The Significance of Cloud Computing
By Mamata Saha
Introduction: What is Cloud Computing?
With technology undergoing massive changes every day, it’s no surprise that storing information has also moved away from traditional servers, hard drives, internal or external, and systems. While older methods may have worked in the past, the security and confidentiality of the data we work with was, is, and will always be a concern. In fact, it’s more of an issue now than ever with cyber crimes, including system hacking, and shooting through the roof.
Therefore, we now have a way of storing and accessing data, applications, and services through a system called Cloud Computing. In other words, Cloud Computing is a method of storing and retrieving information and applications online. And what’s even better is that you can access the data regardless of your location, whether it’s a cafe in Paris or a hotel in Sydney. The cloud is ubiquitous, whether it’s your phone or your grocery app. Although people use it for personal and professional reasons, organizations need it more than anything else. Why? Cloud Computing is versatile and can be used across a multitude of tasks such as software development, data analytics, data protection, disaster recovery, and virtual desktops, among others.
Modus Operandi: Cloud Computing
While we now have an idea of what Cloud Computing entails, let’s briefly understand the way it runs. Customer devices find their way to cloud and data applications online that are stored on remote databases, computers, and physical servers. There’s a frontend, a backend, and an internet connection involved in the process, and it’s the internet that links the two. The frontend comprises the customer’s device, network, browser, and cloud software applications while the backend comprises servers, computers, and databases. The primary task of the backend is to store the data the frontend receives. A central server works to smoothen the interchange of data between the frontend and the backend while supervising their interactions.
Types: Cloud Computing
Cloud Computing doesn’t work on a one-size-fits-all policy. Depending on one’s requirements, it can be broken down into four categories:
- Public Cloud: Third-party cloud service providers manage, not to mention, own public clouds. In other words, they possess the software, hardware, and infrastructure that accompany the cloud. Their servers and storage facilities are used by the general public and delivered online.
- Private Cloud: As the name suggests, companies, universities, and the like, can host such clouds privately, either at an on-site data center or some other distant location. And the infrastructure accompanying the cloud is owned by the organization hiring the service.
- Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid clouds combine public and private clouds and offer you the best attributes of each. As far as data and applications are concerned, they’re shared between them with the help of technology. In a word, companies don’t end up whiling away their existing security, infrastructure, and compliance while using the hybrid cloud.
- Multicloud: Using the services of a multitude of cloud providers gives rise to a multicloud. The highlight of using a multicloud is you get to choose the features from each provider and put them together to make a customized cloud, specific to your requirements.
Pros: Cloud Computing
The popularity of Cloud Computing is based on several factors, so let’s explore a few of the benefits it offers to organizations:
- It’s easy to access and use: Any service that makes sharing, accessing, and storing data a breeze is worth having. The same goes for Cloud Computing.
- It’s flexible: With data available across a range of locations and devices, the physical work location isn’t a big deal, so professionals are free to work from wherever they want without compromising the data they work with. This flexibility helps employees enhance their productivity and work with a variety of people.
- It’s cost-effective: With Cloud Computing, you can forget about unnecessary investments in hardware and software essential to operate an on-site data center. Add electricity expenses and the remuneration of IT professionals needed to look after the center, and you’re looking at a ton of money!
- It’s dependable: Critical functions such as disaster recovery and data backup are a cakewalk with Cloud Computing because information can be replicated at several sites on the cloud provider’s network. So, you can depend on the service with your eyes closed.
Safeguarding your company data: Cloud Computing
While working on documents on our computers or laptops, there may have been times when we might have missed saving them on the hard drive. Result? When we experienced a power outage, we lost all the critical data we’ve been slogging on only to start over. So, where are we going with this? Well, with Cloud Computing you don’t have to worry about saving files and backing up data, both of which are taken care of! Also, what’s the most critical aspect of our data that we lose sleep over? Safety, of course! So, with cloud service providers upgrading security protocols periodically, users can sleep soundly while their data’s kept secure from hackers.
Relecura’s contribution to Cloud Computing
Relecura’s IP and innovation tools have always had a role to play in today’s emerging technologies. How? Well, in addition to utilizing Cloud Computing for the functioning of these tools, a combination of some of these tools can help us generate a landscape report on Cloud Computing, in this case. A landscape report shares a complete picture of a specific technology, including existing companies (‘players’) using the technology and new entrants into the Cloud Computing space, besides sharing the timeline of their entry into the computing technology market.
A core objective of a landscape report is to determine white spaces for an organization. How does that help? A white space analysis helps an organization decide which technical areas form their strength and in which areas they’re lagging. Relecura’s most advanced and in-demand patent search and analysis tool, the Enterprise Web Tool, can be used to create such a report on Cloud Computing. To help you recognize the reliability and range of the tool, we’ve shared a few relevant images here.
Something that’s unique to Relecura and deserves a special mention here is the Star Rating aspect (as also observed in Fig 1). Every patent that finds a place on Relecura’s database is automatically assigned a star rating. How’s the rating derived? Well, there’s a predefined formula that considers parameters such as forward citations, claims count, backward citations, independent claims count, and so on to create a rating and allot it to a patent.
The landscape report can also fetch you the top global organizations holding Cloud Computing patents and the quality of those patents, through the star ratings against the patent set belonging to an organization. Here’s a relevant image:
Another area that the landscape report can delve into is the patent portfolio analysis, which specifically highlights Cloud Computing sub-technologies and reveals the top organizations that own the majority of the patents in them.
Relecura’s TechTracker is yet another AI-based tool that tracks technology trends and competitor intelligence, analyzes different technologies, and shares data on emerging technologies. Using it, you can also incorporate a list of Cloud Computing technologies that have already or are likely to take the world by storm.
Conclusion: Future of Cloud Computing
While Cloud Computing has made its presence felt in the world of technology, the extent of its growth is unfathomable. Essentially, that means that we have a lot to look forward to. The technologies that could see potential growth include but aren’t limited to Processing Capability, Quantum Computing, and Artificial Intelligence, as a way to enhance the use of Cloud Computing. In terms of advancements that we might get to view and experience shortly, we might have more organizations using multicloud to access a gamut of different services from several cloud providers.
We might also get access to low-code and no-code platforms that will offer developers without any knowledge or coding experience the opportunity to create apps, offering solutions to various issues, minus programmers. Last but not least, wearable technologies and IoT will see a spurt in terms of sensor creation suitable for houses and clothing, among other things. In a word, it makes sense to research and explore Cloud Computing to figure out how it’s likely to impact your company or business before you realize everyone around you is working closely with the technology, while you’re still attempting to determine what it entails!
Should you want to take a closer and more detailed look at the landscape of Cloud Computing, click on the following link:
