According to the author of the book, Introduction to Digital Literacy, Mr. Bowles, illustrates that future of cloud computing lies not in the advent of new software and hardware, but, in the form of data storage and ease of accessing the data and files. He has explained in detail the emerging trends of artificial intelligence, computing and storage.
We have already witnessed the power of the Smartphones, i.e., iPhone and Android which actually changed the concept of accessing internet connectivity and storing of data,files,music,photographs and to be precise, everything by the netizens of the world.Tablet computing has introduced another dimension of computer interactivity with the prevalence of touch screens, powerfulprocessing capability, and easy mobility.
Working with a computer by using the mouse, keyboard, voice command or, a touchscreen generally involves being inside the house or, office, which is completely unacceptable in today’s world. The author puts it in this way to clearly emphasize the preference of people to be constantly in touch with their family and friends. The iPhone, Android, tablet and touchscreen provided much sought after freedom of connectivity. It is easier to carry and fits into a pocket. The author expect tomorrow’s citizens to bid farewell to television for news, mails and turn to iPhone for real time news of weather, sports and business. He is of the view that desktops will not completely disappear, but the new corporations and software professional would prefer to use the cloud for data storage and new programs as this is easier and cost efficient too. Desktops will be used by the people for their personal usage and storage purpose as well as computing and programming. And of course they will be used to access the internet; the difference is that the people on the move will always prefer the iPhones for their portability.
In the early nineties people used to call from public booth if they were away from home often standing in the queue for long time, then came the mobile phones with antenna. After a few years we got iPod and laptop, people were seen carrying the two as their prized possession to check mails and personal computing and to listen to music!
With the huge success of iPod and PCs, Apple came out with the iPhone with exquisite elegance and performance matching a high configured computer. Now we see computer as an intelligent device, though it actually is not, that’s only an illusion.
There are some quarters of thinking which is sceptic about the security of information and loss of data to piracy in cloud computing, but it is not an established fact yet.Google,Amazon,Facebook,flickr are completely relying on the cloud for their extremely sensitive and enormous data storage and access which is considered to be safest till date barring a few aberrations. Cloud computing is already embedded in our life in the form of several hundreds of applications without which we are unable to move a single step today and the technology is growing to an extent that by 2020 people will actually dwell in the cloud and their every action will be governed by the measure as to what extent they have the apparatus and exposure to cloud computing!
The amount of data being generated, processed and stored has reached unprecedented levels. Even during the current economic crisis there had been no slowdown of information inflow. Instead the need to process, move and store data has only increased. Consequently, IT companies are looking to do more with what they have while supporting growth along with new services without compromising on cost and service delivery. Blackberry introduced in 2004 with QWERTY keypad for the ease of computer lost its market share in 2007 when Apple launched its iPhone of which 6 million were sold. It replaced all earlier phones.
According to M.D.Bowles, the scientists are trying to create intelligent computers and may be the smartphones are the ultimate creation in this direction. But it is yet to be ascertained if they can think logically while you’re thinking process is on. As we see in the Turing test by Alan Turing in 1937, a judge communicating with a computer and a human being hidden behind curtains. The logic was if the judge fails to distinguish between the two then the computer is considered to be intelligent.
Another logical problem which surfaces in the form of creation of Artificial intelligence have been discussed in the book whether the age old Analog Clock is better than the Digital Clock! A human being says that Digital Clock is right as they can make an approximation of correct time even if it loses one second every day. While answering the same question the computer selects the Analog Clock; here its logic is that an Analog Clock is correct twice every day and a Digital Clock gives you correct time every 236 years. Therefore it’s the difference in viewpoint, not intelligence as in the case of present day smartphones. While discussing Artificial Intelligence we must take the Robotic surgery and other assistance provided by MYCIN robots in detecting communicable blood diseases for the attending doctors. Another case of IBM produced Watson which defeated Ken Jennings in a TV serial competition and again IBM produced Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov in a chess match. So this is to be seen if the human capability is limited whereas the computer’s ability to perform longer races is just a myth or may become reality one day.NASA and General Motors created Robonaut which can perform duties essentially being performed by human astronauts and those were quite efficient too.
While discussing Cloud computing it is essential to realise what is this actually! Here we store data at a low maintenance cost with speedy access with Wi-Fi connection. Applications are remaining side by side the data and we are already using some of those applications on a mass scale. Actually this is a dumb terminal where it is undisturbed and unlimited storage space along with applications. No need to install software or, complex operating systems for the smooth computing. It can be accessed from our desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets etc. easily with a Wi Fi. (Introduction to digital literacy, 2013)
Data integration is often underestimated, poorly implemented consuming time and resources. The views expressed by IDC analyst Frank Gens states that cloud computing will become more prominent in near future with a rapid growth of major global data centres with technological advances.In recent years there were only 6-8 major data centres, viz., Google Apps, Amazon, Windows Azure, Force.com etc. and expected the rise of developers who are ready to offer cloud based services to their clients almost three fold in the coming years. Data centric platforms including Hadoop services, streaming data and in-memory services are gaining popularity. In future, providingcost effective, speedy access to a wide variety of clients would be the goal of cloud based service providers which simultaneously help the developers and their applications. Themethodology will be data centric for which cloud based applications are necessary. A report by Markets and markets anticipates that a big push in the health sector, to manage the huge data the third platform, i.e. Data intensive research, data intensive mobile applications and storage in cloud is essential and safe while cost effective too. Innovative applications are coming up in devices fitted to glasses, cars, toothbrushes will entirely change the scenario of internet connectivity and finding real time solutions or, data and this would be made possible with cloud computing. (Krill, 2014)
Big IT majors while taking steps for data integration and up gradation these days are consolidating big data analytics, processing speed, accuracy and of course data storage. New storage technologies delivering high speed access are there, yet IT majors are reluctant in maintaining physical data centres, though there is a risk of company data storage away from premises. But it has been found that accessing data from cloud, storage, scalability, reliability and moreover affordability is much more important for the corporations. There are Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud storage available.
In case of Public storage the corporation and storage service provider are separate. Business houses off load data in the external cloud set up, archiving and backup to third party service provider, freedom of costs involved on premise hardware and software.
In case of Private Storage both data and cloud storage resources are behind the Firewall but within the data centre. In private storage costs are involved for maintenance, network connectivity, and power and coolingpurposes. This is quite secure and scalable and to be managed by a third party. In case of Hybrid storage critical data stored inside company’s private cloud space while other data is accessible within the public cloud. (Pcconnection.com, 2014)
Enterprises are more comfortable with cloud based services. It is important to understand the level of access, where the encryption keys are stored and you should have the control over the visibility of user authentication. Cloud computing is an impression that has moved past an emerging knowledge to become what most believed is the computing of the future generation.
References
Bowles, M. D. (2013). Introduction to Digital Literacy. Chapter - 09 San Diego City, California: Bridge point Education, Inc.
Krill, Paul. (2014, Mar. 13). In Cloud Computing's future: Bigger with fewer options. Retrieved Oct. 12, 2014, from www.infoworld.com/article/2610362/cloudcomputing
Neil, Stephanie.(2014, Jun. Day).In A Sunny Outlook for Cloud Storage. Retrieved Oct. 12, 2014, from www.pcconnection.com/blog/asunnyoutlookforcloudsto
