The server is a computer that interacts with a client when the client requests a service/information. For example, Google provides the search service, which is handled by its powerful servers. Amazon provides internet marketplace services, which are handled by its numerous servers. Ola provides the book a cab service, which is handled by its servers.
Back in the 2000s, the situation of companies that develop products/services using computers was very different from the way services are being developed at the moment. Back then, to develop a product, an organization needs to procure high-performance servers that can handle the needs of the users. These servers are highly expensive and require expensive maintenance. They needed to be placed in ultracold rooms, which are equipped with air conditioners and needed experts who are good at handling the issues of the server if it goes down. These are all the reasons why buying and maintaining servers is a problem for an organization. They also need to take care of security issues pertaining to servers and need to add alternate power sources to power the server, in case the main power line goes down. Again as the service becomes popular, more people start using the service, so they need to procure more servers, bigger rooms, more cooling systems, and hire more experts good at handling server issues. Also, the critical parts of the server, such as CPUs need to be replaced immediately, as soon as they stop working, or else the organization might lose valuable customers since they were denied service. These are a few of the complexities that are involved while dealing with servers.
At the moment, many technology giants such as Twitter, Pinterest, Ola, and Uber have shifted to something called cloud computing. In cloud computing, one can rent a server/computer temporarily. Organizations rent these computers based on the demand for the service and pay only for the time the servers were used. This way of pay, according to demand, is profitable to the company. This also saves the time and capital invested by the organization for procuring and maintenance of the servers.
Amazon web services is accredited for the development of the idea of cloud computing. An interesting rumor has been spreading around the world, about how the idea of cloud computing emerged at Amazon. It is rumored that, for the marketplace, Amazon had procured a large number of servers, to decrease the waiting time taken by a user. Slowly, they realized that the servers were only being used only during the day and not during the night time. Since they had spare computing power during the night, they leased the servers to other organizations for making money. The fake story being too believable and realistic had become the story of AWS. But, the real story was that an employee of amazon proposed the idea of cloud, where one can rent computers and store data. This employee was the one who led the development team of AWS for four years and released it in 2006 to the world.
Following Amazon, many other tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Alibaba, made their way into the business of cloud computing. All these organizations provide additional features to the clients, such as data-backup, increasing servers based on demand, and many other features. Also, they provide the ability to choose the location of the servers for organizations, and this can be particularly useful when the company is based out of one continent and provides services at other continents. Let us consider the following examples. Facebook is an organization based out of the US. But
it provides its services in India as well. If there was no cloud computing, all the Indian users need to use the US servers, and the information has to go all the way to the US and come back. This way of accessing the service can limit the speed at which Facebook works since the distance is a bottleneck. Thanks to cloud computing, Facebook can rent servers at a data center based in India, and provide faster results to the user. Cloud computing companies also provide other services, and software developers can directly use these features and save time. This is also one of the reasons why budding startups and companies prefer cloud since their programmers have the time to attend to other pressing matters.
Many of the day to day services that are currently used are hosted on the cloud. Ranging from social media, health to communications, many of the services are on the cloud. At the moment, 92% of the companies are on the cloud and majority share of the
market is owned by Amazon. There is a saying that goes like, “If the Amazon sneezes, the whole internet catches a cold.” This emphasizes the importance and revolution caused by the idea of cloud computing.
Before I attended the class on Digital Cultures and New Media, I always thought of the cloud as a boon to organizations; I never considered the negative impact. In a hypothetical scenario such as World War-III, countries need to choose sides, willingly or unwillingly. US-based companies such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft hold the majority of the market in the cloud domain. In the hypothetical scenario, they might be forced to stop services to organizations that belong to the countries that oppose the US in the war. This can lead to the crippling of the opposing country if essential services are based on the cloud, such as transportation, communication, food, and finance. In an even worse scenario, the data stored can be used against us, which can have worse implications. In a cyberwar, one country doesn’t need to hack the data of those who oppose it; instead, it can only stop providing the cloud services, which can also cripple to a similar extent. After considering this scenario, I realized that crucial components of a country such as health, military, communication should not be based on the cloud; instead, they should buy their own servers. This also holds true for the countries using the services developed by other countries such as TikTok, Facebook, and Google. These websites store personal information about the user, and this information can be used against them in the event of a catastrophe. All these things should be taken into consideration when a country decides to use the products/services of other countries. If
the hypothetical situation does come true, China will be least affected because of it, since they only use their self-made products/services and their products such as TikTok and Alibaba cloud are used across the world.
When discussing significant improvements in computing, people tend to discuss personal computing, transistors, social networks, and smartphones. But they tend to forget the fact that all of the services that are a part of our life today, use cloud extensively. So, this is the reason why I chose cloud computing since many don’t emphasize or understand its importance. I always think about “What would I do if I had a time machine?”. Being a fan of computers, I want to work with Bill Gates for making windows, Steve Jobs to develop the Mac, Jeff Bezos to develop the Amazon and Amazon Web Services, Larry Page and Sergey Brin on developing the google search engine.
References:
- Butler, Brandon. “The Myth about How Amazon’s Web Service Started Just Won’t Die.” Networkworld.com.
- Carey, Scott. “The history of AWS: A timeline of defining moments from 2002 to now.” Computerworld.com
