosting providers and colocation consumers who understand the benefits of flexible, scalable and virtual Cloud Computing solutions. More than anything, we love being able to work with data center providers who understand empowering the Cloud with top of the line servers, switches, nodes, PDU’s etc. will only help to expand the reach of Cloud services and the auxiliary markets which they fuel.
For the past few years, IT analysts have been projecting the future of Cloud Computing with staggering sums. Have you heard the one about how the Cloud will take in north of $134 billion by 2020? Have you also heard the one about how by 2022, hybrid Cloud Computing benefits will financially outweigh any of the benefits of public or private Cloud infrastructures?
We have heard them. We read about them all the time. From Gartner, to Forrester to Cisco and 451 Research, IT analysts are constantly pushing out future tech business news, as if it had already come and gone. The only problem with all of the Cloud Computing projections is they are projections based on forecasted data. Sure, we know the Cloud is going to continue to grow in power, size and reach. We also know with the growth of grid computing, data centers across the world will grow in size, technological capability and infrastructure.
We know this.
What we don’t know is what technology will pop up in the next few years. Saying Cloud servers and virtualized services will rise north of $134 billion by 2020 is great however what happens if another technology pops up in the next few months holding with it the power to supplant all Cloud services? You might that question is crazy but please remember that we are talking about IT solution here! As we all know, the tech market moves faster than any other market in operation. New devices, technologies and managed services pop up all the time. Likewise, due to newer technologies, older services kick the curb just as fast.
All this said, we have a question to ask. If the Cloud is to survive for the next decade, how will it survive and thrive? With projections being possible indicators of the future, will Cloud Computing thrive on its own or will it owe its growth to the addition of other beneficial technologies?
Big Data, Smart Phones and the Cloud
In late 2012 and all of 2013, the market was besieged with Big Data services. Saturating the market with messaging and branding, Big Data services gained swift rise and acclaim. Like most products with such a switch rise, Big Data solutions also spawned a large backlash from consumers and businesses. The backlash was simple: Big Data is nothing more than another solution pushed on the public by IT marketing minds who want to make themselves rich. But why did the Big Data backlash take place? The answer is the Cloud.
We have talked about this a little in this space but the major reason why Big Data received such a backlash was due to the overall marketing strategy of Cloud providers. For various reasons, the Cloud never gained an intellectual understanding in the public marketplace. Due to marketing strategies, Cloud Computing became the term applied to any and all IT services which aimed to streamline IT productivity and lower costs.
With the public marketplace not really understanding what the Cloud is, the term became amorphous – capable of meaning anything. This is why Big Data received such backlash. The marketplace viewed it as just another solution IT providers are pushing which may or may not help the business world.
While it remains true that Big Data helps to make Cloud services stronger, it isn’t the main contributing factor to the technologies swift rise. No. That credit must go to smartphones and tablets. For many consumers, smartphones and tablets are the physical representations of Cloud services. For the majority of the market, accessing the Cloud comes from mobile Cloud based device-mounted applications like Facebook, Dropbox and Spotify.
Whether they know it or not, for the majority of the market, the Cloud = smartphones and tablets.
This said, smartphones and tablets will not be enough to power Cloud solutions into the future. No. For that, the Internet of Things is needed.