Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2023. Read them in this 15th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
What’s around the corner for 2023
By Aron Brand, CTO, CTERA
After many years of near-zero interest rates and workforce shortages, the tide has turned, and in 2022 we have seen the start of a dramatic shift in the business landscape. As we enter 2023, capital is much more expensive, and interest rates continue to rise, resulting in the attractiveness and pursuit of low CAPEX, high OPEX business models, such as cloud computing and SaaS. With the deflation of the business bubble, many companies are looking at their budgets and will be forced to downsize or even close their doors. Those that have made the shift to cloud-based models will be better-positioned to weather the global recession by taking advantage of the inherent elasticity and flexibility of the cloud.
As of late 2022, the cloud infrastructure market has two highly dominant leaders, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure accounting for over 55% of the market. This means that if one of these two providers were to go offline for any reason, it could have a devastating impact on businesses and even entire countries. Amidst a tense geo-political environment this ‘duopoly’ has become a matter of national security, and the concentration of risk in the hands of just a few providers makes the entire system vulnerable to a coordinated attack by a foreign government or other malicious actor.
I believe that in 2023 we will be seeing nations begin to mandate and incentivize cloud, multi-cloud, and hybrid-cloud strategies for critical industries in order to diversify their national risk and increase their resilience. These types of strategies will create opportunities for the next-in-line providers such as Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Oracle Cloud to gain market share.
As the idea sinks in that cloud lock-in is a major risk, expect to see organizations putting standardized cloud APIs and low egress fees on their lists of priorities when selecting cloud providers. It will be those providers that prioritize interoperability and portability that will gain an advantage. As a result of the surging interest in multi-cloud, we will undoubtedly see increased demand for new, cloud-agnostic data management solutions that can span across multiple clouds and prevent data silos. It will be imperative that these solutions be easy to use and integrate with existing storage systems and protocols. It will also be a must that they offer robust security and governance features. The providers that can meet all of these requirements will be well-positioned to take advantage of this growing trend.
And finally, the health of our planet is an ongoing issue that countries must address. Climate change continues to be an increasingly pressing concern going into 2023 for businesses, as well. I predict that cloud infrastructure providers, as well as SaaS vendors, will become more transparent about their carbon footprints and their remediation plans, if required. I see enterprises being more motivated to reduce their own environmental impact by moving to greener datacenters provided by the hyperscalers. By reducing waste and pooling server capacity, containerization, and economies of scale, the cloud can help lead the way in reducing humanity’s impact on the planet.
2023 is year that holds great promise and is certain to bring forth change. At CTERA, we look forward to the evolution of the cloud and what that means for our clients, present and future.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aron Brand, CTO of CTERA Networks, has more than 22 years of experience in designing and implementing distributed software systems. Prior to joining the founding team of CTERA, Aron acted as Chief Architect of SofaWare Technologies, a Check Point company, where he led the design of security software and appliances for the service provider and enterprise markets. Previously, Aron developed software at IDF’s Elite Technology Unit 8200. He holds a BSc degree in computer science and business administration from Tel-Aviv University.
