From storage to processing – the webs next step?

What is the cloud’s next step?

When speculating about where the cloud is heading next, we often think about extra security layers and how hybrid models might grow in prevalence. However, collaboration on the cloud is becoming more of a consideration as files grow.

Could the cloud’s next big step be from mostly storage to mostly processing?

Cloud computing or PaaS?

As always with commonly misunderstood areas such as the cloud, there are a host of phrases being bandied around which often mean the same thing to some people, and different things to others. When people talk of cloud computing, they could either be talking about ‘the cloud’ in general, or they could be talking about cloud processing – the act of actually collaborating on a file online, for example, through Google Docs (at its most simple). However, PaaS, a variation of SaaS, is closer to this definition.

PaaS (Platform as a Service) can be quite lightweight, but, in fact, delivers environments as a service, helping people build applications on the provider’s infrastructure. What this requires, however, is fast processing, and speedy access to data. As SIRE’s Russell Cook points out, this often doesn’t give a good user experience, and people tend to make local copies that are then uploaded to the cloud in order to save time.

Equally, that provokes cost considerations – high fluctuations in cost due to unknown factors can be detrimental.

The rapid evolution of cloud processing

Basic cloud collaboration has taken off significantly of late, with simple collaboration software providers giving a single point of access for document sharing and collaboration within or outside of the company. Even the age-old Lotus Notes (now IBM Notes) has been transformed into a social collaboration tool worthy of an intranet or external customer-facing piece of software.

This is easy enough with light files such as Word documents, but where it develops in complexity is when heavy files such as raw images are handled over the cloud, requiring significant processing power, as well as a guarantee of up-time during the processing which can be lengthy.

This isn’t too far – Pics.io is one of the first online photo editors in the cloud, allowing photographers to edit their images in a browser. Again, it’s raw (no pun intended), and the technology isn’t yet fully ready, but this shows us the direction cloud computing is going – we’re moving rapidly from storage of files, held locally and uploaded to the cloud – to files exclusively held on the cloud and maintained, evolved and completed on the cloud.

The underlying problem is the processing power and the challenge to come is how to price this reasonably. Once we see these two challenges fade into the distance, the cloud will have taken its next significant step forward – a true collaborative cloud, if you will.

By Gareth Cartman

Frank Suglia
Migrating Microsoft Office 2013 As of April 11, 2023, Microsoft will stop supporting Office 2013. The decision to end support for Office 2013 should come as no surprise. Over the past several years, Microsoft has ...
Richard Duffy
Overcoming IT Infrastructure Disaster (Updated: 03.24.2023) One of the least considered benefits of cloud computing in the average small or mid-sized business manager’s mind is the aspect of disaster recovery. Part of the reason for ...
Gilad David Maayan
Network Security in the Public Cloud What is Network Security? Network security is a strategic approach to securing an organization’s resources and data across the corporate network. It helps protect organizations of all sizes, industries, ...
Gary Bernstein
Common DevOps Misconceptions 86% of businesses say it’s important for their company to develop and produce new software fast to win market share and beat the competition, Harvard Business Review reveals. Yet, just 10% of businesses ...
Security Breach 10 Useful Cloud Security Tools
Cloud Security Tools Cloud providing vendors need to embed cloud security tools within their infrastructure. They should not emphasize keeping high uptime at the expense of security. Cloud computing has become a business solution for ...
Gary Bernstein
WordPress Website Security You've spent time, effort, and money building your website, so don't let it become outdated and run-down by not taking proper care of it. Here are tips on WordPress Website security, speed, ...
Mark Greenlaw
Free Cloud Migrations are Expensive The cloud is becoming the primary place where work gets done. By 2025, Gartner estimates that enterprise spending on public cloud computing will overtake traditional IT hardware. Why? One reason ...
David Discenza
Four Ways to Improve Cybersecurity (Updated: December 9th, 2022 ) Cyber-attacks on businesses have become common place. In fact, it’s estimated that a cyber-attack occurs every 39 seconds. Who are the targets of these attacks? ...