A cloud service refers to a computer, platform or infrastructure that can be accessed online. It enables the user to be in another location rather than the actual location of the infrastructure. Services can run on these platforms for a variety of reason to provide solutions to the user, this could be a service for an app to run or a service to complete a task. A server is the infrastructure to run services or cloud services.
Clouds, services and server infrastructure play a pivotal role in today's society. In this digital age, almost everything we do as a society from social interaction to banking, shopping, work and education involves clouds, services and servers. It is just not always apparent to the end user that this technology is in place. This is because an end user just expects the tech to ‘work’ without reference to the relevant supporting infrastructure. This current state speaks to how effective this infrastructure is. Some years ago, the process to connect to the internet was to sit down at a computer, check the phone line, dial into a service then go online. Now an end user doesn’t need to think about these services for day-to-day use, it is just expected that the internet works along with any apps connecting to services at the same time. When an end user has to worry about the service not working or a server down, that is when the product can be negatively impacted.
To make all this possible, state of the art data centres exist all over the globe supporting this infrastructure which is no longer in silos. For example, a user's personal files in a cloud service aren’t just sitting on a single hard drive in some warehouse. They reside in parallel across data centers so that if a malicious attack or environmental factors impacted a single data centre, others would remain online. Cloud services now go beyond being a cloud location for storing files, and seamlessly integrate with phones, computers and other devices to allow for backup without thinking. Businesses receive a huge advantage by reducing physical server footprint when they move their server infrastructure to a cloud service like Amazon Web Services (AWS). Similar services are available on individual levels for organizations to allow workers to ‘spin up’ virtual machine to access company resources.
This extends to leisure activities with cloud models offering video gaming remotely. This type of model can allow for intensive GPU work to occur in the cloud and lets the end user receive the game streamed via a monthly subscription cost.
These cloud models may seem perfect, however there are disadvantages. For example, cloud gaming where a game is streamed may be usable but there’s often latency impacting the user experience. This is particularly challenging in Australia where internet speeds are mixed. Even simpler processes like streaming a virtual desktop can be challenging to use with latency for a complex task. According to Newzoo, a gaming analytics firm in an article by the NY Times, the cloud gaming industry has revenue of just passing 1 billion in 2021, it’s estimated to pass 5 billion in 2023. As the consumer continues to become more mobile and 5G technology is expanded we’re likely to see these cloud-based servers become more available with extended offerings and faster connection via 5G. This could dramatically change business and personal computing.
In a CNBC article, the AWS CEO Adam Selipsky suggests that we’re only at day one of cloud computing use or around 10% of IT, suggesting whilst it will take a while but it will continue to grow.
In the current state a user may subscribe to a service like Adobe Creative Cloud and download the individual applications, this could involve the purchase of an expensive laptop or desktop to run these applications. In 3 years time, we may find subscription service models that allow purchase of a cheap bare bones laptop that can login into a cloud service. These bare bone devices could use a virtualized desktop where the heavy computing happens remotely. This is helpful to the consumer that doesn’t need to keep up to date with the latest hardware every few years. It’ll come at a price, probably a monthly one but may be the cheaper and easier option for many.
With the increased demand for cloud services, data centres will likely grow and become more in demand in coming years. JLL posted an article on their site around recent trends of remote working and e-commerce. The article also notes India had a 92% rise in data centres in 2021 and an expected power consumption to double by 2023. Data centres growing tell us that more and more companies are moving away from physical hardware. This may shift the way hardware is handled, the demand for purchasing physical server infrastructure may reduce.
This could see large manufacturers like Dell or HP sales in personal computing and low end individual servers go down, although it would like shift their focus to high end server infrastructure and speciality virtualised hardware. High end personal computers are not necessarily going needed as much due to cloud services being available. Of course this all relies on latency being solved by technology like 5G. In Australia in particular, that might take a number of years.
There are some potential ongoing disadvantages, as the cloud based model grows and the services get more uptake, there’s likely to be more subscription costs for the consumer. Think about what subscription services you currently have, Netflix? Prime? Disney? AppleTV? All these services already add up on a monthly basis. The approach for subscription based cloud computing will need to be managed carefully to have the right uptake vs cost effectiveness.
If there is a reduction of high end consumer hardware, many manufacturing and distributers will be impacted, however it will likely just see a shift in priority of hardware shift to high end data centre grade infrastructure. Personal computer sales may see a bigger impact where it may put websites or stores under pressure, this could have a fairly significant impact on jobs in this sector.
For me personally, I’ve put heavy investment into my personal computer to provide decent gaming capability. If I could get the same experience from a lower end computer by connecting to a cloud service, I would take it, providing the cost was reasonable. The cost to upgrade a gaming personal computer with the latest specifications on a regular basis is expensive and sometimes troublesome if not setup correctly. In a cloud environment I would be able to use my ‘virtual gaming’ machine from practically anywhere, I could presumably downgrade or upgrade plans as required and further, if life circumstances change where I can no longer game as much, I may be able to downgrade my plan or pause the service until it’s required again.
It can also change the way PC gaming is approached. Many younger generation gamers gravitate to consoles due to the upfront cost of buying a gaming PC. A cloud model may completely change that for my friends.
In the industry I work in, there is heavy reliance for on site server based infrastructure. Low latency is important but in future years as external or internet connections become more stable and quicker we’ll likely see this as less of an issue. Instead of the 300 odd servers I assist in supporting, we may see these move to the cloud. This won’t make my job redundant but it will make my job easier without having to worry about an extra level of support for physical on site hardware.
My family would benefit as this will hopefully mean my parents can’t break their computer as much. Any support or bugs could be captured as part of the service. This change could also assist in supporting older users that aren’t as computer literate, services could be guided and setup exactly how they need to be.
Cloud Computing Definition, Investopedia, viewed 05 July 2022, < https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cloud-computing.asp#:~:text=Cloud%20computing%20is%20named%20as,the%20data%20via%20the%20Internet>
Data center development rises to feed online boom, JLL, viewed 05 July 2022, < https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cloud-computing.asp#:~:text=Cloud%20computing%20is%20named%20as,the%20data%20via%20the%20Internet>
AWS CEO says the move to cloud computing is only just getting started, CNBC, viewed 05 July 2022, < https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/28/aws-ceo-says-the-move-to-cloud-computing-is-only-just-getting-started.html >
‘Crucial Time’ for Cloud Gaming, Which Wants to Change How You Play, NYTimes, viewed 05 July 2022, < https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/technology/cloud-gaming-latest-wave.html>
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