In the transportation world, cloud needs some explaining. To the extent that technology is used for transportation scheduling, it is either desktop-based or client-server based. This outdated approach results in some of the problems plaguing public transportation scheduling, such as slow optimization runs that damage business agility.
It’s important to know that not all cloud-based systems are created equal. Becoming “cloud-based,” “cloud-hosted” or “on the cloud” does not provide the same benefits as being cloud-native. So what’s the difference?
Cloud-native applications were designed from scratch for cloud deployment. They are hosted on on-demand cloud computing platforms, which can scale computing resources as needed. The result delivers all the benefits inherent in software-as-a-service systems, just as you’d get when moving from a hosted email system to Gmail. Here are some benefits of cloud-native software:
Being cloud-native is crucial for applications and optimization in the transportation industry, because the nature of these problems requires a lot of computing horsepower. That’s why a cloud-native architecture is crucial – it distributes the load across many computing resources, delivering quicker and better results than traditional desktop-based or client-server software. For instance, using a Function-as-a-Service architecture.
A cloud-based, or cloud-hosted, application takes on-premise software and moves it from an on-premise server (or desktop) to a dedicated server on the cloud. This server is managed by the software vendor. Some application functionality may remain on the client side. In short, it is an on-premise application that can be accessed remotely. While this may sound as good as cloud-native software, it isn’t. Here’s why:
It isn’t enough to deliver databases, storage and infrastructure through the web, or to pay per consumption of computing resources, because these cloud-hosted deployments do not exhibit all the advantages of cloud-native offerings.
As traditional transportation software providers try to modernize software systems based on client servers or desktops, and as cloud-native applications are disrupting the market with a better user interface and speeds that eclipse those of older systems, many claim to have systems on the cloud.
But software that is hosted on the cloud does not provide the same advantages as cloud-native software. True cloud-native software-as-a-service gives transportation operators and agencies the power to run their business without worrying about software or hardware. Systems that are merely cloud-based or cloud-hosted are at heart the same old system.
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