TOP CLOUD COMPUTING PREDICTIONS FOR 2018: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Source – techgenix.com

AWS, Google, Microsoft — these are the three giants of the cloud computing universe, and their collective efforts made 2017 a great year for cloud computing in general. It’s expected that the Big 3 will increase their combined market share to 76 percent in 2018, and to 80 percent by 2020. The global public cloud market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 22 percent, its size expected to be 178 billion in 2018, as compared to 146 billion in 2017. This year has all the ingredients to become a super successful one for cloud computing. Let’s tell you more about it, and gaze into our crystal ball for some cloud computing predictions we believe will come true.

Cloud computing predictions: Stellar growth in cloud storage space

Data is the new oil; every business, irrespective of its size and scale, has several data pools. These pools continue to expand. In 2018, major cloud players are expected to bring a lot more data centers on the cloud model. With large capacity storage equipment, the data storage capabilities of existing players are also likely to increase throughout the year. In a 2016 survey-based report, Cisco suggested that global data stored in data centers would be 310 exabytes in 2017. Also, it predicted that the total available data center capacity in 2017 would be 600EB. For 2018, the estimated number is 1.1 zettabytes — that’s almost double.

This increased availability of cloud storage will have the following impacts:

• Forward-looking businesses will be able to move more portions of their enterprise data on to the cloud.
• Service providers will start offering bespoke and customized data storage services to users, at affordable prices.
• Businesses will be motivated to use the affordable cloud solutions for applications in human resources, financing, and analytics.

Growth across the three key cloud-based service models

Of all our cloud computing predictions, this one is not exactly a surprise or news for anyone: Cloud computing-based service models will continue to grow in 2018. Here some insight into the relative growth potential of the three key models.

As per Bain & Co., the Software as a Service model (SaaS) will continue its rapid growth. The pace is expected to be at 18 percent CAGR by 2020. Salesforce, Google Apps, and Citrix GoToMeeting will continue to dominate the market.

A KPMG report pegs the potential of Platform as a Service (PaaS) component for 32 percent growth in 2017 to 56 percent adoption by 2020. Because these services provide a platform to end users to develop, launch, and manage apps without investing a lot, this is expected to draw a lot of business from enterprises that now want to move on to sophisticated capabilities beyond SaaS.

A Statista report estimates that the size of the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market will reach $17.5 billion by the end of this year. Amazon Web Services will face sterner competition from Google Compute Engine and Microsoft Azure.

Essentially, the outlook for cloud computing is very bright for 2018, and that’s across all its service models.

Connection between cloud to on-premises

The truth is that true and complete cloud migration is still a distant dream for even the most advanced and cloud-converted enterprises. This means companies are looking for options to connect their on-premises solutions with their cloud-based solutions, along with complex customizations to make their systems work in a manner that supports their business processes.