For all cloud data professionals of tomorrow
Anyone who feels like they are on an uncertain discovery mission rather than a competent conquest when it comes to the cloud needs a compass. We take away the supposedly futuristic character of the cloud and provide solid know-how on cloud solutions for practical use.
The topic of cloud solutions, often used synonymously with cloud computing or cloud services, is currently occupying companies more intensively than ever before. There is no question that the use of the cloud will not only make sense for everyone in the coming years, but will be virtually unavoidable. After all, those who do not move confidently and create value within the new technology offerings will quickly lose touch with the competition and lose their future viability. The need to store, process, analyze and thus continuously use data is no longer a dream of the future, it is reality.
Companies have a lot of data, but few cloud solutions
"Nothing works without data," one of our customers once said in an almost resigned tone. But he would have had good reason to be happy. After all, using the data provided completely new insights into the company's future strategic direction. The problem for the customer, however, was the huge flood of data that the medium-sized organization was faced with. It was no longer manageable with the conventional IT landscape. Until then, the topic of the cloud had been reluctantly looked at more closely, as there were many uncertainties, which were mainly due to a lack of knowledge. In this case, our mission was to do a massive amount of educational work and bring possible cloud solutions into the field. We would also like to provide this impetus below.
Development of the cloud
In this context, it may be interesting for many to take a look at the history of the cloud. What needs actually gave rise to cloud solutions? Computer scientist Herbert Grosch, who worked at IBM, first thought about cloud computing back in the 1950s. At that time, several workstations were to be created on a large computer system - a completely new challenge. In the following decades, various companies and pioneers laid the foundations for today's technical framework. The expansion of fiber optics was driven forward, as was the development of so-called client-server concepts: in 1991, the CERN Institute released the Internet for everyone and Tim Berners-Lee introduced the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) as the standard for the World Wide Web. Network-based services, software applications and the first online storage facilities followed in the years that followed.
From on-premises to off-premises
With the buzzword Web 2.0, the appearance of the internet is changing. From the purely text-based, static website to the dynamic, interactive web interface, which heralds a new era of the Internet with images, editable elements and user involvement. Around 2004, the companies Facebook, Amazon and Google appear on the scene. To store and manage their software and data, they initially rely on their own or rented servers.
This stationary "on-site solution" is referred to as "on-premises". However, today's Internet giants very quickly found themselves faced with gigantic volumes of data and overloaded servers. For this reason, they opted for the cloud approach developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology back in the 1990s - and developed it rapidly.
So-called "off-premises" emerged at a rapid pace in the 2010s. Although the term originated merely as an antonym to "on-premises", today it stands for an entirely new generation of IT. The term "cloud computing" has proven to be leading the way. However, on-premises and off-premises are still in competition with each other in many places, as the advantages and disadvantages of the respective solutions are weighed up very carefully.
Cloud options: Public or private, multi or hybrid?
A trend among cloud forms already emerged in 2020: the hybrid cloud is still the favorite for future-oriented cloud computing in the trade press in 2021. This is due to the fact that the demands on the corporate side with regard to software development and software usage and the associated data volumes are increasing. Distributing infrastructure and applications across different clouds increases the speed, control and security of data many times over.
Nevertheless, the decision as to which cloud or cloud combination is ultimately the right one naturally has enormous implications. Companies currently have the choice between public and private cloud, multi-cloud and hybrid cloud. The advantages and disadvantages of the models are not immediately obvious. Apart from the fact that basic specialist knowledge about the possibilities of cloud computing is necessary to find your way through the jungle of options, every company has highly individual requirements for its technical infrastructure, especially when it comes to cloud data management.
That is why there is no one right solution for all companies. As is so often the case in the technical potpourri of digitalization, it is a decision that has to be made taking into account all corporate strategy requirements and calculating the optimum added value.
Services within the cloud options
The structure of the cloud models also varies depending on the cloud services used. Here, too, there are variants that make the composition of an individual cloud solution so variable and sometimes difficult. Basically, cloud services can be thought of as layers. Infrastructure is required as a basis, with space for programming models and development environments. Finally, software can be rented.
IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service
A provider makes data storage and computing power available on its server for rent. Examples: AWS, Microsoft Azure.
SaaS - Software as a Service
Cloud-based software with an elaborate user interface. Particularly relevant for private individuals. Examples: Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace.
As always, which cloud service makes sense and when varies greatly. The company's goal does not necessarily have to be the virtualization of all hardware. Partial outsourcing or the use of certain developer environments make sense in many cases.
The cloud data journey begins
The decision as to which cloud solutions are suitable for your own company depends on many factors. There is no such thing as the right cloud; every organization has its own individual needs. This makes it all the more important to take a strategic approach to the topic.
Initially, it helps to take a vendor-independent approach to the topic and to take a targeted look at wishes, opportunities and challenges. Which factors influence the future viability of the IT infrastructure today and which ones tomorrow? It is always necessary to focus on the desired results. Companies should ask themselves the essential question: How can the cloud help us to achieve certain goals?
Possible cloud variants should then be compared with each other and the advantages and disadvantages weighed up. On the Cloud Data Journey, the cloud is not the goal, but rather its implementation as an opportunity to overcome current challenges. Agile thinking and action are key to further success. In the end, company managers will be able to confidently conquer the basic topic of the cloud and the area of cloud data management that builds on it.
