Cloud computing: Cloud facts and figures

Although it’s still early days for cloud computing, a raft of global analyst firms have been surveying IT decision makers to gauge what their intentions are around cloud adoption, as well as how much the market will be worth over the next five years. A collection of their findings is listed below.

IDC’s global cloud computing studies show massive growth over the next few years. According to its findings, three of the top five benefits for cloud adoption in 2009 were linked to cost advantages, such as paying for what you use, streamlining payments with services, and shifting IT headcount costs to the services provider. The analyst firm attributed a significant proportion of this focus to the economic downturn experienced in 2009.

Outside cost benefits, the importance of standardising systems increased between 2008 and 2009, rising from the sixth highest priority to fourth.

But there are still significant challenges to overcome. The top three, according to IDC, are security, followed by availability and performance. Close behind are concerns about the on-demand payment model costing more longer-term, along with lack of interoperability standards, bringing IT back in-house, integration and customisation.

Top five advantages of cloud computing:

1. Pay only for what you use (77.9%)
2. Easy/fast deployment to end users (77.7%)
3. Monthly payments (75.3%)
4. Encourages standard systems (68.5%)
5. Requires less in-house staff, costs (67%)

This information was taken from IDC’s Enterprise Panel, Q3, 2009 findings.

$US17.4bn – The value of cloud computing globally in 2009, according to IDC.

$US44.2bn – The projected value of cloud computing globally by 2013, according to IDC. This figure encompasses infrastructure, applications (software) and platforms as-a-service.

3% - Despite the hype, a recent Forrester Research survey of over 1200 IT decision makers in the US and Europe found just 3% had deployed cloud storage.

26% - The compound annual growth rate (globally) for cloud between 2008 – 2013. IDC claims Australian take-up is closely following this global percentage.

41% - In a Gartner survey of mid-market trends in September 2009, 41% of respondents said they were unfamiliar with cloud computing.

43% - Forrester’s recent survey also found 43% of IT decision makers in the US and Europe had no interest in cloud-based storage, while another 43% were interested but had no plans to adopt.

49% - In 2009, applications represented 49% of total cloud computing revenue globally. However, IDC expects this percentage will decline to 38% by 2013.

50% - In a Frost and Sullivan survey of Asia-Pacific CIOs and senior IT decision makers undertaken in Q4, 2009 and commissioned by F5, over 50% of respondents see security issues as a key barrier to adopting cloud computing. Security was the top application delivery issue in Australia.

73% - In the Frost and Sullivan survey, 73% of respondent wanted two or more integrated features on a single platform. Top of their list were Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) and security.

2009 – According to IDC, 2009 was the year cloud computing was “seeded”.

2012 – Through 2012, Gartner expects Global 1000 IT organisations will spend more money building private cloud computing services than on offerings from public cloud computing service providers.

2014 – Gartner forecasts over 80 per cent of all software-as-a-service cloud providers to large enterprises will integrate network optimisation into their core offering to improve user experiences and reduce bandwidth costs.

Register now for the ARN Security Forum 2013 on June 4 at the Sydney Mint

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