Cloud Computing has received a large amount of attention in the past year, so what’s in store now? There are some amazing things on the horizon, that’s what’s in store now. For years, the promise of hosting, managing, and processing data from a remote server has been a dream. Now it’s a reality. Instead of using local drives, which can carry significant security risk, remote drives are used in cloud computing.
This allows even a small company to outsource security and data management – effectively increasing the size of the company dramatically for a very small price. For this year, there are several really interesting developments on the horizon.
Hosted Private Clouds
Hosted private clouds are off-premises, but private in the sense that they aren’t on a shared network. These will represent a personalized cloud solution for businesses. Good for securing data when companies don’t want to risk setting up and maintaining an expensive in-house solution. These cloud services won’t be compromised by having other people sharing the same space. Just like a private server, companies will have room to stretch out and spread out their data.
Personal Clouds
More people are expected to use their PCs as personal clouds. With services offered by Google, Amazon, and even home-cloud solutions, PC hard drives might not be growing larger. They might just be a temporary warehouse for information. Or, they may be used similar to how Apple utilizes its own iCloud service. The computer’s hard drive shares information between multiple devices.
Mobile Clouds
Mobile clouds and “regular” clouds will likely become indistinguishable. The rise of smartphones has also given birth to the need for additional space. As on-board cameras take higher resolution images, and HD video becomes standard on cell phones, that data needs a place to live – in the cloud. Only, the cloud will become fused to the phone since consumers need access to the data “on demand.” The phone is always connected to the Internet via the cellular network anyway (with major carriers making huge advancements in 4G LTE technology) so providing cloud-based solutions here isn’t a technical challenge.
Community Clouds
Birds of a feather, flock together. Community clouds will emerge in 2013 to serve specific industries. Healthcare cloud services, financial services clouds, and even manufacturing clouds will become commonplace. The benefit? Different industries require different levels of security. Likewise, some industries need services that other don’t. For example, the healthcare industry needs to comply with HIPAA regulations which require a certain level of protection when storing a person’s medical records.
A Change of Names
No one uses “Internet” in their name anymore. Why? Because the Internet is so commonplace that its taken for granted. Likewise, cloud services will become so common that the word “cloud” will be dropped from company names. Re-branding might be a key strategy for industry leaders as well as startups. All of this will signal the next evolution in cloud computing which is: an end to the separation of local and remote servers. With the cloud becoming a regular part of everyone’s daily life, there won’t be a need to label these services as “as-a-Service.” It will be obvious. As obvious as the Internet.
Frank Ashton is a cloud hosting consultant. He enjoys passing on his knowledge and tips to small businesses and upstarts through blogging. Visit Who is hosting this to compare webhosting services.