In recent years, cloud technology has become integral to business operations. Compared to on-premises infrastructure, it allows for improved scalability and flexibility, cost savings, collaboration, security, and data loss prevention. The cloud computing market is set to reach $679 billion in value in 2024.

But what are the trends currently defining the cloud computing market? According to Donnie MacColl, Senior Director of International Support and Global Data Protection Officer at Fortra, the cloud technology landscape 2024 is characterized by several key trends, many of which are evolutions of existing practices with expanded applications. Keep reading to find out more.

The Market

Cloud adoption is higher than ever. As of last year, 60% of all business data was stored in the cloud, with 48% of businesses storing their most essential data in the cloud. The average worker uses 36 cloud-based services daily, while the average enterprise uses 1295.

In terms of market share, Amazon Web Services (AWS) boasts the highest at 32%, followed by Microsoft Azure (23%) and Google Cloud (10%), while Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud are picking up steam in the Asia-Pacific market.

Containerization

Containerization involves packaging software code with the bare minimum operating system (OS) libraries and dependencies required for the code to run and creating a single lightweight executable, or “container,” that can run on any infrastructure. Organizations that practice containerization benefit from improved portability, scalability, fault tolerance, and agility. Possible use cases include deploying or updating applications across IoT devices, adopting microservice architecture, or cloud migration. But, according to Donnie, containerization is now going even further.

“Containerization has become a cornerstone of cloud strategy, growing beyond its original purpose of simplifying application deployment. It can now facilitate tasks such as side-by-side testing of a replacement CRM and the integration of companies post-acquisition or merger,” he said, “This approach has opened the door to a multitude of emerging opportunities, notably the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) within the cloud. Companies can now experiment with AI functionalities in a secure and isolated manner, utilizing APIs within containers, which allows for experimentation and usage without impacting existing infrastructure. This is particularly beneficial while establishing comprehensive AI usage policies.

High Availability

High availability in the cloud is a feature of computing infrastructure – such as an IT system, component, or application – that means it can continue to function if or when some of its components fail. High availability infrastructure has long been integral to cloud computing, particularly for situations where downtime could be disastrous, such as those in healthcare settings or self-driving cars.

However, Donnie argues that the high availability concept has reached a new level of importance. “As cloud hosting matures and organizations increasingly rely on cloud services, the need for robust, always-on cloud environments has become apparent,” he said. “These high-availability solutions are critical for maintaining operations during downtime, access issues, or ransomware attacks, thereby safeguarding business continuity and reputation.”

Pay-as-you-go Models

Donnie also says, “Another emerging trend is the on-demand, automatic scaling of cloud resources, aligning with a ‘pay-as-you-go’ model.” On-demand, automatic scaling, or “autoscaling” in the cloud. Autoscaling in the cloud refers to the capability of cloud services to automatically adjust computing resources in real-time based on current application demands. This is done without manual intervention, ensuring that the right amount of resources is available at any given time to handle workload fluctuations.

The pay-as-you-go model charges users based on their actual resource consumption rather than a fixed cost. On-demand autoscaling aligns perfectly with this model in the following ways:

• Cost Efficiency: Users pay only for the resources they use. When demand decreases, autoscaling reduces resource allocation, thereby lowering costs. During peak demand, it scales up to maintain performance, ensuring resources are available only when needed.
• Flexibility: Autoscaling allows businesses to respond to changes in demand without needing to pre-purchase or over-provision resources. This flexibility supports varying workloads and can handle unexpected traffic spikes without incurring unnecessary costs.
• Resource Optimization: Autoscaling optimizes cloud infrastructure use by dynamically adjusting resources. This means businesses avoid paying for idle resources, maximize cost efficiency, and minimize wastage.
• Scalability Without Overspending: Traditional scaling requires preemptive resource allocation, often leading to over-provisioning. On-demand autoscaling ensures scalability without over-allocating resources, aligning costs with actual usage.

In essence, the trends of containerization, AI integration, high availability, and elastic scaling are shaping the future of cloud technology. These developments are enhancing existing capabilities and creating new possibilities for innovation and resilience in 2024. 

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this and other guest author articles are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Tripwire.