• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii

3

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
TechFortune 500

Here Are 5 Cloud Tech Lessons You Need to Know This Week

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 10, 2016, 11:40 AM ET
470621983
Sharks floating in cloudsJohn Lund/ Getty Images/ Blend Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

More and more corporate data and software now runs in the cloud, meaning outside a business’s own data centers. Software that once ran on internal servers has pretty much flown the coop. If your company uses Salesforce.com, Dropbox, or Microsoft Office 365, you’re part of the great cloud generation.

Ideally, you won’t notice the massive, tectonic change underlying this shift from on-premises to cloud. But sometimes, alas, you will.

As was the case with the recent distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that took down Dyn’s domain name services (DNS), which blocked many Internet users on the Eastern Seaboard from their favorite applications. And it wasn’t just Twitter (TWTR), Netflix (NFLX), and Reddit, but also more business-focused applications from Github, Zendesk (ZEN), Zoho, Box (BOX), and other services. (For further information, Gizmodo complied a comprehensive list.)

So ten years into this massive tech migration, what have we learned? Here are some takeaways from tech leaders who spoke at the Structure Conference this week in San Francisco.

The Companies You Depend Upon Depend Upon Others

The use of applications from Salesforce (CRM), Microsoft (MSFT), and other companies that stream services over the Internet means you are dependent not only on those vendors, but on their partners as well.

It wasn’t Box’s fault that Dyn went down, but the lesson here is those big suppliers need to use more than one domain name service, said Lance Crosby, co-founder and CEO of Stackpath, a security startup. His company did not use Dyn, but it was hugely impacted by what happened to Dyn.

To be fair, Dyn recovered fairly quickly given the sheer size of the attack, which reportedly relied on millions of connected devices—most of which either were not password-protected or used factory default settings. But this was a very bad portent of things to come, said Crosby, who warned that the Internet is becoming a very dangerous place.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Within a few years, it could become unusable, he predicted. “You’ll connect to the Internet only as long as it takes to transact business and immediately disconnect,” he said. That, clearly, is not the way we use the Internet now.

Don’t Forget the Dark Side of Disruption

Cloud services—including infrastructure from Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google—can cut costs for tech companies and make them more flexible. But all those productivity gains impact others in negative ways. The people who used to reconfigure and maintain all those traditional server rooms and data centers are in less demand now. Automation means fewer people are needed for mundane tasks

Joyent chief technology officer Brian Cantrill pointed out that the impact of technology on people helped drive voters to Donald Trump. Cantrill’s post-election night talk outlined how those who are displaced by automation are not longer taking these huge changes lying down. As more jobs in healthcare, education, and transportation become automated out of existence, there will be more disaffected, under-, or unemployed people on the street. If they are not retrained for other jobs, that means trouble not only for these citizens, but also for businesses looking to sell to them.

Some Things Never Change

There were the usual arguments and debates over whether moving data and software to AWS, Microsoft Azure, or some other public cloud is always the cheapest, best option. For uneven, “spiky” workloads that change by the week, day, or hour, it makes sense to use flexible public cloud services because customers pay only for what they use. Why buy a pricey server that you have to power, maintain, and upgrade yourself if you use 10% of its capacity 90% of the time?

But for stable production workloads, it can be cheaper to run your own data center, skeptics continue to insist. One Structure attendee, who did not identify himself, asked AWS product strategy general manager Matt Wood about this. The questioner said that for a big stable set of tasks, it can be four times cheaper to run in-house versus AWS. The questioner’s contention is backed up by the fact that Dropbox, which relied heavily on AWS to store millions of customer files, has moved 90% of that work into its own data centers. Wood offered to go over the math with the questioner, and the session ended.

https://twitter.com/tomkrazit/status/796414504141656064

Risk-Averse Companies Are Now Moving to the Cloud

Microsoft cloud chief Scott Guthrie said even the most conservative financial institutions, the too-big-to-fail banks are now aboard the cloud bandwagon. These are the same sorts of companies that have shied away from the cloud because they feel they don’t have control of their hardware.

Nowadays, Guthrie claimed 75% of the largest banks and 90% of the Fortune 500 overall now use Microsoft Azure in some capacity. AWS’s Woods also noted how Capital One (COF), an early cloud advocate among banks, uses AWS to power its mobile apps.

Keep Your Data Safe—And in Many Places

There is an adage in modern computing: Never have one point of failure. And that is as true when it comes to your personal data as anywhere, remarked Paula Long, CEO of DataGravity, a New Hampshire-based data storage specialist.

Keeping multiple (encrypted) copies of your important data is table stakes for everyone from now on.

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Michael Burry just shorted Caterpillar’s 172% AI rally. One analyst says his bet won’t even matter
Investingstock prices
Michael Burry just shorted Caterpillar’s 172% AI rally. One analyst says his bet won’t even matter
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 2, 2026
8 hours ago
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
EconomyDebt
AI’s $2.2 trillion deficit fix is already half fake, economists say
By Tristan BoveJuly 2, 2026
9 hours ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIEye on AI
Anthropic’s Fable model is back. But U.S. AI policy is still a mess
By Jeremy KahnJuly 2, 2026
9 hours ago
ai
North AmericaImmigration
Trump’s $46 billion ‘smart wall’ with Mexico bets on AI and scale
By Rebecca Santana and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
11 hours ago
sk
AISouth Korea
AI “grief videos” turn mourning into a $390 service in South Korea
By Hyung-Jin Kim and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
11 hours ago
Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo looks to the far right during a conference.
CryptoBlockchain
Securitize is latest crypto company to go public as BlackRock-backed firm sees stock jump 3% on debut
By Camila Grigera NaónJuly 2, 2026
11 hours ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
2 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
Success
Mark Zuckerberg feeds his cows macadamia nuts and beer to create the 'highest-quality beef in the world' on his $300 million estate in Hawaii
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 2, 2026
11 hours ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
8 days ago
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
Success
Today, Emily Blunt is worth $80 million thanks to her Hollywood career—but she actually wanted to be a UN Spanish translator on $80K
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 2, 2026
21 hours ago
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
Success
Americans are escaping the U.S. for New Zealand where house prices have hit a new low—but only wealthy Americans with $3 million spare can invest
By Emma BurleighJuly 2, 2026
13 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 2, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 2, 2026
14 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.