Dona Ferentes
Pengurus pengatur
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I'm raising this as a thread for a couple of reasons:
- The digitisation of human activities continues apace.
- The 'cloud' has allowed for the introduction of a completely new set of industries - software based "as a Service".
- Essentially, the cloud is just a metaphor for the internet. A dictionary definition of cloud computing is the practice of "using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer."
But the main one is that there has been money to be made (or has been, especially in the last 5 years).
I came across some background on why this sector has grown:
"In mid-2017, computer scientists at Google’s security-research unit Project Zero helped discover two 20-year-old flaws in computer chips that were so widely used it meant just about every computer and network in the world was vulnerable to hacking.
Among those vulnerable to the microprocessor flaws were the providers of cloud computing, those that offer IT resources from data centres over the internet. By the time the flaws were made public in January 2018, however, the major cloud-service providers such as Amazon (AWS), Google and Microsoft had secured their systems and enhanced their reputations for competence and security."
And the big 3 from the USA have used their deep pockets to dominate this growing sector. Amazon came to attention recently with news it would host the Covid-19 App. Some thought this would mean sensitive data going to USA (a privacy no-no), but there are two AWS data centres: SYD51 in Eastern Creek and SYD52 in Smeaton Grange towards Campbelltown. AWS also uses two colocated facilities run by Fujitsu, as well data centres operated by NEXTDC, Iseek-KDC, Global Switch, and Equinix.
So, where are we going with this? As well as the international players, we have listed local companies involved in different parts of the sector and they seem to be doing well. It is a large and fast growing industry.
Next DC (NXT) - (purple on the graph) - is involved in the development and operation of independent data centres in Australia. It focuses on providing scalable, on- demand services to support outsourced data centre infrastructure and cloud connectivity for enterprises of all sizes.
MegaPort MP1 - (blue) - is a provider of elastic interconnection services across data centres globally. This service allows its customers to increase and decrease their available bandwidth in response to their own demand requirements instead of being tied to fixed service levels on long-term and expensive contracts.
Data #3 (DTL) - (red) - is engaged in providing information technology solutions. The Company operates through two segments: Product and Services. It is Headquartered in Brisbane, the company has offices, data centres, and configuration and warehousing facilities in operation across Australia.
Macquarie Telecom (MAQ) - (green) - is engaged in the provision of telecommunication and hosting services to corporate and government customers within Australia. MAQ currently operates in two primary business divisions; Hosting (business and government) and Telco mobiles. Recently it announced data centre expansion that will "quadruple capacity and provide many years of growth".
So there we have 4 companies, not all the same and with degrees of focus on data and specialisation in service provision. I'm sure there are other players.
Some of the issues facing the industry:
- Data centres can have technical problems that put them temporarily out of service.
- Their large energy demands could attract criticism, although cloud computing is a more efficient use of resources at a society level and cloud providers are adept at maximising energy efficiency.
-Issues about ‘data sovereignty’ have prompted some governments to force cloud service providers to contain data within country borders. No part of the internet, including cloud data centres, will ever be fully secure. The European banking regulator worries that the outsourcing of core banking systems to the cloud is a systemic risk.
- With data growing, the networks or pipelines have choke points; one often mentioned is capacity constraint on undersea fibre optic cables.
- Increasing market dominance by the likes of Amazon and Microsoft could attract the attention of anti-trust regulators.
- The digitisation of human activities continues apace.
- The 'cloud' has allowed for the introduction of a completely new set of industries - software based "as a Service".
- Essentially, the cloud is just a metaphor for the internet. A dictionary definition of cloud computing is the practice of "using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer."
But the main one is that there has been money to be made (or has been, especially in the last 5 years).
I came across some background on why this sector has grown:
"In mid-2017, computer scientists at Google’s security-research unit Project Zero helped discover two 20-year-old flaws in computer chips that were so widely used it meant just about every computer and network in the world was vulnerable to hacking.
Among those vulnerable to the microprocessor flaws were the providers of cloud computing, those that offer IT resources from data centres over the internet. By the time the flaws were made public in January 2018, however, the major cloud-service providers such as Amazon (AWS), Google and Microsoft had secured their systems and enhanced their reputations for competence and security."
And the big 3 from the USA have used their deep pockets to dominate this growing sector. Amazon came to attention recently with news it would host the Covid-19 App. Some thought this would mean sensitive data going to USA (a privacy no-no), but there are two AWS data centres: SYD51 in Eastern Creek and SYD52 in Smeaton Grange towards Campbelltown. AWS also uses two colocated facilities run by Fujitsu, as well data centres operated by NEXTDC, Iseek-KDC, Global Switch, and Equinix.
So, where are we going with this? As well as the international players, we have listed local companies involved in different parts of the sector and they seem to be doing well. It is a large and fast growing industry.
Next DC (NXT) - (purple on the graph) - is involved in the development and operation of independent data centres in Australia. It focuses on providing scalable, on- demand services to support outsourced data centre infrastructure and cloud connectivity for enterprises of all sizes.
MegaPort MP1 - (blue) - is a provider of elastic interconnection services across data centres globally. This service allows its customers to increase and decrease their available bandwidth in response to their own demand requirements instead of being tied to fixed service levels on long-term and expensive contracts.
Data #3 (DTL) - (red) - is engaged in providing information technology solutions. The Company operates through two segments: Product and Services. It is Headquartered in Brisbane, the company has offices, data centres, and configuration and warehousing facilities in operation across Australia.
Macquarie Telecom (MAQ) - (green) - is engaged in the provision of telecommunication and hosting services to corporate and government customers within Australia. MAQ currently operates in two primary business divisions; Hosting (business and government) and Telco mobiles. Recently it announced data centre expansion that will "quadruple capacity and provide many years of growth".
So there we have 4 companies, not all the same and with degrees of focus on data and specialisation in service provision. I'm sure there are other players.
Some of the issues facing the industry:
- Data centres can have technical problems that put them temporarily out of service.
- Their large energy demands could attract criticism, although cloud computing is a more efficient use of resources at a society level and cloud providers are adept at maximising energy efficiency.
-Issues about ‘data sovereignty’ have prompted some governments to force cloud service providers to contain data within country borders. No part of the internet, including cloud data centres, will ever be fully secure. The European banking regulator worries that the outsourcing of core banking systems to the cloud is a systemic risk.
- With data growing, the networks or pipelines have choke points; one often mentioned is capacity constraint on undersea fibre optic cables.
- Increasing market dominance by the likes of Amazon and Microsoft could attract the attention of anti-trust regulators.