Cloud Computing has been around for long and people have been using it, mainly in the form of remotely stored emails that they can access from anywhere. This is the most ancient form of cloud computing. If you ask me what is cloud computing, my answer would be “service that you can access from anywhere on the planet and any time of the clock”. The system got a name when these service providers started offering just more than storage. Most of them are business processes internal to any business but are implemented on remote servers – in a way that you do not have to add to your existing infrastructure and that the services can be accessed from anywhere. This article takes a look at the future of cloud computing in light of its current implementation procedures.
The Future Of Cloud Computing
When the likes of Mozy started offering software as a service (SaaS), most people started understanding that they can use such services without having to pay much. For example, a 2GB pen drive would cost $8 in India while with Mozy, they get 2GB for free. If they need more space, they can purchase more storage space instead of having to buy more pen drives. This is the smallest example I can give for explaining clouds.
Are the Clouds Really Good Enough
There are many major players in the field these days. Google was already in with its cloud-based processor and its cloud OS. Amazon came in with different cloud services that are now countered by Microsoft that also offers services to create test and implement software remotely.
Following the lead, Adobe is the latest entrant to cloud computing at the time of writing this. Instead of offering disks, it is now offering its software usage at monthly rentals; people need not install entire software to their local machines unless they need full functionality. The same applies to Office Web Apps. Check out the Major Cloud Players For Storage I listed earlier. There are many and they are good. But how good is cloud technology? Is such a model feasible in the long run?
While we can say that cloud computing has and will reduce costs by a significant percentage, there is much bigger a picture to it than what the eyes can see. Downtimes and maintenances are just one side of the aspects. These cannot be much big a hurdle to prevent people from using cloud computing. Then what is the major problem? Why people might shy away from cloud computing in the future?
Problems With Current Clouds
One reason is that such cloud services are increasingly being used to DDoS other websites. Amazon was down in August 2013 for many hours due to a directed direct denial of service attack from a user who rented just a small portion of the same cloud for the purpose. An article at InfoWorld, says Amazon cloud is prone to hacks. Only yesterday, Adobe servers were hacked and the details of about 2.9 million customers were made public.
Thus not only the clouds serve as a base for hacking and other malicious uses – given the policies and inabilities of service providers but they can also be hacked if not secured with multiple techniques. Then again, multiple security measures may mean inconvenience to the users.
Google offers a 2-point authentication but not many of us use it, as it creates problems when we try to use the service from tiny mobile devices. Adding additional layers of security would simply mean many more steps to take just to access your account with the service providers. I was talking to a friend yesterday who said he’d prefer to keep his gold at some safe place in his home rather than some bank as his home is less prone to burglary compared to banks etc. But then that’s just him.
Summary
Until and unless they work on addressing the security issues in cloud computing and securing their servers and allotting proper firewalls between and among the different sections of the same servers serving different companies, most of the businesses might not opt for cloud computing – leading it to delays in cloud computing.
