Blockchain today is counted among one of the most potent and game-changing innovations of the 21st century. Its significance is felt across industries and particularly in the financial domain; the open ledger has proved its significance decisively. Cryptocurrency is the well-known manifestation of blockchain technology, with Bitcoin emerging as one of the most figured keywords in discussions. The primary aspect which is fueling the growth of blockchain is its decentralized characteristics, which essentially means that data is made available to every stakeholder in a truly democratized manner. This makes the central banks or agencies redundant, thereby giving more power in the hands of users.
Cloud Computing and its Significance
Aiding the evolution of new-age technologies, including blockchain, is the concept of IT internet, and IT infrastructure. These aspects are changing the way the corporate world conducts business and while these are impacting global trade, these are themselves going through a radical transformation. Users of the internet are experimenting with new technologies and especially the large organizations are shifting from traditional system-based centralized storage to new-age cloud computing. So that you know, cloud computing is a service of providing resources related to computer and computing systems on-demand. In simple words, users can access the data storage systems and computing prowess online which will result in substantial cost savings for organizations.
Cloud Computing: Growth Scenario
The growth potential for cloud computing is estimated to be enormous. According to one research, the segment of cloud computing will grow and reach a market valuation of 411 billion USD by the end of 2020. The segment is dominated by a handful number of well-known, big-wigs of technology domains such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, etc. While the presence of these large organizations makes the segment of cloud computing organized and poised for growth, the underlying threat of centralization and market dominance is very much apparent.
Now given that a selected number of companies provides most of the services and data storage facilities on cloud computing, the data traffic must go through a centralized controlled protocol system, causing a delay in processing and increased cost structure. Moreover, the concerns related to the data privacy and transparency also comes into the picture as these large central data repositories have a high risk of theft and online scam.
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This is exactly where the relevance of blockchain springs into prominence. The decentralized technology will not cause any lag in its performance and thanks to the stripping away of intermediaries, the cost factor will also come down. We have already started witnessing a number of innovations in the field of decentralized cloud computing, where corporations are coming together to share the resources and distribute the data for garnering greater process efficiencies and work effectiveness. Sample the agreement between DeepCloud AI, National University of Singapore, Voyager Innovations, and LD Capital. These organizations have come together to help research the growing impact of blockchain in cloud computing.
Blockchain and Cloud Computing: Complementary Innovations
Cloud computing and blockchain technology can open up a world of opportunities if used in conjunction. While the former can provide shared access to the IT infrastructure latter can reduce the load and vulnerability associated with the central databases and repositories. It is very much possible in the future that cloud computing will head towards decentralized architecture powered by the blockchain technology as the technology and innovations in the blockchain space continue to grow.
Cloud Computing and Blockchain: Power to Change Industries
The contribution of cloud computing and blockchain across sectors is very much apparent. Cloud computing has revolutionized the way companies cutting across the industries, use their IT infrastructure, and deal with their computing requirements. With IT being the backbone of almost every organization, cloud computing is playing an important role in the transformation of the economic environment.
Blockchain technology, on the other hand, started its journey of influence from the financial technology domain and has now spread its wings to a large number of sectors, including the likes of supply chain and distribution, logistics, healthcare industry, medical components, agriculture, retail and so forth. In fact, the most encouraging aspect of blockchain adoption comes from the government sector as federal and regulatory agencies are increasingly adopting open ledger for improving procedural implementation and efficacies.
Conclusion
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Undoubtedly, both cloud computing and blockchain have contributed enormously to the evolution of business scenarios across the globe. Given the fact that operating principles of cloud computing and blockchain are starkly different (former relies on centralized repository while the latter is based on the principle of decentralization), it is natural to pit these technologies against each other. However, there are common grounds on which the working of both these technologies can be anchored and if researchers become successful in preparing a common minimum agenda for the future development (involving shared infrastructure of cloud computing and decentralized data sharing of blockchain), the whole world can be immensely benefited from the marriage of these two innovations.
