Why do we learn the cloud? Discovering the engines that drive the growth of various fields of technology!

According to the latest forecast released by international research consultancy Gartner, global IT spending will reach 3.76 trillion US dollars in 2019, an increase of 3.2% over 2018. Diane Greene, senior vice president of Google Cloud, once said: “The cloud is not just a tool for daily storage or computing power that can be used as a gas-electric gas, but a tool that can help companies profit.” Are you ready for the wave of cloud computing? Today we will take you to catch this wave of clouds from the following two parts!

1. Why do we learn cloud computing? 2. How is cloud technology applied? Cloud computing encounters IoT, Container, Big data, and AI/ML

I believe you must have heard about the four major technology application trends such as IoT, Container Services, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML). So, do you know what sparks when the cloud encounters IoT, Container, Big Data, and AI/ML? Below we will explore how these four technologies integrate with the cloud, innovation, and application, and let you know why we should learn the cloud from the development and innovation of various technologies in the cloud!

Why do we learn cloud computing?

John Weider Lovelock, vice president of research at Gartner, said: “We found that as companies adopt new technologies such as IoT devices to drive digital businesses, resulting in a drop in technology for insiders. Nearly half of IT staff urgently need to develop new technologies or skills, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, application interface, service platform design, and data materials to support their digital business projects.” The vast amount of computing and storage required in each area needs to be supported by the cloud. Many companies are also moving from traditional basic service devices to cloud solutions, in the hope that the development cost of each technology will be greatly reduced. Therefore, whether cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google or Microsoft are actively engaged in the development, the employment market for cloud computing is rapidly expanding, and the demand for cloud talents has increased dramatically!

In the following, we will explore the services and applications of the four major areas of IoT, Container, big data, and AI/ML by cloud computing. Analyzing what kind of spark will there be for the relationship between them and the cloud? And understand the importance of cloud computing in the technology industry!

How is cloud technology applied?

When Cloud Computing Encounter IoT

An era in which all things can be connected is approaching. By 2020, there will be 50 billion connected devices. Internet of Things related products such as “digital home life” and “digital office” have sprung up in the market. But do you know what the “Internet of Things” is? How does it work with cloud computing?

The concept of IoT is to put electronic tags on objects that can accept messages but cannot be connected to the Internet through technology so that all ordinary objects that can perform independent functions can be interoperated. Closer the fragmented information to achieve data concatenation and unify digital information between objects. Of course, it is not enough to receive the message. When the cloud host receives a huge amount of data after the aggregation and analyzes the message, it can provide personalized service after the user behavior mode, and give the user useful suggestions. Just as the human brain responds to all messages, cloud computing shows its flexibility, scalability and high performance in the connected world.

IoT application goods can be said to have the superpower of “one machine in hand, the world at my disposal”, which can be digitized in the real world. Its application range is very wide, including transportation and logistics (intelligent supply chain customers manufacturing), health care (epidemiological control), intelligent environment (home, office, factory), disaster prediction and crime prevention, having a very broad market and prospects.

Let’s take theAutomated Greenhouse Environmental Control System as an example. The farm staff can detect soil water content and crop water absorption status 24 hours a day through the Internet of Things device, and pass through the wireless network data to the computer analysis. According to different growth needs, the environmental conditions in the greenhouse are adjusted to meet the setting. In the very near future, farmers who “ live at the mercy of the weather”, will get the “day” to know the precious data to transform new horizons for crop cultivation.

When Cloud Computing Encounter Container

Container services are relatively new to us. What is the container service? Container Service is a virtualized technology operating system that provides a separate and closed computer resource that runs as a resource isolation process to ensure fast, reliable and consistent deployment. You can apply every storage device to act as a stand-alone package to run applications or related services without having to rely on the underlying computing environment. For example virtual environment in which the CPU, memory, and application components (application code, dependency). Common container cloud services are docker, Amazon EKS, Kubernetes, and so on.

And why are more and more IT technicians choosing to use container services in the cloud? The advantages of its services can be broadly divided into the following three points:

• Smooth operation in any environment

One of the most common problems developers face is that when moving applications from a test environment to an operating environment, they may be based on different operating systems or configurations for other reasons, resulting in the same application not working smoothly. With container services, applications can operate on any platform and portability allows you to move from test to operating environment, desktop to cloud, and even from cloud to anywhere else runs quickly and smoothly.

• Strengthening the development efficiency pipeline for developers

Standardized by containerized applications, applications can run smoothly in different environments, not only eliminating the impact of environmental inconsistencies but also increasing development speed. Developers can focus on identifying errors in the application itself, rather than improving the problems caused by changing the operating environment.

