9 Cloud Computing Technologies You Need to Understand for 2018

1. Hybrid Cloud

For most enterprises, using multiple clouds has become the norm. In the RightScale 2017 State of the Cloud report, 67 percent of enterprises surveyed said that they had a hybrid cloud, and 85 percent said that they were pursuing a multi-cloud strategy.

And many analysts believe that hybrid cloud and multi-cloud strategies will dominate cloud computing for the foreseeable future. In its 2018 cloud computing predictions, Forrester stated that the Microsoft Azure Stack, Microsoft's flagship hybrid cloud offering would "spark a jump in private and hybrid cloud spending globally in 2018."

For enterprises, the key issue involved with the hybrid cloud is interoperability. Many will be looking for new solutions that make it easier to manage infrastructure and applications across their in-house data centers and the various public cloud services that they are using.

2. Containers

Gartner has predicted, "By 2020, more than 50 percent of global organizations will be running containerized applications in production, up from less than 20 percent today." And with all the leading cloud vendors offering container services, many of those containerized applications will be deployed in public cloud environments.

Enterprises, particularly those using DevOps approaches, often choose to use containers in the cloud because container technology makes it easy for developers to move applications from development to production environments quickly. Containers offer a lightweight way to package an application together with all its dependencies so that it is separate from other applications running on the same infrastructure. That provides a level of consistency that makes it easier for IT to deploy, debug, diagnose and maintain applications.

3. Kubernetes

When enterprises are running multiple containers, they need a way to manage and orchestrate those containers — and that's where Kubernetes comes in.

Although organizations have several options available when it comes to container orchestration solutions, Kubernetes seems to be becoming the default choice. In its 2018 cloud computing predictions, Forrester stated, "Kubernetes will win the war for container orchestration dominance."

All the leading public cloud vendors offer Kubernetes-based services, and Kubernetes support was recently added to Docker, as well.

4. Serverless

Serverless computing, also sometimes called function as a service (FaaS), allows developers to write and deploy code in the cloud without provisioning resources. It isn't really serverless — the applications still do run on servers — but the developers don't have to think about the servers at all. Automation handles all of the provisioning and configuration, freeing up the developers to focus on code.

A recent Sumo Logic survey of public cloud customers found that 23 percent were using AWS Lambda, which is the best known of the serverless cloud services. Today, the trend is still fairly small, but it appears to be growing.

5. APIs

API stands for Application programming interface. In layman's terms, an API is an easy way to enable an application to interact with another application, a Web service or a cloud service. So, for example, if your enterprise development team wants to build a new application that accesses your company's Salesforce.com data, you might use one of the Salesforce APIs to interface with the Salesforce cloud service.

APIs aren't new, but they are becoming extremely important as enterprises undergo the process of digital transformation. In addition to utilizing APIs offered by Web and cloud service providers, many enterprises will be creating their own APIs in order to encourage outside developers to access their data and services. "APIs are the basis of every digital strategy," Gartner's Christy Pettey wrote in a blog post. "Despite the escalating hype about digital platforms, application leaders must not lose sight of the fact that the most essential, basic elements of digital business platforms are application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs make digital society and digital business work by connecting people, businesses and things."

6. Microservices

Another important application development trend that will impact the way enterprises consume cloud services is microservices architecture. It used to be that when developers were creating new applications, they would design all the features and functions of that applications from scratch to create a monolithic piece of software. With microservices architecture, by contrast, those enormous applications are broken into very small pieces —microservice — that can be reused over and over by multiple applications. That enables faster, more efficient application development.

Organizations often use microservices architecture in the cloud in order to increase the speed of application development and deployment, as well as to improve scalability.

7. Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence and its machine learning subset seem to be everywhere in the technology industry these days. According to a recent report from Deloitte Global, "In 2018, large and medium-sized enterprises will intensify their use of machine learning. The number of implementations and pilot projects using the technology will double compared with 2017, and they will have doubled again by 2020."

Because machine learning projects run most efficiently on expensive high-performance computing (HPC) systems equipped with GPUs, many organizations are finding that it is most cost effective to run machine learning workloads in the cloud. And the leading cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and IBM Cloud, have been rolling out a host of machine learning cloud services.

8. Automation

As enterprises embrace DevOps, they are utilizing a lot more automation to manage their IT environments — and that includes cloud environments. That means many will be investing in software and/or cloud services that provide automated cloud provisioning, migration, optimization and management. According to Gartner, "By 2020, 50 percent of global enterprises will have implemented at least one application release automation solution, up from less than 15 percent today." Automation solutions that can handle hybrid and multi-cloud environments could see particularly high demand.

9. Blockchain

While few enterprises currently have blockchain applications in production, many analysts predict that enterprises, particularly those in the financial services and retail industries, will be investigating the technology over the next couple of years. Blockchain is the secure, distributed ledger technology that underlies cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Enterprises could use it for a lot of other purposes, like smart contracts, supply chain management, digital content management, health care records, loan processing and insurance claims. Cloud vendors like Microsoft and IBM have announced blockchain services, and much of the development in this area will likely take place on cloud platforms.

If you want to find the hottest areas of enterprise IT today, you'll have to look to cloud computing.
"The cloud has become the launchpad for virtually every new IT innovation in the last 24 months – including AI, blockchain, quantum computing and more," Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC, stated in November 2017. He added, "Organizations not on the public cloud will be increasingly isolated from the world of tech innovation."

That trend towards cloud innovation looks likely to continue throughout 2018 with the leading public cloud computing providers rushing to roll out new services that incorporate the latest advances.

For their part, enterprises seem eager to give these new cloud services a try. Cloud revenues for the first half of 2017 exceeded IDC's forecasts, totaling $63.2 billion. The platform as a service (PaaS) segment of the market, which is the segment where many of these new innovations can be utilized, saw particularly strong growth, with revenues increasing 50.2 percent year-over-year.

Looking ahead, Gartner predicts strong growth in the public cloud through 2018 and beyond. "As of 2016, approximately 17 percent of the total market revenue for infrastructure, middleware, application and business process services had shifted to cloud," said Sid Nag, research director at Gartner. "Through 2021, this will increase to approximately 28 percent."

So which are the hot cloud technologies that enterprises will be deploying in 2018? This slideshow takes a closer look at 10 areas that are generating a lot of interest in the cloud computing industry.

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