Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2018. Read them in this 10th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Contributed by Paul Stephenson, Field Evangelist and Principle Systems Engineer, OVH US
Enterprises Continue to Navigate and Solidify Cloud Strategies
2017
was the year of innovation and change for the cloud. Machine learning and artificial
intelligence (AI) continued to gain momentum and became more accessible for
developers to integrate into their cloud-based applications. Containers gained
significant market presence due to their ability to quickly deliver
applications, and people are still confused about the difference between
multi-cloud and hybrid cloud (that's a discussion for another time).
As the
new year looms in front of us and we see no end in sight for the data explosion
brought on by AI, machine learning, IoT, and other technologies, what can we
expect to see for the future of cloud and it's supporting infrastructure for
the enterprise? Here are my predictions for 2018:
What will drive enterprises to
change their IT infrastructure in 2018?
As application owners and creators start to push delivery of
applications outside of the normal methods, IT will be forced to take a closer
look at their infrastructure. What I mean here is that today, when you install
software, it's either delivered through Software-as-a-Service (hosted apps), as
a binary to run on top of an operating system, or as a virtual appliance where
the app is bundled with the operating system. When companies start specifying
Kubernetes, Pivotal Cloud Foundry, etc. for deploying and operationalizing
apps, IT will have to make changes to the infrastructure. This change, however,
will be slow for existing enterprises due to IT inertia but fast for companies
"born in the cloud".
Along with my first point, anything that is shown to be a
competitive advantage around experience has a chance to change things in IT,
even application developer experience. What this means is IT is now fully aware
that the technology they run drives the business, so they must pivot quickly
and consume new infrastructure if it leads to a better customer experience and
delivery of service. This means the business bottom line, application
development, and IT infrastructure are more tightly coupled than ever before.
What challenges will
enterprises encounter in 2018 when it comes to their infrastructure?
Understanding costs will continue to be a big driver for IT
managers looking to be more agile with their infrastructure. Companies will
look to the cloud for speed and agility, but they will have to reconcile their
decisions against the bottom line. Once companies start to look at the
entanglement of performance, cost, and risk, they will start to work on balance
- they need to keep the lights on, but they also need to shift money to
innovation or the company could fail over time.
Separating fact from fiction and applying those facts to business-specific
needs is another challenge enterprises will need to overcome. There are now so
many buzz words and terms for IT to filter through that it's easy to get caught
in a hype cycle and make poorly informed decisions.
Which aspect of cloud will
experience the largest growth spurt in 2018?
I expect hybrid to experience the largest growth
spurt. Most companies have a classic IT
department and they can't immediately change the business systems to operate
only on public cloud services. On the other hand, I believe net new companies
will operate mostly in the public domain with only private/hybrid systems based
on security and compliance.
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About the Author
Paul Stephenson is a business-minded technology strategist
helping companies through their digital transformation journey. Paul has held
several business technology roles during his career, including owning his own
technology consulting business and evangelizing for companies such as VMware, Rackspace,
and OVH. He frequently recommends solutions leveraging industry-leading
solutions such as networking virtualization, automation, cloud computing, and
cloud-based XaaS (anything as a service).
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