Cloud computing has suddenly seen a spike in employment opportunities around the globe with tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft hiring people for their cloud infrastructure. Before the onset of cloud computing, companies and businesses had to set up their own data centers, allocate resources and other IT professionals thereby increasing the cost. The rapid development of the cloud has led to more flexibility, cost-cutting, and scalability.
The Cloud Computing market its an all-time high with the current market size at USD 371.4 billion and is expected to grow up to USD 832.1 billion by 2025! It’s quickly evolving and gradually realizing its business value along with attracting more and more researchers, scholars, computer scientists, and practitioners. Cloud computing is not a single topic but a composition of various techniques which together constitute the cloud. Below are 10 the most demanded research topics in the field of cloud computing:
1. Big Data
Big data refers to the large amounts of data produced by various programs in a very short duration of time. It is quite cumbersome to store such huge and voluminous amounts of data in company-run data centers. Also, gaining insights from this data becomes a tedious task and takes a lot of time to run and provide results, therefore cloud is the best option. All the data can be pushed onto the cloud without the need for physical storage devices that are to be managed and secured. Also, some popular public clouds provide comprehensive big data platforms to turn data into actionable insights.
2. DevOps
DevOps is an amalgamation of two terms, Development and Operations. It has led to Continuous Delivery, Integration, and Deployment and therefore reducing boundaries between the development team and the operations team. Heavy applications and software need elaborate and complex tech stacks that demand extensive labor to develop and configure which can easily be eliminated by cloud computing. It offers a wide range of tools and technologies to build, test, and deploy applications with a few minutes and a single click. They can be customized as per the client requirements and can be discarded when not in use hence making the process seamless and cost-efficient for development teams.
3. Cloud Cryptography
Data in the cloud is needed to be protected and secured from foreign attacks and breaches. To accomplish this, cryptography in the cloud is a widely used technique to secure data present in the cloud. It allows users and clients to easily and reliably access the shared cloud services since all the data is secured using either the encryption techniques or by using the concept of the private key. It can make the plain text unreadable and limits the view of the data being transferred. Best cloud cryptographic security techniques are the ones that do not compromise the speed of data transfer and provide security without delaying the exchange of sensitive data.
4. Cloud Load Balancing
It refers to splitting and distributing the incoming load to the server from various sources. It permits companies and organizations to govern and supervise workload demands or application demands by redistributing, reallocating, and administering resources between different computers, networks, or servers. Cloud load balancing encompasses holding the circulation of traffic and demands that exist over the Internet. This reduces the problem of sudden outages, results in an improvement in overall performance, has rare chances of server crashes, and also provides an advanced level of security. Cloud-based servers farms can accomplish more precise scalability and accessibility using the server load balancing mechanism. Due to this, the workload demands can be easily distributed and controlled.
5. Mobile Cloud Computing
It is a mixture of cloud computing, mobile computing, and wireless network to provide services such as seamless and abundant computational resources to mobile users, network operators, and cloud computing professionals. The handheld device is the console and all the processing and data storage takes place outside the physical mobile device. Some advantages of using mobile cloud computing are that there is no need for costly hardware, battery life is longer, extended data storage capacity and processing power improved synchronization of data and high availability due to “store in one place, accessible from anywhere”. The integration and security aspects are taken care of by the backend that enables support to an abundance of access methods.
6. Green Cloud Computing
The major challenge in the cloud is the utilization of energy-efficient and hence develop economically friendly cloud computing solutions. Data centers that include servers, cables, air conditioners, networks, etc. in large numbers consume a lot of power and release enormous quantities of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. Green Cloud Computing focuses on making virtual data centers and servers to be more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient. Cloud resources often consume so much power and energy leading to a shortage of energy and affecting the global climate. Green cloud computing provides solutions to make such resources more energy efficient and to reduce operational costs. This pivots on power management, virtualization of servers and data centers, recycling vast e-waste, and environmental sustainability.
7. Edge Computing
It is the advancement and a much more efficient form of Cloud computing with the idea that the data is processed nearer to the source. Edge Computing states that all of the computation will be carried out at the edge of the network itself rather than on a centrally managed platform or the data warehouses. Edge computing distributes various data processing techniques and mechanisms across different positions. This makes the data deliverable to the nearest node and the processing at the edge. This also increases the security of the data since it is closer to the source and eliminates late response time and latency without affecting productivity.
8. Containerization
Containerization in cloud computing is a procedure to obtain operating system virtualization. The user can work with a program and its dependencies utilizing remote resource procedures. The container in cloud computing is used to construct blocks, which aid in producing operational effectiveness, version control, developer productivity, and environmental stability. The infrastructure is upgraded since it provides additional control over the granular activities over the resources. The usage of containers in online services assists storage with cloud computing data security, elasticity, and availability. Containers provide certain advantages such as a steady runtime environment, the ability to run virtually anywhere, and the low overhead compared to virtual machines.
9. Cloud Deployment Model
There are four main cloud deployment models namely public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and community cloud. Each deployment model is defined as per the location of the infrastructure. The public cloud allows systems and services to be easily accessible to the general public. Public cloud could also be less reliable since it is open to everyone e.g. Email. A private cloud allows systems and services to be accessible inside an organization with no access to outsiders. It offers better security due to its access restrictions. Hybrid cloud is a mixture of private and public clouds with the critical activities being performed using private cloud and non-critical activities being performed using the public cloud. Community cloud allows system and services to be accessible by a group of an organization.
10. Cloud Security
Since the number of companies and organizations using cloud computing is increasing at a rapid rate, the security of the cloud is a major concern. Cloud computing security detects and addresses every physical and logical security issue that comes across all the varied service models of code, platform, and infrastructure. It collectively addresses these services, however, these services are delivered in units, that is, the public, private, or hybrid delivery model. Security in the cloud protects the data from any leakage or outflow, theft, calamity, and removal. With the help of tokenization, Virtual Private Networks, and firewalls data can be secured.
