By Telecom Lead Team:
Cloud Connect, a technology event for cloud computing produced by UBM TechWeb,
announced top 12 predictions in cloud computing for 2012.
The top 12 predictions in cloud computing for 2012
include:
The move to platforms: IT
will need to deliver platforms, not machines. The best IT teams will be those
that embrace private and public platforms as a service and worry about real
issues such as lock-in, usage costs and compliance.
The move out to public clouds:
There will be a resurgence in public cloud adoption this year, albeit with a
savvier approach compared to years past.
The advent of Big Data: The
rise of large, unstructured datasets, along with the tools to crunch and
interact with them, is poised to change every facet of how organizations make
decisions.
Spikiness: Today’s code has to
be specially engineered to take advantage of a cloud and it’s only a matter of
time before compilers get an “optimize for cloud” checkbox. The
code generated will be smart enough to grab all available computing. That means
new planning tools to measure and constrain these newly elastic applications
will become available and we’ll see the emergence of management tools that
consider user experience and provider cost.
Consumer expectations come back to roost:
Public clouds and technology upstarts are shaping IT expectations for end
users, executives and shareholders. IT will have to satisfy a significant
number of these expectations in 2012, or plan to answer to its stakeholders.
One messy leak:
There will be at least one spectacularly messy breach of data, and the cloud
will get the blame. As a result, regulators will spring into action,
enforcing two-factor authentication and password generation and refreshing
policies.
Disaster recovery and scaling are the new
drivers: Disaster recovery and elastic scaling will replace cost
savings and convenience as the big reasons for enterprises to adopt the cloud.
An SLA detente: The
realization that providers have been trying to tell us something: a company can
have any Service Level Agreement it wants, as long as it architects it
correctly from well-understood component services and finds a way to turn risk
into economic value.
The rise of real brokerages:
Managing cloud offerings will soon turn enterprise IT professionals into
procurement officers and contract negotiators, handling myriad terms and
conditions, payment schemes, and disputes. In a market with many buyers
and sellers, brokerages inevitably emerge and will simplify and standardize
transactions.
Virtual machines and real hardware:
When more and more machines are virtual, real bare-metal hardware is precious.
Only hardware can be trusted, whether that’s for cryptography, security, or
physical location. Ironically, the hardware-free aspect of clouds may give
hardware new life.
What can’t I put in the cloud?: In
2012, there will be a real comparison of on- and off-cloud solutions, and for
many businesses, the real question will be what can’t be better done in
a cloud.
Infrastructure, code, and data are
intertwined: Writing code, storing data and managing
infrastructure will soon be one and the same.
“In the five years since cloud computing vaulted
into the enterprise, it’s gone from nerdy pariah to a cornerstone of IT
strategy. We know what it’s for, why it rocks, and how it breaks. As an
essential component of nearly every modern product or service, it’s critical to
understand where clouds are headed for business and for society,” said
Alistair Croll, principal analyst at Bitcurrent and Conference Chair of Cloud
Connect.
