As technology makes inroads into becoming smaller, more efficient, and more useful, hosted desktop and cloud technology will be more widely adopted. Firstly, traditional computer hardware will change in the immediate future, meaning the way people use hosted desktop technologies will change. The PC tower will be all but replaced by more portable devices like laptops, tiny computers, and thin client devices that remote into virtualised hardware.
The machines that power hosted desktops are predicted to learn, and pave the way for severless architectures. Hosted desktops are essentially a storage medium, they will eventually be able to analyse and prepare data for human analysts, enabling people to use the data for its intended purpose as opposed to preparing data for days prior. Serverless infrastructures will come with learned machines and scale hosted desktops up or down as needed, as the machines will know just how much infrastructure is required.
Hosted desktop and cloud computing developers will also make more of a concerted effort to improve end user experience. This will include companies that embrace employee-owned or bring your own device policies, allowing staff to securely work from whatever operating system they want regardless of the machine they’re working on. A major leap in functionality will come when hosted desktops provide a solution to the online/offline problem. Everyone is going to need offline capabilities, at least until global internet access has reached a more acceptable standard, so providers will eventually offer this benefit to enable offline working, in one form or another.
Lastly, a more competitive industry with advanced start-up companies will lead to a massive reduction in costs. Leaps in the technology used by hosted desktops, such as low-power processors, will also drive lower costs because provider energy costs will be lower. This will also lead to hosted desktop providers finding ways of making up costs in other areas, such as account management or service.
Some specific technologies that will lead to a wider use of hosted desktop and cloud computing software have been listed below:
Inverse Cloud Models
Inverse Cloud models transmit data via inter-router communication. This will replace the method used today (router – to server – back to the router – then to the device), and aim to reduce latency and slow internet speeds.
HALO – High Altitude Long Operation
HALO is the deploying of lightweight aircraft to provide a stable internet connection to a 60-mile radius of ground below. Because the aircraft provide a connection from above there would be a huge reduction in signal interference.
Drones
This would see lightweight drones with massive wingspans deployed at over 65,000 feet to provide an internet connection to the ground below. The drones would be powered by solar energy, and leave a minimal environmental footprint, and with the first solar-powered aircraft circumnavigating the Earth in 2016, this technology is already becoming a reality.
Project Loon
An ambitious project being development by Google is Loon. It will aim to deploy a network of giant balloons at strategic locations around the globe to provide internet access to people below.
