- Edge computing will continue gaining momentum
Edge computing is indeed the new cloud, and as we advance, it will become increasingly popular with the rising demand for decentralization. It allows cloud users to store data and perform computing closer to where it is generated and used, unlike the centralized approach where data is store far away. This new approach reduces latency and enables faster responsiveness and optimization of bandwidth. In 2021, we will see more adoption of edge computing to enable faster storage and retrieval. We have already seen effort being made by large edge computing vendors like IBM and Intel to double down deployable cloud-like edge solutions. This is a sign of better things to come.
- Artificial intelligence
AI is fast becoming an important part of cloud computing and 2021 is likely to see this technology merged with cloud services more than before. Organizations will be looking for a strong AI engineering strategy to ensure their projects remain relevant. According to Gartner, the lack of the right investment in AI projects will lead to performance, scalability, and reliability issues. However, with the right cloud technologies such as containers, Kubernetes and ML frameworks, organizations will establish responsible DevOps, DataOps and ModelOps.
- Serverless cloud is the new marvel
2021 will see increased adoption of serverless computing. According to a 2020 State of the Cloud report by Flexera, serverless is one of the fastest-growing platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud services. This paradigm will help developers code freely while allowing infrastructure management to be performed online by the PaaS infrastructure provider. The market is expected to grow by over 25% between now and 2026. The ease with which the serverless architecture allows organizations to come up with and deploy applications within a short time is the main reason behind its increased adoption. Startups that have little resources will find this very attractive.
- Containerization
This is another area that is growing rapidly. Containers are simply software packages with code and the necessary components that are needed to run an application. Applications in containers can run anywhere, whether in a private data center, personal computer, or cloud. A report by Gartner projects that more than 75% of all big organizations will be running containerized applications by 2022, giving a glimpse of how fast this trend is being adopted. The popularity of containerization has been made possible by its potential to allow more rapid delivery, agility, easy life-cycle management and scalability, all of which are desired by organizations that want better service delivery.
- Many organizations will deploy Multi-cloud
We cannot end the list of trends without talking about multi-cloud. As private clouds continue coming up, 2021 is a year we should expect more of it than ever. Many organizations will deploy a combination of on-premise, public and private clouds as they look for better ways of becoming efficient due to the disruptions caused by the pandemic. Due to the flexibility and improved disaster recovery that this combination promises, you should expect investment in multi-cloud to reach a new high this year.