What is the Future of Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is a style of computing that uses applications that are available on line from a web browser and also arranges to store all the data and results of the applications on servers connected to the Internet. Cloud computing allows you to use the infrastructure, platform and software available on servers on the Internet for all your normal computer uses.
Cloud computing is where the service provider hosts the software which can be accessed by customers who will then consume the resources offered. In cloud computing all that the user would be need would be a computer with an internet connection.
The Future of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is seen as a service of the future, just as an electrical, telephone or heating gas utility. You would hook on to the services and pay for the usage, just as you do for your power and gas bills. So businesses would no more have to set aside capital expenditure to invest in costly servers and information technology set ups for the required facilities to run their business. Their role would be restricted to buying the necessary equipment like computers, much as you would buy electrical appliances, heating equipment, telephones and the like to utilize the services that are available from the service provider. So companies would be enabled to concentrate on their core businesses and would use the cloud computing way for their needs for data management.
Costs of developing future applications can be drastically reduced as there would be no need for the developer to market and sell these new applications. He would just make it available to the cloud computing service provider who in turn would put it on to his servers and make it available to everyone at the same time. This universal application of the new resource would lead to huge savings in computer time as newer software would be instantly available without any need for downloading it on to individual computers and networks and the necessary reconfiguring that this involves.
Computers would not require high capacity hard drives as the need for this will be taken care of by the service providers. This could greatly reduce the cost of setting up information technology departments, which again need their own service setups. So you are probably looking at cheaper use of IT, or up gradation of present systems where the main aim of the computer will be fast access to the internet and the ability to use all the services that are on offer.
As this would make outsourcing very easy, the costs of developing new software will reduce drastically. You could very easily move to places where costs are minimal, and which because of the cloud computing the developers are still able to access all the resources needed for development of the software.
This extreme centralization of servers to carry out all computer based work, will greatly enhance security as users will no more be vulnerable to viruses and malware which can be easily controlled by the providers of the service.
As all users will be using the same applications, the portability of data and information will be very easy and companies can work worldwide and yet have the same information and data available to all its various departments at the same time. This will greatly reduce any need to have costly and time consuming conferences and the like which are mainly aimed at everyone in the company working to the same standards.
The need for very costly high end servers for individual companies and institutions will become almost zero, as they would have full access to the servers of the service provider. What one can see is the development of services providing huge resources for parallel computing which could be just a part of this cloud computing idea.
So cloud computing has a very bright future. This would however need infrastructure of a very high caliber so that connections to the internet are not interrupted because of poor power or other problems.