• Maximize resource and operational efficiency

Container architecture has the advantages of fast build, deploy, and expansion, therefore, it has better operational efficiency. It consumes less CPU and memory resources than virtual machines (VMs), so more container architectures can work on the same server.

When Cloud Computing Encounter Big Data

In the book, Big data: The next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity, McKinsey points out that big data will be the key foundation for corporate competition and the next wave of productivity enhancement, business innovation, and consumer value creation pillar. This massive amount of data, such as a flood, has injected into the world economy, changing the face of global business models step by step, becoming the mainstream of future technologies and applications, and making storage and computing functions more important at the same time.

The traditional data center has no longer been incompatible with high-density information network data processing and storage mode. Modern data centers are designed to pay more attention to the needs of information storage. It is a huge problem to search for users to find information from a huge database in a short period of time, and even parse the data into useful data. And cloud computing provides a lightweight and lightweight user-side vehicle demand, the most important of which is the key factor for the success of the big data industry: speed!

You shouldn’t want to drive to get road information because the data center is running too long, causing the data to return to the car too slowly, and ultimately causing disaster. In a world close to the Internet of All Things, computing is naturally faster and better, and of course complicates the design of the data center, leading to a new development of cloud computing storage.

In the past, enterprises due to insufficient data storage space and high cost of hardware storage equipment limit, leading enterprises mainly to first keep the customer’s usage data to become historical data, and then slowly through data mining data collation, analysis of consumer behavior patterns, as an aid in marketing decisions. But this traditional decision assisted mode of feedback is too slow, it can not take place in the consumer buying behavior right now, using the right instant buying advice based on the actual needs of the customer, and the opportunity to complete this transaction is missed.

With the help of cloud computing, data analysis allows enterprises to quickly understand consumer behavior. Big data is collected and computed in the cloud, to identify clues, trends and business opportunities from various data, so that more enterprises and organizations have access to valuable insights from big data! Now we just need to hit a bullet on the search bar, you can have relevant information and run out. This is Big Data close to you and my life application. What is more exciting? As long as enough data, massive data not only provides “future vision”, it can also even predict changes in nature and people’s shopping behavior.

When Cloud Computing Encounter AI/ML

AI changes the world faster than you think! Since Google DeepMind Go AI AlphaGo beat the world’s top players, AI’s development application has become unstoppable industry trends. There are many applications in the retail industry and finance industry, but there are still many applications waiting to be developed.

Simply put, robots are like the human “body”, artificial intelligence is the human “brain”, and machine learning is the combination of both. “Machine learning” means a computer simulates or implements human learning behavior, which can automatically modify computer algorithms through experience, to acquire new knowledge or skills, to reorganize the original knowledge structure, constantly improving its own performance. It’s not just for database problems, but a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that allows machines to learn automatically, finding rules from huge amounts of data and have the ability to make predictions. (Reference source: Wikipedia, MBA Encyclopedia)

But in some fields, the scarcity of talent and resources makes the development of artificial intelligence or machine learning a big obstacle, not every company has the ability to afford it. So, we can say, “The cloud is the ideal AI/ML platform.” It makes it easier for developers, users, and businesses to access and apply artificial intelligence and machine learning resources.

Amazon’s Voice Assistant — Alexa is a classic example of a successful combination of AI/ML with cloud technology. As Amazon founder Bezos said, “AI is the technology trend for the next 10 years.” In early 2019, Amazon announced that its Alexa Smart Voice Assistant product has sold more than 100 million units so far, with a 32% global market share. Amazon sits on the throne of global market capitalists, further highlighting the benefits of AI for businesses. Daniel Rausch, Vice President of Amazon Smart Home, unveiled Alexa’s data at IFA: Globally, with50,000 features, compatible with 20,000 devices and works with more than 3,500 brands. Alexa voice features are embedded in many smart hardware devices, such as mobile phones, home robots, LG smart refrigerators, Samsung Sweeper Robots, Ford Infotainment System, etc. This shows the trend of the widespread use of voice assistants.

Conclusion

Have you found the relationship between these fields is in fact inextricably linked? Today, the global manufacturing industry has introduced a variety of IT in recent years, including IoT, Container Services, Big Data, AI/ML, etc to improve manufacturing accuracy, efficiency and cost reduction. Cloud computing shows its flexibility, scalability and high performance in various fields. (Learn more: What is Cloud Computing? A global revolution in information services)

From these technological trends, you can know the role of cloud computing in technology. Now you want to start learning but don’t know where to start? In the next article we will share with you the“ Learning Resources for Cloud Computing”, please keep an eye on us!