Cloud computing adds value — by enabling resiliency now

As the COVID-19 crisis challenges businesses and society worldwide, technology is playing a more important role than ever. Technology enables businesses to be more resilient through remote workspaces, automatic backups, and data access. Companies with business continuity plans are the ones that will come through an epidemic the strongest, with minimal impact. Moreover, accelerating business transformation efforts can help strengthen a company’s position in its market once the pandemic passes.

The 2020 State of Enterprise Cloud Adoption and Security report, which polled around 2,000 IT professionals, found that 85% of enterprise organizations believe cloud adoption is necessary for innovation. 58% of those respondents said their organization had clear guidelines and policies in place for developers who build and operate apps in the public cloud.

In addition, spending on cloud IT infrastructure now consistently surpasses spending on non-cloud IT infrastructure. IDC’s (International Data Corporation) forecast for 2020 spend on cloud IT infrastructure is $69.2 billion, a 3.6% predicted annual increase over 2019, after making adjustments for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the expected economic crisis.

As more and more businesses make the transition to virtual work, companies are recognizing the value of using cloud computing and cloud-based systems. Cloud computing makes it much easier to manage daily operations when a company’s workforce is largely distributed.

Amazon Web Services recently revealed updates to its Snowball family of edge devices, which include a new interface for managing clusters and a boost in performance and virtual CPUs (vCPU). vCPUs in Snowball Edge Storage devices have been increased to 40 vCPUs compared to 24 in the previous version and now include 80 gigabytes of memory. Data transfer speeds have improved by up to 25%, as a result of a new 100-gigabit networking adapter and a 3.2 GHz processor, according to AWS.

Google is extending its Cloud Platform beyond the confines of its own data centers, enabling organizations to run its Cloud Services Platform on-premises. The Kubernetes-based Cloud Services Platform enables organizations to run Google cloud workloads on their own hardware infrastructure and also manage it in a unified approach with workloads running in the public cloud.

Microsoft recently announced partnerships with carriers and technology partners around the world to establish Azure Edge Zones which combine the power of cloud and 5G. Azure Edge Zones will provide ultra-low-latency edge compute capabilities to developers, customers, and partners by delivering consistent Azure services, app platform, and management at the edge with 5G. Azure Edge Zones are local extensions of Microsoft Azure that solve compute, storage, and service availability issues.

There are many options to consider before shifting from on-prem and private cloud solutions to other cloud solutions that include public clouds, hybrid cloud configurations, and multi-cloud. While eager to reap the benefits, companies recognize the need to engage with experts in delivering cloud-based development services and solutions, who can also assist with needs assessment and planning.

First Line helps clients achieve the maximum benefits of moving to the cloud – high performance, scalability, and security, in addition to addressing their current resiliency requirements. For companies already using AWS, GCP, or Microsoft Azure services and solutions, First Line Software experts deliver top quality services and solutions that include implementation, integration, migration, strategy, design, development, support, and maintenance.