The Future of Cloud Computing
Like anything else that has to do with technology in general, cloud storage has become a necessity for some people, and for most, a household name. What used to be new and foreign just a couple years ago is now flooding the online services market so much that a lot of people are concerned about a saturation point being dangerously close. This would mean that cloud storage would stop being a growth industry and profitability would hit an overall plateau.
Profitability is the main concern already, even without factoring in market saturation. The way some cloud providers do business, and as few customers as they are able to lock in for the long term, causes profit margins to be strained to the point where most smaller companies can’t compete with the likes of Amazon, Dropbox, Google and other heavy hitters. With this already being a major potential problem, business experts are saying that market saturation would end up resulting in one of two scenarios that would occur within companies struggling to continue to land new customers:
- Prices would have to be lowered
or
- New, groundbreaking features would have to be offered
The first option, lowering prices, would only be possible with the bigger companies, or smaller companies that are operating on such a stripped down model, with such small overheads, that they could absorb the lower margins. This is already proving to be so difficult to do that the second option is the only viable solution, although that one seems grim as well. Like anything else, innovation is king. The ones who can come up with the freshest, most interesting ideas and features are the ones that will win that particular contest.
As part of the second option, involving changing the features of the service that is offered, these have been some interesting ideas and predictions as to how the future of cloud computing will unfold. Some believe that files and folders will be eliminated completely in favor of virtualized data, which will be in forms that will be more secure, easier to manage and not take up so much space or bandwidth. It is believed that this will be done out of necessity more than innovation, to help stem the tide of rising storage costs after just about everyone has their data in the cloud.
Although all cloud services will top out eventually when it comes to security, speed and price, and the technology will be more standardized more than ever before, different services will actually become less compatible as a result of having to constantly introduce new features to stay ahead of the competition. Along with that, another issue will be data ownership. If everyone has their info in the cloud, how is a system of ownership established, and even if it is, what’s to stop the number of copyright claims from flooding providers’ support desks? This might cause a bottleneck of such dire proportions that it could very well bring cloud computing to a screeching halt while the legality is all sorted out.
The bottom line is that, regardless of how much the technology advances in the future, and no matter how much features increase and how much data becomes universal, the only way to solve these problems is to maintain privacy. By implementing zero knowledge encryption and keeping your data with providers who pledge to not pry into your information, you will be able to maintain your intellectual and personal property in a way that will keep it from being misused, stolen, etc.
There are already several cloud providers out there who have these things in place, providing a cloud experience that is future proof and just as secure and cost effective today as others will be 5 years from now. One of those recommended providers is below. We are sure you will find it suitable for all of your needs, both today and tomorrow.
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