Cloud Predictions for 2013
Year-end reviews are a popular piece for writers, especially those in the software development world. With the speed of growth in the industry increasing every year, it’s become next to impossible to remember the past twelve months of releases, crashes, and new methodologies.
What’s growing in popularity—and requires a bit more legwork and courage when putting your name out there—is writing year-end, or in this story's case, year-beginning, predictions for 2013.
One area of the development world where many are predicting exponential growth and change is in the cloud. While still relatively new, the cloud is expected to be even more widely used by companies who are already using it and by individuals who have no idea they’ve been using it for years.
I’ve read countless examples of can’t-miss predictions for 2013, looking for any common forecasts that can be seen across the board. While the range of guesses as to how large the cloud(s) will grow varies wildly, I’ve compiled a list of the projections most commonly agreed on—ones that seem to be the most likely to be seen in the coming months.
Specific Cloud Formations
Part of the reason confusion remains about “the cloud” and what exactly “using” it entails is the overly generic nature of its name. Joe McKendrick at Forbes boldly believes that we in the software industry may go so far as to stop referring to it so generically.
McKendrick and other writers back up this belief by predicting the emergence of clouds with individualized purposes. As more industries and communities (healthcare, finance, manufacturing, etc.) adopt cloud-based services and require specific standards and levels of security be met, these unique requirement sets will be seen and recognized by a wider audience.
Cloud Brokering
Another widely predicted presence in 2013 is the emergence of cloud brokerage services to not only help customers get a great price but also to work closely with potential customers to find out what exactly they need—and what they don’t need—from the cloud.
Big Data Management
The most widely accepted belief for 2013—and the easiest to guarantee—is that big data isn’t going anywhere, especially at the rate big data is growing for anyone hanging onto it. As Amazon and Google continue to duke out the war to store your data, there’s another race between companies striving to analyze it for you. Simply storing the data for the fear of getting rid of it is not an option, and cloud users will soon be swamped with options when looking to manage and hopefully profit from that data.
The sweeping assumption that can be made from all four hundred sets of predictions for 2013 is that the cloud is without question only going to grow to host the countless individuals and businesses that continue to harness it for their needs. It’s the sole reason the cloud was created, and named thusly, in the first place.
What do you think the cloud’s biggest accomplishment in 2013 will be? Let us know in the comments section below!
