If you have been in the tech space for some time, you know that cloud computing is one of the most important technological advances in the computer age. It is why remote work, streaming services, hosted services like Google Docs, and many other things we take advantage of are possible. As the uses of cloud computing have shifted from the office to the consumer and enterprise markets, companies have followed by establishing cloud computing services that help them take advantage of the growing market and demand for their offerings.
Significant Investments
Microsoft has recently said it will invest a further 6.69 billion Euros ($7.16 billion) to build new data centers across Europe focusing on Spain, with Amazon and Google saying they are doing the same but across the world.
Google arguably leads the pack because it has data centers it can leverage in almost every country in the world, and we know Amazon has a distributed network of servers through its AWS and Prime offerings.
Microsoft seems to be behind the two in terms of infrastructure development, but it is catching up quickly. The reason is its Azure service and the company being the first to fully embrace enterprise cloud services. In this latter category, Amazon and Google are catching up and, likely, they won’t stay behind Microsoft for long due to the financial resources they have available.
But why are all these companies going all in on cloud computing, and what does Nvidia have to do with it?
Cloud Services Save Businesses Money
In the past, any company that needed a server for file storage, computing, collaboration, or any other use had to build one. The main downsides of this approach are that they had to pay for the hardware, software, and expertise needed to bring the servers to life, ensure optimal utilization, and keep them running.
All of these are expensive, prohibitively so for companies with smaller budgets.
Cloud computing has changed things because companies no longer have to incur these expenses. They can pay a monthly or annual fee to a cloud computing company to have access to the hardware, software, and cloud computing services they need.
Additionally, companies like Gcore allow businesses to pay for only what they use. They do this by allowing services to scale up and down depending on demand. For example, a website that receives many visitors might need more bandwidth and computing power than one that receives a few thousand. It would not be fair for them to pay the same for the servers and resources available, which is why paying only for what they need and use is so important.
Cloud hosting providers can also save money because they do not have to operate servers that sit idle all the time. They can provide what their customers need when they need it and save money on electricity and hardware when they do not.
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a part of our lives, with almost all tech solutions we use having an AI running in the front or back. Businesses realize the benefits of using AI in their operations and systems, so many have started using it.
AI programs run on servers with significant computing and graphics processing power that businesses cannot afford or do not want to invest in. The best solution is specially-made AI servers. These run beefy CPUs and the latest GPUs to enable the different AI services businesses need.
The demand for these types of servers is why NVIDIA has become one of the most valuable companies in 2024; they make up the vast majority of GPUs used in these applications.
The capabilities provided by and advancements of GPUs are also why machine learning applications are progressing at the pace they are. Businesses can now run their machine learning models on servers with enough power to do so without investing in the hardware they would need to do this in-house.
Cloud Hosting Provides Better Security
Cloud computing is tightly coupled with cloud hosting. The cloud computing service providers who avail the resources businesses need for compute and GPU workloads also provide the hosting they need for their applications and websites.
At the heart of their deployments are several security measures that protect the businesses and users who trust them. These include managed and authoritative DNS services, CDNs, DDoS Protection, brute force protection, and robust backups if all else fails.
With this superior protection, many businesses prefer these cloud computing options to traditional hosting services that may not have these protections in place. This is especially true for those who handle and store sensitive user information, including personal and financial information, that cannot risk it landing in the wrong hands.
Assured Business Continuity
Any business that relies on data, which is every modern business, cannot afford to lose this data. Traditionally, businesses could lose their data through natural disasters, hardware failures, theft, and other means. With cloud computing, this is no longer a concern.
Cloud computing provides robust backup options on servers located all over the world. While the primary reason for such distributed hosting is to reduce the physical distance between users/visitors and a server, it serves as a crucial backup and disaster mitigation measure.
Businesses know they will have at least one copy of their data on at least one server, which is crucial for business continuity in case of a disaster or data loss.
Also, cloud service providers will restore any data the business needs in case of a loss. Alternatively, they will switch users to a functional server to ensure they never notice that one server has lost its data.
Cloud computing and hosting are some of the most important technologies of the modern age, and there are numerous reasons why businesses are embracing and investing in them. Crucially, they provide the security, scalability, continuity, and peace of mind that traditional hosting and computing solutions could not. They have also enabled and continue supporting remote work, crucial in an increasingly connected and global workplace.