It was ten years ago that Amazon revealed cloud computing technology. The news was received with relatively low fanfare, especially considering the state of the cloud today. Now, with companies like Microsoft and Google offering cloud services and more and more companies utilizing some kind of cloud solution, companies understand the revolution that Amazon set in motion.
In a story from WIRED, we learn that the private cloud was birthed from the Amazon cloud that was introduced ten years ago. Entire business models like Netflix and Dropbox built empires with the use of Amazon’s cloud service. Using the cloud companies were able to move at speeds not possible before, while bolstering computing power at will. Skeptics agreed that the cloud was useful, but contended that it didn’t offer the security that companies with sensitive data needed.
Thus, the private cloud emerged, the idea being that companies could mirror Amazon’s technology within their own servers. But the private cloud hasn’t worked the way companies want. The monetary and time constraints alone meant that private clouds weren’t worthwhile for the vast majority of businesses, and as more companies utilized Amazon’s cloud, security was beefed up to a point that concerns became rather baseless. While some companies still use private clouds, even Wall Street is moving some or much of its business to public cloud services.
The public cloud proved successful. Amazon is currently making $7 billion per year in cloud services, and Microsoft and Google are following suit. According to the WIRED article:
Boston-based research outfit Forrester calls cloud computing—that’s public cloud computing—a “hyper-growth” market. In a recent report, it predicts the market for cloud services will grow to $191 billion by 2020, a 20 percent leap from what it predicted just a few years ago. “The adoption of cloud among enterprises, which is really where the money is, has really picked up steam,” Forrester analyst John Rymer recently told us. “It’s a big shift. The cloud has arrived. It’s inevitable.”
This is upsetting for companies that have traditional hardware models, such as HP, Dell and EMC (which was recently acquired by Dell in a sort of consolidation of hardware giants). These hardware companies will need to focus on the shrinking private market in order to compete, because the cloud companies have already carved out the sector that doesn’t require their own databases. These hardware companies could offer their own public clouds, but it would be at the expense of the other side of their businesses. They’d be fighting against themselves.
So look for the public cloud to continue to grow into 2016. We’ll be here to keep you posted on the news you need to know as the cloud landscape continues to solidify.
Related: Is Unlimited Cloud Storage Even Possible?
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