Age of the Clouds

NEXT INTERNET BOOM

Within the next four years, size of the internet is expected to quadruple in size.

The last time web traffic volume was expanding this fast, Microsoft shares went up from $3.7 to $58.4, establishing a gain of 1500% in five years. Same time frame, CISCO Systems saw gains as high as 3900%.

So, what’s the catch?

By 2016, annual IP traffic is predicted to reach 1.3 zettabytes [just consider: there are one trillion (yes trillion) gigabytes in one zettabyte].

There are several reasons for this surge:

More Devices: Mobile phones, tablets and other gadgets will continue to penetrate into people’s hands. By 2016, there will be 2.5 connections for every person on earth.

More Wi-Fi: More than 50% of Internet Traffic is expected to be connected through Wi-Fi during the time.

Faster Speeds: Faster travel means higher rates of traffic. Average broadband speeds will more than triple within next four years.

Increased Video: Video obviously uses more data. By 2016, two years worth of video will move through the Internet every second.

CLOUD COMPUTING

As Internet traffic and acceptance of cloud security increase, so will the cloud industry as a whole. Gartner, a leading technology research company predicts the cloud market to grow by 19% to $131 billion in 2013. The market will see major gains within this sector.

Analytics Company Comscore found that before adopting cloud services, 45% of small to medium-sized companies express security concerns. However, after adopting the cloud, 94% actually feel more secure.

So, what is cloud computing?

It refers to online service that provides applications and document storage remotely, instead of on the user’s hard drive. In general, hosting computers (servers) and subscribers (clients) are the main components of cloud computing- just as they are in a traditional client-server network.

So, what distinguishes cloud computing from a traditional client/server network? There are three major differences:

In cloud computing, the delivery of the services from the provider to a subscriber must be over the internet.

The services provided over the cloud by a provider are scalable; they can be increased or decreased as the need s of an individual subscriber or company change. Services are typically offered and billed by the minute or hours.

The services provided are managed completely by the cloud provider, the owner or manager of the host. The client or subscriber of the service does not have to worry about having a specific computer or operating system, or a certain processor or amount of RAM, and does not need to purchase software upgrades or download service patches. The subscribed services are not on the individual’s computer or system. They are on the provider’s hosts and are maintained by that provider and simply accessed by the subscriber.

COMPUTER POWER!

As per Moore’s Law (co-founder of Intel), computer power doubles in every 18 months! As a consequence, as internet  is becoming more and stronger with dizzying speed, the new revolution in internet-based computer usage is coming to the fore. The pioneers in cloud computing like Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) or Palo Alto (NYSE:PANW), are set to shoot in their value.