You have probably heard or used the cloud before. Its functions are not limited to storing photos and videos. It also allows you to run devices, watch movies and series anywhere, even with your mobile phone.
The cloud: what is this technology used for?
Maybe you don’t realize it, but when you watch videos on YouTube or when you post on Facebook, you use the cloud. Indeed, this technology provides software, services and storage space via the Internet. It is different from traditional hard drives, used in various devices such as computers or smartphones.
Clouds work thanks to servers that host a lot of data. For Internet users, they serve as storage for e-mails, photos, music or films remotely, via the Internet. It is thanks to this technology that video and music streaming exists (Netflix, Deezer or other)
For business use, many companies use the cloud to run their applications, run online services, and analyze or store their files. To do this, they use systems provided by third parties such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon. Users of this technology pay according to the storage volume and the power used.
This system is very flexible and less expensive than traditional IT. Besides, if a company wants to keep all its data, it can choose a private cloud that will be specially designed for it. However, this system is a little expensive.
Most companies need both public and private clouds. And many of them are picking from different cloud providers. This technique is beneficial because it avoids depending on a single cloud that is likely to be the victim of a cyber-criminal attack. It is necessary that the different clouds be compatible, which explains the buybacks of Open Source software (free and editable) allowing interactions.
The cloud: a huge market in 2019
In a short time, the cloud has become a high-growth and profitable IT market. The U.S. Department of Defense has issued a call for tenders that could reach $10 billion.
Specialists point out that we live in an era where the cloud will allow new technologies to emerge. According to Gartner, this sizeable public cloud market could grow to $340 billion by 2022, now knowing that it is at $287 billion worldwide.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is the market leader. Amazon took the lead by starting to provide public cloud about ten years ago. And now it dominates the market. Indeed, AWS is highly profitable, with a turnover of 6.7 billion.
Google does not give exact figures, but its non-advertising revenues are $4.6 billion.