State of the Cloud
Watch this video to learn how the evolution of the cloud is similar to other large-scale technology innovations of the past.
Generational or seismic shifts in technology happen periodically. For example, decades ago it was the switch from mainframes to client server computing. We’re in the midst of such a change now. The cloud is a response to solving large problems that require huge amounts of data. Too much data for organizations to house on premise. The on-premise model is simply too expensive to maintain. The cloud offers dramatic economies of scale, which allows businesses to shift many of their workloads to the cloud.
We're in the midst of this generational change in the cloud business. This happens every once in awhile. We had -- we saw it when we went through mainframe client server. We saw it when the internet evolved. We saw it when people really started to build out these on-premise locations to manage all their data, and now we're seeing it with the advent of the cloud.
The Cloud -- A Solution for Larger Data Problems
The reason for the cloud deployment is the need to solve much larger problems. In the past, we only managed a handful of zetabytes. Tomorrow, we're handling many, many tens of zetabytes of information, and those traditional architectures that we manage on premise just can't scale. They're way too expensive for the business to continuously invest in the infrastructure and the hardware and maintain it, whereas cloud offers economies that on premises can't support. And because of these economies, it makes it easier for businesses to begin to shift their workloads into the cloud to manage all their compute requirements.
The Cloud -- Lower Cost with More Convenience
We see the cloud as not only solving a cost issue but also convenience. The fact that anyone can go in and turn on and activate a server with just the flick of a button on a screen as opposed to ten years ago where you had to talk to an IT services team to spin up a hardware server instance that would take weeks, the convenience is just there compared to what you would ever get from an on-premise deployment.
Cloud Data Storage Use Cases Are Growing
As the cloud grows, so do the use cases. When we think of the amount of data that's being stored today and how that's going to just exponentially grow over the next couple of years, it's going to revolve around things like internet of things, ad technology, tracking and advertising management, machine applications and also analytics. This is creating opportunities for businesses to solve problems. These applications that will evolve will really be based on the types of data that are being generated by these various tools and then allowing businesses to take advantage of it.
