Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018. Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Seth Noble, PhD, CEO of Data Expedition
Cloud migration to see a consolidation of best practices in 2018
The rollout of any new technology naturally begins with early
adopters performing experiments and running ad-hoc projects. But with cloud
computing changing the fundamental principles
of IT management, its rollout period has been longer, more experimental, and
more ad-hoc than anything since the advent of the world wide web. Huge
corporations have gambled billions migrating from on-premise and data center
models to infrastructure and software as a service (SaaS).
Without experience and precedent to guide them, each has had to
invent their own tools, technologies, and policies as they go. Cloud migration
stories from companies big and small often start with barely justified
assumptions, and proceed through lengthy proof-of-concepts, and wholesale
restarts. Those are the successful ones.
Cloud vendors have offered little help, generally preferring to
provide only commodity services and leaving customer assistance and key
enabling technologies to third-party vendors and consultants. As was the case
with early web adoption, that pool of experts began with people barely a step
ahead of their customers and learning as they went. The constantly moving
targets of cloud services and the definition of cloud itself has also been
challenging.
But over the past year or so, the core technologies of cloud
have stabilized, cost models have become better understood, and the array of
third-party technologies and services has matured. There is a growing pool of
technologists who have survived multiple cloud deployments and now know what
questions to ask and where to get answers. That experience is critical to
reducing the unknowns of cloud adoption and bringing efficiency to what has
been a chaotic process. Even while core cloud services are still evolving, the
surrounding cloud ecosystem is maturing.
Key areas where I think we will see meaningful change in 2018
are: data transport to the cloud (hardware vs direct connect vs accelerated
internet), data storage (object vs file vs database), and application
deployment (lift-and-shift VM vs SaaS, vs pure serverless). All of these are
areas where I've seen hidden costs and functionality tradeoffs create havoc in
the past, but where I believe experience and more sophisticated product
offerings will improve stability and value for everyone.
To date, Amazon Web Services has defined the entire cloud ecosystem.
Customers, vendors, and competitors have mostly been following their lead with
regard to new features like serverless computing and machine learning AI. But
as the ecosystem matures, so will demand for improvements to existing tools and
for more customer-driven features. Such industry needs, guided by hard-won
experience, can now take over as the driving force in cloud computing in 2018.
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About the Author
Seth Noble, PhD, is the creator of the patented Multipurpose
Transaction Protocol (MTP) technology and a top data transport expert. He is
Founder and President of Data Expedition, Inc., with a dual BS-MS degree from Caltech, and a doctorate in
computer science from the University of Oklahoma for work developing MTP.