How Will Cloud Computing Shape Up In the Future?

According to IEEE Spectrum, cloud computing can be seen as one of the decade’s most important technological developments, alongside multicore CPUs and planetary rovers (Upson, 2011, p. 43).

Its potential benefits include the ability to access stored information from different locations, its increased security, and increased cost-effectiveness. 

However, there are some unsolved legal issues concerning the usage of user’s private information and to what extent a provider might be able to use such information. Naturally, with new developments in information technology comes with new security threats that affect both the user and the service provider. Also, despite the seemingly infinite amount of potential that cloud based technology may have, it capabilities are still bottlenecked by today’s technologies. 

While it may seem as if cloud computing has already been deeply engraved into our everyday lives, we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. Cloud computing will only evolve alongside other technologies, and while it still does have a long way to go; it is already inevitable that we are heading towards the age of the Cloud.

Just How Secure and Reliable Can Cloud Computing Be?

Although stated previously that cloud computing will bring about the benefit of increased security, there are also new forms of security threats that both cloud companies and users may have to be wary of. 

Since cloud servers are basically huge reservoirs of personal and confidential data, they may be a priority target to hackers and may experience an unusually higher number of security threats. Google and dozens of other companies have recently been targeted by a team of hackers looking to source codes and other vital information (Zetter, 2011).

Not all threats happen server-side, however. Users will still need to keep their guard up to protect themselves against other forms of security threats. There have been instances of rogue cloud services which claim to provide safe and secure storage services, but have instead stolen information from its clients (Moran et al., 2011, p. 95). User passwords and account information are still vulnerable to phishing from emails and other fraudulent sources.

There are also issues regarding the reliability of the servers utilized by cloud providers. Servers may experience downtime or slowdowns depending on the amount of users attempting to use it services at once. Stress tests conducted by Australian researchers found that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft experienced slowdowns when faced with the sudden demand of 2,000 simultaneous users (Hofman & Woods, 2010, p. 92). 

Companies that require massive instant data processing may not find cloud services that suite their needs. According to computer scientists from University of California, Berkeley, processing large amounts of data totaling upwards of about 10 terabytes would prove too slow and too costly to transfer across the United States, taking up to 45 days and costing around $1,000 (Hofmann & Woods, 2010, p. 92).

Cloud Computing may still be limited by today's technologies.

Legal and Ethical Issues of Cloud Computing

Of course, nothing goes without its legal and ethical issues.

When a user uploads information into a cloud server, there is still debate on how the cloud provider may legally use that information without violating the user’s rights. Technically, the service provider has unrestricted access to all the data stored in its servers unless there is a clear policy that dictates exactly how the data can be used. 

Some services, such as Gmail, use the data uploaded by the user in order to improve the quality of their services, create a new services, or generate revenue. This particular practice is of concern as users may or may not aware if their private information is being disclosed to third-parties. 

Government officials may also have the authority to subpoena information from the cloud service provider without requiring knowledge from the user.

What Are the Benefits of Cloud Computing?

One of the many potential benefits that cloud computing offers is the ability for many different clients to access stored information and services from a wide variety of locations (Katzan, 2010, p. 1). This effectively creates a network of information that can be easily shared among particular group of people, making cloud based technology particularly attractive to educational institutions, small businesses, research groups, etc. 

According to Steve Aylward, Microsoft's General Manager of U.S. Health and Life Sciences, cloud computing can greatly benefit today’s healthcare systems by allowing information to be shared freely between physicians and providing new healthcare delivery models (Aylward, 2010).

Along with the ability to share and access information from different locations, users of cloud computing will enjoy the benefit of increased and hassle-free security. Whenever a user uploads information into a server, that server provider is now responsible for maintaining the security of said information. Major cloud service providers, such as Google and Amazon, will have employed hundreds of administrators dedicated to the security of their servers (Anthes, 2010, p. 18). 

Would you rather have Paul Blart or...

The  U.S. Army!

Compare this type of security with how vulnerable a personal computer is to an attack, and it is clear how secure your information can be. Also, new types of server-side security measures are being developed by companies such as IBM ensuring that there is a safe future for cloud computing.

Lastly as with increased security, cloud computing can also provide a cost-efficient way of delivering services as users are not required to pay for underutilized resources. Instead of paying an absolute cost for servers and personnel, users, like electrical costs, will only be required to pay for the services that they actually use (Katzan, 2010, p. 37). This will dramatically decrease the amount of money a company may spend on its unused servers. A user will not be required to buy the latest hardware to run the latest software as cloud services will provide the user with both whenever it is needed.

Maintenance costs required to keep servers running will also be taken care of by the cloud service provider running those servers (Katzan, 2010, p. 37). This means that companies will no longer need to hire employees whose sole purpose is to keep a server maintained, allowing them to spend those funds elsewhere.

A Few Examples of Cloud Computing

The cloud computing craze was first widely introduced to the public in the form a free email service: Gmail. Provided by Google, it gave its users an unprecedented amount of storage space to store their emails in. Not too long after, Google had provided another cloud based service, known as Google Docs, which also allowed users to store documents, spreadsheets, and presentations into its servers (Upson, 2011, p. 44). Soon, many other well-known companies followed suit, providing cloud based services that almost everyone is familiar with today.

According to Jeff Rothschild, Facebook’s VP of Technology, Facebook employs an upwards of 30,000 servers to store massive amounts of pictures, videos, and status updates from its millions of users (O'Neill, 2009).

Netflix uses Amazon web servers to offer on-demand movie streaming to hundreds of thousands of its subscribers, requiring only a computer or a Netflix capable device connected to the internet.

Here are the top 10 cloud services of 2010 according to ReadWriteWeb:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/12/top-10-cloud-computing-services-for-2010.php

Introduction: What Exactly is Cloud Computing?

I'll be starting this blog off with the introduction ripped straight off my essay. The following posts will also contain different parts of my essay in no particular order.

I hope you will enjoy reading this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Cloud computing is a fairly new technology that has grown relatively quickly throughout the internet. It refers to a variety of services that are provided to the user over the internet, including data storage, software services, infrastructure services, etc.

What separates cloud computing from traditional computing is that the actual data or hardware the user is accessing is stored in a remote location or server, as opposed to stored locally (Moran, Rodero-Merino & Vaquero, 2011, p. 94). This aspect of cloud computing provides the user with many benefits, including the ability to access such services from a wider range of locations, increased security, and increased cost-efficiency.

However, this very same aspect is also the cause of controversy regarding the reliability and safety of cloud computing systems and the privacy of its users. There are also legal issues concerning what rights the cloud-service providers have over their clients’ information and to what extent can providers use such information.


And for those of you who prefer to learn via youtube, here is a video explaining the whatabouts of Cloud Computing in the business context: