2018: The year of cloud computing

It is a fact that the continuous developments in cloud computing have brought to the spotlight technologies such as cloud data centres, private cloud solutions, infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and cloud ERP. Read below to find out some of the most interesting trends of cloud computing that all businesses must take into consideration in 2018.

Cloud as a catalyst for IoT

In the last few years, communications and business transactions have undergone significant digital transformations. The use of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, with Internet access has entirely changed the rules of the game. And this is where IoT comes in to complete the picture.

According to Gartner’s estimations, the number of IoT devices globally will reach 20 billion by 2020. With such a vast number of devices, it is certain that the cloud will play an even more important role. Soon, businesses will need to transfer their services to the cloud, while providers will need to offer cloud products in order to meet these needs.

Consequently, the role of the cloud will become even more important. Soon, more and more businesses and end-users will need a cloud-based, personal storage space to save all the files they’re using on their personal mobile devices, including the following:

• Documents
• Music
• Photos
• Videos

More storage capacity

Cloud services are increasingly becoming a native business development asset. In this context, data storage is expected to exponentially increase in 2018. How will this be achieved? Service providers will continue to provide even more online data centres with even greater capacity. According to Cisco, the total data volume from data centres will reach 370 EB, while global capacity will reach 600 EB. It is actually expected that these figures will increase to 1,1 ZB.

Internet and 5G

The developments in the case of Internet connectivity, in terms of quality and speed, will be similar to those pertaining to the amount of the data globally produced and stored. In 2018, we’re expecting to have many “players” with hardware solutions capable of keeping up with the above developments, until 5G networks are available.

ΑΙ and machine learning

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are the new primary factors that will influence cloud computing. Currently, there are 4 technology giants (IBM, Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Service) that are already offering cloud services for the purpose of business development.