Virtually everything on the internet—applications, websites, SaaS—requires data storage, computational resources, and, more often than not, content delivery networks (CDNs). There was a time when all these resources had to be sustained by individual internet companies/operations. This significantly increased the entry barrier for startups as before any application or website had to be launched, the initiators had to acquire necessary hardware requirements; all excess purchases had led to unnecessary spending and any insufficient spending had led to missed growth opportunities during times of usage surge.
The sudden and swift rise of cloud computing made the dilemmas described above a problem of the past. While cloud computing has been a boon for the growth of the internet, it has made the web incredibly centralized as the vast portion of cloud computing services are controlled by a handful of companies.
Cloud Computing: Dangerously Centralized
The sentence that you’re reading right now is delivered to you through the usage of cloud service providers. This demonstrates how important cloud networks have become to the internet. The problem with this is that if a single cloud provider suffers an attack, major sections of the internet suffer the attack.
In 2017, Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is Amazon’s cloud computing division, went offline and, with it, more than 150,000 websites and applications, including major platforms like Reddit and FourSquare, became inaccessible. The consequences of this event highlight the problems associated with a centralized backbone for the entire web.
A handful of companies keep the internet online.
Operators of websites, applications, and even enterprise software utilize cloud computing services because this offers an easy means to outsource computational hardware management and maintenance. Perhaps even more importantly, it offers the advantage of instant scalability as most cloud services are billed on usage; this removes the possibility of excess spending while also removing the possibility of lacking sufficient resources to sustain a traffic surge.
Cloud computing is incredibly important, but its centralized state makes it a necessary evil—things needn’t be this way.
Cloud computing came to exist on the mere basis that a few large tech giants, particularly Amazon, possess massive amounts of computational resources that are often in excess of the true demand. In fact, selling these excess resources on a per-use basis has become Amazon’s key source of profit and the means to finance its other ventures.
Problems with the Status Quo
Centralized computational infrastructure is dangerous.
The growing value of assets—even data—on the internet makes the bounty of breaching networks more desirable day by day. The Equifax hack is one of the most dangerous reminders of how centralized control of data can lead to severely damaging outcomes in the evident of a hack. Yet, cloud service providers not only provide centralized data storage, but also centralized computational resources and content delivery to the entire net.
As the world is becoming increasingly digitalized, it is of paramount importance that the backbone of the web becomes decentralized.
A Decentralized Cloud
Creating a decentralized cloud is an ambitious task, but not an impossible one. Internet and smart device penetration has reached the farthest points of the world and a vast portion of the world’s population possesses unused data storage capacity and computational resources.
A new blockchain project called NOIA Network aims to aggregate these resources and make them available to both independent and institutional developers so that cloud service demands can be fulfilled without reliance on centralized entities. NOIA Network is the most advanced materialization of a decentralized content delivery platform. Through the use of blockchain technology, the distribution remains secure; the ease of adding resources to the network maintains scalability while ensuring anyone across the world can play a role in keeping the web online.
To top if off, in order to take advantages of even more aspects of blockchain technology, NOIA has created protocols that execute a programmable internet. In short, this ensures that the internet consumes the most efficient amount of resources from the most effective source of resources.
While such a development is incredibly important even today, it will pay a critical role in the creation of the smart cities of tomorrow. If autonomous devices are to truly play a driving role in all industries, it is imperative that the networks they run on are not susceptible to failure if a single centralized entity can be breached. With a decentralized cloud, autonomous devices can securely operate the most important tasks in the economy without the lingering concern of inevitable system collapse.
On a closing note, it’s worth mentioning that NOIA’s delivery of a decentralized internet backbone is already facing demand. While most blockchain projects are listed on exchanges even though the underlying product is nowhere in sight, NOIA is one of the very few developments that has an exponentially growing demand even before its token becomes tradable on public digital asset exchanges.
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This is exactly why we need decentralization in every aspect of the digital technology. Centralized technologies are never good for the people and the world as a whole. Grabbed some good insights from your post.
Thank you
A handful of companies keep all the power and wealth.
Funny enough Amazon is the most expensive
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@hatu thank you.. This post very helpfull for me.. Bcz i didn’t understand cloud computin.. Today i understand cloud computing. Cloud computing problem,operating system, stroage resource & many think.. Would you like to me plz upvote me!
I try to avoid services or software from companies like microsoft, google, facebook and co. There are enough alternatives nowdays. But in a few years...I don't know.
Those companies are effectively monopolies
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When we use or serch some new software always is good because we enter by self in the increment of tecnology. Good post!
Well, as a Azure Cloud expert I might be a bit biased but you are at least partially right. The thing is, the infrastructure AWS or Azure provides is too good to not be used. Companies of all sizes can profit from the high availability and low prices (in comparison to on prem infrastructure). The downside: there is almost no exit scenario. If big cloud providers crash or you want to move from cloud back to on prem... Well... You're screwed. Financially and effort wise.
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Hola @hatu si el control de casi todo está a cargo de empresas, considero que el uso de las redes esta sobre cargado y nadie hará nada hasta que se caigan y pongan una pausa para reestructurar todo… estamos trabajando con toda esta supuesta nueva tecnología montada en una maquinaria vieja…
Hello @hatu if the control of almost everything is in charge of companies, I consider that the use of networks is overloaded and nobody will do anything until they fall and put a pause to restructure everything ... we are working with all this supposed new technology mounted on an old machinery...
Not new in mathematics, but ho ok, looks fine, good post @hatu , I think Cisco, Dlink, and others hold a lot too, but their not based on cloud computing, but that for sure is interesting.
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Another obvious thing is that increased centralization also makes censorship that much easier for individuals, entities, and governments to enact. And we are seeing it more and more often. Leftists are bad when it comes to this and being anti-free speech, their authoritarianism is their go-to every time something they disagree with comes up. They are going to ruin the internet like Democrats have ruined many of the United States' major cities.
Amazon is one of them i guess
Hmmmm interesting!
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