The sky's the limit

As cloud computing adoption continues apace in South Africa and around the world, a new generation of software applications is being developed. These cloud-based 'apps' are accessed via Web browsers on desktop, laptop, tablet computers and smartphones, without the users having any inkling of the business software and data, stored on servers at remote locations, underpinning them.

With more than three billion communications daily, e-mail is the cloud app most taken for granted.

Martin May is regional director at Enterasys Networks.

Today, cloud app providers are able to deliver the same or a better service than if the software programs were installed locally on the user's computer or network, thanks in part to the concept of infrastructure convergence, reinforced by true multi-tenancy, which is at the core of every cloud computing architecture.

Multi-tenancy is a proven software as a service delivery architecture that eliminates many of the problems created by traditional software licensing and upgrade models, by ensuring every user is on the same version.

These and other cloud-oriented innovations have brought users to the brink of a revolution in the way organisations access and manipulate data. Organisations are now able to obviate previous barriers to infrastructure development, freeing themselves from costly software customisations while configuring processes designed to meet their specific business demands.

The key benefits of cloud-based apps include no unexpected costs, improved productivity - in a fraction of the time, compared with on-premise software - and complete control of corporate data, even though it is located off-premise.

While apps for personal use were limited to specific functions (such as e-mail), they are now increasingly merged into more robust task-oriented combinations targeted at a variety of business sectors.

From basic tasks, like maintaining a work schedule or a diary, to advanced and complex - such as code interpretation for freelance programmers looking for a solution to quick deployment of Web-based functionality - these apps are breaking new ground. There are also apps for education and the arts, games and much more.

From the corporate perspective, the list of cloud applications continues to grow. It now extends to most of the essential business functions, from analytics and productivity enhancement to social collaboration and beyond.

Today companies have access to an almost endless menu of cloud apps, including apps for customer relationship management, enhanced business efficiency, security and privacy. Cloud-based apps are available for the restructuring of complex databases, the sharing of resources on a global scale, improvements in supply chain management and more.

One of the largest categories of cloud apps is data storage and retrieval. Optimising the benefits of streaming media services and the promise of near limitless capacity, these apps have caused traditional storage area network infrastructures to fully devolve into upper-level software stacks that manage cloud resources the way traditional arrays were managed only a year or so ago.

Industry watcher Arthur Cole says not only will this arrangement be cheaper to implement and maintain, but it will provide greater access to data for the broadening array of new user devices constantly arriving in the marketplace.

Closely allied to this discipline is document management, another popular cloud app. By shifting this task to the cloud, companies can enjoy anytime access to their information in a highly organised manner.

Looking ahead, one of the best roles for new-generation cloud apps will be to close the 'consumption gap' between what a product is capable of doing and how it is actually used by its owner. Unfortunately, the gap is tending to widen as technology advances.

In future, apps associated with products such as smartphones and tablets (for example) will assist users to align them with their unique environments. As a result, even the most complex or underutilised features of these tools will be appropriately and automatically enabled by an app, based on users' location, language and a host of other parameters at any given time.

In this light, the sky is literally the limit when it comes to the development of future cloud apps. For instance, advances could soon make it possible for two people from different countries who speak two different languages to communicate by smartphone, using a software app to translate the conversation on each end in real-time.