What would we do without the Internet? Really, give it a thought for a minute. For starters, you wouldn’t be reading this article if it wasn’t for it. In the current times we live in, everything hangs off the internet in one way or another. It’s thanks to it that we can speak with someone across the world in just a few clicks; it allows us to look for information, to move around a city and order food or a taxi. It enables us to work at the office, the café around the corner or the comfort of our sofa, among millions of other things.
To answer our initial question: we might be able to go a few days without it, but we couldn’t live without the internet in the long haul. Everything is so connected that if we try to escape it, it will somehow find us again. That’s why we’re taking a look at how the internet has shaped the world we live in and how it is shaping up to be the centre and one of the most essential parts of the present and the future.
The Internet wave
The origins of the internet date around the mid-50s with the start of the Cold War. It actually has its roots in the US defence department and its need to have armed forces connected and able to communicate over a distributed network. In just a few decades, the internet went from being an essential piece of the military to arriving by cable to all homes and offices, and eventually, cable-less on our personal computers and the palm of our hands on our mobile devices.
The internet and the access to it have simplified and sped-up processes to the point that we can buy products and services in just a few clicks, easily travel from one city or country to another and book accommodation through an app. It has changed the way we socialise, with so many friendships and relationships blossoming and taking place online. It’s quite an impressive achievement if we think about it, but like almost everything, there are consequences.
Its impact on the world
Essentially, the internet was created to connect people and make it possible for them to communicate without having to see each other nor be in the same space at the same time. Fueled by the change in customer needs, the constant need to evolve and the necessity to stay connected, by the mid-2010s, the increasing need of the internet enabled tech companies and startups to build and create innovative and customer-centric ways to tackle consumer needs in the fast-paced world we live in.
Your online shopping, text messaging, use of applications and even something as delicate as your personal data is stored and can be safely used online because of companies that offer security solutions for companies’ infrastructures. There’s a high probability that more than half of the things you do daily happen because there’s a company structure behind that enables it.
One of these companies is Cloudflare. Founded in San Francisco, California, they offer website infrastructure and security to more than 27M internet properties worldwide and help prevent 76 billion cyber-attacks daily! You read that correctly, daily. They are on a mission to create the internet of the future: fast, high performant, reliable, and most importantly, safe for everyone — companies and individuals.
The Internet of the future
In recent years, talks about cybersecurity, the lack of privacy and selling of personal data have increased to the point that many countries (all of the EU as part of the list) are creating laws to protect data privacy and to prevent companies from taking advantage of it. In a recent interview with IP WatchDog, the co-founder of Cloudflare, Michelle Zatlyn, explains that the power of technology has been abused by some players in the industry and that there are a lot of things that should be taken into consideration while building the internet of the future. She voices her worry on the recent data privacy and technology regulations surging the world and how “the more laws you pass, the harder it is for the next entrepreneur who has a good idea to make it come to life (…)”.
If someone came up to you in the street and asked for your email, phone number or home address, would you give it to them? While most of us probably wouldn’t, we seem to have no problem writing it down when we sign up somewhere online.
Cloudflare aims to build the internet of the future: a more secure, reliable, faster and high-performance connection that is unbreakable. Through them, companies can gain full access to their set of tools and products that will not only protect everything and everyone that is connected to the internet, but will also help them scale and boost team productivity with Cloudflare Workers, a solution designed to allow the creation and deployment of functions from anywhere in the globe to Cloudflare’s Edge Network.
You can actually learn more about infrastructure security, server protection and Cloudflare’s part in all of it on the webinar they did with us, check it out here.
At the pace the world moves and evolves, the future is now and companies have to be two steps ahead to be able to provide and fulfill customer needs. The pandemic has sped-up digitalisation and the internet of things even more, which is why reliable, high-performant and secure internet connectivity is a must for everyone, everywhere.
Want to be part of the mission?
Cloudflare is recruiting in Lisbon, so if you’re looking for a Lisbon-based position and if helping build the internet of the future sounds appealing to you, check out their job openings on our platform. There are more than 30!
Matching You with Your Future!
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