As the cloud technology sector grows, it adapts. Cloud technology changes as often as the cloud formations drifting above your head, with each innovation having the potential to change the way we live our everyday lives.
Here we run through some of the most important news in what was arguably the cloud's biggest year yet, 2014:
1. Genetics Moves to the Cloud
Scientific research has entered the cloud and it looks set to stay there. Calculations to understand genomic sequencing moved to cloud in March -- with the New York Genome Center and the IBM Watson Group announcing their collaboration.
Google went one step further, launching Google Genomics, a service that will allow you store your genome on the cloud for $25 per year, MIT Technology Review reported. As 3,500 genomes are already stored with Google, its ever-expanding database looks set to create an "Internet-of-DNA," which could revolutionize healthcare.
2. Salesforce.com Takes its Cloud Model to Healthcare
Continuing the cloud's expansion into all areas of life, 2014 saw cloud pioneer salesforce.com jointly launch a cloud-based healthcare platform with electronics maker Philips, The New York Times reported.
The platform is designed for healthcare software developers, producers of medical devices, healthcare providers and insurance companies – all of whom will be able to link to the salesforce.com health cloud.
The focus of the project is to help use technology to manage chronic ailments, and Vivek Kundra, executive vice president of industries for salesforce.com, said that if the platform succeeds, it will "unleash a wave of innovation."
3. Microsoft Offers Unlimited Cloud Storage
The cloud has the potential to eliminate the need to store anything on an old-fashioned hard drive. Microsoft went one step further to making this a reality when it announced that Office 365 users would get unlimited storage in the cloud, Mashable reported.
Called OneDrive, the service works in a similar way to Google Drive – the main difference being there's unlimited room in the Microsoft cloud.
Microsoft is in fierce competition with Dropbox in what is already being referred to as the "cloud wars," according to Mashable. Dropbox added extra features and additional storage for its users back in August, but has yet to compete with Microsoft's unlimited offering.
4. The Fight to be King of the Cloud Continues
As with any new technology, there is fight to be the market leader. So far, retail giant Amazon has been in the lead – and still is – but Google is closing in on it.
Why is it so important to claim the No. 1 spot? Well, the man who oversaw the creation of Google, Urs Holzle, said, "It has become clear that the public cloud is the way of the future. One day, this could be bigger than ads. Certainly in terms of market potential, it is," Wired reported.
However, Amazon is still equally keen. What started as an online book retailer has grown to the leading cloud services provider – with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos predicting that Amazon Web Services (AWS) could be the company's biggest business, according to TechCrunch.
Microsoft, IBM and salesforce.com -- all of which saw huge growth in 2014 -- also are competing for a slice of the market, Gigaom reported.
5. Google and Docker
This year, Google announced it was putting considerable weight behind new open-source cloud technology, called Docker, that acts as a "shipping container" for moving software from machine to machine over the Internet.
Google's Eric Brewer, vice president of infrastructure, said that the two companies "are a very natural fit," Wired reported, and the collaboration also puts Google in a better position to challenge Amazon's dominance in the cloud market.
6. Adoption and Investment in Cloud Tech Continues to Grow
Forbes recently published research from IDG showing the rise in cloud adoption and investment. Today, 69% of enterprises use cloud. Plus, investment in the cloud has increased 19% since 2012.
One of the many sectors seeing this growth is contact centers; from doubling to tripling, adoption rates continue to grow. DMG Consulting predicted that by 2015, 18.1% of all contact centers would be in the cloud -- up from 2.2 % in 2008 and 5.9% in 2012.
7. Internet of Things Becomes the Next Cloud Battleground
The next big thing in the cloud computing world is the Internet of Things (IoT), which revolves around increased machine-to-machine communications. By connecting machines with sensors, the aim is to gather a huge amount of data -- and cloud technology is key to making this happen.
As a result, cloud providers are scrambling to be the ones to store that data, turning IoT into – the next big battleground, as Gigaom senior writer Derrick Harris said. Currently AWS is leading the way, but as it's still very early days, there's an open playing field and every cloud provider has its eye on the growing IoT.
Some analysts claim that the buzz around IoT is already bigger than we realize, while 48% of respondents in a recent survey from Computing Technology Industry Association, see it as "more hype than substance," Forbes reported.
Cloud computing is having an impact on every area of our lives. As investment pours in, it can only get bigger – 2014 has shown that. Despite some doubts, 2015 looks set to be an interesting year...
What do you think was most significant cloud development last year? And how do you see the cloud developing in 2015?
Ashley Unitt is CTO of NewVoiceMedia Ltd, and has over 20 years' experience in developing advanced messaging software. He founded NewVoiceMedia to exploit the obvious benefits of putting an enterprise-class contact center in the cloud. Ashley leads the architecture and research teams, and heads up NVM Labs.
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