Five New Trends In Cloud-Based Computing To Watch For In 2020
An era is approaching fast when we would not be using softwares and applications accessed through on-premise. Techies and non-techies now a days are all aware about cloud-based computing and its valued benefits: better efficiency, cost savings, boosted agility, opportunities to experiment and innovation are few of the major aspects that takes the technology in this direction. To reiterate here one should understand the tenants of cloud based computing:
– PaaS (Platform as a service or application platform as a service):- A category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app.
– MbaaS (Mobile “backend” as a service):- A model for providing web app and mobile app developers with a way to link their applications to backend cloud storage and APIs exposed by back end applications while also providing features such as user management, push notifications, and integration with social networking services.
– IaaS (Infrastructure as a service):- These are online services that provide high-level APIs used to dereference various low-level details of underlying network infrastructure like physical computing resources, location, data partitioning, scaling, security, backup etc.
– SaaS (Software as a service):- A software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as “on-demand software”.
– FaaS (Function as a service):- A category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage application functionalities without the complexity of building and maintaining the infrastructure typically associated with developing and launching an app. Building an application following this model is one way of achieving a “serverless” architecture, and is typically used when building microservices applications.
Keeping the above categories in mind one can understand which vertical of cloud-based computing would make up the top trends.
Top 5 trends
Kubernetes
Kubernetes (K8s) is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. The very first reason of its popularity is its acceptance by the developers. Developers love to use Kubernetes as it has solved their big problem- taking any application from its development environment to production environment. Without containers, it is almost impossible for the developers to run any application in production the same way as it was running on developer’s system. By deploying Kubernetes in any company’s data centre, developers can focus on building the applications and then deploy them to any environment.Kubernetes can run any containerized application. It can not only be used to build cloud-native, micro service application but also enables developers to move existing application into containers and then run it. It is built upon standard API’s and models. It can work in any cloud. Kubernetes is able to handle tough and complex tasks of container orchestration for example deployment, scaling, self-healing, security key management, rolling upgrades and service discovery.
Cloud Security
Cloud security is the protection of data, applications, and infrastructures involved in cloud computing. Many aspects of security for cloud environments (whether it’s a public, private, or hybrid cloud) are the same as for any on-premise IT architecture. Everything hosted on cloud becomes a software as it is consumed through apps by the end users. Being on cloud means your resources are prone to attacks, more usage and more data in the cloud. It is going to be caused by ”Bread and Butter” security issues:
– Misconfigured VMs, Containers, Firewalls & Storage Buckets
– Poorly managed credentials, keys, often found through “GitHub scraping.”
– Lack of multifactor authentication & IdM strategy
– API insecurity
– Change control & patching deficiencies
The above factors would make the cloud security a major tenant to look for in coming years.
Quantum Computing
Every day we experience the benefits of classical computing. However, there are challenges that today’s systems will never be able to solve. For problems above a certain size and complexity, we don’t have enough computational power on Earth to tackle them. To stand a chance at solving some of these problems, we need a new kind of computing. Universal quantum computers leverage the quantum mechanical phenomena of superposition and entanglement to create states that scale exponentially with number of qubits, or quantum bits. Just to give a brief idea about the computing power:
To break a widely used RSA 2048-bit encryption, a classical computer with one trillion operations per second would need around 300 trillion years. This is such a long time that we all feel very safe.
A quantum computer using Shor’s algorithm could achieve the same feat in just 10 seconds, with a modest 1 million operations per second. That’s the power of quantum computers: 300 trillion years versus 10 seconds.
The major players of the industry like Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Google and Alibaba are heavily investing in this area. Remember that quantum computers are powerful yet so difficult to build that whoever can crack the code will have a lasting powerful advantage.
AI usage in cloud computing
Artificial intelligence and cloud computing have amalgamate to improve the lives of mankind. Digital auxiliaries like Google Home, Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa blend AI and cloud computing in our lives every day. With a quick verbal nod, users can make a purchase, adjust a smart home thermostat, or hear a song played over a connected speaker. A seamless flow of AI and cloud-based resources make those requests a reality. Most users never even realize that it’s a customized blend of these two technology realm—artificial intelligence and cloud computing—that make these connected, intuitive experiences possible.
According to Statista, the global value of the AI market will surpass more than an estimated $89 billion annually by 2025. A significant percentage of that value will occur as artificial intelligence powers cloud computing—and, in turn, as cloud computing acts as an engine to increase the scope and impact AI can have in the larger market.
Internet of everything
The term Internet of Everything (IoE) is a fairly new term , and there is a confusion about the difference between the Internet of Everything (IoE) and the Internet of Things (IoT). As per Cisco:
The Internet of Everything (IoE) “is bringing together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before-turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries.”, (Cisco, 2013). The Internet of Everything is coined by Cisco but also used by some other firms now and then as well.
In simple terms: IoE is the intelligent connection of people, process, data and things. The Internet of Everything (IoE) describes a world where billions of objects have sensors to detect measure and assess their status; all connected over public or private networks using standard and proprietary protocols. The Internet of Everything will re-invent industries at three levels: business process, business model, and business moment.
As companies digitalize products and process, completely new ways of doing business in industries emerge. Gartner analysts expect more transformational changes as digitalization re-invents industries at the business model level. Mr. Le Hong (research vice president and Gartner Fellow) gave the examples of Nike, playing on the edge of the healthcare industry with its connected sporting clothes and gear, and Google having a visible presence in autonomous vehicles. “These organizations had no business in your industry, and are now re-inventing them,” said Mr. Le Hong.
With above major trends taking shape one can surely foresee some big changes and improvements coming our way. Let’s hope that it is best for mankind.