Communications of the ACM
The Cloud Is Dead. Long Live the Cloud
IBM and Samsung have partnered to create a platform based on a distributed database known as the block chain, the transactional engine that powers the bankless digital currency Bitcoin.
Credit: Martin Laksman/Fortune
Remember the days when everything we did on a computer started and ended with what was stored on the hard drive? That all changed with the advent of the "cloud," the distributed network of computers that lets us stash our photos in the ether and stream our favorite TV shows on a whim. In order for our computers to communicate, they needed to connect to somewhere central. That place is the cloud.
Today we’re connecting so many different digital devices—refrigerators, cars, manufacturing equipment—that there’s a term for it: the Internet of things. There will be 26 billion Internet-connected objects by 2020, according to Gartner. Many of them will rely on the centralized cloud.
IBM and Samsung both stand to benefit from this shift, but they question whether the centralized model is always the best approach. All those cloud computers cost money to run—and the price could exceed the revenue generated by the resulting services. If we want to affordably wire the world around us, why not let all those objects connect directly to one another?
The companies partnered to create a platform called Adept that allows, for example, a washing machine to detect its own failing part and place a service order without a direct line to the cloud. The system is built on a distributed database known as the block chain, the transactional engine that powers the bankless digital currency Bitcoin. IBM and Samsung believe that it’s a faster and more secure way to connect two physical objects. Think of it like Uber for business operations.
For now, cloud providers like Amazon and Microsoft have little to worry about. But change is in the air.
From Fortune
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