Cloud Computing's Rise: Key Milestones and Turning Points

Cloud computing has evolved rapidly since its inception. Cloud computing, the delivery of computing services over the internet instead of on a local server or a personal computer, is now a fundamental part of running a business with the intent of scaling, streamlining, and reducing costs - just a few of its benefits. To fully appreciate its evolution, let's take a trip down the memory lane of cloud computing history!  

Cloud computing has its roots embedded in virtualization technology. Microsoft Azure explains virtualization as "a simulated or virtual computing environment as opposed to a physical environment." It was first developed in the 1960s but only became widely used with the rise of the internet. Fast forward to the late 1990s, Salesforce was the first company to offer business applications over the internet, marking the beginning of cloud computing!  

In 2006, Amazon launched its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service, and Google introduced Google Docs, which marked the start of cloud computing for the masses. In 2007, Netflix moved its infrastructure to the cloud, using Oracle's database software to manage its massive streaming data. The following year, Microsoft introduced Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities, which allowed developers to develop, run, and manage their applications.   

Over time, cloud computing became more accessible thanks to cloud storage services such as Dropbox and Google Drive, which made it easy for individuals and small businesses to store and share files. The rise of DevOps, which focuses on collaboration between developers and operations teams, helped to streamline the development, testing, deployment, and management of applications in the cloud. Use Ntegral's Docker on Ubuntu 20.04 to build, run, and share applications with containers for a lighter load! Also, remember to ensure you have a reliable load balancer, like Ntegral's Nginx on Ubuntu 20.04.  

In recent years, serverless computing has emerged as a popular cloud computing model for executing code in response to events rather than deploying to servers. Developers are empowered to write code and not worry about managing infrastructure. Hybrid and multi-clouds enable companies to use multiple cloud providers or public and private cloud infrastructures. These have become increasingly popular as organizations seek to optimize infrastructure costs while benefiting from different cloud offerings. Looking to move a workload from Amazon Web Services to Azure? Ntegral has Amazon Linux 2, an offering in the marketplace that allows you to run Amazon on Linux in minutes.  

The convenience, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of cloud computing have made it an essential part of business infrastructure over the last few decades, and it is likely to continue evolving and growing into the future. So what about future cloud trends? Besides more businesses moving to the cloud, experts predict increased cybersecurity measures and protocols. Stay ahead of the trend with Ntegral's Kali Linux - Virtual Desktop, compatible with all programs in the Debian package repository. ParrotOS is another excellent option for advanced penetration testing and security auditing.  

Other future trends experts predict increases in edge computing, ethical advancements in AI and ML cloud computing, and more serverless computing. According to Microsoft, Edge computing is a "distributed computing framework that allows IoT devices to quickly process and act on data at the edge of the network," which means real-time results and reduced latency. AI and ML are rapidly evolving, and we will likely see a rise in "responsible AI" to ensure ethical results. Serverless computing allows for an authentic Platform-as-a-Service setting as it allows for backend services on an as-used basis.  

As new technologies continue to emerge, the possibilities for cloud computing are virtually limitless. So next time you save a file to the cloud or access a program through a web browser, take a moment to appreciate the journey that got us here. It's been a wild ride, and we're only just scratching the surface of what cloud technology can do.