2016 has been an eventful year for some, while not so great for others. Many life-changing and society-changing trends happened in this year that include Britain’s Brexit vote, Russia’s support for Syria, and of course, Mr.Trump’s stunning victory in the US Presidential election. These are profound events that are likely to shape the economy and social fabric of the Western World in the years to come.

On the tech side, there were many eventful happenings including acquisitions and partnerships. As the year comes to a close, here’s a look into some of the top trends that changed the face of cloud industry.

Accelerated development

2016 saw rapid developments in cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR). These developments put pressure on companies to embrace these developments, and to make cloud an integral part of their operations. These developments and the benefits that came from it led to a wider adoption of cloud. In fact, almost every major Fortune 500 company was touched by these cloud developments, while many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) gained greater awareness about cloud and its potential benefits. All this means, 2016 lay the foundation for an explosive growth of the cloud industry for years to come.

Growth in cyber attacks

Despite all the advancements we’ve made, 2016 still saw a huge number of cyber attacks that led to a loss in the tune of trillions of dollars. The biggest of them all is undoubtedly Russia’s involvement in Trump’s campaign, but other than that, there were also attacks on many major organizations. At this rate, loss from cyber attacks is expected to touch $6 billion by 2021, according to a report from Cybersecurity Ventures.

Due to these frequent attacks, many steps were taken by different service providers and corporate clients to prevent such attacks, and this included advancements in cloud security. In fact, many companies moved to the cloud from dedicated data centers, thereby reversing the trend of security fears in the public cloud.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence

It was a big year for the world of machine learning and artificial intelligence, as almost every major company announced product releases or developments in this sector. Google, for instance, announced the launch of Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones that comes with many AI-based features. Apple published a paper on AI, and has said in length about its new iOS 10 that will be powered by artificial intelligence. Microsoft and Facebook are not to be left behind, as the former has collaborated with Intel to develop new AI features for its customers, while the latter is working on a deep learning system called Caffe2Go. Since all of these development use cloud in one form or another, these developments brought much cheer to cloud providers.

In short, 2016 was an exciting year for the cloud industry, and in many ways, it has put the industry on an accelerated path. 2017 and the coming years, are likely to see greater adoption of cloud not just among large enterprises, but also among SMEs. In all, we can expect another exciting and fulfilling year in 2017.

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Cloud has become an integral, and probably even a driving division, for many tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft, in 2016. As competition heats up with Google, IBM, and Oracle joining the bandwagon, 2017 is expected to be a great year for tech in general, and cloud computing in particular. Eventually, it is expected that these top players will control much of the $1 trillion cloud market by the end of this decade.

What factors are likely to contribute to this astounding growth? Here’s a few of them.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of Things (IoT), as the name suggests, is a technology that allows different devices to communicate with each other. Much of these IoT components will use cloud computing to store, manage, and analyze the data.

Already, many companies are experimenting with different sensors to create a smooth flow of data, and most of them have cloud as the underlying infrastructure.  They choose cloud simply because these sensors tend to generate huge amounts of data, the storage and analysis of which happens best in the cloud.

Advanced connectivity

Cloud is fueled not just by software needs, but also by advancements made in the world of network connectivity. Recently, AWS executives talked in length about the 8,700 mile undersea cable that offers vast amounts of computing power to companies located in any part of the world.  Such leaps in networking hardware ensure speeds that are simply unmatched by servers and data centers. Another technology that we’re likely to see a lot more is white-fi. This is similar to Wi-Fi, except that it uses unused TV spectrum, especially in rural and remote areas, to provide high-speed connections to the Internet and its related components. Such advancements in connectivity are expected to give a big boost to the growth of cloud computing in 2017.

More ubiquitous

Gone are the days when companies spoke at length about the pitfalls of moving to the cloud, especially from a security point of time. Today, the consensus is that cloud will drive the future of businesses, and it is up to individual companies to embrace them.

Since business is all about competition and revenue, no one wants to be left behind, and so everyone wants to make the most of the benefits offered by cloud. Currently, almost all Fortune 500 companies use cloud in one or more ways, and this is expected to make further inroads in 2017. Besides the large enterprises, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are also using cloud to meet their needs. 2017 is going to see more cloud usage by businesses across different sectors and geographical regions, regardless of the size and nature of operations.

Machine learning

Another technology that is sure to power cloud computing is machine learning. Many researchers are currently working on creating intelligent machines that can provide greater insights into the tons of data that are being generated every minute. This technology, like IoT, will also use cloud for storage and analysis.

In all, cloud computing is expected to soar in 2017 due to a combination of improved hardware and emerging technologies.

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