The Role of Cloud Computing in AI & IoT

Posted by Bhushan Aher on August 28th, 2018

The tech juggernaut continues to roll. It is touching and changing almost every aspect of our lives. Smartphones and social media have already embarked the domination of human race by digital media. What’s next? So far, the almost unanimous opinion seems to be – The Internet of Things.

The answer to this question is fairly simple – Cloud computing is currently experiencing a worldwide consolidation phase. It will certainly have an increasingly central role in support of those global digital transformation processes which shall involve IoT, mobile and AI.

According to Gartner, the worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow by 18% in 2017 to total 6.8 billion, up from 9.2 billion in 2016. The highest growth will likely stem from cloud system infrastructure services (IaaS), which will grow 36.8% in 2017 to reach .6 billion. Cloud application services (SaaS) are expected to grow by 20.1%, thus reaching .3 billion.

Interestingly, the core trends that shall influence this growth will be – mobile, AI and IoT.  Cloud Computing is the underlying compute infrastructure and model which is an enabler of new business models and forms the platform on which they run. And this platform will reap the growth of the business models that “sit above it”.

IoT: When Cloud Computing Is the Key to Success

IoT is all set to revolutionize the way we interact with objects, define processes and communicate. This wave was already started with the explosion of smartphones which triggered an escalation that seems unstoppable.

According to BI Intelligence, there will be a total of 22.5 billion IoT devices in 2021, up from 6.6 billion in 2016 and there will be .8 trillion in aggregate IoT investments between 2016 and 2021.

Wearable devices either sports trackers or complex electro-medical devices are the “spearhead” of this revolution that is helping people monitor their health which causes the huge amount of information and data to process, analyze and store.

Next is the connected car scenario that appears even more complex wherein data security is a great concern that could determine a global success or failure.

So, it is Cloud Computing that is catalyzing these scenarios by offering a solid and secure IT infrastructures without which the future of IoT may experience a slowdown.

AI: When Cloud Computing Is the Enabling Opportunity

Cloud computing, IoT, and AI are intertwined aspects of the digital transformation. If IoT is the Present of the interconnected world, Artificial Intelligence is the Future to come. At present, a lot of big tech companies are testing AI solutions. They are specifically targeting mobile messaging apps which allow people to interact. In such a scenario AI may reveal as a true game changer for companies and their core business.

Why is the Cloud essential to the success of IoT?

Remote processing power as everything will eventually be a smart device.
The cloud will lower the entry bar for providers who lack infrastructure. It will make it easier for such innovators to join the IoT revolution and offering a ready-made infrastructure into which they can just plug in their devices and services.

The cloud will help in analytics and monitoring that will help to provide a more seamless experience
The cloud will smoothen inter-service and inter-device communications
A major concern around the mobility revolution has been user security and privacy. The IoT could actually sidestep this security issue-all thanks to the cloud.

The very nature of the Internet of Things is to demand infrastructure around reliability, connectivity, and computing power. However, cloud technologies can deal with these concerns and bring up the world where everything is connected. The Cloud will be the backbone of the coming IoT revolution. It will play a huge role in improving accessibility and lowering barriers to entry – for consumers and providers alike.