Cloud computing is a system that maintains data and applications via the internet and central remote servers. These top trends in cloud computing can help consumers and companies to use applications without installing them and access their personal files from any computer having internet access.
By centralizing storage, memory, computation, and bandwidth, this technology enables considerably more efficient computing.
The cloud computing industry is also growing at a faster rate. As cloud technologies advance and more businesses adopt cloud-based services, it’s critical to keep up with the latest developments. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular trends in cloud computing.
1. Growing Hybrid/Multi-Cloud
A hybrid cloud involves mixed computing, storage, and service environments that combine on-premises infrastructure, private cloud services, and a public cloud orchestration between the platforms. A company uses two or more cloud computing platforms to accomplish different tasks in a multi-cloud method.
Organizations that do not want to rely on a single cloud provider may combine resources from multiple providers to get the most out of each service.
Hybrid cloud infrastructure is the latest trend in cloud computing; it combines two or more types of clouds, whereas a multi-cloud infrastructure combines multiple clouds of the same type.
More cloud and data center suppliers are working hard to develop hybrid and multi-cloud connections among various systems. More enterprises appreciate the different strengths of private clouds, public clouds, industry-specific clouds, and legacy on-premises installations.
2. Containerization
Containers encapsulate an application’s lightweight runtime environment, as well as all its dependencies, such as libraries, runtime, code, binaries, and configuration files.
Containers offer a standardized approach to bundle all the components and operate them across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) on Unix, Linux, and Windows.
As a result of the trend in cloud computing, containerization will be a factor of focus for the cloud computing industry in the coming years.
It will quickly gain traction, with large firms investing in their own containerization software packages. By 2023, 70 percent of worldwide enterprises are expected to be running more than two containerized apps in production.
3. Cloud Security and Compliance
As with any new opportunity, leveraging cloud technology also introduces new forms of risk. Industry standards provide organizations guidance to create policies, plans, and to manage their cloud environments.
Organizations that do not use industry standards to harden their environments leave themselves open to cyber-attacks and misconfiguration. Cloud environments evolve and change, and CSPs are constantly adding new functional services that come with unique configurations and security tools to manage them.
However, organizations cannot be solely dependent on the CSP for security. One of the most effective ways for organizations to secure their public cloud accounts is to use the CIS Foundations Benchmarks.
The CIS Foundations Benchmarks are a part of the family of cybersecurity standards managed by the Center for Internet Security (CIS). CIS Benchmarks are consensus-based, vendor-agnostic secure configuration guidelines for the most commonly used systems and technologies.
There are more than 100 free CIS Benchmarks PDFs covering 25+ vendor product families such as operating systems, servers, cloud providers, mobile devices, desktop software, and network devices. The CIS Foundations Benchmarks provide guidance for public cloud environments at the account level.
CIS Benchmarks are consensus-based, best-practice security configuration guides both developed and accepted by the government, business, industry, and academia.
The CIS Foundations Benchmarks are intended for system and application administrators, security specialists, auditors, help desk, platform deployment, and/or DevOps personnel who plan to develop, deploy, assess, or secure solutions in the cloud and is one the most useful cloud computing trends.
4. Role of Artificial Intelligence
One of the most common cloud computing developments to anticipate is artificial intelligence. AI and cloud computing are being seamlessly integrated into the IT industry to improve corporate operations, functionality, and efficiency. It now allows businesses to scale, adapt, manage, and automate their processes with ease.
Artificial intelligence can give an extra layer of security to the cloud by detecting and resolving issues before they cause harm.
AI strengthens cloud computing by enabling it to manage data, disclose insights and optimize workflows. On the other side, Cloud computing enhances the effect and reach of AI.
Given all these considerations, AI is unquestionably a cloud computing topic to keep an eye on, since it enables more efficient organizational procedures.
5. Serverless Architecture
Cloud computing is linked with serverless architecture. It helps businesses for designing and deploy applications without having to worry about the management of physical infrastructure, which eliminates the need for architectural engineering.
Cloud service providers handle all scaling, maintenance, and upgrades in exchange for a reasonable charge.
Because all resources are allotted by the cloud service provider, it is especially useful for software developers who no longer have to manage and maintain network servers. Although serverless computing is a relatively new cloud service, demand for it is predicted to increase by 25% by 2025.
6. DevOps
DevOps is the automation of agile methodology. The idea is to empower developers to respond to the needs of the business in near real-time. In other words, DevOps should remove much of the latency that has existed for years around software development.
The centralized nature of cloud computing provides DevOps automation with a standard and centralized platform for testing, deployment, and production. In the past, the distributed nature of some enterprise systems didn’t fit well with centralized software deployment. Using a cloud platform solves many issues with distributed complexity.
DevOps automation is becoming cloud-centric. Most public and private cloud computing providers support DevOps systemically on their platform, including continuous integration and continuous development tools. This tight integration lowers the cost associated with on-premises
DevOps automation technology, and provides centralized governance and control for a sound DevOps process. Many developers who enter the process find that governance keeps them out of trouble, and it is easier to control this centrally via the cloud versus attempting to bring departments under control. What is most interesting is that the cloud is not really driving DevOps; rather, DevOps is driving the interest and the growth of the cloud.
6. Sustainability Efforts
Efforts to reduce the harmful effects on climate are increasing throughout industries, along with the advancement in technology and the cloud market. Although the cloud is often more energy-efficient than on-premises infrastructure, the rise of AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) is forcing cloud technology to work harder than ever.
Consumers see businesses not only as a catalog of their best products and services but also as a symbol of their beliefs.
Out of nine potential areas of concern, 80 percent of consumers choose sustainability as the most essential factor to consider when evaluating businesses. Migrations to the public cloud have the potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 59 million tonnes per year. As a result, it becomes a significant cloud trend.
The aforementioned top trends in cloud computing are some of the most important ones to follow in the cloud computing industry in the next years. According to current trends, the cloud will continue to grow in terms of popularity and technological advancement. Cloud-based services will become more efficient, accessible, and adaptive in the next years.
Author – Kartik Bansal
