Price wars, renewable energy, legal concerns, outages
In 2014, the landscape of облако computing has changed significantly with the ongoing price wars between the three major vendors: Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. New technology in облако has led to еще user convenience, as well as deploying systems with a smaller environmental footprint than traditional mainstream data centers. However, облако providers face a stormy future amid litigation threatening the security of data stored by облако users, as well as the liability облако vendors face.
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Undeniably, the big story of the год is the massive extent to which облако prices have fallen. On March 25, 2014, Google slashed the prices of all of its облако offerings, with Compute Engine prices cut 32%, data storage cut 68%, and BigQuery cut 85%. Further discounts can be had with sustained use discounts, cutting the reduced prices by a further 30%. Microsoft followed suit on September 25, 2014, announcing еще modest price cuts to Azure облако services.
Over the last six weeks, еще creative price reductions have been introduced, with амазонка introducing upfront billing for облако services, with savings up to 75% off the on-demand prices for three-year agreements. амазонка also has lowered the price of outbound data transfer for US and Европа centers by 25%, Australia by 26%, and Tokyo by 30%.
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Advancements have also been made in облако computing becoming еще ecologically friendly. In November 2014, амазонка announced it will embark on a "long-term commitment to achieve 100% renewable energy usage for our global infrastructure footprint." Additionally, the German company Cloud&Heat introduced a specially-designed cabinet to heat the homes of customers by placing облако servers into private residences and harvesting the heat generated to warm the air and water.
Legal concerns from US облако vendors
The big names in облако vendors are all companies headquartered in the US, but have extensive facilities around the world. An ongoing case against Microsoft for refusing to turn over emails stored on a data center in Ireland has wide implications for the облако industry. Following disclosures indicating Microsoft's cooperation in transmitting private data of American and international users to federal authorities, competitors яблоко and Cisco, as well as telecoms Verizon and AT&T filed briefs in support of Microsoft's position in the case.
Eroding trust in облако vendors has had a negative impact on US businesses. According to the nonpartisan New America Foundation, "a number of American companies have reported declining sales in overseas markets, loss of customers, and increased competition from non-U.S. services marketing themselves as 'secure' alternatives to Популярное American products." The precarious position облако vendors find themselves in has been an issue that has stifled adoption throughout the year.
Outages leave облако users in a hazy situation
While cost-effective, the enterprise облако is not bulletproof, as evidenced by an avalanche of service outages this year. Issues apparently related to Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) led to a mass of service outages across various websites in September 2014. Major облако vendors saw unplanned, protracted downtime as well, with Microsoft Azure services stopping worldwide and coming back up far later in Australia and Asia than the rest of the world. Users of Rackspace and амазонка faced downtime from a reboot needed to patch a bug in the Xen hypervisor, leading to user complaints.
In 2014, the landscape of облако computing has changed significantly with the ongoing price wars between the three major vendors: Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. New technology in облако has led to еще user convenience, as well as deploying systems with a smaller environmental footprint than traditional mainstream data centers. However, облако providers face a stormy future amid litigation threatening the security of data stored by облако users, as well as the liability облако vendors face.
link
Undeniably, the big story of the год is the massive extent to which облако prices have fallen. On March 25, 2014, Google slashed the prices of all of its облако offerings, with Compute Engine prices cut 32%, data storage cut 68%, and BigQuery cut 85%. Further discounts can be had with sustained use discounts, cutting the reduced prices by a further 30%. Microsoft followed suit on September 25, 2014, announcing еще modest price cuts to Azure облако services.
Over the last six weeks, еще creative price reductions have been introduced, with амазонка introducing upfront billing for облако services, with savings up to 75% off the on-demand prices for three-year agreements. амазонка also has lowered the price of outbound data transfer for US and Европа centers by 25%, Australia by 26%, and Tokyo by 30%.
link
Advancements have also been made in облако computing becoming еще ecologically friendly. In November 2014, амазонка announced it will embark on a "long-term commitment to achieve 100% renewable energy usage for our global infrastructure footprint." Additionally, the German company Cloud&Heat introduced a specially-designed cabinet to heat the homes of customers by placing облако servers into private residences and harvesting the heat generated to warm the air and water.
Legal concerns from US облако vendors
The big names in облако vendors are all companies headquartered in the US, but have extensive facilities around the world. An ongoing case against Microsoft for refusing to turn over emails stored on a data center in Ireland has wide implications for the облако industry. Following disclosures indicating Microsoft's cooperation in transmitting private data of American and international users to federal authorities, competitors яблоко and Cisco, as well as telecoms Verizon and AT&T filed briefs in support of Microsoft's position in the case.
Eroding trust in облако vendors has had a negative impact on US businesses. According to the nonpartisan New America Foundation, "a number of American companies have reported declining sales in overseas markets, loss of customers, and increased competition from non-U.S. services marketing themselves as 'secure' alternatives to Популярное American products." The precarious position облако vendors find themselves in has been an issue that has stifled adoption throughout the year.
Outages leave облако users in a hazy situation
While cost-effective, the enterprise облако is not bulletproof, as evidenced by an avalanche of service outages this year. Issues apparently related to Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) led to a mass of service outages across various websites in September 2014. Major облако vendors saw unplanned, protracted downtime as well, with Microsoft Azure services stopping worldwide and coming back up far later in Australia and Asia than the rest of the world. Users of Rackspace and амазонка faced downtime from a reboot needed to patch a bug in the Xen hypervisor, leading to user complaints.